Mirza Kadrovic, 46, works in healthcare, specializing in residential support. He lit his first cigarette when he was 17. The last one when he was 41. He is one of many thousands of former smokers in Sweden who now use nicotine in a less harmful way. Five years ago he got an e-cig, then he was done with cigarettes.
"Now it's the same feeling with coffee as it was when I smoked. But much better for your health and much cheaper" he tells Vejpkollen.
-Vejpkollen cooperates with Convenience Stores Sweden News to depict Swedish nicotine use, beyond the statistics. This is a slightly modified version of the original report that was published in CSS News. -
After 24 years of smoking, Mirza Kadrovic had had enough.
"I didn't really want to stop smoking. I lived alone, smoked indoors, and didn't really care. But one morning after coffee I threw up. And there was something about the smell that I still remember clearly. I still get a little anxious when I think about it. It smelled like a cigarette butt. It made me make the decision"
At the time he smoked a pack a day. He had been doing it since he was 17.
"Both my mom and dad smoked when I was growing up. Many people smoke in Bosnia and it was quite natural. But everyone smokes for different reasons, I think. For me, it was the feeling of choking on something. And the routine of doing it every morning, with your coffee, was very important for life to work."
From Volvo to treatment care
We usually meet from time to time, me and Mirza. He works in healthcare in Kortedala, a suburb of Gothenburg where I both live and have my office. He often moves between different homes and likes to stop and talk. He moved to Sweden 20 years ago. Then it was love that attracted him here and he got married in 2002. He quickly took a job in the car industry. Then in health care.
"I worked at Volvo for 8 years before I retrained. I like meeting people and working in the treatment sector suited me very well," he says in his mellow voice when we meet on a sunny spring morning. He is, as usual, on his way to work.
Tested e-cigs early on
In the spring of 2018, after the rude awakening that morning in his apartment, he went to one of Gothenburg's vejp shops to find something to replace his cigarettes. It wasn't the first time he tried a vejp, he says.
"I actually got an e-cig six years earlier, in 2012. It was a small variant, the ones that were available to buy then - a battery and a tank. I managed to stay smoke-free for 4 months actually, with an e-liquid that tasted like Red Bull. But that tank leaked all the time and there was mess everywhere. I even stopped using it altogether and was even nicotine free for a while. Until I went to visit my mom in Bosnia. Then it was a cigarette with my coffee again. And that was it."
Effective in smoking cessation
E-cigarettes for smoking cessation are not recommended by the public health authorities. Instead, they refer to pharmaceutical products, such as patches and chewing gum. Nonetheless very many relapse quit smoking within one year of quitting, regardless of the method used, including medicines. However, current evidence suggests that e-cigarettes in comparative studies, are twice as effective compared to traditional nicotine medicines. In particular for heavy smokers.
Mirza's second attempt with e-cigarettes was very different from the first, he says.
"The most difficult thing was to find the right flavor and the "right" way to vejpa. I tried different models, first those that gave a lot of vapor and then those that gave less vapor. But it was only when I learned how to build my own coil that it all came together. Then I realized that it was possible to get it just the way I wanted."
Building its own vejp
Today, five years later, he uses a larger mod, that is, the part that contains the batteries and control chip, in combination with a smaller tank - a so-called re-buildable. Instead of buying the vaporizer, the part that needs to be replaced periodically in an e-cigarette, he "builds" that part himself.
"It's perhaps not something I would recommend anyone to do, especially when you go from smoking to vejpa. But it wasn't terribly difficult to learn. You spin a filament into a smooth coil and screw it into the tank. It will last a very long time and costs almost nothing. When it starts to taste burnt, I just change the wick material. It consists of specially made cotton that you buy in a vejpshop. It's also cheap. I like it when it's cheap," he jokes.
Finding the right feel for your coffee
When we meet this morning in Kortedala, he has been vejping this way for years. He has bought a new tank a few times, but the e-liquid has been the same, he notes.
"It tastes like a mixture of coffee, cake and tobacco. I'm so used to it that I can't really describe it to anyone who asks. I think it will always be like that. Your taste buds get used to it and it just tastes "good". Like with the cigar. Now it's the same feeling with coffee as it was when I smoked. But much better for your health and much cheaper." he says.
Meeting many smokers at work
The financial aspect is something he returns to. Smoking is very expensive, especially if you smoke a pack or more a day. Something he has become very aware of, if only through his work. Smoking rates among people with mental health diagnoses are higher than in the general population. In the UK, statistics show that nearly 40% of those with mental health difficulties smokes, compared to 14% on average. The same is true in Sweden.
Mirza works mainly with people who have mental disabilities. Many users have diagnoses within the autistic spectrum.
"They function well enough to live in their own apartments. But several of them smoke a lot. It's often because they're bored. Many sit at home all day and the cigarette becomes the only pleasure they have. They bowl like chimneys, go out or "cheat" inside the apartment"
Few care about health
Health is rarely high on the list of priorities, at least among the people Mirza works with. But the economy can be an entry point for conversation, although he is careful not to point fingers. The fact that he vejpar himself opens up some discussions, he says
"It's not my job to give them advice. But many of them are quite poor and spend a lot of money on cigarettes. And they see that I have my machine. Some say it looks like a weapon" he laughs and takes a puff - the blue rectangular box glitters in the sun.
"Of course, I do not recommend that a smoker should go out and buy an expensive advanced kit for over a thousand bucks. There are much easier ways to vejpa. Almost as cheap. A simple pod system for 300 SEK is a good start. And a few bottles of e-juice"
Persuading heavy smokers - with an economic calculation
He remembers a resident who smoked cigarettes for SEK 5,000 a month. Several packs a day.
"He lit the cigarette butt. Was out on the balcony, whatever the weather, all the time. He was very skeptical about e-cigarettes, worried that it would be worse than smoking. Where he had heard that, one can only guess. It's all nonsense. By then, the money had run out at the beginning of the month. I challenged him a bit, wrote down on a note what he should ask for in the vejpshop: a pod system and two flavors. I promised to help him get it up and running, and if it didn't work I would buy it from him. After a month or so, we met again, took out paper and pencil and did some math. He had replaced almost all the cigarettes with vejpen and had more than halved the cost that month. And then he really didn't want to get rid of that 'thing'," says Mirza, smiling a little and blinking behind his sunglasses.
"Obviously, the best thing would be to not put anything into your lungs except air. But we all know that it doesn't really work that way, do we?"
Advantages and disadvantages
I ask him how he views the debate on vejpning and the development of new e-cigarettes, such as disposable models and the heat-not-burn system Iqos.
"In fact, I often keep a disposable one in the car, just in case. The problem is that they always taste of menthol - which I never liked. They're quite expensive too, but certainly a good start for many smokers. Same with Iqos. I bought one for my mom a few years ago. It worked for a while. The advantage was that she couldn't "chain smoke" on it, as it shuts itself off after a while. But unfortunately, after a year or so, she started smoking again as usual. My partner's mother, on the other hand, who also lives in Bosnia, only uses Iqos now. It's bigger down there than here, I feel"
Better sense of smell - for better or worse
It's time to part ways and Mirza heads for the car to start his next shift at the shelter. He stops at a lilac bush and picks some fresh flowers from the branch.
"To the car!" He says. "Write that one advantage of not smoking anymore is that you can actually smell things now. But that's for better or worse. See you!" he laughs and drives off down the hill.
