VAPERS VOICES
Many adult South Africans have used vaping as a method to help them quit smoking and practice tobacco harm reduction.
Since the very beginning, VSML has invited people to share their experiences and what this innovation means to them.
Their stories should not be ignored.
Vayuri Poovalingam
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
2
Vaping Years:
6
Flavours:
Fruit
Vaping has added to a healthier lifestyle and prevented me from any risk towards lung cancer as it runs in my family.
Date Uploaded: 20220115
Paul Anderson
Age:
44
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
26
Vaping Years:
3
Flavours:
Dessert
I started smoking at the age of 15, by my late teens I was smoking 25 to 30 cigarettes a day.
I tried to give up many times but I wasn’t able to do it.
At the age of 41 in 2019 I believed that quitting was a lost cause and that I was destined to smoke for the rest of my life, until a friend loaned me a vape device.
I had been unwilling to spend the money on a vape device as I didn’t believe it would help me quit but my friend suggested I try it, just to see what it was like.
I bought a bottle of Caramel Apple Cake flavoured juice and tried vaping, just to try it, but I didn’t intend to quit smoking. I enjoyed the flavour of the juice so I kept going back for another puff, just to enjoy it. within 10 days I was getting enough nicotine satisfaction from the vape that I had dropped to 10-12 cigarettes a day without realising. on 1st august 2019 I smoked 1 cigarette first thing in the morning and then got ready to go out. I decided to go for my morning out and try to see if I could do the whole morning without smoking, and I did. and the afternoon, and so on. three years on I still have not smoked another cigarette.
soon after I switched to vaping I could feel my health improving. I could walk and cycle further and faster, I was sleeping better, I have had fewer days off work sick and my sense of smell and taste have improved.
I truly believe that vaping has make me healthier and extended my life.
I also think that the flavour’s of vape juice available were a significant factor, if I had not enjoyed the flavour so much I would not have kept going back to the vape. Even now, three years smoke free, I wont vape tobacco flavours because I worry that inhaling tobacco flavour vape will connect me to smoking and draw me back.
Date Uploaded: 20221010
Llewellyn Venter
Age:
26
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
10
Vaping Years:
1
Flavours:
Tobacco
Date Uploaded: 20220116
Tracey-Leigh Van Der Westhuizen
Age:
28
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
10
Vaping Years:
4
Flavours:
Breakfast/Bakery
Vaping helped me to quit smoking. It saved me. I could taste again and felt better and healthier is not a habit it is a lifestyle
Date Uploaded: 20200703
Sean Steinberg
Age:
47
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
18
Vaping Years:
3
Flavours:
Like more than one type
Vaping stopped me from going back to cigs. Vaping is a stress release for me as my wife has Cancer it is a distraction for me
Date Uploaded: 20200625
Nizaam Simons
Age:
27
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
3
Vaping Years:
5
Flavours:
Fruit
I make a living off selling vape products to my community, it’s my form of income. Please have mercy on our already broken souls and do not implement these taxes
Date Uploaded: 20220117
Emile Franzsen
Age:
22
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
5
Vaping Years:
4
Flavours:
Like more than one type
Started smoking cigarettes at age 13 and stopped with help of vaping at 18/19 years old without vaping i would probably still be smoking cigarettes and my health would probably not have been all to great.
Date Uploaded: 20220115
Julian Julian
Age:
32
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
9
Vaping Years:
6
Flavours:
Dessert
Was told I was going to be dead at the Age of 40 while smoking, so I decided to go for the Healthier Alternative….VAPING!! Never looked back after I started vaping 6 years ago! Really SAVED MY LIFE!!
Date Uploaded: 20210220