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.
Liodore Grewa
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
4
Vaping Years:
1
Flavours:
Dessert
I wanted to stop smoking in preparation for a major surgery. The surgeon and doctors confirmed that vaping would have far less of a negative impact than smoking cigarettes.
Through vaping I was able to stop using nicotine at all.
Date Uploaded: 20230722
Ziyaad Kemp
Age:
33
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
13
Vaping Years:
6
Flavours:
Dessert
I used to be a really bad chain smoker. A few years ago I got into vaping and experimented with the various options I came across. I eventually found a style of vaping that suited me and my needs. Since I have been vaping MTL style I have completely quit cigarettes. I have noticed a drastic improvement in my overall health and lung function. Thanks to vaping that saved my life.
Date Uploaded: 20220403
Mohammed Sirkhot
Age:
29
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
3
Vaping Years:
6
Flavours:
Like more than one type
Vaping has really saved my life
Date Uploaded: 20220119
Donovan Gregg
Age:
28
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
2
Vaping Years:
3
Flavours:
Like more than one type
Once I started smoking vaping I much more relaxed and calm and cool and collective and protectful and I don’t angry and upset that much I don’t let people get my badside anymore
Date Uploaded: 20230808
Ethan van Rensburg
Age:
29
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
8
Vaping Years:
5
Flavours:
Like more than one type
Been a smoker since high school. Even after saying I would never. Met the girl of my dreams, went on a cruise with her and her family. Just hours after having a morning stinky. She walked past me, and told me I ” smell like a stompie” last stinky I ever smoked. Came of the ship, and bought my first vape. Became a member of the Durban vaping community. Made the best relationships through vaping.
Date Uploaded: 20210717
Sharri Van Zyl
Age:
30
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
11
Vaping Years:
8
Flavours:
Breakfast/Bakery
It means I won’t follow my father’s footsteps and live on oxygen, It is a lifestyle
Date Uploaded: 20200624
Wynand (Old Goat) Vermeulen
Age:
43
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
25
Vaping Years:
4
Flavours:
Dessert
I lit my first cigarette when I was around 15 or 16. With both my parents smoking, it didn’t take much peer pressure to get me to try it. What started as the occasional puff quickly turned into a full pack a day by the time I left high school. That later became two packs. By my late 30s, I switched to rolling tobacco and discovered flavoured blends, which I absolutely loved.
Then COVID hit. Lockdowns, bans, and desperation led me to a tobacco farmer, and I started making my own flavoured blends from raw tobacco. I knew it wasn’t doing me any favours, but at that point, smoking was just part of my life.
That December, after the lockdown was lifted, I was introduced to my first vape. I’d seen them around but believed the usual scaremongering—”they’re worse than cigarettes,” “they’ll kill you faster,” and so on. But after everything I’d been rolling and smoking, I figured I’d at least try one. Curiosity, more than anything, got me to take that first puff.
I started with disposables, drawn in by their rich fruity flavours. But then I got my hands on a PX80 and discovered dessert flavours. That was it. Hooked. I can’t pinpoint the exact moment I quit smoking because it wasn’t a conscious decision—it just happened. As my love for vaping grew, cigarettes faded into the background.
Then I got my first mech mod and RDA, and there was no turning back. I started making my own coils, mixing my own juice, and before I knew it, vaping wasn’t just a replacement for smoking—it was a hobby, a passion, and a way of life.
Today, I’m deeply involved in the vaping community, sharing my experiences, doing reviews, and helping others find better alternatives to smoking. I went from rolling my own cigarettes to crafting my own e-liquids, and if you told 16-year-old me that one day I’d be advocating for vaping, I’d have laughed through a cloud of cheap cigarette smoke.
But here I am. Smoke-free. Healthier. And loving every flavourful moment of it.
Andrew
Age:
34
Current Smoker:
No
Smoking Years:
15
Vaping Years:
6
Flavours:
Like more than one type
Date Uploaded: 20220119