I'm a smoker (I know, terrible, disgusting, stupid, etc...) who attempted to quit via the use of vaporizers and e-cigs. Before you criticize me, understand that some people are just more vulnerable to nicotine based on their life situations and personality. Nicotine invokes a certain kind of peacefulness that is difficult to find elsewhere...but you pay the price.
Anyway, a year ago, I was tired of cigarettes being a crutch and felt empowered. I made up my mind to give up real cigarettes. At first, e-cigs were like a dream come true. I got the highest level of nicotine e-juice, and although it was still nothing like an actual cigarette, it did the job, and was super convenient (almost too convenient).
Fast forward one year, my lungs are ****ed. Pain, soreness, difficulty breathing, and other symptoms I never had while smoking real cigarettes. For the sake of my sanity, I had to stop. It wasn't easy at all, but I managed to do it.
One month later, my symptoms have cleared up, although still not at 100%. The discomfort also forced me to avoid going back to real cigarettes. All in all, the experience was awful. I slip up every now and then, but I'm no longer a daily smoker, not even close.
Moral of the story: be care if you choose to use vapes or e-cigs. My experience of them seem rare, but I thought I'd share. I know the consensus is, of course, that they are much safer than real cigarettes. Nicotine is also a crutch, it took me a while to realize that in the long run, aside from the obvious physical effects, it makes you a weaker person spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. Be well.
I do have my vape shop, and from what I read from you, you've not been correctly advised. You have to understand that ecig business is highly profitable (or at least was, a couple years ago), so it did attract a LOT of opportunistic business people.
The fact of the matter is, if you want to sell ecigs, you absolutely *have to* know what you're talking about, and most shops (90%+) don't.
You say you got the highest available level of nicotine, which is why I believe you've been wrongly advised.
I do not sell (rarely on special order for special customers) juice over 6mg of nic, 95% of my customers vape on 3mg and lower (1.5 or 0), 6mg is more than enough for the heavy smoker to quit, if, and let me insist on that, the equipement is correct (I did not say "expensive", I did say "correct").
You have to understand also, if you got advised to vape in high nic, you probably were sold unefficient equipement, and most likely low quality, industrial ejuice. Because they have to have a juice that is fluid enough in order to work with lower end stuff. They compensate the lack of performance by upping the nic level.
Most of industrial ejuice is of "high PG" (propylene glycol) content, but PG can often be an issue health wise, as many people find themselves to be allergic to it. A good ejuice is at least 50% Vegetable glycerin, which is thicker and harder to use on low quality vape gear.
I like juices that are 20/80 (PG/VG) or Full VG better, they're smoother on your body and lungs but they also are more expensive to produce (therefore to buy)
Now most people believe that quality gear is expensive, because in most shops, they double or triple the price that you can find online (even tho they have no other reason to do it than increase the margin on uninformed people), you can get a nice setup for as low as $50 in the US, maybe 60/70 in Europe. And no one should have to vape more than 6mg of nic in order to get off the analogue cigs.
The only people who I sell more than 6mg juice are, sometimes, older, very heavy smokers, but that's just for their beginning, after a month or two, they get down to 6 or 3mg.
Also, I do advise people to take it easy, unless you are required to quit smoking for urgent medical reasons, you don't have to beat yourself up with the occasional analog, as long as you arrange times for you to have discipline (for example, when you go shopping with your wife, leave the cigarette pack at home for a couple hours, just take your ecig).
If you have good equipement and quality ejuice, after a while, you won't enjoy analogs anymore, and you will quickly reduce consumption because, well, they smell bad, and they taste even worse.
Right now, there's a few "hassle free" setups that shouldn't be expensive and are efficient enough so you won't have to use high nic ejuice, they also can handle high VG juices easily
For the mod (the battery)
- eleaf istick tc40 (45€ in my shop)
- evic VTC mini (about 55€)
are safe bets, and unexpensive solutions
for the atomiser (the head, that will vaporize the liquid)
- eleaf iJust2 tank - with vaporesso 0.9ohm ceramic coil heads (22/25€ if you include one coil head) (this coil head part is extremely important as it will transform the performance of the atomiser by a LARGE margin, the original coilhead is utter shite)
- Kanger Subtank or Toptank (45€) - extremely high quality atomiser, uses plug and play coilheads but also allows you to easily build your own coils. Can't beat if for the price and coilheads are widely available
These choices may not be the latest you can find, but they work amazingly well and don't cost much
The optimal beginner's choice for me is an istick tc40 along with a subtank/toptank, which should set you back for about $80 to $100 TOPS (I've seen such setups sold for as much as $180 by greedy local shops taking advantage of uninformed customers)
the iJust2 head makes the kit much cheaper, but the vaporesso ceramic coilheads are much harder to come by, while the subtank coilheads can be found virtually anywhere (because they make cheaper versions of the subtank that also use these coilheads, and they're universally sold, very popular brand)
As far as juices, you can get yourself a "zamplebox" which is a company that will ship you a selection of high quality juice of your liking each month (you can tell them what flavors you like, what you don't like). It's a subscription but you can change it or end it or even pause it at any time. It's extremely cost effective and the juices they send you are of top quality. You can also ask for specifically high VG juices only.
So your advice is not bad, but I would want to complete it. If you got a good shop in your area, they will give you proper advice that you can verify online. if you don't and if you need advice, seek advice. I'll gladly reply to pm asking for advice (although I don't sell online and don't ship, I can recommend you on what to buy and inform you about how much you should pay for it)
it's very important to be well advised, because experiences like yours are not uncommon, and they often get people back to real cigarettes, which is the worst case scenario. It's hard to quit and ecigs can be of amazing help, if done right. But so many shops just care about the buck they'll make on you on that day, and so few truly care about helping you quit and giving you the best options to do so.