Coughing up tar

[Spoink]

I know its a disgusting title ... but i couldnt think of nicer wording to use .. cos i wanna know about coughing up  tar

Ive read people say one of the not so nice side effects of giving up smoking, is coughing black stuff up, which they beleive to be tar from their lungs .. breaking free as the cilia hairs grow back and do their thing ....

For me .. i look forward to this side effect .. as its the whole reason i started e-cigs ... always wanted a cleaner safer delivery method for nicotine and always felt guilty about all that tar ....

Its been just over 3 weeks .. and im not coughing anything yet .... my understanding was that people generally start coughin up after 2 weeks ? .. is this right ?


Is it possible it takes longer to happen, the heavier the smoker you are .. or the longer you been smoking ?

I do still smoke tobacco products at night .. not for teh tobacco, but for teh convenience of what i put in it ... anyway, this would equate to about 3 unfiltered cigarettes .... Although you may feel the urge to sigh at this point .. im still well impressed with myself as its a massive difference compared to my 30+ cigs a day habit ... and intend to replace these tobacco products at night, with non tobacco products .. and then ill be clean of tobacco for good (fingers crossed)....

Im just hoping that smoking the equivalent of 3 unfiltered cigs a night isnt stopping my body from cleansing itself .... although admittedly i do expect the 3 a night habit to slow things down a bit ...


Have any of you cut right down to maybe a few cigs a day .. and still had the usual side effects .... mainly coughing up tar ? If so .. how long before you started coughing if you remember

[frogbmth]

I am on ecigs only and still havent coughed.

I think the following is true....

The tar stays moist as long as you keep some intake, it only hardens and starts to come out when you have stopped adding fresh tar.

[Spoink]

lol frog .. i only just hit teh 'post' button ..... its as tho you had that answer tpyed out .. waiting for teh question to appear  :-D   .. cheers for the quick response mate

yeah .. obviously im lookin to cut the evil tobacco out completely anyway .... will need to make more of an effort if its stopping my lungs from repairing their damage ... cant wait til i feel fitter again .... tho .. not sure if its my imagination .. but i kinda think i do feel a bit fitter now .... just cant wait til teh thick blanket of tar is gone from my lungs, and they get to breath all that lovely oxygen again .. etc etc

[Mungo]

i read it depends on your age. Lungs don't clean themselves after you reach 30-35 years old.

Although like everything else in the body, they should repair over time. Bones take 7 years to replace themselves.

[Spoink]

eek ...

Cheers Mungo ... no offence .. but i really hope youre wrong ... I'm 36  :\

[Firewire]

Well spoink I'm 33 and started coughing after about 3/4 weeks of vaping. It took about a month for that to stop and I'll be honest... it was not nice at all but now I can breathe deep, the missus says I've almost stopped snoring and best of all I can taste stuff properly! You have no idea how much a bacon sarnie tastes soooooooo good .

[Maz]

I do still smoke tobacco products at night .. not for teh tobacco, but for teh convenience of what i put in it ... anyway, this would equate to about 3 unfiltered cigarettes ....

Hi Spoink

You could always invest in a vapouriser for anything you may want to umm, vapourise?    they're pretty cheap these days.
Alternatively try googling "mullein leaf" if that may suit your needs better, it has the added bonus of supposedly doing some cleansing work on your lungs, although as it still burns I can't quite get my head around how it could be considered to do that.
I think it was smoked as a cough cure - eons ago mind, but we've come on a bit since then  .

[Spoink]

Hi Maz

Yeah ... i have had it in mind to get a volcano vapouriser ... its only a snip at £300 .... think i may go with one of the cheaper ones til i can afford that 

Switching to e-cig from analogue cigs was extremely easy .... im hoping the switch to a vapouriser will be as satisfying and i wont miss those analogues either

Cheers mate

[Spoink]

Well spoink I'm 33 and started coughing after about 3/4 weeks of vaping. It took about a month for that to stop and I'll be honest... it was not nice at all but now I can breathe deep, the missus says I've almost stopped snoring and best of all I can taste stuff properly! You have no idea how much a bacon sarnie tastes soooooooo good .

hi firewire ..
thats exactly what am talkin about ...

im guessin you completely stopped smokin tobacco tho .... whereas at the moment .. i am still smoking approx 3 a day compared to my usual 30+

i already feel i can taste and smell better .. but sometimes wonder if im just imagining that benefit
so you reckon my taste and smell will come back with a vengeance after i get rid of teh thick coating of tar from my lungs .. i cant wait

I also read someone say they snored less after stopping ... i dont snore anyway that im aware of ... but these are just the benefits we notice ... its exciting to think of all the other benefits that take place behind the scenes inside our bodies that no one is even aware of .. since no one man can even know what the effects of smoking all these chemicals have on us in first place...

[Ammar]

Oh dear i'm 49,quit analogues for 10 days now,but i already feel a lot fitter,no more cough in the morning,and no huff&puff going up the stairs,i dont care how long it takes for my lungs to get rid of the tar as long as i feel great! 

[frogbmth]

I did the same, I smoked 3-4 analogs a day for a while. It wasnt until I stopped the weed completely that I realy got the full benefits. But 3 a day is better than 30 for sure. I think your risk of developing diseases cuts in half if you smoke under 5 a day, I read someplace.

My lungs feel much fitter, shortness of breath is gone, no more wheezing at night, I must be healthier as I feel it!

If you realy cant do without tobacco, try this instead of analogs for a much healthier alternative

http://www.righttovape.com/index.php?topic=92.0

Andy

[Spoink]

Exactly Ammar

Even if i didnt notice any benefits of stopping smoking .. just knowing i am not adding any more pollution from today onwards is in itself an amazing bonus ...
Still wd be great to get rid of teh tar though .... must be using extra energy up carrying the weight of it around with me all day  

Andy .. That looks a cool wee gadget ...

It's not that i cant do without the tobacco, so  much as the herb im putting in the tobacco .. that little vapouriser would do the trick nicely for the herb ... tried to get into manufacturers website, but they havent made it yet ... just a picture of the gadget, and 'site under construction'

kinda skint at the mo .. as the people im working for keep cancelling my contract on a temporary basis ... will be purchasing a vapouriser as soon as i get back on my feet ... or maybe ill just make one ... i have some empty plastic bottles, sellotape and some string ... there must be a blue peter episode covers how to do this

[frogbmth]

It's not that i cant do without the tobacco, so  much as the herb im putting in the tobacco

I didnt want to mention that part - I am sure you mean parsley <ahem> 

[Spoink]

I didnt want to mention that part - I am sure you mean parsley <ahem> 

lol .. yes Andy ... for the sake of this thread .. lets call it parsley 

[moog]

try this link..

http://www.ekmpowershop1.com/ekmps/shops/6641koala55/i-inhale-portable-vaporizer-27-p.asp

[Spoink]

Cheers moogguy .. those wee things are pretty expensive ... seen some on ebay auctions going for £80 to £90 ... Look fwd to buying one when some work starts to come in again

Well ... been 6 weeks ... and all that tar is still clogged up in my lungs ... Im starting to fear that Mungo may be correct 

Feeling fantastic ... massive benefits of giving up ... just hate the idea of that thick lining of gungy tar coating my lungs for teh rest of my life ...

Has anyone experienced their body coughing this up, so late on, after giving up tobacco ?  I don't give up hope

[prof beard]

Hi - my first post!

I'm a 58 year old Prof, and switched to e-cigs about two months back.  I smoked fags for over 40 years, and started really feeling better within a couple of weeks of switching - haven't started coughing up goo yet - perhaps it will take longer for an old git like me

Because I'm on the "conference circuit", loads of people have noticed me vaping and so far four other academics have bought e-cigs as a result!

(Forgot to add - I gave up Parsley 28 years ago)

[moog]

Welcome to the forum Prof....

[Fruits]

I gave up parsley a few years ago myself. Im sure thats why I enjoy using my e-cig so much it reminds me of all the preperation and building of pipes etc and making my own mixes and generaly having a kind of hobby  The very first vapourizer i used was huge and cost a fortune years ago, must have been one of the early ones made. Handfulls of parsley in that would blow you into next week.

[masmit]

Isn't there a liquid product based on 'parsley'? I haven't used parsley in 10 years, so I'm a bit out of touch...

[Crossbow]

Yup, parsley oil was (is?) available, but I don't imagine its low enough in contaminants to vape (or smoke for that matter )

[Spoink]

Prof Beard .... welcome mate .. congrats on giving up after so long ... i only been smoking about 15 years ... already, i have saved myself from inhaling the tar and chemicals from approx 1000 cigs ... congrats on giving the parsley up also .. for me, that is the biggy ... i dont want to ever give that up cos i love it ... would take a very special woman to make me quit that

Hi Fruits, masmit, crossbow.

Oil is practically solid at room temp .. you're right about contaminents also ... i dare say there will never be juice for e-cig that has THC & cannaboids as active ingredient, and even if it were feesible, would not be legal. Nothin that wd be compatible with my dinky 901 anyway. But theres no need, as long as there are other, more practical vaporizers out there made for the job. just cant wait til i have a spare £100 to buy one. Tho the volcano would be great. cant blv they charge £300 for that. theres a gap in the market right there, waiting to be exploited.

So all you guys have quit the parsley also ... im feelin kinda odd one out in here now 

Has anyone over age of 35 quit, and still coughed the crap up ?? ... sooo wanna prove Mungo wrong, for the sake of us, erm, maturer people

[moog]

I haven't neither..

[Fruits]

Well im 34 but only been on the e-cig 6 days  Watch this space lol i may still have a chance 

[timeout]

  want to thank the man  i am 63 been told to stop smoking i have a 100 year  old lung ,but i couldnt stop until i watched the scottish man in videos about e/cigs not had a real cig for 4 weeks,thanks a million

[Spoink]

Good luck with it Fruits .. well done for makin the switch man ....

Timeout ... can i ask how long you were smoking if you dont mind ....

I got utter respect for all you long term smokers that made the switch ....     not giving credit for will power .. cos the switch is pretty easy .... but i reckon its excellent you still try this alternative after sooo many years of internal pollution and damage .... very inspiring ...
i love reading every single time someone in here writes how great they feel after makin the switch ... im not used to things in life having soooo many pros, and sooo little cons, if any .... except for maybe water .. and air ...

[spiraller]

I had to leap in here; I didn't intend to (lack of enthusiasm for explaining it all) but there seems to be issues. What has been said about 'lung recovery' is not strictly true.

Lung recovery is a slow process involving regeneration of many differentiated (specialised) cells, not least the cilia, or brush border cells whose job is to 'waft' mucous from the lungs. Also bear in mind that there are millions of tiny air sacs known as alveoli (sing. alveolus), all of which have been absorbing tar and other nasty chemicals for years. (Incidentally, tar is also absorbed into the blood stream; I was shown a placenta of a smoker after she had given birth whilst doing my medical training; it was black).

Lung recovery typically takes between 1 - 9 months, and you may not necessarily 'cough up tar' as in a visible presence of tar within the mucous, although many people do notice the mucous is not clear, and may contain brown flecks. I also say typically, because everyone is different. The typical ex-smoker will stil have hyperactive mucosal linings within the lungs, particularly as it takes a while for chemicals to be absorbed/expelled, for some time to come. However, lung function does improve in all ex-smokers and provided that the damage is not irreversible, lung function should return to normal/near normal within 5 years of cessation.

Incidentally, I am from a medical family and my mother worked the chest wards as a Physiotherapist, and was herself a smoker... so over the years I have had many a conversation about various Chronic Obstructive Airways Diseases (COAD's) relative to smoking, and the effects of sudden cessation of smoking on the lungs relative to mucous production and susceptibility to infection.

Where this 35-year-old suggestion comes in is relative to overall health of the ex-smoker, and not whether your lungs will recover. The younger you are, the more your overall recovery and overall quality of life will be. If you are interested in this, there are plenty of articles online, and here are a couple
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-04-06-smokers_x.htm
http://www.dukehealth.org/HealthLibrary/News/7644

[timeout]

sorry you had to wait not sure how to work this.,site but i started smoking when i was 9 so had that upjust hope i can keep this up i dont miss cigs at all with this pluss not cothing nothing up just cant spell lol

[prof beard]

sorry you had to wait not sure how to work this.,site but i started smoking when i was 9 so had that upjust hope i can keep this up i dont miss cigs at all with this pluss not cothing nothing up just cant spell lol

I'm also a relative oldie (smoked for about 43 years) and I've not had a ciggie for 2 months now - also I DON'T MISS THEM - so it has worked for me!

[Spoink]

Thats what im lookin for spiraller .... Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us ... sounds hopeful .. and makes sense ... im still a wee young thing at 36... and feel more confident about recovery since you shared your post ....  will check teh links out after me dinner ... many thanks ... god bless ya

timeout .. 54 years is unimaginable to me ... wow mate ... your system will indeed be appreciating some timeout ...

brilliant you guys ...

I now find im at the point where i casually walk through glasgow city centre on typical busy day .. puffin on this wee thing that lights up blue at the end ... i am used to the looks now .. and kinda want people to look .. not for attention .. but to make them curious ... even tho ive not converted anyone yet that im aware of .. there has been much interest ... i have planted many many seeds ... spread the word guys