How to Quit Vaping After Quitting Cigarettes: The Second Quit

You did the hard thing. You quit cigarettes. Maybe you used a vape to get there, and it worked. No more smoke, no more tar, no more standing outside in the rain at 11pm because your body demanded it. That’s a real accomplishment.

But now there’s this other thing. The vape. It was supposed to be a bridge, not a destination. And somewhere along the way, it became its own habit. Maybe its own addiction. And now you’re staring down a second quit, and it feels weirdly harder than the first one.

You’re not imagining that. There are real reasons why quitting vaping after quitting cigarettes catches people off guard. Let’s talk about why, and more importantly, how to actually do it.

Why the Second Quit Feels Harder

This doesn’t make intuitive sense at first. You already quit smoking. That’s supposed to be the hard one. Vaping is supposed to be “less addictive.” So why does dropping the vape feel like such a big deal?

Reason one: you’re now fighting pure nicotine addiction without the motivation of quitting something deadly.

When you quit smoking, the stakes were enormous. Cancer. COPD. Heart disease. Smelling terrible. Spending a fortune. The motivation to quit was visceral and constant. Every time a craving hit, you could remind yourself that cigarettes were literally killing you.

Vaping doesn’t carry that same weight. You know it’s not great for you. You know you’d rather not be dependent on anything. But the urgency isn’t there. You’re not coughing up tar every morning. Your doctor isn’t looking at your chest X-ray with concern. The “why” behind quitting vaping is more abstract: freedom, money savings, not wanting to be addicted. That’s harder to hold onto when withdrawal hits at 2pm on a Tuesday.

Reason two: vaping is engineered for convenience.

Cigarettes had natural stopping points. You lit one, you smoked it, it ended. There was a ritual with a beginning and a finish. Vaping has no endpoint. You take a puff, put it down, pick it up again, take another puff. There’s no “I’ll finish this one and then I’m done.” It’s just always there, always available, always easy.

This means most vapers end up taking in more nicotine than they did as smokers. Not dramatically more in every case, but the constant availability means your brain has adapted to a very steady, very consistent level of nicotine. Cigarette smokers had peaks and valleys throughout the day. Vapers tend to flatline at a higher baseline. Taking that away is a shock to the system.

Reason three: the behavioral habit runs deep.

You replaced one hand-to-mouth habit with another. The vape lives in your pocket. It comes out when you’re bored, stressed, driving, waiting, thinking, relaxing, working. It’s woven into every part of your day in a way that cigarettes maybe weren’t, because cigarettes required you to go outside, find a lighter, deal with the smoke. The vape requires nothing. It’s frictionless. And frictionless habits are the hardest to break.

Withdrawal: Vaping vs. Cigarettes

Here’s some good news mixed with some less good news.

The nicotine withdrawal symptoms from quitting vaping are essentially the same as quitting cigarettes. Irritability, difficulty concentrating, increased appetite, restlessness, trouble sleeping, cravings. Your brain doesn’t care where the nicotine came from. It just knows the supply got cut off.

However, there’s a nuance. Cigarette smoke contains thousands of chemicals beyond nicotine, and some of them (like MAO inhibitors) amplify nicotine’s effects on the brain. They make cigarettes more addictive than pure nicotine alone. In theory, this means quitting vaping should produce slightly less intense withdrawal than quitting cigarettes.

In practice, many people report the opposite experience. Why? Probably because of the usage patterns I described above. If you were hitting your vape all day long, maintaining a higher and more constant nicotine level than you ever had with cigarettes, then the withdrawal may feel worse simply because the drop is steeper.

The timeline is roughly the same though. Physical withdrawal peaks at about 2-3 days after your last puff and largely subsides within 2-4 weeks. The psychological cravings and behavioral triggers can last months, sometimes longer. The first few days are brutal. The first two weeks are hard. After a month, it gets noticeably easier. After three months, most people feel mostly free.

The Tapering Strategy: How to Step Down Nicotine

Cold turkey works for some people. If that’s you, go for it. Pick a date, throw away the vape, and white-knuckle it through the first week. There’s no shame in that approach and it has the advantage of getting the pain over with quickly.

But if you want a gentler path, tapering your nicotine concentration is one of the best advantages vaping has over cigarettes. You can’t gradually reduce the nicotine in a Marlboro. You absolutely can with vape juice.

Here’s a practical tapering schedule.

Step 1: Figure out where you are now.

Check your current e-liquid nicotine strength. Common levels are 50mg/mL (typical for nic salt pod systems), 35mg/mL, 20mg/mL, 12mg/mL, 6mg/mL, and 3mg/mL.

If you’re using a disposable or pod system at 50mg, you’ve got a longer road ahead. If you’re already at 6mg in a refillable tank, you’re closer than you think.

Step 2: Drop one level at a time.

A reasonable schedule might look like this:

50mg to 35mg: Stay here 2-3 weeks
35mg to 20mg: Stay here 2-3 weeks
20mg to 12mg: Stay here 2-3 weeks
12mg to 6mg: Stay here 2-3 weeks
6mg to 3mg: Stay here 2-3 weeks
3mg to 0mg: Stay here 1-2 weeks
0mg to nothing: Put the device down

Each drop will feel noticeable for 2-3 days, then your body adjusts. If a step feels too harsh, you can split the difference by mixing two concentrations of e-liquid. Half a tank of 20mg mixed with half a tank of 12mg gives you roughly 16mg. This lets you create intermediate steps.

Step 3: Don’t compensate by vaping more.

This is the trap. You drop from 50mg to 35mg, and suddenly you’re puffing twice as often to make up the difference. If you find yourself doing this, be aware of it and consciously pull back. Some people set puff limits for themselves or use a timer to space out their vaping sessions.

Step 4: The 0mg stage is important.

Don’t skip it. Spending a week or two vaping 0mg nicotine e-liquid helps you separate the nicotine addiction from the behavioral habit. If you can comfortably vape with no nicotine, you’ll realize the device itself isn’t doing much for you anymore. At that point, putting it down becomes much easier.

Step 5: Set a quit date for the device itself.

Even at 0mg, the habit of reaching for the vape needs to end. Pick a date, get rid of the device, and commit. Having a firm date makes it real in a way that “I’ll stop eventually” never does.

When to Make the Jump

There’s no universally perfect time, but here are some guidelines.

Don’t rush it. If you quit smoking six months ago and you’re feeling great about that accomplishment, it’s fine to take another few months to taper down your vaping. There’s no emergency here. You’re not smoking. That’s the most important thing. The second quit is better done right than done fast.

Don’t wait forever either. The longer you vape, the more entrenched the habit becomes. If you’ve been telling yourself “I’ll quit vaping next month” for two years, that’s a sign you need to make a plan with actual dates and stick to it.

Life stability matters. Don’t try to quit vaping during a major life upheaval. New job, divorce, moving, serious illness. These are not the times to take on voluntary discomfort. Pick a stretch of relative calm.

Consider your mental health. Nicotine withdrawal can worsen anxiety and depression in the short term. If you’re managing a mental health condition, talk to your doctor before quitting. They might suggest timing it with a medication adjustment or adding temporary support.

Dealing with the Behavioral Side

The physical nicotine withdrawal will pass. The harder part for most people is breaking the behavioral patterns. Vaping is so deeply intertwined with daily routines that you need replacement strategies.

Identify your trigger moments. For most people, the biggest ones are: first thing in the morning, after meals, while driving, during work breaks, and in the evening while watching TV or scrolling your phone. Write these down. Having them identified in advance means you won’t be caught off guard.

Replace the hand-to-mouth action. This sounds silly, but it matters. Toothpicks, sunflower seeds, sugar-free candy, drinking water through a straw. Your hand and mouth have a partnership that’s been running for years. Give them something else to do.

Change your environment. If you always vaped in a specific spot, avoid that spot for the first few weeks. If your vape lived on a specific table, put something else there. Environmental cues are powerful triggers, and removing or altering them helps.

Exercise. I know, everyone says this. But the evidence for exercise reducing nicotine cravings is real and significant. Even a 10-minute walk can cut the intensity of a craving in half. It also helps with the weight gain that many people experience when quitting nicotine.

Tell people. Social accountability works. Tell your friends, your partner, your coworkers. “I’m quitting vaping on March 1st.” Now there are people who will ask you about it, and that external pressure can help when your internal motivation wavers.

Can You Use NRT to Quit Vaping?

Yes, and it’s a legitimate strategy. If tapering your e-liquid isn’t working, or if you want to quit the device entirely while still managing withdrawal, nicotine patches can bridge the gap.

A 14mg or 21mg nicotine patch (depending on how much you were vaping) can take the edge off the physical withdrawal while you focus on breaking the behavioral habit of reaching for the device. After a few weeks on patches, you can step down and eventually stop those too.

This might feel like going backward. “I used vaping to quit smoking, and now I’m using patches to quit vaping?” But there’s nothing wrong with a stepwise approach. The goal is to end up nicotine-free, and if patches help you get there, use them.

Some people also find nicotine gum helpful for acute cravings during the transition. A piece of 2mg gum when a craving hits hard can get you through the moment without reaching for the vape.

What About Prescription Medications?

Varenicline (Chantix) and bupropion (Wellbutrin/Zyban) are both prescribed for smoking cessation, and some doctors will prescribe them for vaping cessation as well. There’s less clinical trial data specifically for quitting vaping, but the mechanism is the same. You’re still dealing with nicotine addiction.

If you’ve tried tapering, cold turkey, and NRT without success, talk to your doctor about these options. They’re especially worth considering if you were a heavy smoker before becoming a heavy vaper, because your nicotine dependence may be deeply rooted.

The Mental Shift

Here’s the thing nobody tells you about the second quit. The hardest part isn’t the withdrawal. It’s the identity shift.

When you quit smoking, you went from “smoker” to “person who vapes.” Your brain had an easy category to put you in. You were still a nicotine user. You still had your thing. The social identity, the ritual, the comfort object. It all transferred over.

Quitting vaping means going from “person who vapes” to “person who doesn’t use nicotine at all.” That’s a bigger identity shift than it sounds like. Nicotine has been part of your life, your routines, your coping mechanisms, your social interactions, for however many years you’ve been using it in some form.

You’re not just giving up a substance. You’re giving up a piece of how you’ve defined yourself and managed your days. That takes time to process, and it’s okay to grieve it a little. It’s okay to feel a sense of loss. That doesn’t mean you’re making the wrong decision. It means you’re making a real one.

A Realistic Timeline

Week 1: Rough. Cravings are frequent and intense. You’ll think about vaping constantly. This is normal. It passes.

Weeks 2-3: Still hard, but the physical withdrawal is fading. Cravings come in waves instead of being constant. You’ll have moments where you forget about it entirely, followed by moments where you want it badly.

Month 2: Noticeably easier. Cravings are less frequent, less intense, and shorter in duration. You’re starting to build new patterns.

Month 3: Most of the hard work is behind you. Occasional cravings, usually triggered by specific situations or emotions. They pass quickly.

Months 4-6: You’re mostly free. The occasional thought of “a vape would be nice right now” crosses your mind, but it doesn’t have the pull it used to.

One year: You’re done. Not thinking about it anymore. You’re a non-user. That’s your identity now.

You Already Proved You Can Do This

Here’s the most important thing I can tell you. You already quit smoking. You already went through withdrawal, fought through cravings, and came out the other side. You have direct, personal evidence that you can beat a nicotine habit.

The second quit is a real challenge. It’s not a formality. But you’ve done the harder version of this already. You know what withdrawal feels like. You know it ends. You know you’re tougher than the cravings.

Set your plan. Pick your method. Choose your date. And go get the rest of your freedom back.