A friend at work transitioned from cigarettes to vaping, and at this point he's almost nicotine free.
I don't know anyone who has given up smoking using vaping. I know plenty that use vaping to keep themselves hooked on nicotine while they have a break from real smoking, but it's not giving up. I tried giving up using vaping but you fairly quickly realise that all your doing is swapping a dirty version of nicotine with a pure form of nicotine. How is that better? You just remain hooked on your drug, like going to heroin from opium.
The amount of people who look can look you straight in the eye and say "I have given up smoking" while they got a vapouriser in their hand.... it's self delusion, I'm afraid.
I did give up though. 3 years ago. I used patches and pain. Withdrawal is horrible. But it's possible.
I bought a shit load of full strength patches off the internet cheap. The clear plastic kind. I kept smoking for about 6 weeks while on the patches. I found at first the extra nicotine made me feel a bit sick, but over those six weeks I smoked less and less. Eventually I was taking a couple of drags out of a cigarette and then thinking "that's enough" and putting it out.
I reached a point after six weeks where I went outside for a smoke, looked at the cigarette in my hand and thought "there's no point to this anymore". So I stopped.
Kept on the full strength patches for 4 weeks.
Then I started cutting a quarter off each patch to reduce the dose. I did this for a couple of weeks.
Then I started cutting a third of the patch to reduce the dose. I did this for a couple of weeks.
Then I started cutting the patches in half. This is great. Your patches are now half price!
Remember all those thirds and quarter patch strips I had from, earlier? They kept me going on a decreasing dose for another four weeks. It was like, hey, free patches.
I have a box left over. I cut two patches into five pieces and this lasted me the next 10 days on a really low dose.
I then considered cutting patches into sixes or sevens when I realised that I may as well take the jump and go nicotine clean. I did. The next three days were awful. Withdrawal, even from such a low dose is horrible, but at that point you have gone through so much pain you daren't put yourself through it again. But after a week I felt fine. I was gernuinely smoke free.
For the next six months I still craved smoke - usually when I smelt other people smoking, but not enough to break back in to the habit.
After six months I went out with some friends and they offered me a cigarette and I wondered what would happen if I tried to smoke and I inhaled once and then coughed until I was nearly sick. And it tasted like someone had just shit in my mouth. I threw it away and that is the last time I ever smoked.