Quitting nic: How I said goodbye to my vape and hi to yarn

Mikaela Delos Santos, Publishing Editor | 

I remember when I first bought a vape— a pink lemon-flavoured disposable, with 20 mg of nicotine per puff. Never having smoked before, my first puff was barely even considered smoking, inhaling through the mouthpiece and blowing all the nicotine out. “Just keep it in your mouth for a bit,” my friends told me, chuckling at my innocence.

And then I had a hit. I felt the battery powered smoke burn the back of my throat. I didn’t like it at first, and then I took another hit, and another, and another.

I underestimated the power of nicotine. I had recently just started drinking, had already tried cannabis in gummy form and oil tinctures (as we all do in university), and yet I never felt the need to consume them more than I should. So I kept huffing and puffing. It even came to a point where I bought and carried two vapes (one with nicotine, and one without) with me at all times just to do tricks and practice my “O’s.”

But then it came to a point where everyone around me didn’t see it as a “cool quirk.” They saw how I huffed and puffed almost every minute, the sizzling of the oily vape juice that would burn your tongue if you didn’t clean the mouthpiece, the sad sight of losing your mind if your little flavoured air  machine got lost somewhere in between the couch cushions. And so I quit.

I quit once then relapsed again after having a stressful day. On my second go at vaping, I noticed that the relief it gave me was gone and I was merely hanging on to the nicotine because my body was addicted to it. I despised my clunky vape.

I quit for a second time. Changing juice flavours helped (I suggest trying a ‘flavour’ that tastes bad. For me, it was anything fruity) and I tapered myself from 20 mg of nicotine to 6mg. But when I threw my vape in the trash, my hands needed stimulation. A big part of quitting vaping is the need for your hands to grab onto something. 

This is when I found myself picking up a crochet hook at my local craft store. I didn’t really intend on starting this hobby to keep myself away from vaping— it was more of a realization that crocheting saved me from falling back into vaping. Cheesy, yes, but it’s true. Crocheting saved my life (and lungs!)

One study suggests that crocheting and similar crafts offer positive benefits for a person’s mental well-being. Its use as a therapeutic setting is yet to be explored and studied, but many crocheters, knitters, and fibre art crafters can safely say that the craft has benefited them in one way or another. Freelance writer and author Kathryn Vercillo even wrote a book, Crochet Saved My Life: The Mental and Physical Health Benefits of Crochet, to showcase how the art form has saved her and many others from vulnerable moments in their life.

I believe that crocheting is an accessible and inclusive hobby that anyone can take up. Materials for it are relatively inexpensive and easy to find, it’s portable, and there are physical ways to make it accessible for people with disabilities. 

Currently, I’ve been sober from nicotine for more than a year and have at least 30 unused skeins of yarn. I still suffer from the side-effects that vaping caused and I regret having puffed a vape up to this day. I’m behind on some crafting projects— my unfinished wool sweater is lopsidedly waiting to be finished somewhere in my yarn pile. But if I hadn’t picked up a hook from Michaels, I wonder where I would be health-wise. 

Mikaela Delos Santos is the president of Mount Royal University’s (MRU) Cozy Crafters Club— a student club that fosters a welcoming environment for those who are interested in and want to learn crocheting, knitting and various fibre arts crafts.