"He Said the Smell in Our Son's Room Was the Tumble Dryer." What Finally Got My Husband Off the Vape (No Nagging Involved)
I want to say this first, because I know how these things sound: my husband is a good man.
Paul's an electrician. Works all hours, picks his mam up every Sunday, coaches our lad's under-nines. He quit smoking twelve years ago when I was pregnant with our eldest, and I was so proud of him I cried.
He switched to a vape. Everyone did. I thought: brilliant, problem solved.
The tumble dryer
About a year ago, I went up to put washing away in our son's room and it smelled of sweets. That sickly fake-strawberry smell you get everywhere now.
I asked Paul. He said it'd be the tumble dryer.
The tumble dryer is in the garage.
I didn't say anything for a few days. Then I found one in his work jacket, one in the car, one in the bread bin. I don't think I'd realised he was on it all day. He'd just got very good at not being seen.
We had it out. Not the nicest night. And I said something I've thought about a lot since:
"It's not the vaping, Paul. It's the lying."
He looked at the floor and said, "I'm embarrassed, Claire. I'm forty-four. I'm sucking on a USB stick in my own kids' bedroom."
Why nagging never works
I'll be honest, I'd tried the lot. Leaving articles open on the iPad. "Have you seen how much these cost?" Sighing. Going quiet.
All it did was make him hide it better. Nobody wants to be told off like a kid. He told me later that the worse I made him feel, the more he needed it.
And he had tried. Patches, twice. A book his brother lent him. Going down to 0mg, which he said was "like decaf: same thing, no point". He'd last a day, two days, then a bad job or a long drive and that was it.
"It's not even the nicotine any more," he said one night. "It's my hand. It just goes."
The note
I found HÜM on Facebook. I nearly scrolled past: a wooden stick for vapers? But the bit that stopped me was "it's for the habit, not the nicotine". That was exactly what he'd said.
No nicotine. No vapour, so nothing to hide and nothing to smell. No battery.
I ordered it and left it on the kitchen table with a note:
No lecture. Just try it. I love you. C x
That was it. I didn't mention it again.
What happened
He didn't touch it for two days. On the third morning it was gone from the table.
Later he told me the first week was weird. It isn't a vape and doesn't try to be. There's no cloud, and the flavour was faint at first. ("Mint, but quiet," he said.) But his hand had something to do in the van, after tea, on the sofa, and that was the thing.
He started leaving the vape in the car. Then he stopped bringing it in at all.
About five weeks in, I found it in the outside bin. He hadn't said anything. No speech. Just binned it.
The wallet
A couple of months later, we were paying at the chippy and his wallet fell open.
My note was in it. Folded in half, behind his driving licence.
I didn't say anything. I just held his hand all the way home.
What other customers say
Leave one on the kitchen table
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THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT. Claire and Paul's story is a dramatisation based on real customer experiences; names, places and photos are illustrative. Reviews marked "Verified Trustpilot review" are real HÜM customer reviews, reproduced as written. Results vary. HÜM contains no nicotine and is not a medical device. For medical concerns, consult your healthcare provider.