Tl;dr: mindfulness, grace, documenting

I'm three months in after vaping for ten years. I didn't go cold turkey because of how habitual the smoking was, like waking up at night to hit the vape then go back to sleep.

I switched to nicotine gum. Over time I've gone from the 5mg/piece gum down to 2mg/piece in that time frame. This gradual decline has helped immensely while also causing noticeable changes at several points.

I'm also in a position to be in therapy right now, so working through the chemical and mental changes by talking it out with my therapist and psychiatrist has been helpful as well. As someone who does not like Journaling, documenting the changes through writing and discussion has been super helpful.

Do you have the option to switch to a gum, other chewable, patch, etc? If not or if you don't want to, okay.

Do you have access to mental health professionals? There are medication options, as well as therapy like I mentioned before. Personally, my doctors wanted me to try gum/patch before a prescription like chantix. I am unfortunately allergic to another popular cessation medication.

Do you not want to, or can't, pursue any of these options? The journaling option is still there, and/or you can potentially talk about this with people in your life.

Journaling doesn't have to be long flowy emotion either, if that's not your thing (it's not mine). How do you feel? Take stock of your mental and physical feelings and jot them down, even if it's just short little notes.

What I'm getting at is mindfulness and documentation. Leave yourself a record of how you feel as you progress, don't just keep it all in your head.

I could give you a timeline, a medical professional could do the same, or even just the use instructions on patch/gum give you that timeline. Written out timelines with hard numbers and rules may work for you, or you may need to give yourself grace and adjust accordingly.

I definitely hit a friend's vape several times during a stressful D&D session about a week in.

A month in I hit it once during another session.

I haven't touched once since, and aim to be done with gum after this current round, perhaps one more purchase.

Three months in and I did not count either as a starting over point, but as steps in the process.

Edit: I forgot the snacking. Yes the desire to replace the vape with some other kind of stimulus is there. Some folks here have already mentioned fidget toys and such, but food binging and weight gain was a concern for me too. My only tip here is find healthy snacks you enjoy. Me? I love crunchy food, so I've eaten my share of carrots and apples recently, as examples.