For the last three years, an e-cigarette was never too far from Kallie Banks clutches, as she admits she was ‘completely addicted’ to puffing on them.
She was ‘easily’ blitzing through up to five e-liquids each day, while topping herself up with a lemon and lime flavoured disposable vape as and when she felt like it.
As well as costing her a hell of a lot of money, Kallie told LADbible that this habit was affecting both her physical and mental health, as well as impacting how present she was as a parent.
Despite previously being convinced that she couldn’t make it through an hour, let alone a day, without a vape, it’s now been more than seven weeks since she last took a drag on one. And she’s feeling tons better for it, as Kallie explained that ‘everything is more enjoyable’ now she’s kicked her habit.
The mother-of-two – who shares a six-year-old son and daughter, three, with husband Bobby – recently went viral on TikTok with an emotional video of her discussing her vaping struggle.
Although she usually posts light-hearted content on the social media page (@hanandkal) which she runs with best pal Hannah, Kallie sat down with her more than 6,000 followers to discuss a more serious topic.
In the video, Kallie, from Staffordshire, said she was kicking herself about ever picking up a vape, fearing it ‘could have knocked years off her life’ and ultimately cut her time with her two beloved children short.
“What breaks my heart is that I’ve got two young kids and I just think…what a stupid girl I was,” she said in the candid clip – which has racked up over 164,000 views – while fighting back tears.
“I’ve come to a point in my life where I really want to take care of myself I want to be there for my kids, hopefully grandkids one day.”
It’s a feeling which a lot of people will be able to relate too – and although the 28-year-old wishes she’d stopped vaping sooner, she acknowledges that she really was dependent on it.
“I genuinely, hand on heart, didn’t think that I could live without it,” Kallie told LADbible. “I was that addicted to it. It was the first thing I thought of in the morning. I was desperate for the nicotine.
“I felt like I had a vape more than I had oxygen. That’s how ridiculous it was. I used to be at soft plays with the kids and all I could think about was going for a vape.”
Kallie confessed she would even nip out for a drag on an e-cig while working out at the gym whenever she got a craving, before resuming her workout – albeit a bit breathlessly.
Kallie explained she previously couldn’t imagine her life without vaping (Supplied)
“The amount of times that I would puff and puff and puff away and think, ‘Yeah, I feel better’,” she recalled. “Then ten minutes later, you feel worse for it. I don’t know why I did it.”
Considering Kallie only use to smoke cigarettes socially on the odd occasion, she was shocked when she became ‘instantly hooked’ on vaping from the moment she first tried it in 2022.
It’s a slippery slope which a lot of Brits are all too familiar with – and although vapes were initially touted as a safer alternative to smoking, recent research suggests otherwise.
A bombshell study by experts at Manchester Metropolitan University indicates that the latter is a lot worse for your health, despite the NHS previously describing vapes as ‘substantially less harmful than smoking’.
“It was in my hand, in my mouth, continuously,” Kallie said. “I’m embarrassed by it. Who wants that? Who wants to be addicted to something that’s so s**t for you? My poor lungs!”
Despite being well aware of the damage that vapes can cause, the mum said she simply ‘didn’t even care’ at the time as she simply ‘enjoyed it too much’.
She was getting through up to five e-liquid’s each day as well as puffing on disposable vapes (Supplied)
Kallie admitted that she ‘didn’t support’ the disposable vape ban which is coming into force from June, as she thought people should be allowed to make their own choices.
But she’s now done a complete U-turn after stopping vaping, as she said: “I think [the ban] needs to come in right now. I cannot imagine these poor kids who are just sucking on it because it’s fashionable or cool. It really upsets me.”
A rude awakening later managed to jolt Kallie to her senses and encourage her to cut vaping out for good.
The mum explained that she recently needed to undergo an emergency colonoscopy as doctors began ‘investigating her for cancer’.
Kallie said: “And that made me think, ‘f**king hell, I’m 28-years-old and I’m being investigated for this?’ I’m almost certain it’s not going to be that, but god forbid if it was.
“But they could have been investigating my lungs. I haven’t done anything to my bowel to cause that issue, but why am I giving my body a reason to have these issues?
“We literally do live once, I think people think they’ve got nine lives like a cat. I’ve always had bowel issues anyway, but I just think, I’ve been doing something that could have been impacting my health so much.”
Although a lot of parents reckon their vapes keep them sane, in hindsight, Kallie believes that she was almost blowing things out of proportion just so she had an excuse to reach for hers.
The mum, 28, kicked her habit more than seven weeks ago and hopes to inspire others to do the same (Supplied)
She continued: “What I was doing was thinking, ‘This is a really stressful situation right now, I need a vape’. But it was actually just a marginally stressful situation and I’d be going for the vape.
“It was ridiculous. I just think I was pathetic. Stop making excuses for yourself, because you’re making excuses to live a shorter life.”
Kallie explained she wasn’t ‘even thinking’ about her vape these days after her third week of going cold turkey – which is a seriously mean feat, considering it used to be pretty much surgically attached to her.
Now, more than seven weeks on, e-cigarettes no longer cross her mind.
“I did struggle with like car journeys and stuff, but not now,” she said. “Because the withdrawal was so bad for me, it made me realise what I was doing to my body.
“That made me not want to pick it up even more because why is my body that reliant? Why is my body struggling so much after coming off it? It’s because I’ve been pumping it into my body for years and it’s not good stuff.”
Thankfully, Kallie says her body is now getting ‘back to normal’, although she believes she will continue to see benefits from giving up vaping for the next year or so.
“I just feel so happy I’m not doing it anymore,” she added. “I can breathe, I can appreciate air, I can appreciate smells again. Normally, I wouldn’t even be able to smell because I’d have a vape in my mouth.”
