It's always funny to hear people talk about solutions to addictions they don't understand.
Gum/patches don't work for me and have a very low success rate in general. Part of my addiction is the act of smoking. I've been vaping for eight years and it's the only thing that has worked.
many are not aware of the oral fixation and/or ritual part of the addiction (which not all nicotine users share); no reason to take a pot-shot at the person you are responding to
It wasn't a pot shot. Gum and patches have abysmal success rates, oral fixation or not. For someone to suggest those as a simple alternative to vaping obviously isn't and never was a smoker. And it is a bit personal; others like to tell me what to do and why it's easy. Vaping is about to be regulated out of existence by people who don't give a shit about the ramifications.