My Vaping Journey

I have been cigarette free for the past two days and now beginning my third. I was at a graduation cook out yesterday where almost everyone was a smoker (Kentucky) and I felt not even a twinge of wanting an analogue. In fact, I didn't even mentally log that I was surrounded by smokers until near the end of the event when my non-smoking cousin asked about the e-cig. It was a complete non-issue for me.

[B]Vaping and the Psychological Symptoms of Smoking Cessation[/B]

While it's true that vaping [I]is not recognized[/I] commercially or medically as a smoking cessation aid, vaping is the tool that made smoking cessation a reality [I]for me[/I] in under a week. Not only that, the process has been painless for me. Even though I was a chain-smoker of 2+ packs per day for over 30 years, I am now using only 0 mg. to 12 mg. nicotine e-liquids. I am having some physical withdrawal symptoms (but no cravings for an analogue) but none of the psychological symptoms. My one attempt at quitting that lasted for 6 months was undone by the psychological symptoms that never went away, even after 6 months. My physical symptoms are relatively minor - those I can weather without a problem. I should note here that there is no such thing as a "text book" human body or human mind, so [I]everyone will experience vaping in their own unique way[/I]. For me, this has become a life saver! I carried groceries in without becoming severely winded two days ago. My lungs are already starting to mend themselves.
[B]
Empire Drip Shield - Perfect for New Vapers![/B]

Something else I want to report on in this entry is the Empire drip shield that I received from [URL="http://www.empiremods.com"]EmpireMods.com[/URL] through a give-away on [URL="http://www.vapetv.com"]VapeTV.com[/URL]. This thing arrived today. It's a shame that new vapers are likely to dismiss this as a mod accessory that they aren't ready for. I think that new users probably need this even more than advanced vapers. We drip too much. We flood attys. We take baths in e-liquid. We are a mess while we are getting the hang of dripping. This thing addresses all of that. It also saves e-liquid. All those drips and floods get collected in the shield. It slides on the atty similar to the way the eGo cone slides over the atty. I had a lot of leaking with the cone and for that reason, I didn't like it being on and obstructing my view of what was going on under it. The drip shield, however, is different in that it has O-rings at the top and bottom to prevent the leaked e-liquid from escaping the shield, unlike the eGo cone. Before you drip some more juice into your atty, take a drag without activating your battery, and all that lost juice gets sucked back into the atty for vaping. It's ingenious, it's freaking awesome and I highly recommend it. I will never be without a drip shield again! Also, it's not a big hulking piece of equipment. It's actually smaller than the cone. It's lightweight, too. I love this thing!

My only beef is that had I not received the drip shield through a stroke of luck, I would have dismissed it as a mod accessory that I was not yet ready for. [I]I encourage all the experienced vapers to mention this piece of equipment to us newbies when we complain about the mess of vaping.[/I] Many of the people I have heard say that they quit vaping have cited the mess associated with it as a major issue in their decision to quit vaping and return to analogues. [I]New vapers need to know about the drip shield. It could well save them from returning to analogues[/I].