Thanks to the ECF community, 1 Year today

[Cyatis]

A little over a year ago I decided I wanted to quit smoking, and starting looking on the internet for a way to quit for health reasons. I did some lurking here, and went to various websites and resolved to order enough supplies so that I could vape for a little over a month, and to order what I needed once a month to stay analog free.

I received the last box of what I had ordered the day before, and decided that would be my last day, if all went as planned and this idea actually worked that I would never smoke again.

Here is a list of what I acquired beforehand. Everything I ordered was in a brushed stainless steel color in the cases where I had a choice.

4 ego batteries, 1000 mah
4 standard 510 Joye atomizers
10 ego cartridges
2 wall chargers for the batteries
180 ml of various brands of e juice at 24 mg nicotine, in various flavors.
2 ego cones
A 510 drip tip

Overall I spent a little over 200 dollars. Today, I could have done better, but at the time I sure could have done a lot worse also. I figured, it was costing me about 140 a month to smoke, and I was hoping not to have to order so much every month. To be honest I was pretty skeptical, though at the time I had a bit of extra money, and figured if I failed at this, the problem of still being on analogs far outweighed the problem of being out some cash. Though I'm actually fairly practical, I have spent money I wished I had spent elsewhere.

So that morning (11/3/2010), I opened the box, and tried a cartridge, that was already filled with some regular Marlboro facsimile, and I thought, I could already be in trouble. I didn't smoke Marlboro when I was smoking, and to be perfectly frank, I didn't care for it much in that ejuice either. I found those cartridges were pretty much a waste, though I saved them for a rainy day for quite awhile, though I eventually tossed the filler in them. Thankfully, there was that supply of e juice and I proceeded to go straight to dripping.

I grabbed a bottle of peach ejuice, of all the flavors I had, and started to drip on the 510 atomizer. Awesome, I can do this with a bit of relief, and started to dig through the other flavors I had. Out of what I had ordered I considered myself lucky. Most of it, I liked, and all were at least passable. The one flavor I was really surprised at, because someone had been nice enough to mention it, was menthol. I wasn't a menthol smoker, but the menthol e juice I had received was good.

So, I vaped my ass off that day, and that night the thought finally hit me. I really hadn't missed my analog at all. I will admit, I have to have my pv around. I can go for a few hours without, but I prefer to simply vape when I want to. I didn't really change what I was doing, just what I was holding. I went through about a week of hell, of getting rid of 29 years of junk in my lungs, and that to be honest was pretty rough, but after that its been pretty smooth sailing.

I decided a couple of months later, to order a few ego-t type A standard atomizers and tanks, and try them out on my ego batteries. It was far from perfect, and I think I liked the hassle free idea of it more than anything, but was hoping they would be improved.

I joined the forum here early March and have met some nice people. I appreciate the time people have spent posting here for others to learn from. As the months have went by, I have dropped my nicotine in the juices I've purchased from 24mg, to about 15mg depending on the vendor. That hasn't been about being nicotine free. I just was getting headaches towards the evening, so I tried drinking more as I was thinking dehydration, but nothing really changed. Next, I tried lowering the nicotine level a bit, and the headaches went away. I assumed that must be it. I used get the same exact headaches when I smoked to much also, which is what gave me the idea to cut back. Its nice that I can still vape as much as I want, and not pay for it later.

I ended my ego journey about 4 months ago, the best I could do with that system was the low resistance, type B tanks at the time. I'm not even sure if they have improved any since then at all. I think the weakest part of that whole system was the atomizers themselves. I could get the tanks to perform well, and the batteries really were very hassle free for what they were. However the atomizers themselves were not so hassle free, I had put in quite of bit of time, on just that one part, though I usually got them to work reasonably well. The consistency factor, and the fact my gear was starting to get a bit worn and was going to cost me enough to explore other options, pushed me into looking at mods.

I bought myself a Saber Touch Varivolt, from another ECF member, and went back to dripping. I then moved to Wisconsin from Pennsylvania. The first idea I had to try out with the new tube mod, was a CE2 tank, and to be perfectly honest, I'm just not a CE2 person. However, I found that I do prefer a much higher voltage than my ego batteries could ever provide. I went back to standard atomizers, and tend to vape around 5 volts now. I like the ability to adjust the voltage quite a bit. The Sabre Touch itself is a very solid mod. I attached a small knob to the voltage adjustment screw, so I didn't need a screwdriver to turn it, and that has worked out pretty well. I tend to adjust it to taste as the voltage drops in the batteries, and it works well.

I got to try out the GLV 2 recently. Its a really nice PV as well, though it is 5 volts regulated and I have to admit, I'm pretty much hooked on variable voltage now. Its close enough to what I normally do though, that given the opportunity to try it, I figured why not. As a 5 volt PV, the mod really performs, looks terrific, and is built extremely well. The only drawback of it I have found, is that it won't sit upright without help. This one however is smaller, more pocket friendly, and if you enjoy 5 volt vaping, its a good mod.

Overall I haven't really bought that much new stuff, though I've dabbled a little bit, here and there. I tend to keep myself stocked in 510 atomizers, and e juice so far. Most places I go to, let me vape in peace. I hope that doesn't change. I've forced myself to vape in places that I really wasn't that comfortable in, just to see how it would go. My current PV obviously doesn't look much like an analog at all. I haven't had anyone really complain that I was smoking, though I have had some people curious about what I was doing.

I do feel terrific compared to what I did a year ago. I'm going to continue vaping.

I hope you all have a terrific day. I get to pay the rent, do the laundry, and then celebrate a year of being analog free.

[MamaD]

Congratz on the one year! You have done yourself proud!

Deb

[r77r7r]

Congrats!!!!!!!!

[RichieRich]

Awesome! Keep up the good work!

[Hondo69]

Great Job!

It's nice to feel good again.

[Fudgey]

Congrats on one year

[Liv2Ski]

And here is to the next year!!! Congrats and many more happy vapes to you!

[cracker75]

Almost there myself....and have to say, I never thought these things would actually work.

[jj2]

Big congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Seattle40]

Congrats !! I hit 3 months next Tuesday, not one puff... after 36 years smoking, it still amazes me..