Well its been two months to the day since I started vaping, and about 6 weeks that I could really call myself an ex-smoker. Man I tell you, I never thought I would live to see the day. If you talked to me in June I would have told you I will probably die with a cigarette in my mouth and be ...... off I died before I finished the pack. And now here I am on a website I never knew existed before late September, writing a blog (which i've never done) about a product I started using as a last desperate effort to get off the analogs, and which I had only modest hopes would work.
If you have followed any of my comments in the threads you probably already know some of this:
It all really started in July. I was at the time working a job that required insanely long hours. I was for most of the last few years fighting an almost constant low grade fatigue and in July things came to a head. I found myself, LITERALLY, unable to drag myself out of my bed one morning. No, this wasn't the usual "I hate my job" morning blues. This was NOT mental. This was a very real physical problem. I didn't have the strength to get out of bed. Had I managed it, I believe I would have gone straight down onto the floor in a heap. I called in sick, something else I almost never do, and spent the entire day resting in bed. Next day took a trip to see my doctor. The combination of drinking, smoking, poor diet and long hours at work had conspired to really mess my body up. After some tests it was determined that my heart was fine (a pleasant surprise), my lungs, not so much, and i had deficiencies of quite a large number of those all important vitamins and minerals.
The time had come for some serious changes in my life. I have to admit, I hoped i could avoid it. I'm a night owl by nature, I loved the actual act of smoking, if not the effects, and I like to drink a good beer or 4 now and then. But, as hard as I have tried to avoid it, I'm getting older. My body was telling me something and finally, I listened.
So after doing a few internet searches and a chance run in with someone who was vaping in the bar I managed until recently, I decided to give vaping a try. I got caught up by the flashy website and smooth sales pitch given by Blu and bought one with a few extra of their prefilled carts. Well, I guess I could tell you that it was a waste of money but that isn't really true. It WAS a bad purchase, but my frustrations with the Blu led me to ECF. ECF led me to an eGo. I had a product which, very easily I might add, transitioned me from smoker to vaper. ECF also introduced me to an entire culture I wasn't aware existed. My first couple weeks of vaping I felt like a leper. No one here knew what it was. It was nice knowing I wasn't alone. Sometimes its pretty cool to be on the cutting edge of some new technology. Sometimes not. I was the first guy on my block to own an Iphone. Same deal then too. It was a cool new toy, but everyone wanted to play with it. Taking a lesson from the iphone experience, I quickly took to having a couple extra loaded carts in my pocket so others could try and no one had to worry about whose cooties they were picking up.
I also found out that addiction can take on many forms. Got my eGo, then I saw mega ego, had to have it, then added the passthru battery, and most recently a Phidias bottom fed mod. Atty, LR atty, HR atty, cart/atty or cartomizer? keep the filler? PTB mod? blue foam? Hell if I know...lets try it all. And I won't even get into how much money I have spent so far on juice. I probably have enough to last me until Judgment Day, if you believe the Mayan's and think its two years away that is. But seriously, I have a lot. On the downside, I have at this point spent more on Ecigs than i would have on cigs. On the upside I could easily go 4 or 5 months without placing another juice order and i'd probably be good to go. If I had a bit more self restraint, I would actually be well ahead money wise by then. But alas I'm still a bit of a newb, still ordering new juices from new (to me) vendors left and right. My mailman and I are now on a first name basis. I consider this to be a bad sign, but at least I know my packages are being handled with care now.
In short I either have a new hobby or a new addiction....both I guess. But its all good. I'm happier, and feel better, and have more energy now than I did 10 years ago, and none of that would have happened without the help of the ECF.....so for that I thank you, the ECF community. Give yourselves a round of applause and a pat on the back for me.
Phorbin
If you have followed any of my comments in the threads you probably already know some of this:
It all really started in July. I was at the time working a job that required insanely long hours. I was for most of the last few years fighting an almost constant low grade fatigue and in July things came to a head. I found myself, LITERALLY, unable to drag myself out of my bed one morning. No, this wasn't the usual "I hate my job" morning blues. This was NOT mental. This was a very real physical problem. I didn't have the strength to get out of bed. Had I managed it, I believe I would have gone straight down onto the floor in a heap. I called in sick, something else I almost never do, and spent the entire day resting in bed. Next day took a trip to see my doctor. The combination of drinking, smoking, poor diet and long hours at work had conspired to really mess my body up. After some tests it was determined that my heart was fine (a pleasant surprise), my lungs, not so much, and i had deficiencies of quite a large number of those all important vitamins and minerals.
The time had come for some serious changes in my life. I have to admit, I hoped i could avoid it. I'm a night owl by nature, I loved the actual act of smoking, if not the effects, and I like to drink a good beer or 4 now and then. But, as hard as I have tried to avoid it, I'm getting older. My body was telling me something and finally, I listened.
So after doing a few internet searches and a chance run in with someone who was vaping in the bar I managed until recently, I decided to give vaping a try. I got caught up by the flashy website and smooth sales pitch given by Blu and bought one with a few extra of their prefilled carts. Well, I guess I could tell you that it was a waste of money but that isn't really true. It WAS a bad purchase, but my frustrations with the Blu led me to ECF. ECF led me to an eGo. I had a product which, very easily I might add, transitioned me from smoker to vaper. ECF also introduced me to an entire culture I wasn't aware existed. My first couple weeks of vaping I felt like a leper. No one here knew what it was. It was nice knowing I wasn't alone. Sometimes its pretty cool to be on the cutting edge of some new technology. Sometimes not. I was the first guy on my block to own an Iphone. Same deal then too. It was a cool new toy, but everyone wanted to play with it. Taking a lesson from the iphone experience, I quickly took to having a couple extra loaded carts in my pocket so others could try and no one had to worry about whose cooties they were picking up.
I also found out that addiction can take on many forms. Got my eGo, then I saw mega ego, had to have it, then added the passthru battery, and most recently a Phidias bottom fed mod. Atty, LR atty, HR atty, cart/atty or cartomizer? keep the filler? PTB mod? blue foam? Hell if I know...lets try it all. And I won't even get into how much money I have spent so far on juice. I probably have enough to last me until Judgment Day, if you believe the Mayan's and think its two years away that is. But seriously, I have a lot. On the downside, I have at this point spent more on Ecigs than i would have on cigs. On the upside I could easily go 4 or 5 months without placing another juice order and i'd probably be good to go. If I had a bit more self restraint, I would actually be well ahead money wise by then. But alas I'm still a bit of a newb, still ordering new juices from new (to me) vendors left and right. My mailman and I are now on a first name basis. I consider this to be a bad sign, but at least I know my packages are being handled with care now.
In short I either have a new hobby or a new addiction....both I guess. But its all good. I'm happier, and feel better, and have more energy now than I did 10 years ago, and none of that would have happened without the help of the ECF.....so for that I thank you, the ECF community. Give yourselves a round of applause and a pat on the back for me.
Phorbin
