Hello everyone, my name is Ann, I’m an artist, a vaper, and a mother of two wonderful children. I'm from Russia. 
I think you may find my story interesting, since the circumstances that helped me give up smoking and start vaping were not quite usual.
I joined the vaping community just over a year ago. It helped me get rid of the bad habit (been smoking for a little over 20 years), find a wonderful new hobby and meet many new friends who share my ideas and interests. I’ve been communicating so far only on Russian vaping forums, but now decided that it’s time to enter the international community.
So, here’s my story.
I started smoking when I was 15, and it took me 5 years to realize that I’d become an addict and I couldn’t give it up just because I wanted to. I’ve been trying to break the bad habit over and over again. Allen Carr, nicotine patches, the willpower, various psychological trainings – none of these methods helped. Finally I lost all hope of ever succeeding, because I understood that I wouldn’t be able to give up smoking without finding something else that would be a substitute for the bad habit, and I couldn’t even imagine any worthy substitute.
Of course I knew that there was such thing as e-cigarettes, but I was sure that they were no better than nicotine patches that hadn’t helped me at all. The thing is, in 2012-14 I was asking my friends and acquaintances who tried e-cigs, and they all told me as one that it’s just useless toys that are constantly breaking down, leaking and occasionally start to taste and smell bad. I believed them and decided that it would be better to forget about e-cigs, and if someone told me back then that those devices would help me give up smoking, I’d never believe them.
It was a quiet evening of spring 2015, I was thinking sadly yet again of what I could do to get rid of my bad habit. Suddenly I thought of my old hobby, the tarot cards. I’m not good at them, not keen on them seriously, I don’t even know the meanings of the cards and I’ve never card-read for others. But sometimes they help me find the right answer in difficult situations. I just take the pack of cards, think of a problem and pull out one or several cards from the deck, then I look at them and try to find an answer in my own mind, thinking of my associations and ideas on the picture I see.
So I did this time. Asking myself: “What helps me stop smoking?” I pulled out a card, and it was the Ace of Wands.
I've attached the picture of this card from my edition of the tarot deck, so you can see exactly what I saw. I didn’t know the exact meaning of this card and started to examine the image closely and suddenly it dawned upon me: that’s an e-cigarette! And despite all the negative information I learned about it, I decided to give it a try.
The very next day I went to a vapeshop in order to choose my first device.
I got lucky: the shop-assistant let me try his e-cig. I inhaled several times and realized that my assumption was correct: the device like that seemed to be able to help me give up smoking. I purchased eGo, but it broke down the very next day, and I started looking for a better device. 3 months later I found my Zen in Nectar + iStick 50. iStick was later replaced with other mods & sticks, while Nectar still remains my main and favorite atomizer. Today I use both mechanical and electronic mods & sticks with great pleasure.
So, I think that’s the story
Glad to meet you and to be a part of your community!
I think you may find my story interesting, since the circumstances that helped me give up smoking and start vaping were not quite usual.
I joined the vaping community just over a year ago. It helped me get rid of the bad habit (been smoking for a little over 20 years), find a wonderful new hobby and meet many new friends who share my ideas and interests. I’ve been communicating so far only on Russian vaping forums, but now decided that it’s time to enter the international community.
So, here’s my story.
I started smoking when I was 15, and it took me 5 years to realize that I’d become an addict and I couldn’t give it up just because I wanted to. I’ve been trying to break the bad habit over and over again. Allen Carr, nicotine patches, the willpower, various psychological trainings – none of these methods helped. Finally I lost all hope of ever succeeding, because I understood that I wouldn’t be able to give up smoking without finding something else that would be a substitute for the bad habit, and I couldn’t even imagine any worthy substitute.
Of course I knew that there was such thing as e-cigarettes, but I was sure that they were no better than nicotine patches that hadn’t helped me at all. The thing is, in 2012-14 I was asking my friends and acquaintances who tried e-cigs, and they all told me as one that it’s just useless toys that are constantly breaking down, leaking and occasionally start to taste and smell bad. I believed them and decided that it would be better to forget about e-cigs, and if someone told me back then that those devices would help me give up smoking, I’d never believe them.
It was a quiet evening of spring 2015, I was thinking sadly yet again of what I could do to get rid of my bad habit. Suddenly I thought of my old hobby, the tarot cards. I’m not good at them, not keen on them seriously, I don’t even know the meanings of the cards and I’ve never card-read for others. But sometimes they help me find the right answer in difficult situations. I just take the pack of cards, think of a problem and pull out one or several cards from the deck, then I look at them and try to find an answer in my own mind, thinking of my associations and ideas on the picture I see.
So I did this time. Asking myself: “What helps me stop smoking?” I pulled out a card, and it was the Ace of Wands.
I've attached the picture of this card from my edition of the tarot deck, so you can see exactly what I saw. I didn’t know the exact meaning of this card and started to examine the image closely and suddenly it dawned upon me: that’s an e-cigarette! And despite all the negative information I learned about it, I decided to give it a try.
The very next day I went to a vapeshop in order to choose my first device.
I got lucky: the shop-assistant let me try his e-cig. I inhaled several times and realized that my assumption was correct: the device like that seemed to be able to help me give up smoking. I purchased eGo, but it broke down the very next day, and I started looking for a better device. 3 months later I found my Zen in Nectar + iStick 50. iStick was later replaced with other mods & sticks, while Nectar still remains my main and favorite atomizer. Today I use both mechanical and electronic mods & sticks with great pleasure.
So, I think that’s the story
Glad to meet you and to be a part of your community!
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