Sound the trumpets for you and your buddy that kept pestering you! You gotta good friend there and many nice people on ECF to walk down the smoke-free path beside you. Loved reading your story. Thanks and post often! 
Thanks for the kind words Mindfield. I've been off of analogs for about 2 and a half weeks now. The first day I was off of them I was not craving a cig, but wanted to truly "test" myself by having a cig. In my mind the vaping was going so well I might as well take the ultimate test to see if I was still "missing" anything with a tobacco cig. I smoked half of it, and I just didn't get anything off of it. The nic hit didn't seem potent enough (I was vaping 36 mg hard that first day) and I couldn't even taste it's flavor, while my vaping gave me intense flavor. That's when I knew "holy cow I think I can do this!".
About 3 or 4 days in my nose started coming back and I started to find tobacco smoke repulsive, which is coming in handy right now. If I should ever be overcome by some incredible urge to smoke I hope tobacco still repulses me to help keep me from ever trying one again.
On a different note- when I was using nicotine gum I chewed the maximum strength stuff. When I chewed it too much (and started getting nic poisoning) I would first get hiccups, then want to vomit. My first two days vaping I only used 36 mg liquid, expecting that if I was getting too much nic I would have the same symptoms. In my case when I vape too much nic I start getting a faster heartbeat then the onset of a headache, both very mild and both give me plenty of warning to stop vaping for a while. Now I do 36 mg in the morning and after meals, and 24 the rest of the day and feel great.
Yeah, I tried the gum, too, and the inhaler. Neither of them did a single thing for me. I started on 18mg liquid and at the time it seemed okay, but I was vaping a lot and taking huge mouthfuls of vapour, too. Once I switched to 24mg though I hit my sweet spot. I don't vape as much and don't have to take such big mouthfuls to get a good throat hit, so that's what I vape all the time. I tried 36mg a few weeks ago. After filling I made the mistake of taking a big mouthful like I do with the 24mg stuff. No exaggeration, it was like getting punched in the head by a furious monkey. It literally whited out my vision for a moment it hit me so hard. Even after that, taking smaller drags, it was just too harsh for me. So I mixed it down with some weaker liquid and it was all good again.
Mindfield- Weird how much different everyone is. The gum could totally kick my rear, but I can vape 36 mg really hard for hours.
Thanks for the welcome Wendallb, december, Olef, Nicko, washvap, and Jonny, mucho appreciated!
When I got my second e-cig a couple weeks ago I honestly didn't have it in my mind I was going to quit tobacco as I thought that was impossible for me. But... a couple hours into it, because vaping was so much different than nic gum or trying to go cold turkey, I suddenly realized I had a good shot at it. Now I am only a couple weeks in, but I just can not see a circumstance where I would ever go back to tobacco. I'm so confident that I've declaring myself a non-smoker already, something that I would never have done (even years in) if I could have stopped on gum. Every moment while trying to quit before was spent on how much I missed cigarettes, but that is not the case while vaping, all I can think about is how dern glad I am to no longer smoke!
The strangest thing happened two days ago... I had to hop in my car and run to the quickie mart and pick up a gallon of milk for my son. After I got home with the milk I realized not only had I not vaped during my little excursion, but I had also forgotten to even take my e-cig with me! Back in my smoking days I would have NEVER have forgotten my smokes, and while the trip to the gas station and back is under 10 minutes, I would have smoked at least 2 cigs. I never went anywhere in my car without lighting up as soon as I got in, and right before I got out. So while I like vaping, it doesn't rule my every move like tobacco cigs used to, what a great feeling.