Ok, WTH, I'm back to ECF after a long break, so I might as well tell my story.
I'm a card carrying geek, so as soon as I heard that there was an *electronic* cigarette, I had to check it out
In Sept. '10, a friend referred me to ECF after getting a Riva kit, and I started researching. It all sounded quite interesting, so after much deliberation I picked up an Ego kit off of ElectroNicStix (props for the awesome service). While waiting on that to arrive, I got a sudden bonus check and picked up a gas station special on the way home (I don't even remember the brand name, but I've never *ever* heard it referenced anywhere, so I can only assume it was a rebranded POS). I'm sort of impatient when it comes to new toys
I was *quite* displeased by it, tasted like complete garbage and was extremely disheartening. I toughed it out as much as I could, but it didn't really make any difference in the amount I was smoking.
Well my Ego kit finally arrived, and it was an amazing difference. I really liked the juice I picked up (it was Dekang USA Mix, and despite the bad rap that Chinese juice gets around here, it's still my go-to vape). I remember just cruising ECF and playing around with it, not really thinking about it. At some point I looked at the clock, and realized that it had been 5 hours since I had smoked (I was a 2 pack a day or more smoker). I remember thinking something along the lines of "Hmmm... It's been a while, I need a smoke... Nah, screw it, I'm good". That was the moment I really believed I could quit.
I continued to use my E-Cig exclusively for the next 4 months, with varying degress of satisfaction, but always slowly becoming less and less enthusiastic about the whole thing. I have an hour+ commute to work, and it became increasingly more difficult to come up with something that could last my entire drive to work. I experimented with Joye 510 cartos and Ego mega cartos, but both seemed to only last 15-20 goot drags before they went to crap. The leakage from them was horrible, and I was becoming more and more annoyed at the whole process of pulling out the syringes every morning (these were the Joye cartos that had the little plastic syringe fill hole), getting juice freaking everywhere and feeling like I was constantly refilling just to have the performance drop off after 10 drags. I ultimately started throwing them away after just a single use (they always seemed usable if still not very good for the first fill, then garbage afterwards). This became increasingly expensive though, and that started to take its toll with the economic issues we've been having.
I finally gave up and went back to analogs for my drive to/from work. I'd smoke 2-3 cigs on the way to work, then vape all day (my company is cool with me dripping at my desk thank god, or I would have gone back to analogs completely), then 2-3 cigs on the way home. This continued for another year with me continually telling myself that 4-6 a day *had* to be better than 40 right?
I knew that there were juice fed mods and things of that nature out there, but they were always incredibly expensive, and I really have very little discretionary income to throw around. Just keeping up with juice purchases and the occasional atomizer was all I could do for a time. As my 4 Ego batteries dwindled down to 3, then 2 I knew that something had to give...
About 4 months ago my stress level kicked up quite a bit, combined with a large number of site visits at work (I'm a consultant), and I began sneaking off to smoke an analog at increasing intervals. I was always very introverted, and am quite self conscious when it comes to PVs in public. I would much rather go stand in the rain and smoke an analog then try to explain to someone what vaping is all about, so anytime I was onsite it was always analogs for me. Shortly thereafter (about 3 months ago), I had my 3rd Ego battery die on me (leaving me only one). This was really the straw that broke the camel's back. I had a couple of 30ml bottles of juice, and a spare atty still in the wrapper, but operating on only one battery really made life tough. I used my Ego as much as I could, but I would always have to go smoke an analog whenever it was on the charger. One smoke break always led to another though, and I found that my Ego was less and less able to curb my need for a smoke. It's funny really, every time I smoked an analog, I hated it, and wished it was my E-cig, but at the same time the E-cig always left me kinda wanting a smoke.
That continued up until a few weeks ago, when I realized that my smoking rate had climbed back up to a pack a day. I've never really quit vaping, I have always used my E-cig every day, but I just seemed to be vaping less and less while smoking more and more. When I realized how much I was smoking, I knew something had to be done.
Well fast forward to last week, when my tax return arrived. It was *much* higher than expected (Yay for my first tax year filing married!), and I managed to talk the wife into letting me drop some $$ on E-Cig parts (she was understandably skeptical, given my previous slide from glory, but was ultimately in favor of anything that might reduce the number of cigs I smoke). I ordered a few new batteries and a USB PT, so my battery issue should be sorted for now. I also picked up a few new cartomizer designs after realizing that A: the joye ones I was using are probably crap compared to what's out there and B: there are some really interesting new designs (CE2, fluxomizer, etc.). I also picked up a tank mod and some Ego-T gear in hopes that they may resolve my long commute issues.
Everything is scheduled to arrive this week, and I'm looking forward to beginning part 2 of the vaping saga
), and if the 35-54 can share their e-cig gear investments together... why can't we have a place for our PV-related Sesame Street/Nintendo/Nirvana stories?
