Hello all!
Checking in here after lurking for a bit, wanted to share my story with everyone:
I am (was!) a pack/day smoker for 10-15 years, and recently transitioned to e-cigs with the indirect/direct help of 2 friends.
My first friend gave up smoking for Lent 2011 - he made it through Lent and, as far as he tells me, has never picked up a cigarette again.
He recently convinced my second friend to train for a half marathon this coming January. As part of that training, my second friend gave up smoking real cigarettes (somehow I just can't get myself to type the word "analog" in reference to tobacco cigarettes) in favor of e-cigs.
This friend has been doing pretty well with it, and I recently made the jump in to e-cigs for a variety of reasons:
1) My two main enablers (we were each others' enablers!) have quit
2) I always felt bad smoking a real cigarette in front of either of them after they quit
3) Like many others, I was just sick of feeling like crap all the time, and waking up every morning with a sore throat
4) My employer recently announced a tobacco-free workplace policy effective in 1/2013. For clarity for those that care: this does not mean that I can not use tobacco products on my own time as an employee of the company, only that I will not be permitted to use tobacco products on company property.
5) And most importantly: sometime longer than 9 months from now, but shorter than 12-18 months from now, my wife and I plan to have a child - and I promised her as an absolute certainty that I would not smoke cigarettes once we have a kid.
So flashback to August 11th:
After several weeks of my curiosity about my buddy's e-cigs, and of my increasingly-detailed questions, he finally grabbed a disposable for me to top off an order to qualify for free shipping. He gave it to me with the advice to not use it immediately after smoking a cigarette, but wait until I was nic-fitting a little bit. So I went to bed on August 11, and woke up on August 12 and reached for the disposable rather than my pack of cigarettes. Since that time, I have smoked 0 cigarettes: I placed an order for my own starter kit and carts that day, snagged some more disposables from local brick and mortar stores to carry me through, and received my starter kit last Wednesday.
For me, it's worked reasonably well: I've had very few "horrendous" hours where I was absolutely craving a cigarette. After nearly giving in on day 2, I resisted, and haven't come that close since. This past Monday, I gave my last 3 packs to a co-worker. To date, I've dropped something like $180 on e-cigs, carts, etc - so I'm still in my breakeven period. While greater minds than me have posted in the new member info forum that a cart does not equal a pack in terms of usage/ nicotine , the fact is that I'm going through roughly a cart a day with consistency, and before I was going through a pack a day with consistency. Thus, I'm saving about $5/day and will break even in 3 weeks time.
From a health standpoint, I feel much better. My wife is far happier, and I'm noticing my sense of smell and taste coming back. I have yet to experience the "cleansing" wet cough that many report, but I expect that to come as well.
Anyway, I think it's a great forum that you have set up here - tons of info to sort through and learn about new things!
Checking in here after lurking for a bit, wanted to share my story with everyone:
I am (was!) a pack/day smoker for 10-15 years, and recently transitioned to e-cigs with the indirect/direct help of 2 friends.
My first friend gave up smoking for Lent 2011 - he made it through Lent and, as far as he tells me, has never picked up a cigarette again.
He recently convinced my second friend to train for a half marathon this coming January. As part of that training, my second friend gave up smoking real cigarettes (somehow I just can't get myself to type the word "analog" in reference to tobacco cigarettes) in favor of e-cigs.
This friend has been doing pretty well with it, and I recently made the jump in to e-cigs for a variety of reasons:
1) My two main enablers (we were each others' enablers!) have quit
2) I always felt bad smoking a real cigarette in front of either of them after they quit
3) Like many others, I was just sick of feeling like crap all the time, and waking up every morning with a sore throat
4) My employer recently announced a tobacco-free workplace policy effective in 1/2013. For clarity for those that care: this does not mean that I can not use tobacco products on my own time as an employee of the company, only that I will not be permitted to use tobacco products on company property.
5) And most importantly: sometime longer than 9 months from now, but shorter than 12-18 months from now, my wife and I plan to have a child - and I promised her as an absolute certainty that I would not smoke cigarettes once we have a kid.
So flashback to August 11th:
After several weeks of my curiosity about my buddy's e-cigs, and of my increasingly-detailed questions, he finally grabbed a disposable for me to top off an order to qualify for free shipping. He gave it to me with the advice to not use it immediately after smoking a cigarette, but wait until I was nic-fitting a little bit. So I went to bed on August 11, and woke up on August 12 and reached for the disposable rather than my pack of cigarettes. Since that time, I have smoked 0 cigarettes: I placed an order for my own starter kit and carts that day, snagged some more disposables from local brick and mortar stores to carry me through, and received my starter kit last Wednesday.
For me, it's worked reasonably well: I've had very few "horrendous" hours where I was absolutely craving a cigarette. After nearly giving in on day 2, I resisted, and haven't come that close since. This past Monday, I gave my last 3 packs to a co-worker. To date, I've dropped something like $180 on e-cigs, carts, etc - so I'm still in my breakeven period. While greater minds than me have posted in the new member info forum that a cart does not equal a pack in terms of usage/ nicotine , the fact is that I'm going through roughly a cart a day with consistency, and before I was going through a pack a day with consistency. Thus, I'm saving about $5/day and will break even in 3 weeks time.
From a health standpoint, I feel much better. My wife is far happier, and I'm noticing my sense of smell and taste coming back. I have yet to experience the "cleansing" wet cough that many report, but I expect that to come as well.
Anyway, I think it's a great forum that you have set up here - tons of info to sort through and learn about new things!
