I loved smoking, even knowing that it was killing me. Emphysema, COPD and a spontaneously collapsed lung had no effect on making me stop.
In order for a replacement of cigarettes to be acceptable to me, the replacement had to be every bit as "good" as smoking. I was not willing to trade off even one iota of the things that kept me addicted.
I was totally surprised when vaping fit the bill.
Since I was spending $12 or $13 per day on smokes, the $2500 that I've spent on vaping still represents a savings of about $4000 compared to what I would have spent on cigarettes in the 19 months since I switched to vaping. Without spending another cent, I have enough supplies on hand to vape for at least the next 4 years. Does that mean I won't yield to shinyitis for 4 years? Of course not. As far as cost is concerned, though, those of us who were spending a lot on tobacco are more likely to be "in the black" than those who smoked less or rolled their own.
Last but not least, nicotine is hardly a villain except for those to whom the temporary constriction of blood vessels is problematic. Nicotine is not a carcinogen, has no lasting deleterious effects and has benefits for many of us. I feel the need to point that out regularly, to help people avoid lumping nicotine together with the thousands of harmful ingredients of cigarette smoke.
