Growing up in the '50's & '60's, everybody smoked. The odd duck who didn't smoke was looked at like something was wrong with them. In every TV show, every movie, every magazine, every display in a store, every billboard, every place you went, everybody smoked.
I went into the Air Force during the Viet Nam war. The sergeant or officer in charge didn't say, "Take a break," they said, "Smoke 'em if you got 'em." And I reckon that's where I got really hooked into cigarettes. Smoking wasn't just about the smoke or the nicotine or the act of smoking, but rather it was a way to carve out a tiny bit of virtual personal calming space in the midst of high stress and chaos.
Then came college and then work, smoking all the way. Engineering too is a career of high stress, tight deadlines work, many hours in stuffy, smokey conference rooms, each person chained to their notebooks, schematics, and cigarettes.
Wasn't until sometime in the '80's when the company I worked for started implementing smoking restrictions. The areas where we could smoke grew smaller every few months. Then we were relegated to only smoking outdoors. Eventually smoking was forbidden on work property as well as nearly everyplace in public.
At some point in all this, I decided to just not smoke at work at all. The tables had turned on smokers, even the smell of smoke on a person was met with management scowls and sideways disapproving glances from co-workers. I wanted to quit and did so many times, but always went back to it eventually.
In 2005, work put out a memo that we had 12 months to stop smoking or else we would be dropped from our health insurance. What???!!!
So in Feb 2006, I stopped smoking. It was a long horrible ride. Patches, gum, pills, suckers, smoking cessation support groups, forums, you name it, I did it. I was a white-knuckled, resentful non-smoker. And I always knew eventually I'd go back to it and lose my health insurance, as sure as I'm sitting here.
Then last year, my friend Bobbi got an e-cig, an Ego. An old long-time smoker like me, she immediately stopped smoking that very day. I decided to try it, not to quit smoking, but because ever since I'd stopped smoking, I'd been gaining a lot of weight and thought maybe an e-cig could help appease my appetite.
OMG, from the first vape, I was floored. It not only curbed my appetite, but I knew in my soul that I never had to touch another cigarette. I was free at last! A person who has never smoked can not understand what I'm saying, I'm sure of it, lol.
So my journey began and I became dedicated to helping smokers find vaping. I truly believe that the e-cigarette is so far the pivital invention of the 21st century. Millions of people all around the world could be saved with e-cigs, not only the smokers but all the other people and all the pets that are subjected to second-hand smoke. And so why the governments and health organizations of the world don't come forward to support it absolutely astonishes me.
I've tried many e-cigs, made a bunch of them, put out youtube videos showing vaping and how to make e-cigs and reviewing some of them, both commercial e-cigs and mods. I applaud all the youtube vapors and forum vapors for their courage and dedication to get the word out.
Since I have tried and also made many e-cigs and new e-cig technologies, I'm now thankful for the Smokeless Image Volt. This is definitely one in my book that can get smokers off cigarettes quickly and with the least fuss and mess. If I had a bunch of money, I would buy up as many Volt kits as I could and hand them out on the street to every smoker I see. I'd love to form a network of people across the country to hand out free Volts kits. Matter of fact, if I win anything Volt in a contest, this one or any one, I'm going to give it away.
Anyway, now I'm off into pipe-dream land so reckon I should end this. The signature below isn't really accurate but it shows the length of time since I've been vaping, since I've been free from the nagging threat that I'd go back to smoking. Thank you dearest vaping community, vendors and vapors alike.