My comment submitted yesterday:
I started smoking as a teen in the 70's.
It started off as a fun rebellion but became a habit, then an intolerable nuisance, than an impossible to quit addiction.
I regularly smoked at least 25-30 cigarettes/day I tried to quit using hypnosis twice, the patch and/or nicotine gum countless times and cold turkey enough times to know that wouldn't work for me. All were unsuccessful for more than a few hours (usually) to a few days (at most). The few times that I managed to last more than a few hours I was cranky and miserable. I had a heart attack 2.5 years ago and only managed 17 days smoke-free just on fear alone. Fear for my life wasn't even enough to make me stay quit. I tried a few smokes and didn't drop dead so I got back up to 25-30/day within a week.
Last year I saw someone
vaping and asked him about his e-cigarette. He told me he'd been smoke-free for 3 months using it. I tried an Njoy from the gas station and thought it was ok but it only lasted a few hours and I knew there would be something better available. I Googled and found a mall kiosk a few miles away. I tried and bought a rechargeable kit with assorted flavors and cut down to a few cigs per day immediately. I read continuously about vaping at ECF and other online forums and found a local vape shop offering more advanced systems and a countless variety of flavors. I visited and asked him to load a tank of his most popular flavor for me to try. I puffed an atomic fireball. I exclaimed "expletive deleted! That's an atomic fireball!" I bought all of his Fireball juice, a variety of fruit & candy flavors and a decent, variable voltage rechargeable ego battery kit. That was 3/28/2013. That was the day I completely switched from smoking to vaping. I haven't had a puff of smoke in over 16 months directly due to vaping candy, desert and fruit/berry flavored nicotine. I get the hand/mouth activity with the nicotine hit without the deadly smoke and associated mess.
I started at 24mg/ml for a few weeks, dropped to 18mg because I like the activity so I vape a lot and maintained that level for about a year. I lowered again to 12mg a few months ago so I can taste my flavors better. My latest blood work is better than my cardiologist's (he's 10 years younger and he jogs). I hike farther with less rest stops than before. When I smoked I couldn't take a deep breath without coughing. I can feel how much healthier I am and my blood work and stress test convinced my cardiologist. He's not a vaper but totally supports my switch.
I switch between about 3-5 flavors in different setups during the day. I have about 30 different flavors in my stock. I don't even keep menthol or tobacco in stock. I don't like those flavors. When I first quit smoking I thought I wanted tobacco flavored vapor but as I tried other flavors I realized I didn't even like tobacco. I was just used to it. The farther I am from smoking the better off I am.
I have helped other smokers to switch. My wife hasn't smoked in over a year. She still vapes a single sweet tobacco flavor that she likes out of about 5 that she tried. None of the 10+ other people I helped to switch even use tobacco flavors or straight menthol flavors. They enjoy mostly desserts, candy, custards and fruit/berries. I'd say the variety of available flavors is one of the top 3 reasons vaping has been successful for us. I can't imagine such a great reduced harm alternative disappearing from the marketplace. It's been a Godsend to my friends and I.
We'll continue to vape no matter what but it would be tragic if current smokers don't get the same chance to quit that we had.
Thanks for reading
