Testamonials

[OCD]

This is not a thread to post praise for our products, what I am thinking is this could become an ammunition thread for us to use when needed.

Here is the thought, type out your story here and send me a pm with signing details so they will not be public. I will not ever publish these details in electronic for but what I will do is attach your signature and print them out. When I have the opportunity to reach an elected representative I will be able to hand them a stack of letters written by those who have found a saving grace in switching to ecigs.

I would so love to be able to hand a stack of a thousand letters to someone who is backing some new legislation to ban or limit the use of ecigs, with the help of you folks maybe we can see that happen. We will be in DC in March for VapeFest, it would be with great pride that I would display these letters on our table.

So, IBTanked user or not, if you have a story to tell and you are willing to sign it I want it. Just PM me you username and post number from this thread along with any details you are willing to put on the bottom line, name, address phone ect. I would hope folks would entrust this information to me as we already collect it but this is a little different as I said, i will share it, just not in a wide net sense. I will only share it in handing it personally to those who we feel would benefit from learning a little from our point of view and only with your permission.

 

[Baditude]

I feel that e-cigarettes have saved my life. At the very least they have prolonged it.

I had smoked a pack per day for over 35 years. I loved to smoke, but I knew full well that it was affecting my health. I can still remember driving my teenage children to school one morning and having my usual morning routine of coughing up a lung. I can still hear one of them ask, "Dad! Are you ok? When are you going to quit smoking?"

I had tried multiple times in the past to quit. I'd tried the nicotine gum, patches, lozenges, Welbutrin, and hypnosis (twice). None of that stuff really helped my strong cravings for cigarettes. I really felt that I was never going to be able to quit, and would probably die with a stinky in my hand.

Flashback to one and a half years ago. I just happened to see my first e-cigarette displayed near the cigarettes at my convenience store and decided to try one. It wasn't too bad. A disposable NJoy Menthol. There must be something better out there, so I began researching on the internet.

That very same week my mother found out that she had cancer. A few days later and some test results came back and we found out that the cancer was too advanced and not treatable. Within two days my mother passed on peacefully.

This was a Life Changing Experience for me. My mother's sudden death made me realize my own mortality upon this Earth, and if I didn't quit smoking soon I would be following my mother to the grave. It still seems like an ironic consequence that I tried my first e-cigarette the week my mother found out she had cancer.

Long story short, within a week of beginning to use my e-cig starter kit and still allowing myself to have a few cigarettes a day, I was able to wean my self completely off of the cigarettes. I haven't had a cigarette since and never have wanted one since. The nicotine replacement, hand-to-mouth routine, and the sensation of smoke/vapor in my lungs was close enough to my smoking habit that I have never missed smoking the real thing.

No longer do I have those morning coughing fits. I no longer have evening congestion around bedtime, presumably having something to do with the smoking. I still get a little winded after climbing a flight of steps, but I'm nearly 60 and don't exercise, so I attribute that to my general lack of physical fitness.

I no longer am inhaling all the tar, smoke, or hundreds of chemicals that cigarettes have. I understand that there have been no long-term scientific studies done on the safety of e-cigarettes, but reasonable wisdom dictates that they have to be safer than cigarettes. I'm willing to accept those risks.

I'm quite concerned about how the FDA will regulate e-cigarettes. I really hope that they do not give Big Tobacco control or allow them to monopolize the e-cig market. I'm also fearful that the Pharmaceutical Companies will attempt to influence the FDA to over-regulate or even ban e-cigarettes like they tried to do a few years ago. Over-regulation could kill the e-cig trade to put the majority of companies out of business, which would not be the wise thing to do. There are too many people who have successfully quit smoking and using other tobacco products only to have them return to smoking. Or is that the FDA's plans to begin with?

Lynn Lutz
Cincinnati, Ohio

 

[serenity21899]

I smoked 2 packs a day for 31 years. Secretly, I really wanted to quit, knowing that it was slowly killing me, but all of my attempts to do so did not work. I have unsuccessfully tried Wellbutrin and nicotine gum, as well as cold turkey. I quit both alcohol and drugs many years ago, but smoking was much harder to let go of.

Due to some financial difficulties, my husband informed me that cigarettes were no longer in the budget, so quitting was my only option. Without cigarettes, however, I became most nasty to those around me. My husband would give in and buy me more just so I would shut up.

Some fellow employees of my husband started using electronic cigarettes, which I had never heard of. He told me about them and I agreed to try it. My intention was not to quit, but to get husband to stop bugging me about it. I headed to my local WalMart and got a Mistic starter kit. I did not like the flavor, but I did realize the nicotine was the thing I was missing when I attempted to quit cold turkey. I did some internet research and found Blu, which I purchased online. They tasted much better and I was able to stick with them for a few months, until I found more advanced vaping devices that worked much better for me.

With my first starter kit I had about half a pack of cigarettes left. Once the cigarettes were gone, that was it. I had quit! And it really was not all that difficult once I got started. Electronic cigarettes provide the actions that became habitual while we are smoking. I needed the hand to mouth action and the vapor that made it seem like I was still smoking traditional cigarettes.

14 months later, I am still smoke-free and feeling much better. That smoker’s cough is gone, and my sinus problems have cleared up quite a bit. Interestingly, my husband’s sinus issues have also been lessened by me quitting. My family has told me that I am a much happier person now. I have cut my nicotine from 18mg down to 12mg, and sometimes 6mg. Eventually I will cut it down to 0mg.

Although the exact effects of vaping are not yet known, I feel that it is a much more viable alternative to traditional cigarettes. I feel that I did a good thing by quitting, and that the FDA is punishing us vapers for our efforts. It is more about money than health. Big Tobacco and Big Pharm have much to lose as the number of vapers increases. What I fear the most, as outright bans, excessive taxation, and regulations against vaping in public places, such as Chicago recently passed, will prevent new vapers from discovering this life-saving alternative for themselves.

Susan Bilinski
Antioch IL