V4L is the BEST thing that's happened to me in years!
I started smoking as a teen (weren't we cool with those Winstons dangling from our lips?) back when it was accepted everywhere, even hospital waiting rooms had ashtrays! Cigarettes could be bought at the corner gas station for 17 cents a pack. I switched to Camel filters because they were even more cool than Winstons since most of my buddies thought they were too harsh. I joined the Air Force when I turned 18 and found out there were bennies to being a smoker in the military (at that time - the world has since changed) with "smoke 'em if you got 'em" breaks that the non-smokers didn't get. I kept up the habit -addiction- throughout my Air Force career and back into civilian life. I half-heartedly tried to quit a couple of times - once cold turkey (fat chance!) and once with the patches (made it 2 days), but never had any conviction that I really wanted to quit or that I would be the least bit successful at it. I was always physically active - skiing, hiking, racquetball, jogging, softball, volleyball - and I rationalized that it would offset the crap I was ingesting.
Fast forward to July 2008 - I had a heart attack while playing racquetball (so much for the rationalizations!). The cardiologist told me to quit smoking...instead, I quit playing racquetball. I figured on smoking till I died and was just waiting to see what cause of death would get me first - cancer or another heart attack.
Then, the end of July this year I was reading through the CruiseCritic message boards and came across a thread about smoking faux cigarettes. From that thread I found ECF and started reading (that 6-part Wonderful World of Vaping series by DonDaBoomVape was an excellent introduction). I try to research things a bit before I jump in, so I read as much as I could absorb for several days and slept on the idea for awhile. I was firmly convinced that the Vapor King was the best fit for me to give vaping a shot. The two-piece construction and ease of use were exactly what I wanted in a cigarette substitute. No fiddling around, just screw on the carto and inhale. Based on my reading I decided that the manual battery was the best approach for me, figuring that I would have to hold the PV anyway, so placing my finger on the button wasn't a detractor. So finally, Sunday, 8 August I made the decision and ordered the UU manual kit from V4L. Then the doubts started settling in - most likely I had thrown away $80 on a gimmicky piece of junk that would turn out to be a waste of time. I didn't have much faith that the thing would get me off cigarettes (cuz I wasn't convinced that I really WANTED to quit smoking), but I wanted to hurry up and find out that it was a waste. Of course with V4L's exceptional customer service the order was shipped on Monday but the wait seemed like forever after making the decision and placing the order!! The package arrived in my mailbox the afternoon of Friday, the 13th - that had to be a sign of certain failure!
I opened the package and laid out all the contents. Actually, it looked like a well-crafted piece of gear! Maybe it wouldn't be a waste, after all? I threaded a Kamel 18mg carto onto one of the batts, pushed the button and took a hit.
Damn! This thing delivers!! As I've seen so many times on this board, the thought rolled through my mind,
"This might actually work!!!!" And it did. My half pack of unsmoked Camel filters stayed on the workbench, untouched - until I lit one out of shear habit in a moment of distraction a couple of mornings later and immediately threw the pack away at that point so it wouldn't happen again! Yuck! Haven't had a cigarette since and have no desire for one. I never thought I would ever be saying that!
Now I'm looking forward to enjoying a cigarette-free life with no burn holes in my shirts/pants/car seats, no cigarette breath, no freeze-my-....-off or bake-in-the-sun smoke breaks, no $8-10 packs of cigarettes and no clogged up lungs.
Thank you Vapor4Life! You provide a superior quality product with outstanding customer service! I've seen numerous threads on ECF about folks "trading up" and changing equipment after a few weeks with their starter. I feel safe in saying I've already got the top of the line for my purposes, the Vapor King meets my wants and needs and has truly exceeded my expectations! I'll stick with a winner! I've placed 7 additional orders in the past 2-and-a-half weeks (thanks for the SALEs!) and have been completely happy with everything I've gotten! Keep up the excellent work!
