My dad has been a heavy smoker for over 40 years. He's tried many times to quit, but always ended up smoking again. I never knew it until recently, but my dad doesn't really like smoking due to the actual smoke, the smell that permeates everything, the tar, the effect heavy smoking has on oral hygiene, etc etc etc. In fact, now that pop culture frowns upon analog cigarettes, he finds them ever more the burden. But he can't stop smoking.
One day I saw a guy walking around a party I was at, brandishing a ProVari and I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I asked him all about it and a little light went on in my head. Even if my dad couldn't stop with the nicotine, at least he could get away from the smoke and all of the negatives that smoke entails.
I chatted with my dad about it and his response was, "But it doesn't even look like a cigarette." That's when I realized that his habit didn't only involve cravings, but also the look, feel and sensation of smoking. He needed something that was the same shape and size of an analog cig, that allowed him to inhale and exhale a visible cloud of smoke and hopefully had a glowing tip on the end so he could tell if it was working or not.
So I embarked upon The Great Search for the Perfect Cig-a-like of 2013. After some internet surfing, I found that there are about 10 million options to choose from. At least, that is what it felt like when I first started looking around for "the best" one to buy. I began with a starter kit from Blu Cig because, from my point of view, they all seemed the same and Blu was affordable. (All of the kits I bought were the "ultimate" or "premium" or whatever their "biggest and best" was, and they all included standard sized batteries, because these seemed to be the closest to traditional analog cigarettes.)
The result from that experiment is that my dad found out he LOVES vaping. It solves every problem that smoking presents, except one: the need for nicotine; a vast improvement from the last 40+ years of smoking. Next, my dad realized that he LOVES the flavors that the e-cigs come in. At first, he was totally against flavors; he thought they were silly. But when he actually tried them, he saw that not only could he "smoke" and still get the nicotine he needed, but he could do it while enjoying cherry or chocolate or coffee flavors. And, he could also do it around other people without offending them, and inside cars and inside houses - and that most people actually enjoyed the scents that corresponded with the flavors. Next, he found out that perfect strangers were curious and engaged him in conversation when they saw him vaping. It was actually fun to "smoke" again, and instead of repelling people, it attracted them to him. He loved the gadgets that came in the starter kit, they were like new toys. The look and feel of the Blu e-cigs were spot on, and the mobile charger came in the form of what looked like a traditional pack of cigarettes.
In the end, that experiment ended in failure because Blu hardware is cheaply made and falls apart and/or stops performing after several weeks. I'd say that the first month of use was optimal, and then it was all down hill from there. The charger and batteries barely hold charges now and many of the carts fail. This part of the experiment left my dad a little disenchanted with the whole thing because he got frustrated and also had to worry all the time that the e-cig was going to die on him.
Next, I tried a starter kit from Volt by Smokeless Image. This was quite a departure from Blu because all of the hardware was so different. He got used to it all very quickly, though, and commenced with the vaping. He found that the flavors were weak or bland compared to the robust flavors of Blu. The batteries certainly outperformed Blu, however, and the charger seemed to perform longer as well. When it was fully assembled, the Volt e-cig is quite a bit larger than the Blu e-cig, which I imagine is why they outlast the Blu batteries. The size was easy for him to get used to, though. The carts seemed to perform similarly to Blu, except for the weak flavors.
In the end, that experiment failed also because the most important part of the kit (to a heavy smoker), the mobile charger, fell apart. I am in the process of returning it to see if they will replace it through the 3 month warranty. I have an RMA number, however it was clear that it is not guaranteed that they'll replace it. They have to "review" it first. So there is a chance that I am stuck with junky hardware, which in this case means my dad can't go out on the town with his Volt e-cig in hand, chatting people up about it, because he won't have a way to keep it charged.
Most recently, I bought the starter kit from V2. Everything about V2 is polished and flashy. They really know how to market, these people do. The kit arrived yesterday and already my dad notes that the battery life is more than double what Blu and Volt did on their best day. If these batteries hold up, we may have found a winner, but only time will tell. Also, the mobile charger charges up with a lightening quickness, unlike the Blu and Volt chargers which take many hours. One side note about V2 is that their customer services sucks. I've had issue after issue with this order, including delayed processing and shipping, missing and incorrect items being shipped, things being back-ordered, and more. If I had not been on top of this from the beginning, my order might very well still be stuck in "processing." I have found their customer service to be unapologetic and unconcerned, which is a shame since their actual products seem to be decent (so far).
If the V2 experiment also fails, I will be on the hunt for a new and exciting prospect. Cig-a-likes are very cool little things which have allowed my dad some freedom from the negatives of smoking analog cigarettes, so in the end I do not feel like any of my money has been wasted. I enjoy seeing him having fun with this habit that, for most of his life, has been a heavy burden. Also, I am disappointed to see that politics could be getting in the way of vaping in California. This has got to be the best thing that has happened to smokers in a long time and I really hate to see obstacles get in the way.
One day I saw a guy walking around a party I was at, brandishing a ProVari and I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I asked him all about it and a little light went on in my head. Even if my dad couldn't stop with the nicotine, at least he could get away from the smoke and all of the negatives that smoke entails.
I chatted with my dad about it and his response was, "But it doesn't even look like a cigarette." That's when I realized that his habit didn't only involve cravings, but also the look, feel and sensation of smoking. He needed something that was the same shape and size of an analog cig, that allowed him to inhale and exhale a visible cloud of smoke and hopefully had a glowing tip on the end so he could tell if it was working or not.
So I embarked upon The Great Search for the Perfect Cig-a-like of 2013. After some internet surfing, I found that there are about 10 million options to choose from. At least, that is what it felt like when I first started looking around for "the best" one to buy. I began with a starter kit from Blu Cig because, from my point of view, they all seemed the same and Blu was affordable. (All of the kits I bought were the "ultimate" or "premium" or whatever their "biggest and best" was, and they all included standard sized batteries, because these seemed to be the closest to traditional analog cigarettes.)
The result from that experiment is that my dad found out he LOVES vaping. It solves every problem that smoking presents, except one: the need for nicotine; a vast improvement from the last 40+ years of smoking. Next, my dad realized that he LOVES the flavors that the e-cigs come in. At first, he was totally against flavors; he thought they were silly. But when he actually tried them, he saw that not only could he "smoke" and still get the nicotine he needed, but he could do it while enjoying cherry or chocolate or coffee flavors. And, he could also do it around other people without offending them, and inside cars and inside houses - and that most people actually enjoyed the scents that corresponded with the flavors. Next, he found out that perfect strangers were curious and engaged him in conversation when they saw him vaping. It was actually fun to "smoke" again, and instead of repelling people, it attracted them to him. He loved the gadgets that came in the starter kit, they were like new toys. The look and feel of the Blu e-cigs were spot on, and the mobile charger came in the form of what looked like a traditional pack of cigarettes.
In the end, that experiment ended in failure because Blu hardware is cheaply made and falls apart and/or stops performing after several weeks. I'd say that the first month of use was optimal, and then it was all down hill from there. The charger and batteries barely hold charges now and many of the carts fail. This part of the experiment left my dad a little disenchanted with the whole thing because he got frustrated and also had to worry all the time that the e-cig was going to die on him.
Next, I tried a starter kit from Volt by Smokeless Image. This was quite a departure from Blu because all of the hardware was so different. He got used to it all very quickly, though, and commenced with the vaping. He found that the flavors were weak or bland compared to the robust flavors of Blu. The batteries certainly outperformed Blu, however, and the charger seemed to perform longer as well. When it was fully assembled, the Volt e-cig is quite a bit larger than the Blu e-cig, which I imagine is why they outlast the Blu batteries. The size was easy for him to get used to, though. The carts seemed to perform similarly to Blu, except for the weak flavors.
In the end, that experiment failed also because the most important part of the kit (to a heavy smoker), the mobile charger, fell apart. I am in the process of returning it to see if they will replace it through the 3 month warranty. I have an RMA number, however it was clear that it is not guaranteed that they'll replace it. They have to "review" it first. So there is a chance that I am stuck with junky hardware, which in this case means my dad can't go out on the town with his Volt e-cig in hand, chatting people up about it, because he won't have a way to keep it charged.
Most recently, I bought the starter kit from V2. Everything about V2 is polished and flashy. They really know how to market, these people do. The kit arrived yesterday and already my dad notes that the battery life is more than double what Blu and Volt did on their best day. If these batteries hold up, we may have found a winner, but only time will tell. Also, the mobile charger charges up with a lightening quickness, unlike the Blu and Volt chargers which take many hours. One side note about V2 is that their customer services sucks. I've had issue after issue with this order, including delayed processing and shipping, missing and incorrect items being shipped, things being back-ordered, and more. If I had not been on top of this from the beginning, my order might very well still be stuck in "processing." I have found their customer service to be unapologetic and unconcerned, which is a shame since their actual products seem to be decent (so far).
If the V2 experiment also fails, I will be on the hunt for a new and exciting prospect. Cig-a-likes are very cool little things which have allowed my dad some freedom from the negatives of smoking analog cigarettes, so in the end I do not feel like any of my money has been wasted. I enjoy seeing him having fun with this habit that, for most of his life, has been a heavy burden. Also, I am disappointed to see that politics could be getting in the way of vaping in California. This has got to be the best thing that has happened to smokers in a long time and I really hate to see obstacles get in the way.
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Oh well. Whatever keeps her off of the analogs.
