I have been a nicotine addict since I was 8 years old.
It started with being around cigarette smoke all the time. My grandma is a smoker, and smoked heavily. Whether she was in the car with us kids, or we were in her part of the house watching television, cigarette smoke was a constant presence. We got used to it, even started enjoying the smell of it. Then we started looking forward to being around it. We became addicted to the second-hand smoke very early on.
One day, when I was 7 years old, I grabbed a smoldering cigarette from my grandma's ashtray and took a few puffs. I coughed my guts out, but I LIKED the smoke. So, a couple days later, I grabbed one from her ashtray again, and lit it up (took a few tries to get the hang of a lighter), and successfully lit it.
I would then smoke partial cigarettes, without her knowing, and when I was done I would use mouthwash and wash my hands really well. By the time I was 8 years old, I was a full addict. It was weird. I was sitting out back on the porch, with a cigarette in my hand, 8 years old, saying to myself "Oh my god, I'm addicted". I remember that moment very clearly. Little did I know, the addiction would continue to grow and change.
At 10 years old, I was at a half pack a day. By 12, I was at a pack a day.
At age 15, I finally told my mom that I was a smoker. She smacked me upside my head and told me what an idiot I was (she is an ex-smoker). She told me I had to quit.
I tried many times. Gum, patches, lozenges, and it never seemed to last. I'd have a stressful day and then the only thing on my mind, a constant force pulling me, was cigarettes. They became my coping mechanism, became my friend, and was the first thing I'd turn to for comfort. The addiction is a difficult thing, because it becomes such a huge part of things that it's always there, always on my mind.
The longest I have gone without cigarettes was 6 months. I was in a group home in Van Nuys, CA when I was 17, and after 6 months I learned how to sneak cigarettes. Now, I say that I went without for 6 months, but that didn't change the fact that I was still addicted. Every moment I got to be around someone who was smoking, I would in order to get the second-hand smoke. I would even roll up pieces of paper and pretend to smoke, because I needed the physical habit to be fulfilled.
Over the years, I went from menthol, to rolling my own, to Marlboro Reds, to Camel, back to menthol, etc. I even went through a Cigar and pipe tobacco phase. Never used "smokeless" tobacco (chew, dip, etc).
I tried Eclipse cigarettes, but they just tasted nasty. I would gag on them. I tried to stick with them because they were supposedly healthier, but the taste kept me away.
Then, one day, I hear about e-cigs. I think to myself "another attempt to quit that I'll fail at". 4 years go by, and I forget about them until I move to North Idaho. About 5 months ago I see someone taking puffs off of an e-cig, and asked him about them. He said he bought it at the mall, paid a LOT for it, and that he pays $20 for 15ml of liquid. I think "ok, maybe I can do this". Instead of going online and researching, I went straight to the mall (The Vapor Depot, look them up online and you'll see what I mean about prices) and bought an RN-4072 pen-style and a bottle of liquid. Cost me $100 for the kit. The guy at The Vapor Depot told me that a $20 bottle of his liquid lasts for 2 cartons worth of "smoke". I thought this was funny, because you cannot compare vapor to cigarettes. Cigarettes are measured by how many you smoke, whereas vapor consumption is determined by how many milliliters you consume in a day. You can't even compare cigarettes to vapor by measuring mouthfuls, because we all smoke differently. So, his sales pitch was good, the product sold itself to an addict (pretty easy to sell an addict something that gives them their fix, hence the reason e-cigs are such a lucrative market), and the liquid (at the time) tasted good.
I later came to find out that the liquid he uses is Dekang liquid. It's re-bottled and re-labeled, but trust me, it's Dekang. He is making a killing off of the liquid. In a very poor area, charging addicts $20 per 15ml for Dekang liquid is almost armed robbery.
Anyway, so that's what brought me to ECF. I needed to do research on e-cigs and learn more about liquids and equipment. The Vapor Depot never even told me about low-resistance atomizers or long-battery-life mods. He just wants to push his cheap product with maximum profit, without caring about the customer's needs. In fact, he laughed about mods like the DSE-905 and the Silver Bullet, saying they are pieces of junk and they aren't real Ruyan devices. He mocks people who make mods and disrespects those who use liquid other than his.
Anyway, so that's what brought me here. An addiction unlike anything I will ever experience, and the need to learn more about liquids, devices, mods, how-to's, where-to's, and why-to's. This place is an excellent knowledge center and I thank every member of ECF for being here and keeping people like me informed.
