What took you so long?

[Chimney34]

I hadn't really heard of ecigs until maybe 3 months before I started vaping. We got a new DM for work & while at a meeting one day we're all standing around smoking during a break & he comes up with this thing & starts blowing smoke. Needless to say he gave me a cig-a-like starter he'd used before getting his egos. They didn't work for me but it got me researching. The next thing I knew my best friends mom was using them & she was a heavy smoker & had managed to quit.

That was over a year ago & there were hardly any vape shops in my area...actually only 1 within a 30 min drive. Now they're everywhere here! I didn't really want to quit smoking either but after the death of a close family friend due to lung cancer I finally got the kick in the but I needed to seriously try vaping as an alternative to smoking. After 5 days of vaping I had my last cigarette & never bought another pack!

People continue to ask me...when are you going to quit 'that'? And my response is 'probably never'!
Vape On!!

 

[Johnnie Price]

My 3 year old got bronchitis for the second straight year. It's not fun having to give a breathing treatment to a toddler.

Put down the smokes and grabbed an e-cig. I stumbled a little on the way, and still do, but my daughter is 5 now and hasn't had a major lung infection in 2 years.

I enjoyed smoking. I still do actually. I'll probably never give up vaping, but I'll be damned if my habits make my daughter ill

 

[thearlonian]

I started smoking to get off the gum.

Wait, what??? Am I reading this right?

Anyway for me it was the quality/price ratio. 3 or 4 years ago a couple of my friends got e-cigs. I thought it was a cool idea but seemed way overpriced. I tried some crappy $20 cartrige ecig from 7-11 and it was meh. My friends had the Blu's and I liked those and thought about getting one but $80-$100 wasn't worth it. After a couple weeks I lost my atomizer and that was the end of that. Now within this past year I start seeing people with tanks and ego batteries. I'd try them and whaddya know; strawberry, chocolate, ....ING VANILLA CUSTARD. Waaay better than the bland juice people were putting in their blu's. But what really did it for me was when two different vape shops opened up in my town, almost simultaneously. All of a sudden I see people vaping everywhere. A guy I know from school had an RDA with a mech mod and when asked he said he got it for $70 right there on 41st. That just blew my mind... I knew I had to check it out. So as soon as I had some extra cash I went downtown and they set me up with a pt2 mini. Great device to start with, got a pt3 right after quitting analogs and now looking into rebuildables.

TL;DR
- Quality has skyrocketted since I last checked
- Price has gone down
- Two vape shops opened in my town

 

[alisa1970]

I didn't really know anything about ecigs or vaping, and really didn't care to know until I saw an email ad for one of those "free" ecigs about a year ago. I guess I was ready to consider a smoking alternative at that point, because I clicked on the ad. I think I was intrigued at the idea of saving money (not so much my health at that point).

I almost signed up, until I read the fine print and realized that the cost of the automatic refill shipments was almost 2x as much as what I spent smoking! That idea ended there and then.

Then a few months later I got a really bad cold and it reminded me of the previous one that ended up with me getting chest x-rays and an asthma inhaler (I had gotten asthmatic bronchitis). When I stopped by the gas station I buy my cigs at, I saw that they had Blu's and remembering that commercial I'd seen a while back, decided to buy one along with my smokes.

A couple of months later and a few more disposables (they helped me cut my smoking down but just a bit), and it got me researching and I found ECF. Got my first legitimate kit, and the rest is history.

I had NO idea at the time what a wide, wide world there was in vaping. And all the different things people do as a hobby. Like another posted said, I've actually been sicker since I quit than when I was smoking but it has nothing to do with vaping, and I am working with a doctor to get my issues figured out. A long road to be sure, but I expect I'll be a vaper for a VERY long time. I love vaping more than I loved smoking, and I really loved smoking. That's saying something.

 

[omyeyes]

It's unbelievable to me. This has to be the best kept secret EVER and I knew nothing. I was on Chantix two or three times and tried everything else you can think of. I even ended up in the emergency because of the glue on the patches.

I poo poo'ed the idea of the e-cig when I first heard about it thinking it was just a gimmick. A friend suggested to try the Green Leaf to get me through the traveling when I went on vacation in July. That's when I thought, "Hmmm, I'll just get it for the plane, airport and the cruise and then I'll ditch them because they probably won't satisfy me in the long run. In one day I was done. Done with the smokes, forever!

Had a check up with the Dr. a few months later & she noticed my lungs were clearer and asked if I quit smoking. I said "Yes and proceeded to tell her about this "vape" thing. She was glad for me but didn't seem to want to hear the details. That just confirmed the idea that they do get a kickback from BP!!!

 

[edyle]

It was my niece that sent me a disposable first; barely touched it - it was menthol - still have it!
then weeks later, .... after seeing a couple ads on tv I wondered if there was anything available at local pharmacies and to my surprise there was! So I tried them. Found one I could stomach; was too strong on the nic though; eventually found somebody who DIY eliquids and I was off from there.

 

[WillyZee]

I've only been vaping since September ... I almost forget what smoking was like ... and I did it for 30 years.

 

[MikeZ28]

I've only been vaping since September ... I almost forget what smoking was like ... and I did it for 30 years.

Now that ya mention it... didn't occur to me 'til now, that memory is fading. That's gotta be a good sign.

 

[firephly]

I don't remember how many years ago it was, but my son bought me an electronic cigarette. It was all black, one piece, smaller than a cigarette, and advertised as 'mimicking smoking'. It didn't even have nicotine in it. We had a heck of a time trying to get it to work.

Six months ago, my son again says, 'Why don't you try an e-cig?". I reminded him that I did years ago and he laughs and says, "No, they are completely different now. All my friends are using them, and they actually work now."

I researched it, bought an ego kit and haven't looked back since.

ETA: I really had no clue all these years about what was going on in the e-cig market.

same here, someone gave me a little cigalike years ago, I just wasn't very impressed with it and didn't keep up with what what going on since. Then they raised the tax so much I just couldn't justify smoking anymore, and also my bf doesn't smoke and told me that he didn't want to see me get sick from smoking and that encouraged me as well.

 

[DC2]

Nothing took me so long, and I had never heard of vaping before I started.

My sister showed up from out of town with an NJoy Pro in hand after dinner one Father's Day over four years ago.
She had me take a drag and I drove 60 miles to a Pilot Truck stop the next day to buy one for myself.

I knew I was done with cigarettes from that very first drag.

 

[DC2]

15 years ago?! Crikey.

Typo?

...........

 

[ncpatches]

In Aug 2012, I took my 12 yo granddaughter on a road trip to the mountains for a little vacation, just her and Nana. At the time, I doubted my old Honda would make the 1000 mile round trip, +extra, so I rented a car. Knowing I could not smoke in a rental, I ordered some cigalikes that didn't arrive on time. I ended up stopping at a truck stop on the way and bought some other disposable thing. I wasn't impressed, but it did work, I was able to drive without stopping for a smoke break and I was real close to being a chain smoker and even worse when I drove. Although I smoked when out of the car, we were on the road a lot and it wasn't a problem. By the time I got back, the order was there of course. I used them occasionally if the circumstances arose where there were needed, but that's it.

Fast forward to late Oct 2013. While talking with my son, he tells me he hadn't had a cig in several days, that he had bought the Blu. This made me start thinking and dragging out the old cigalikes from the year before. It still wasn't doing it for me, so I did some research, found eGo's and CE's and ordered what I considered to be a good start. Unfortunately, it was on a 'slow boat' and I lost my patience and went to the nearest B&M (80 miles round trip) and bought another ego and a Davide tank, plus charger, juice, a passthru, etc.

In about 3 weeks, I went from 2-3 packs a day, to 6-7 cigs a day. Not trying to, it just happened. Then one day, I got up and had 3 cigs left. I smoked them while having my coffee and when they were gone decided I wasn't going to buy more. Been 35 days and I am so happy! After trying the gum, the patch, the lozenges, the inhaler, Ziban (?), Chantix and cold turkey over the years, while being completely miserable and a waste of time, I am amazed at how easy it has been. So that's my story!

 

[FlamingoTutu]

I don’t remember how or when I first heard about ecigs but it was over three years ago. For what I smoked, it was recommended that I use 4mg liquid. Unsurprisingly, that didn’t work. Three years ago I tried it again with 8mg, was worried I was going to poison myself but was desperate, and that was a flaming disaster too. Almost literally. Lit the end of the ecig while at the dog park and singed it. So grateful e were the only ones there. I chalked ecigs up to being another NRT disaster.

Before the ecig I’d tried BP’s gum, patch, inhaler and Wellbutrin, all dismal failures.

About 15 months ago my husband talked to a coworker that vaped and found out what he was using. I looked it up and ordered it with 16mg juice. Though I still smoked, it did more for me than all of BP’s BS put together. Set a quit date of 1 January 2013 but couldn’t cut out the last 10 or so a day. Took me until 14 March 2013 to finally fully quit, and that was after upping to 24mg. Took another four+ months to find ECF.

Things were so much easier after finding this place. Went through a lot of, “OMG, it’s not just me then?!” Sure would like to think I’d have made it without ECF but I’m not sure. I was in a bad way medically when I started vaping that last time—told it was caused, “100% because you smoked,” though that turned out to be untrue—and under a lot of stress but still pulled through without reverting and that is most likely due to ECF and everybody on it. I was able to understand the smoking cessations symptoms and separate them from the medical ones which was a relief since I was in such deep trouble.

Sorry all to be so longwinded, generic mutant shouldn’t have put this soap box up here.

 

[FlamingoTutu]

Longwinded and a double post?! Yikes, sorry.

 

[FlamingoTutu]

Was I the only one living in a cave?

No, god, didn't you ever turn on the light? There were thousands of us in there with you. Did you really think all those glowing cigarette tips were fireflies?

Edit: BTW, great topic generic mutant! Interesting reads by all.

 

[Virtual Life]

Throughout the last decade I was on the road a lot and truck stops are 24/365 so I frequented many. This also prompted me to get a CB (Citizens Band radio) transceiver so I could talk to others while driving. There was (probably still is) lots of talk of e-cigs on the CB. But the truck stops charged a fortune for any of the piece-of-junk disposables that don't even come close to their claims of longevity.

In 2012 I finally got enough time to look into it while at my keyboard and I got a few ego kits with disposable clearomizers and a few Vivi Nova's. They were OK but charging problems and I got busy again so I dropped it until last October. The VAMO with PT2 did the trick. After repeated success and realization that it was sustainable there came a morning when I decided to see how long can I go without smoking. Turns out much longer than I dreamed, and I now expect it to be forever.

Now my problem is that I am cheap (uh, frugal) but I want a Provari and a Kayfun.

 

[ctkid57]

No, god, didn't you ever turn on the light? There were thousands of us in there with you. Did you really think all those glowing cigarette tips were fireflies?

Edit: BTW, great topic generic mutant! Interesting reads by all.

Looked all around the cave. Is the light switch a pull chain?

 

[NewVaprr]

It just took me a long time to find the right set up... started with the Luci on and off for a few months.. batteries didn't last long enough and spend more time refilling the cartridges...then tried the Ego-C, but the little tanks kept leaking on me...

Finally tried the Davide Mini and have been vaping exclusively ever since.

 

[Leslv]

I had tried just about everything to stop smoking. Gum, lozenges, patches, laser you name it. A co-worker of my husbands had started using E-Cigs and it was working for him so I figured it was worth a try. He pointed me to the local B&M. That was a very lucky thing for me. They set everyone up with an Ego Twist & CE from the start. I think that made a huge difference. They were very helpful in showing how to work everything properly and had great juice. I started vaping that very day and have only smoked once since then. About 2 weeks in when I still had a few cigs left I lit one up, took 2 drags, gaged and never lit another one.

I found ECF about that time and have learned so much from all you fine folks. I spend a lot of time on here and I think that helped more than anything. I next went to T-3's, much better. Purchased a ProVari and PT much, much better. Now have a REO & RM2 and I'm done looking.

Just after the move to T3's I started DIYing and rebuilding the heads for them & the PT's. Been quite a learning experience in the last almost year. I've come a long way baby! I think finding ECF and being willing to learn has made all the difference. There is so much info here, I still learn something new almost every day. I think a link to ECF should come with every device sold. With just a little effort even this old lady can quit and enjoy doing it. Thanks ECF for probably saving my life!

 

[generic mutant]

Typo?

...........

You're probably right.

That said, there have been a few 'safer cigarettes' some of which may have looked vaguely similar. I think some were tested in small markets. I think they normally got killed off by stifling regulation (because they started in the West, with big tobacco).

So she could be right, just slightly misidentifying.