I started smoking when I was 14. I have fluctuated between .5 and 2.5 packs a day for almost 25 years, depending on stress level etc. I always enjoyed smoking, and the times I'd tried to quit (even using a Blu) were misery. I always said I was never going to quit, that eventually something would get me, might as well be something I like.
Then, my best friend's dad, a heavy smoker, died of lung cancer. A friend of mine, not much older than me, was just diagnosed with COPD and has to be on oxygen. My dad has had a heart attack, and I'm approaching the age when the heart problems start in my family. You can't smoke anywhere anymore anyway, so any time I had to travel, stay in a hotel or rent a car it was an annoyance. I'd been kicking around the idea of quitting, but no way was I going cold turkey as I enjoy life outside of prison, and none of the other methods had ever done anything for me. My husband doesn't smoke, and has been gently trying to persuade me to quit for a while because many of his friends are now suffering COPD or cancer from smoking and he doesn't want me to go that way. I don't smoke inside our house, just outside on the porch, and it was about to start being cold out, cold enough that shivering on the stoop to burn one was an unpleasant idea. The lady at the tobacco store where I bought smokes was always going on about how great her Ecto was, how far the technology had come and how much better it was than the cig-alikes I was already sure didn't work for me. I started going online, watching
vaping videos and reading up on what I should maybe try. Then, I got tipsy one night while downtown waiting on my husband to get out of a meeting and happened to walk past a vape shop that was fairly new…so I interpreted it as a sign from the universe and went in and bought an eGo starter kit and some juice.
Honestly, I'd expected it to be hard. I figured it would still be a poor substitute, and I'd still have to tough it out making myself stick to the plan while possibly being really cranky and hard to live with for an indeterminate amount of time. (One of the reasons I'd been scared to REALLY try quitting was my dad's best friend, who had been done with cigarettes for 13 years at that point, telling me when I asked him did my cigarette make him want one, "I could eat that right now." Dang if I was going to go the rest of my life craving something so badly.) But I found to my great surprise that first night with an eGo that
vaping was really pleasant. More pleasant than the cigarettes. I was way surprised. I'd figured I'd just use
vaping to cut back. But I haven't had a cigarette or really even thought about wanting one more than just the briefest craving in over a month. Instead, I've been really getting into the technology of vaping, and trying different juices. I've already upgraded to an MVP 2.0 and am trying out different tanks. I really enjoy the sensation of vaping, the taste of the different juices, the fact that the entire experience is so easy to customize, and I'm lucky to have several great vape shops in town where the people are all welcoming and helpful. And my sweet husband, bless his heart, the other day when I said I was totally going to have to quit spending money on vaping stuff, said to me "If it's helping you quit smoking, buy whatever you want."
I have smoked one cigarette since I started vaping for real, and it was so disgusting that I put it out before I'd finished half of it. I'm enjoying getting my nicotine in what I feel like is a more pleasant way, with the added benefit that I can now smell, taste and breathe 10x better than I have in a long time.