After 43 years of 1 to 2 packs of smoking per day, for reasons shown below, I decide this has to stop. The reasons are both parents died of conceivably smoking related illnesses, the concern that we would not be allowed to have our new granddaughter visit, a pack of cigarettes at $6.50, and growing concerns for my own health. After unsuccessfully attempting cold turkey (only made it two weeks), I decided to give e-cigs a try. The results are astounding. In the first two weeks, I smoked four cigarettes. For the three months to the present time, I smoked none and am thoroughly convinced I never will again. The smell of cigarettes is revolting (I apologized to my kids). In this short time my sense of smell and taste have improved remarkably, when I wake up I no longer cough and hack so badly that I have to sit down (in fact I don’t cough at all), and I can mow the lawn without feeling like I’ve run a marathon. After figuring usage and cost, I’m spending about one fourth of what I used to. The few downsides I’ve seen are occasional dry throat, though others have reported this as a hydration issue easily cured by drinking more water, and it’s a rather fiddly habit with all the different equipment, volts, watts, cleaning coils, etc. My wife has joined me in this with less success but her usage of cigarettes is about a third of what it was, so some good news. To say I’m an enthusiastic convert would be an understatement. I’ve become on of those ‘converted’ boors and have convinced four people to give it a try and honestly believe that it will help them to live a longer and happier life.