I was a cigarette smoker for 32 years having started when I was 12 years old and finally quit last year when I was 45 years old. I started smoking cigarettes because that’s what the ‘cool’ kids did and I wanted to hang out with the cool crowd. By the time I was in High School I was a pack a day smoker.When I left the Army I was smoking 2 packs a day and by the time I smoked my last cigarette on 7/27/12 I was smoking between 2.5 to 3 packs a day. I had tried ‘cold turkey’ hundreds of times, unsuccessfully. I tried NRT gums, lozenges and patches, all unsuccessfully. My sister found a groupon for an electronic cigarette and volunteered to buy it for me if I would try it. Wanting to quirt smoking but having had no success I told her I’d give it a shot. When the electronic cigarette kit came in the mail I had 1 pack of cigarettes left. That was the last pack of cigarettes I bought. I would wake up in the morning and smoke a cigarette (or 2), vape my new electronic cigarette all day and then smoke a cigarette right before I went to bed. I smoked the last cigarette from that pack on 7/27/12 and have not smoked a cigarette since. I can smell, I can taste, I can walk without getting winded, I can sit through a whole movie (except for bathroom breaks, which is another story). Yesterday was my 1 year anniversary of quitting smoking cigarettes and I’ve never been prouder of any achievement. Yesterday, on my 1st anniversary I attended a Phoenix Vapers Social at a local restaurant where around 50 people with similar stories were in attendance, afterwards my family and friends threw a BBQ party to celebrate my achievement. Through using the electronic cigarette I beat a lifelong habit.