I had been starting to smoke more and more recently as my chronic back pain reached an all-time max. By December I was smoking a full cigar 1-2 times per week. I’ve never been a cigarette smoker as I dislike them. To prepare for surgery I switched to electronic cigarettes. I haven’t looked back. In fact, I have the same cigar in my bathroom, wrapped and unsmoked, telling myself it is for some celebration or whatnot. But every time I go to light it up I actually don’t want it. Nicotine remains a good way for me to control my break-through pain. In other words … ecigarettes aren’t just reducing my carcinogen intake from tobacco, but are also reducing my needs for narcotic painkillers. My breathing, which has been plagued by asthma, chronic bronchitis and frequent full-blown pneumonia (every 8 years or so on average, ie 5 times), has been significantly better. Not just better than when I was smoking cigars (the asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia were a part of my life long before I smoked a cigar) but better than at any point in my life. The water vapor from the glycerin combined with what appears to be anti-bacterial nature of the glycol seem to have made a significant positive benefit in my health beyond the cigar cessation. I now mix my own e-juice. I buy high end ingredients from trusted sources with certifications and am able to still make juices that are less expensive than high end e-juices while equaling their quality. My cost of juice is well under 1/4 of what I spent on cigars. Any attempts to restrict ecigarettes is a protectionist action by parts of the government that are in cahoots with the tobacco industry. Every aspect of this is far safer than any other form of nicotine delivery except possibly patches. And from my anecdotal experience may well have net positives on health beyond removing the carcinogenic and addictive aspect of tobacco, especially cigarettes.