I started smoking in college, so roughly 20 years ago. I am now approaching my one year anniversary of quitting real cigarettes, having completely switched over to a e-cig. I tried, and failed, to quit several times before by using nicotine gum, but it always made me so sick to my stomach that I just couldn’t keep it up. I quit once about 7 years ago, cold turkey, after having a horrible upper respiratory infection, but started back again in 3 months. Why? Because I enjoy smoking and it helps calm me when I’m feeling stressed. However, I realized about a year ago, that I’m just gonna keep getting older. And as I get older, the cells in my body are no longer able to function as well and the repair and replacement capabilities of my aging physique will continue to decrease. I had seen and heard about the e-cig, even knew a few people who had used them to quit. So I did my research, weighed the pros and cons, and bought a cheap e-cig. I started out with one of the kinds that looks like a cigarette and has the replaceable cartridges. I cut my regular cigarette usage down by half using the e-cig as a spacer, but I still craved a cigarette most the time. I was still smoking about half a pack a day and counting the hours and minutes until I had given myself permission to have a real cig. This went on for about 4 months, and then I was introduced to an affordable liquid vaporizer that didn’t look like it was a loose part that had fallen off the space station. I decided to give this smaller, less intimidating unit a try and bought my first kit for $30. I smoked my last real cigarette while I fiddled with my new e-cig, filling the clear chamber with my chosen flavor. I used this new e-cig exclusively and with no cheats for a solid week. I thought about real cigarettes often, but after four or five good drags off my e-cig, the craving went away. There was just enough flavor to satisfy my need for menthol, and more than enough of a throat hit to address that need as well. On the eighth day, I bummed a cig from a co-worker, lit up and discovered on the third puff that I had absolutely and unequivocally no desire to continue to smoke that nasty, filthy-tasting, horribly smelly thing EVER again. My quit day: April 15, 2013. My savior, The e-go style battery and unit by foos, a local company here in KC. On a side note, my husband, a smoker of over 25 years, quit the same way four months later.