My smoking habit started as a young child. Both of my parents smoked and I can recall sneaking entire packs on some days. I was between 12 and 13 and although laws were in place regarding selling cigarettes to minors, you could literally purchase them just about anywhere. I just quit smoking less than a year ago (July 9, 2013)…26 years later. I utilized numerous methods of cessation…from Nicorette gum, a prescription for Chantix, ultra light low tar cigarettes, cold tukey…I just couldn’t stop without feeling some degree of withdrawal. The cravings were always predominantly worse the longer I didn’t smoke cigarettes. Last year a friend of mine took me to Logan Valley Mall in Pennsylvania and introduced me to an electronic cigarette vendor called Vape Vibe. I purchased an Ego-T starter kit and 30 ml of e-liquid and haven’t smoked a cigarette since. Just to test the theory, about 3 weeks after I quit, I lit a regular cigarette to see if there were actually any major differences. I was astounded. It smelled and tasted terrible. Once my olfactory system returned to it’s normal state, I couldn’t even be in the trail of someone smoking or even the vicinity where I could smell second hand smoke. I still can’t to this day. I was in pretty bad shape when I finally took the measures to quit. I could feel the congestion, couldn’t play with my son without a constant need for breaks and my loved ones were forced into having to cope with it. In my eyes, those are the top 3 reasons to want to quit, and I did. It took a good deal of realization to know their point of view, but I do now and although that has changed since I have stopped using analog cigarettes, I still feel a degree of regret for having subjected them to it. To date, and almost a full year into using electronic cigarettes…I feel alive! I go on daily runs, am physically fit and active again and my motivation has sky-rocketed to wanting to take on a lot of the challenges that smoking actually prevented me from engaging in. Relations with my loved ones have grown considerably stronger just through witnessing my display of willpower and determination to do my best for all of us.