Today is May 4, 2013. I am now 73 years of age. I smoked for 55 years, the last 20 years at the rate of 2 cartons per week. I started using an e cig 24 Feb 2011. I started with an Ego and have gone on to larger devices now. I started at 16mg nic and am now at 4mg nic. I have not had a cigarette since the day I got my Ego. Before trying an electronic cigarette I had tried to quit many times over the years, gum, patch, hypnosis and acupuncture. The gum made me physically ill as well as giving me canker sores in my mouth, the patch caused waking hallucinations. I could not sleep while on the patch. Nothing worked for more than a week and I was right back to smoking. I could not function without nicotine, it appeared. I could not think cogently, focus for more than a few minutes at a time, I was depressed and constantly irritated and uncomfortable. I was not a pleasant person to be near. Now I realize that some of what I was missing was not so much the nicotine as the comfort of the physical act of smoking. It gave me a space to change mental gears, a few minutes to put off something unpleasant, a retreat into comfort of a sort. I liked to smoke, I did not really want to quit. The impetus came from the last tax raise in my state on cigarettes. I became angry and decided something had to change and started looking around. I had seen the ads for the cig alikes and heard they were a scam, but I started doing research on the internet and decided that I would try an Ego starter kit and see how it went. I was amazed that the first day I tried it, the day it arrived, was the last day I had a cigarette. It was a totally painless process. I only made one rule when I started, no tobacco flavors, nothing to remind me of tobacco cigarettes. I vaped then and still vape dessert flavors primarily. I cannot stand menthol at all. I have had nothing but positive changes in my life since I started using an E cig. I have more energy, do not become ill, have not had a sinus infection or bronchitis. I breathe much better and can walk faster and for longer distances with ease. I love that I don’t stink of smoke, my house smells good now, my car as well. I gained no weight as a result of the change and I am totally comfortable in my skin. For someone who didn’t really want to quit smoking, I say now I would never go back to smoking, unless forced to by an ignorant society.