I smoked for about 48 years, I believe, having started at about age 15. I smoked at least a pack a day most days. Of course, I knew I should quit. I tried cold turkey a number of times. That never worked for long. I tried Nicorette gum, and that did a good job with the craving for nicotine, but it seemed that the urge to smoke was something more than just a dependency on nicotine and the gum didn’t address the urge to smoke very well at all. I was reluctant to try the patch because I was afraid I’d smoke while using it and that was dangerous, or so I’d heard. Chantix came along recently, but watching the side effects others had with it, I just did not want to try that. I started noticing electronic cigarettes in stores and was kind of interested in them. In February of this year I went ahead and bought one. From the first puff I thought that this could be an adequate replacement for cigarettes. I had about three cartons of cigarettes at home, and had every intention of finishing them, switching off with the electronic cigarette until they were gone. That didn’t happen. By the second week I was only smoking about half of the real cigarette before it started tasting terrible. The very last time I lit up a regular cigarette I took two drags and then spent much of the rest of the day trying to get the horrible taste out of my mouth. That was February 20, 2013. Now it’s the end of May and I haven’t had or wanted a cigarette since. In that time, my blood pressure has gone down over 20 points. My breathing is much, much better and I don’t wake up with a cough anymore. I’ve switched from disposable cigarettes to the much more enjoyable intermediate type,such as the Ego and similar. When I started, I chose a nicotine level of 24mg/ml and now am down to 12mg/ml. I plan to go down to zero, primarily because of my tendency to high blood pressure. I’ll be doing it very gradually. Oh, and I lost some weight! People tend to gain weight when they give up cigarettes, but the ability to vape sweet flavors has satisfied my after dinner sweet tooth, which has been my diet downfall forever. Health is the most important factor, but I do enjoy knowing that I don’t smell bad to non-smokers any longer, I’m not polluting the atmosphere, even outoors, there are no cigarette butts to contend with and I don’t have to worry about starting a fire. All in all, I can only say that electronic cigarettes are the first and only thing that have helped me to walk away from tobacco cigarettes and in addition have enhanced my life in a number of ways.