My name is David and I am a current student at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. I smoked for 6 years, starting when I was 15. I was your typical teenager who wanted to experiment, as well as having the experience of peer pressure. Like other gullible teens, I thought smoking was cool. Well, it didn’t gain me any friends, but the habit stayed. Up until I turned 18, smoking was only an occasional indulgence that I embarked upon when I was with certain individuals. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the nicotine, the smell and taste of a cigarette, as well as ashing and lighting one up. The whole shipbang basically. When I turned 18, there was no turning back. I very quickly went from smoking maybe 5 cigarettes a month to 5 cigarettes a day. At my peak, I smoked about 10-15 cigarettes a day, sometimes more. About 2 years ago, I made a first serious attempt to quit. I did it cold turkey. Those two weeks were just about a living hell. I could not get my mind off of wanting a cigarette. After 2 weeks, I finally gave in. That first drag of that cigarette was the most rewarding feeling ever. I felt great! About a year prior, my friend who was underage at the time wanted me to buy him this thing called Camel Snus. We were both curious and I thought, I’m already doing enough harm to myself, what more would this hurt? After that first portion, I adored snus. I didn’t even know about real Swedish snus yet. Fast forward to about 4 months after my relapse.. my local tobacco shop started to carry General snus. My friend and I both had to try and we ended up loving it. I thought to myself, this is an effective way to cut out some of the smoke breaks. For months, I still smoked, but snused here and there as well. A few months later, some heartbreaking news hit our family. My grandmother was diagosed with stage IV terminal lung cancer that had already begun to spread. I had made up my mind that when I move to my new smoke free school a year from then, I would give up smoking and just switch to an electronic cigarette and snus. Later on, I realized that I wasn’t thinking about this as seriously as I thought and I would just see what happens. Fast forward a few more months, and I started my first semester at my new school. Considering all the restrictions regarding smoking, I already knew this would be hell. With that in mind, I placed my first snus order before school started. Boy, did it come in handy! If I wanted a cigarette, I’d have to go down two flights of stairs and walk a block. Not very productive being a college student. Or I had the latter choice, I could just pop in a snus and not go anywhere. I chose the latter. Before I knew it, I was going hours at a time without a cigarette! Sometimes not even lighting one up on my way back to my apartment as I did at first. During that time, I also began experimenting with electronic cigarettes and finally found a brand I liked. That further dwindled my smoking. I began to enjoy vaping and snusing more than smoking! I was amazed at how much cleaner a habit it is. Then this last semester hit. My grandmother died and my smoking was very rapidly dwindling already. I also started experimenting with nasal snuff, which made my consumption dwindle further. I was down to about 5 cigarettes a week! I made up my mind. I rolled my own cigarettes prior to quitting and I figured, once I get done with these rolling supplies, I’m quitting. A year ago, I never thought this day was coming. Well, partying delayed that, because I loved smoking while drinking. I ended up just buying packs and only smoking at parties. An amazing thing happened, instead of going hours without a cigarette, I was going DAYS without one! Then, I decided to quit the partying. So I finished the pack I had and decided not to buy anymore. A few days later, I had my last cigarette as a smoker, being nervous before a math exam. After that, I went 5 whole day without another one. I made my decision then and there that I am staying quit, as well as shout it from the rooftops. 2 months later, I’ve only smoked 3 cigarettes and regretted each one. They tasted foul and just reenforced the decision I made to quit. Now I can say that because of tobacco harm reduction, I am completely smoke free and proud of it. I wasn’t even putting much effort into quitting, it just happened on it’s own. I try to convert everybody I can. This method works! I love still enjoying my nicotine and tobacco without all the harmful effects of smoking.