Hi, my name is David. I just turned 50 and I come from a family where both parents smoked. So, it was natural that I ended up trying and then becoming addicted to smoking cigarettes. From around 1977 through early 2013, I smoked. At first, it was rather light–less than 1/2 pack a day. But as my addiction to smoking grew worse, so did my consumption. By the time I was 40, I was up to a 1-1/2 packs a day and more when I traveled. By about age 47, things caught up with me. I had trouble breathing through my nose at night. I would wake up to a bout of coughing, hacking, sneezing and wheezing. I’d hurriedly get outside and smoke my customary two at first light. Shortly after my 50th birthday, I did the adult male duty of seeing my physician for a checkup. The Nurse Practitioner–a former Navy Corpsman and reformed smoker–saw the signs without even examining me. You need to quit smoking. Yesterday. I told him that I’d tried the patches, the gum, the inhalers, and sometimes more than one at a time. Nothing worked and I relapsed all three times that I made a serious attempt at quitting. I then told him that I’d seen advertising for electronic cigarettes, and asked him what he thought. He said, I cannot recommend them to you. Yet. But if you really want to quit smoking–and I can see that you do–then electronics are something you should consider. Like most e-cig users, I started with convenience store disposables. They helped to reduce my cravings. While nothing will ever replace the sensation of burning tobacco and inhaling a lung full of rich tobacco smoke, I was at least getting the sensation that I missed with every other therapy I’d tried. I am now inhaling something that kind of looks like and kind of feels like smoke, even though it isn’t. It’s satisfying. It’s confidence building. For the first time in more than 35 years, there is no longer any doubt in my mind. I breathe better. I sleep better. I can taste more. I’m exercising more and I’m spending a lot more time doing things that I want to do, instead of worrying about being out of cigarettes.