My story is probably like that of most smokers. I started smoking at the age of 15. Over the next 20 years, I would try to quit at least a dozen times. During any of those attempts, the longest I went was with Chantix – a whopping 3 weeks. And I was lucky – I’m the only person I know who tried Chantix and did not experience any terrible side effects (though it did alter my tastes and I couldn’t drink coffee while on it, which I did consider to be a terrible side effect given my love of coffee). The patch made me a jittery mess – caved on day 3. The gum worked for about a week. That ear zapping thing? Didn’t even make it 24 hours. Cold turkey? 5 days and 80,000 calories. Zyban? Two weeks. I had finally decided I was doomed to be a smoker for the rest of my life and decided to just keep enjoying them until the inevitable tumors or emphysema took hold. When my father, also a lifelong smoker, was diagnosed with diabetes, he took things very seriously. He knew that enough was enough and he quit smoking. I felt I had to step up and be supportive. Every smoker knows it’s agony to watch others smoke while still trying to win the battle over the demon. So, in what I called my official last attempt, I looked into e-cigs again. I had tried e-cigs a few years ago and they were just awful substitutes – they never seemed to work well, they tasted weird. I hated them. But I had recently run into someone who had something that looked different, but she called it an electronic cigarette. She explained that felt just like smoking, unlike the prior things I had tried. (I have since learned that what she had was an eGo type battery with a clearomizer.) So, I went to the store she mentioned, picked up a starter kit and finished smoking the last of my stash. When I ran out of my last cigarettes, I started my quit smoking timer and started using the e-cig. That was exactly 61 days, 21 hours, 13 min, and 23 secs ago as of this typing. My father was so grateful for the support. I really didn’t think I’d have much luck. I just assumed I’d eventually long for my old, dear friend and go back. But I didn’t. What was really different this time was I didn’t even want to go back. All my other quit attempts, it was a constant mind over matter battle with restraint. This was nothing like that at all. My friends still smoke around me, and I’m happily vaping away, not caring. I actually cringe at the thought of smoking again. What was an even bigger surprise was my lung function. What I had always blamed on being out of shape and overweight, was really the evil smoking. I can now take flights of stairs without sounding like Darth Vader. I’m starting to run again and find my lungs are perfectly happy to cooperate with the exercise without sending me gasping, wheezing, and panting after a quarter of a mile. I never thought I had lost my sense of taste, but I now see just how salty restaurant food is, so it has made me change my eating habits. My sense of smell is back. I now realize everything I own stinks, and am working on getting rid of that, which I just find is further incentive to keep going. All in all, the day I picked up that e-cig was the best choice I have made in a very long time. I still have my habit. I know I’ve only replaced one for another. But obviously this habit will allow me to live a longer, happier, healthier, sweeter-smelling life than the one I was living, chained to the evil cancer sticks. My body has proven that in just this short amount of time. I can only imagine what greater things will come as I continue to heal all that damage.