My smoking life started in 1988. I was eleven years old. Everyone in my family smoked, so they were easy to get my hands on. You see, big tobacco did such a good job marketing on TV, print etc. back in the old days, my whole family smoked. Mom, Dad, grandparents, aunts uncles… everyone. It was so normal, a non-smoker would seem odd with these people. After 25 years, I had finally had enough. My grandfather died of emphesyzma, and this made me determined to quit. I have 2 small children and did not want them to inherit the habit, as I did. I tried patches, I tried cold turkey, I tried pills, I even tried auriculotherapy (sp?). Nothing worked. The biggest problem was, while I was ready to quit smoking, in my heart I truly enjoyed it. It was a hobby of sorts, something I liked to do. I just didnt want it to kill me. I had wished there was a better way… One of the biggest forces to push me towards getting away from cigarettes was my 8 year old son. He came home from school telling me some kids told him he stunk, which came with a note from his teacher asking us to send him with some deoderant. Can you imagine how emberassing it was to realize you are putting your child through some pretty harsh circumstances, that he has absolutely no control over? It had to go, there had to be a better way. Then, a Miracle happened. A good friend of mine showed me a electronic cigarette and invited me to try his. I was blown away. I could not believe that I could smoke and only ingest nicotine while doing it… no more chemicals, no more smell, no more negative social stigma. I jumped in head first, and bought a starter kit. The weeks following I immersed myself in the world of vaping. The biggest draw for me was two-fold. Being a Chef, not smoking meant my taste buds were improved… thus helping me improve my work, just by tasting everything as it was, without a diminished taste from cigarettes. The other big plus for vaping was flavor. With literally hundreds of flavors of e juice available, I set forth a mission to try them all. I am so happy I have done this, its become a secondary mission of my life, to help other people who smoke to discover the better alternative. I have more energy, I sleep better, Waking up doenst come with coughing and gagging. Food tastes better, my kids are happier and overall my life has improved from just putting down the cigarettes, and picking up a personal vaporizer. I will tell you, I believed that I would be the very last person to quit smoking cigarettes. I knew that I enjoyed them so much, I enjoyed the act of smoking, exhaling, playing with the smoke, making smoke rings etc… sounds odd, but its true. Today, I am happy to say I am completely smoke free, I am now a full time Vaper. I enjoy this more than I ever did smoking cigarettes. I have reduced the amount of nicotine I am taking in my juice to the minimum levels, and have no plans of quitting, but to be able to have replaced something that was killing me for something that won’t puts a big smile on my face. For this, I should be able to meet my grandchildren some day. Thank you technology for bringing innovation to the world, for helping so many people get off cigs and onto a better method.