My name is Daniel Jones, i started smoking cigarettes when i was 15. i am 43 now. thats 28 years of smoking a pack a day, every day. Needless to say, thats a rediculous amount of money spent on cigarettes in my lifetime. And i feel like i did it because i believed i had to. i dont know how it got ingrained in my head that if i didnt have a cigarette, i was going to die. Probably because, once you get addicted to the nicotine and whatever else is in the damn things, going without them is seriously nerve-wracking for several days. so DONT run out- make sure you have your pack before you head out for the day. i even got to the point where my lungs would hurt, and having another cigarette would numb the pain. imagine that. the cigarettes themselves are what’s making my lungs hurt, so i have another one to avoid the pain. that sounds like the beginning of the end to me. (if i STOP, im going to DIE). as i got older, i began mulling over the myriad reasons why i should quit; for my health, for my kids’ sake, for financial reasons. i’ve made many attempts to quit, one time pretty successfully for a year, but then start again when life gets stressful, your pack of cigs is like your miserable friend, youll never leave me, will you. In my many attempts to quit, i kept feeling like it was more than just the nicotine, it was something to do with my hands, that oral fixation, that time to step out for a break with friends. i’ve grown accustomed to blowing smoke. i enjoy that part of it. i’ve tried ‘cold turkey’, nicotine patches, gum, wellbutrin… i had the most success out of the patch (no nasty tasting gum in my mouth) and just plain cold turkey. i’ve gone back and forth with the patch more times than i can count. well i’ve recently discovered ‘e-cigarettes’ or ‘vaping’, and there are many aspects of it that are just far superior to smoking- no odor, variety of flavor, a little cheaper if you can restrain yourself from buying the next new gadget… it satisfies that desire to smoke, not only the nicotine but the ‘blowing smoke’ aspect too. i’ve only been doing it about a month, and almost immediately my desire to smoke a cigarette is gone. my lungs dont hurt. i dont stink, or litter the place with my trash. its a very exciting and liberating realization that i am off those things. i share my newfound interests with fellow smokers, in hopes they will try it as well. quite a few have, i guess my enthusiasm is infectuous =) My plan, which i’ve already started, is to wean myself from the nicotine, until there is none, and i will continue to happily puff away on my much safer alternative, because i enjoy it. i dont know anything about the politics of e-smoking and whats going on- i dont feel like i can stand up to that kind of pressure & scrutiny so i pretty much stay out of politics completely. but i certainly hope that lawmakers will make educated & non-biased decisions about it. Thanks to CASAA for fighting the good fight. i dont want my habits to kill me. i dont want my options to disappear. the community of folks on ECF is like the nicest, most helpful group of people i’ve found anywhere. We seem to share this amazing freedom from cigarettes, and we hardly had to do anything except be willing to try something new, and educate ourselves. It has been 24 days since my last cigarette, i’ve saved $135 and avoided 500 cigarettes. it started by buying a disposable e-cig from a gas station, instead of my pack for the day. i found it got me through the day just fine. when the battery died, i think i bought another pack, because the disposable was too expensive for how long it lasted. but i began researching, and found a small rechargable of the same brand. more research, and i found ECF. i decided i was going to try to switch completely, so i used my rechargeable for a week or so, and ordered a better setup. when the new kit arrived, it was all over. once i tried some non-tobacco flavors, i couldnt imagine i had been smoking cigarettes for so long. amazing amazing, i would recommend this to anybody.