I smoked my first cigarette when I was 7 years old. A friend and I sneaked some and it became a daily ritual to slip away and smoke a few. Iƒ??m not sure how I snuck that past my momƒ??s delicate nose; most likely because she was the only adult in my life that didnƒ??t smoke at the time and she probably thought it was second hand from them. By the time I was 12, Dad would tell me if I would walk to the grocery store and get him a carton ($1.80) heƒ??d pay for mine too. Donƒ??t blame him; we didnƒ??t know they were bad for us. All the movie stars smoked, it was the ƒ??coolƒ? thing to do. At 7 it was a game, at 12 it was a habit and somewhere shortly after that it became an addiction. By 1976 when I was pregnant, the doctor said, ƒ??normally I would tell you to quit, but with your history of miscarriages it is better not to cause you the stress so donƒ??t worry about it.ƒ? Eventually, the doctors started to recommend that I quit. I think the first time was in about the year 2000. By that time I already had a good case of COPD and asthma so being able to breathe was becoming an issue. Iƒ??m allergic to the adhesive so canƒ??t do a patch. I have dentures, gum sticks to your teeth in ways you canƒ??t believe! What a mess. Welbutron and Chantix left me feeling ill and didnƒ??t work for me, the side effects of those 2 are as bad as the cigarettes in my personal opinion. I did actually quit for a month when my sister. niece and I went to Europe in 2004. It wasnƒ??t too bad, I missed it a few times but got past it. When I got off the plane in the USA and got in my car to drive home I immediately fell off that wagon! I was back to a pack a day in no time. I say a pack a day, but that was on a good day. I averaged between a pack and a pack and a half for many, many years now. In March while attending an FFA function for my grandson, we talked to a friend who was ƒ??vapingƒ? an e cigarette and decided it was worth a try. Our house in the morning sounded like a hospital ward for all the coughing and choking going on! We wonƒ??t discuss what it smelled likeƒ?? but an average of 4 to 5 packs a day between us, you can guess it wasnƒ??t exactly fresh! One day he said, ƒ??Next time you go to town get us each one of those.ƒ? I had seen my nephew with one from a local convenience store but his recommendation wasnƒ??t that they were good, more of a better than nothing kind of thing. So doing what I always do, I got online and started reading until I felt at least a little knowledgeable on the subject. The friend had pointed out that the ones from the convenience stores werenƒ??t very effective and the ƒ??flavorsƒ? were better with the kind she had so off I went with my orders to get us each an e cig and some ƒ??juiceƒ?. I left the store with a starter kit for each of us and several flavors of juice. I left that shop at 2pm on March 14, 2013 (a date and time I will always remember!) and didnƒ??t smoke another cigarette until the next afternoon. That was the last cigarette I have had. It has not been difficult to stop with the help of ejuice to supply me with nicotine as I step down to zero nicotine in my body. He has gone from 3 or more packs a day down to less than ?« a pack a day. He is still working on that first day of being 100% free of cigarettes but I believe he will get there soon. I look forward to having a few extra years with him now, and for me that is a great thing! The facts are: 1. We cough less 2. My sinus problems that I have had for years are pretty much gone 3. I have not had to use my inhaler in 3 months except 2 times because of the smoke from the forest fires burning in Colorado right now 4. I have more energy and feel better than I have in a long, long time. 5. My daughter says my skin looks better too (hey, I can use all the beauty help I can get!) 6. My grandson says our house smells better and so do we (I can use all the compliments I can get!) 7. When we drive places with the grand kids or when they visit they donƒ??t have stuffed up noses and coughs when we take them home and I donƒ??t have to put them down so I can smoke a cigarette. 8. Cigarettes cost a small fortune.