I smoked cigarettes for 10 years. I started with Marlboro Lights but soon after began making my own with Bugler tobacco and empty cigarette tubes. I figured one of the benefits to doing this was less chemicals than manufactured cigarettes. For the last several years I had wanted to quit smoking. In May my first child was born which gave me the motivation to actually try quitting. My first attempt was with nicotine gum. The gum did relieve nicotine cravings at times, but it wasn’t working at stopping the desire to smoke. I tried it for a week and the number of cigarettes I smoked reduced rather than stopped. So I knew I needed to do something else to quit smoking. I purchased a basic e-cigarette setup from the store I had been getting the Bugler tobacco from. Immediately after starting to use the e-cigarette I didn’t crave cigarettes. In a matter of a few days I stopped smoking cigarettes completely. It’s now been 3 months since starting e-cigarettes (i.e. vaping). I did try smoking a regular cigarette twice since starting vaping, and I didn’t enjoy them. To me, that’s a miracle! Literally in a few days something that was part of my everyday routine, smoking about a pack a day, was vanquished from my life. And I’m better for it. I don’t cough up brown flem, heck I don’t even cough regularly like I did with cigarettes. My index finger was starting to go numb where I would hold the cigarettes, and that’s long gone. My lungs feel better and as a whole I feel much much better. I started vaping with the high nicotine level that vendors offered, and since then I’ve been reducing the nicotine level I vape. I try to purchase juice that is made in the USA and made with care and concern for quality and safety. There is no doubt in my mind that vaping with e-cigarettes is vastly better than smoking/combusting tobacco. I don’t really consider e-cigarettes a smoking cessation tool as much as an alternative. I really enjoy it. Why can’t I do something that I enjoy in my own home? There’s no law saying I can’t smoke regular cigarettes, why should e-cigarettes be any different? I realize that vaping is relatively new and unknown to many people, and people tend to fear and distrust the unknown. I hope very much that exceedingly stringent rules and regulations are not levied on the e-cigarette industry. This could lead to a series of events (e.g. rising prices, needing prescriptions, increasing business costs that squeeze out small businesses in the industry, etc) that would make e-cigarette supplies less attainable and could lead to returning to regular cigarettes.