I am 61 years old, and started smoking at the age of 12. Between age 20 and 25 I was consuming 20 to 30 full strength cigarettes per day. From age 30 to age 59 I averaged roughly 18 to 20 per day. At age 14 my father discovered that I was smoking and attempted to get me to quit by forcing me to smoke in one sitting the entire pack of cigarettes I had, hoping that I would get so nauseous I’d never smoke again. When I had only a few cigarettes left he crushed them and gave up in frustration. At age 23 I quit cigarettes cold turkey, only to resume in a few weeks. Between 23 and 28 I tried off and on to reduce smoking with pipes and even snuff but always returned to cigarettes. At age 28 when my wife became pregnant with our first daughter I again quit cigarettes cold turkey, only to resume 45 days later. During the raising of my two daughters I unsuccessfully tried to reduce and quit smoking with nicotine patches, Wellbutrin, and combinations of both. All were to no avail. I resigned myself to smoke only outside or in one small basement room of our house. As my daughters graduated high school and went to college I continued to try nicotine gums and lozenges, kept my smoking confined to outdoors and the single room, but also increasingly one ventilated bathroom which was used primarily by me. At age 48 I suffered a Type 2 AMI (heart attack) and had a stent inserted in a coronary artery. Roughly 14 days after release from the hospital, I resumed smoking. I did however, reduce my fat and cholesterol intake. Setting target dates and reducing never worked previously, but at age 59, with my 60th birthday approaching in 3 months I decided to try once again. With 15 days left until my birthday, I sadly realized that my cigarette consumption had barely decreased and I was again likely doomed to failure. E-cigarettes had never caught my attention previously but somehow I stumbled on the subject through the Internet. Truly wanting to improve my health but not wanting to replace one unhealthy process with another I decided to research further. On reading more about these devices I read all of the warnings and negative comments and innuendo from the FDA, Heart and Cancer association web sites. I also read the familiar sales pitches and claims by money hungry vendors, But, I also discovered a considerable amount of everyday people who shared amazing stories of putting down tobacco products and (mostly) never looking back. I researched the components, and I researched nicotine itself. I found out that I could purchase an e-cig for an almost reasonable cost at my local Wallgreen’s and decided to try these new devices. My hands are at this moment trembling, and I’m extremely emotional as I type this because it was life-changing .. Ten days before my 60th birthday, at 10:00am on Friday January 20, 2012 I got in my car and bought a starter kit from my local Walgreen’s store. At 10:30am that same day, I quit my 48 year long use of tobacco. Completely. I have not consumed a tobacco product in a year and a half. I still keep tobacco in a desk drawer so I can look at it and gloat. As far as I’m concerned nicotine is NOT a tobacco product or I’d still consider myself a smoker every time I eat a tomato, potato, or eggplant. My senses of smell and taste almost immediately returned. Within a month or two my breathing ability increased, and I no longer have sinus issues all year long. The last aromatic indicators that a tobacco smoker lived in my house are gone. I am however a user of nicotine, and of that fact I am neither ashamed nor proud. I am instead ecstatic that I no longer ingest poisons when I ingest nicotine.. And regardless of where I use it, I cause no unusual harm to anyone. I am forever grateful to Herbert A. Gilbert and Hon Lik for their forward thinking, and disheartened by the majority of health organizations both governmental and private, for their dogmatism and inability to be open-minded problem solvers.