I had been a two-pack per day smoker for about 5 years and a smoker for a total of 38 years (I started when I was 11 years old) ?? up until 6 months ago. On March 3rd, 2013, I quit smoking ?? for good. Now, I vape. Here is my story: Christmas, 2011. I open the gift that my wife bought for me. Inside were two batteries, a charger, and 10 packages of what looked like cigarette filters. ??What??s this contraption??, I asked my wife. ??It??s an electronic cigarette?, she replied. ??I want you to try to quit smoking.? I read the instructions, and charged the batteries. I put one of the ??filter? cartridges on the battery ?? put it to my lips ?? inhaled ?? and then exploded in a fit of coughing. I then silently took it apart, placed back in its box, and put it on the highest shelf I could find. ??Out of sight, out of mind?. Fast forward to Christmas, 2012. My wife is pestering me about my smoking. ??Your coughing woke me up again last night.? ??When are you going to quit?? ??What happened to that electronic cigarette that I bought you last year?? ??You stink. When are you going to quit?? It was never-ending. So I started to research electronic cigarettes. I found an e-cigarette forum that had lots of information, and just started reading. It took me a while to get through it all. Some of it was extremely overwhelming and complex, but I figured that if it would help me to quit smoking, and save what was becoming a fast deteriorating marriage, I was willing to try again. Of course, I was still sort of half-hearted over the whole thing. I rather enjoyed smoking. In late February of 2013, I placed my order for an eGo-C kit, with a couple of bottles of e-juice. It arrived on my desk on March 2nd. I opened the kit and read the instructions. I let the batteries charge while I was sleeping. The next morning, March 3rd, I was having my morning coffee and first cigarette. I had this ??thing? assembled, and was turning it over in my hands. I tried it ?? just a little bit because I still remembered picking my lungs up off the floor from the last attempt. I coughed a bit. I tried again ?? a little more this time. Coughed again, but this time, it wasn’t as bad as when I tried the one my wife gave me. I set it down next to my pack of cigarettes and thought about it for a while. Maybe this could work, if I could get over the coughing. Maybe the coughing was because I was inhaling something ??different? from tobacco smoke. I was, after all, in the beginning stages of COPD, and just about anything and everything irritated my throat. While I was spending the next few hours grading papers and checking lesson plans, I thought about all that other stuff I had tried ?? Welbutrin, the Nicoderm Patch, the Nicorette Gum ?? none of it had worked. Then I noticed something. For the past three hours, I hadn??t had a single cigarette. Unconsciously, while I was grading papers, I had been using my electronic cigarette, instead. I had placed it next to my pack of smokes, and instead of grabbing my cigarettes, I had been picking up and using the e-cig. And I didn’t cough once while I was using it. Remember that morning smoke I mentioned? That was the last cigarette I smoked. August 3rd will be my 6-month anniversary of quitting smoking. In the last 6-months, I have experienced many physical changes. I no longer cough (except when I have a cold). I have more energy and stamina. I can climb the seven floors to my apartment without getting winded by the fourth floor. I can taste my food. When I walk into my apartment, it no longer smells like an ashtray (but now I KNOW when the garbage needs to go out). My complexion has also cleared up (my cheeks are rosy now, instead of a pasty white colour). Also, I’ve lost weight now that I am actually able to exercise (unfortunately, all the money I??m saving on smoking is going into buying new clothes). And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my story. I have had nothing but positive experiences and benefits from using electronic cigarettes and personal vaporizers. In March of 2014, I will have to renew my Residence Permit. This will involve having a complete medical check-up. It will be interesting to compare my chest X-ray from this medical to the one that I had two years ago.