My name is David Foster. I am a 34 year old male from Kalamazoo Michigan. I have smoked since I was 16 years old; I quit when I was 34, therefore; I have been smoking 14 years. I have wanted to quit smoking for many years, but everything I have tried; including, but not limited to; Chantix, patches, gum, and lozenges had not worked. I also used the 1-800-quit-kit here in Michigan. That was a great concept, but the patches werenƒ??t fulfilling my cravings, so I never actually stopped smoking. I tried my first electronic cigarette in June of 2012. At first, I didnƒ??t like the ones that looked like cigarettes, because they werenƒ??t giving me the desired effect. Over time, I found out about ƒ??vapingƒ? with a larger battery and ƒ??Cartomizerƒ? or ƒ??Clearomizerƒ? that I could refill with the ƒ??e-juiceƒ? of my choice. This made things much better for me. I was able to shop around until I found a brand that suited my needs. In October of 2012 I was taking a class on addiction studies and we were studying the Stages of Change Model. This inspired me to start writing about my experience trying to quit smoking, while slowly converting over to an electronic cigarette. I immediately cut my smoking down by half within the first four days of ƒ??vapingƒ?. Within a week, I was smoking six regular cigarettes a day, and within a month I was down to zero cigarettes and ƒ??vapingƒ? about 4ml of 12mg strength ƒ??e-liquidƒ? per day. It should also be noted that I started at around 6ml of 24mg strength nicotine per day with the e-cigarettes and had cut that in half within a month. I am now nearly 10 months away from my last cigarette and still ƒ??vapeƒ? 2-4ml of 12mg nicotine e-liquid per day. I feel healthier, I can play with my children more, I can breathe better, I can taste my food, I don’t stink of smoke anymore, I’m not causing anyone around me any problems with second hand smoke, I have more money in my pocket, and I am truly disgusted by the smell of cigarettes. I have done several literature studies on the known effects of e-cigarettes, and found nothing that compares to the dangerousness of a real cigarette. I do plan to one day stop using the e-cigarette too, but for now it has become a very enjoyable hobby. I truly feel that the e-cigarette industry is filled with extremely kind people, who are in the business of trying to help people convert from a dangerous product to one that is seemingly, much safer. I would love to see further research that presents the facts of electronic cigarettes verses real cigarettes.