I smoked cigarettes for almost 40 years. I was a pack a day smoker until the smoking bans started in my area – then I quickly went up to a pack and a half. I think it was a combination of not knowing when/where I would be able to smoke next (having two cigarettes at break time rather than just one), and the natural human reaction of pushing against imposed restrictions. My usage gradually built up to almost two packs a day. About a year and a half ago I tried one of the drug store cig-a-likes to see if it could replace a few of the cigarettes I smoked every day. As I live in Canada, that product did not contain nicotine. It was ok in a pinch – use it during intermission at a non-smoking entertainment venue – but was of no use for daily replacement. I was unable at that time to find any cartridges containing nicotine. About two months ago I discovered that you could get e-cigarettes with nicotine juice at specialty vaping shops and there was just such a store across the street from where I work. I immediately crossed the street and purchased a Joyetech Ego starter kit and 18mg/ml tobacco flavoured juice. My intention was again to try and cut back on the number of cigarettes per day, but no intention of quitting smoking all together. I would have been very happy to cut back to ten cigarettes a day. I have never tried to quit, because I’ve never been ready to quit and didn’t want to set myself up for failure. Within three days of starting vaping I was no longer smoking tobacco cigarettes at all. I prefer the flavour of vaping and although I’ve only been tobacco free for two months so far – I am a ex-smoker and fully intent to remain that way. After about two weeks of vaping exclusively I found that I was no longer coughing/hacking in the mornings. The intermittent wheeze that I was developing has completely disappeared and my energy levels continue to improve. Due to the relatively inexpensive cost of vaping, I am saving close to $300 per month – this will make a major contribution to my personal debt elimination plan. The fact that I no longer smoke tobacco in my house means that it will remain cleaner for longer, smell fresher, and I will have less of a challenge in renting it out. As a single person, being a non-smoker opens up a greater percentage of the population in terms of potential for meeting a compatible future companion. I have yet to find a downside to vaping.