08/13/2013 – My name is Kristen Petroff and I was a smoker for 30 years. In the beginning it was a pack a day of Marlboro Reds. Seven (7) years ago, I switched to Marlboro Lights but my consumption started going up. 4 years ago I was a two (2) packs a day on average. In the past, I did try the patch but got a rash and an overdose. I also tried hypnotism. That only lasted 4 days and I was miserable to be around. I did not qualify for any other alternatives. Cold turkey was NOT an option. In March of 2013, a friend introduced my husband and I to electronic cigarettes (e-cigs). We were curious but not sold on the idea. The next week another friend introduced us to a different type of e-cig. She told us about a store close by and we went the next day. Note: I was not thinking about quitting, this just happened. The people in the store were very knowledgeable on the different types of e-cigs and I ended up purchasing an EGO system. Within 24 hours I was down from 40 real cigarettes a day to only 4. These were the ??wake up in the morning cig?, the afternoon cig, the after dinner cig and the before bed cig. I decided each month I would cut one of those out. I did and I succeeded. After 4 months, I was not smoking any real cigarettes at all. I do have some stressful days (super stress) where I may pick up a real cig or 2 but in general, I only smoke an e-cig all day, everyday. I am slowly reducing the nicotine level in my e-cig and have gone from 20mg to 12-16mg, I occasionally have only 6mg. As a result of this, I can exercise without losing my breath, food tastes better, I have not gained weight and I am not miserable. My clothes don??t smell, my breath doesn??t taste like cigarettes, my teeth are looking better. My husband also switched and has cut regular cigarette consumption by more than half. I save over $75.00 per week over all and stash that money away to watch it add up! The e-cig, vapor cig, whatever you call it, is one of the BEST things that has ever happened to me. Even my 24 year old son has one. Maybe we can break the cycle as well when he has kids. I will not give this up and will help in any way I can to keep e-cigs legal. I never want to go back to ??real? cigarettes ever again. Thanks for listening.