On March 13th, 2010, the day after her 61st birthday, my mother called me early in the day to tell me she wasn’t feeling very well. She lived alone and normally complained of ailments that weren’t serious so I didn’t think much of it and continued my work shift. Three hours later I received another call from her cell; this time there was a police officer on the other end. He informed me that she had collapsed in the kitchen and was pronounced dead when paramedics arrived. The cause of death: coronary heart disease, of which smoking is a major risk factor. The stress and emotion from her death lead me to nearly double the amount of smoking I had previously been doing for so many years (I was a pack a day smoker for almost a decade), and this continued on for another 26 months. In between that time I briefly tried electronic cigarettes for a couple of weeks but they proved to be a huge hassle and unsatisfying. Finally in May of 2012, I woke up one day and was determined to give electronic cigarettes one last shot. On May 12, 2012 I woke up from my slumber early in the morning and decided I was not going to have a cigarette that day. There was no plan, no strategy. Unlike my previous numerous failed attempts using the patches, lozenges and cold turkey, I didnƒ??t have a goal this time. I had been doing some casual reading on electronic cigarettes earlier in the week and decided to place a rush deliver on a full starter kit from a vendor that seemed to be a popular pick on Google. Two days later I had my starter kit in my hand and was ready to make the switch. After 2 weeks of use, I had some mixed results, but definitely significant progress. I didn’t quit completely, but I had cut down to 5-7 cigarettes a week (A huge improvement over the 20 cigarettes per day I was accustomed to). However I wasn’t fully satisfied with the starter kit I purchased. It was definitely the best electronic cigarette I had tried up to that point, but it still left much to be desired. I convinced myself to stick with it while I did more research. I stumbled upon a reputable forum dedicated to electronic cigarette information, and so I read, and read some more. I spent 2 to 3 hours a day reading as much as I could about these products. It was almost too much information to handle. I decided to purchase a similar style kit from another vendor, only this time the battery life was slightly better, and the cost was way lower. After using this new kit for a few weeks, I still wasn’t fully satisfied. It was only a marginal improvement aside from the cost, but I didn’t want to give up. I read some more, and decided to get something I was a little reluctant to purchase at first. This electronic cigarette looked nothing like a cigarette. It looked more like a strange large metal cigar, and was activated by the push of a button rather than the suction of air like a traditional cigarette. This form factor was pretty intimidating at first, but I was quickly blown away. One battery lasted me almost 2 days, the flavor and throat sensation was way better, and with the manual button activation I was able to get better control over each drag and did not have to pull as hard on the unit. My consumption of 5-7 cigarettes a week was now down to 3-5 cigarettes a month. My body then began to go through some significant changes. My three asthma attacks per day turned into one asthma attack per week. I could finally breath again. My sense of taste and smell began to return to normal. My stamina and endurance improved. I felt like I hadn’t felt in almost a decade, and my excitement lead to more research and more purchases. After months of buying and trying tons of new products on the market I finally found some that were relatively reliable and satisfying. Electronic cigarettes are not perfect, but have definitely come a long way since I started using them back in May of 2012. During this period my satisfaction with traditional cigarettes has made a sharp decline to virtual non-existence. I am proud to say I have had only a few cigarettes since August 2012. The mere taste and smell of a cigarette has become repulsive. I donƒ??t find the need to torture myself with a traditional cigarette when I now have the choice to ƒ??smokeƒ? thousands of delicious flavors. I absolutely love my electronic cigarettes and I’m grateful for what they have done for me. My asthma attacks have decreased down to once every two weeks. Thank you for reading my story.