I am a 37 year old man who smoked tobacco cigarettes for 23 years (30+ per day) and on June 16th 2012 I switched to vaping an electronic cigarette. I wasnƒ??t looking to quit smoking however a friend who came to stay with my family over a weekend had started using an e cig, I tried it and thought that it was great, within a week I had one of my own and I havenƒ??t used tobacco since. I still get the nicotine that I want without poisoning myself with the 4000+ harmful and carcinogenic substances that are a bi-product of smoking tobacco. I do not use tobacco flavoured e-liquid and much prefer fruit flavours such as apple or raspberry, this is very much part of the appeal of electronic cigarettes. My health has improved dramatically, I can breathe, smell and taste properly. I can now run around my local park with my 2 young daughters without getting out of breath after 2 minutes, I am not exposing my family to second hand smoke and I no longer smell like an ashtray. Using an e cig has had a profoundly positive effect on myself and my family, I will live 15-20 years longer than if I was still smoking tobacco. Should the proposed EU Tobacco Products Directive come into effect I have no doubt that I will go back to smoking tobacco cigarettes .