I started full time smoking in 1972 at the age of 14. Everyone smoked, cigs were easily available and it was cool at first but I got hooked very fast. I had tried to quit once in 1989 due to the expense but I was completely unsuccessful. I never really thought much about quitting after that until three things happened. The first thing that happened was the ban on public smoking in my state of Ohio in 2006. I started to avoid going to public places in winter because I hated the need to go outside and get my fix in freezing cold weather. It was ironic to me that the city had financed all of its new sports arenas on the cigarette tax but you could no longer smoke in those places. Restaurants and bars lost my money in winter too. Then about a year or so later, the hospital where I worked decided you could not smoke anywhere on the grounds. That hurt, I was constantly craving my fix and found that I now watched the clock. I liked my job and my addiction was now interfering with my work. I started to chew nicotine gum to ease the craving. What a joke that was. It tasted awful, it made me hiccup, it made me nauseous, it was expensive and it did not ease the craving. I had tried the patch on my only attempt at quitting in the past but I was allergic to something in it and could not tolerate it. There was really nothing left to do but watch the clock and wait for my nicotine fix. The ban affected my work concentration and my sunny disposition too. I looked for alternatives to smoking. I heard about an electronic cigarette but it seemed to be only mail order from overseas. Too risky to try it, I needed an assured supply that was not too expensive. The second thing that happened was a cold I had caught around the holidays in 2009. The cold turned into bronchitis. I got treated but the cough and the wheeze just never seemed to go away. I started to worry about COPD. I had two aunts that had died from emphysema and I work in the medical field so you would think I knew better than to smoke. I was addicted and I decided to lie to myself awhile longer yet. The wheeze was probably a touch of allergies. The germy kid probably kept giving me a new cold. And so onƒ??.. The third and final insult to my smoking pleasure was the PACT Act of June 2010. I had been buying my nicotine drug from the Native American reservations at a nice discount. It made me feel good to help put money back into the pocket of those who had been robbed by our government so long ago. It made me feel good to keep some of my hard earned cash for myself. It really irritated me that the government was looking for a new way to rob its citizens. I had enough and I was mad. I was also still wheezing at night. I decided to look hard again at the electronic cigarette to see if it was now available in the USA and It was! My mind was set; I was going to quit smoking with the help of the e-cig. I researched a bit and then ordered an e-cig kit. I was a 1 to 1 ?« pack a day smoker so I ordered what the maker said was high nicotine, 16mg. The kit had two cigarette shaped batteries, a charger and some disposable prefilled cartomizers. It came in the mail and I started e-cigs and quit cigarettes on Aug 1st 2010. I was still really craving cigarettes two days in and so did more research. I ordered higher nicotine, 24mg, and I ordered new flavors to try, RY3 and RY4. That worked for me. The craving was manageable. The flavors were very good and I started to really enjoy this new thing. It was not long before I wanted new flavors and a longer lasting battery. One day I sat down and added up all the money I had spent on e-cig toys and juice and what not. I also figured out what it would have cost for my regular discount cigarettes for the same amount of time. Even with the wasted money on unsuitable devices, juice and original kit costs, I broke even in 6 months. Money can be a motivator even if health is not. The ECF forum is where I really educated myself. I discovered I also needed the fiddle factor that the e-cig provided in order to replace the hand to mouth habit of a regular cigarette. I wasted a lot of money at the beginning trying to find the right combination of juice and device to satisfy my needs. I went from 808, to 510, to Ego and then I made a Puck. The Puck had a higher voltage and I liked this better than what I had been using. I was lazy though and hated refilling those cartomizers. I learned about a Genisis tank device made in Croatia and got one. This was the best of all, there were no cartomizers to replace, a lithium battery for long life and a more pure taste. I learned how to make tanks and I dabbled in making my own juice. Then variable voltage devices started to appear on the scene. I knew I liked the higher voltage. ProVari was the end of my search for a device that gave me the options I wanted. I use a homemade Genisis tank with stainless steel wick and a homemade cartomizer tank. Once in a while I will use the old Ego with a cart but rarely. I gave most of my old stuff to friends and family who wanted to try to stop smoking too. I do not refer to what I use as an e-cig and have not called it that in quite some time. This is nothing at all like a cigarette except for the hand to mouth and inhale/exhale motions. It is a Personal Vaping Device. I vape everywhere and have only been asked to not vape one time. It is now Aug 2013. I have not wheezed or had any respiratory issues since I started vaping instead of smoking. I have had one cold in these three years. I weaned myself down from juice with 24mg nicotine to 6 or 0 mg through my 3 year vaping journey. I wonder what the government will do to try and regulate me if the juice I use has no nicotine. I am a capable woman who likes vaping and I can make everything I would need to keep doing thisƒ??if I am forced to do that. I like to buy things, preferably American made things, to continue my vaping hobby. Government already taxes everything so this should really be no different. Tax my vaping products just as you would tax the clothes I buy but no more than that. China might get a little POƒ??d though, if they are held to the same quality standards as American companies are held to. Final thought I think the big tobacco companies should produce a more pure product for those that choose to use tobacco,rather than try to protect their profit margins at any cost. Our government needs to regulate tobacco but they need to do a better job and regulate what chemicals the tobacco companies are adding into their products, in my opinion. Maybe fewer people would get addicted to cigarettes if the cigarette was only tobacco. Thanks for reading, Middle-aged, ex-smoker, capable, woman (who votes) from Ohio