My story is quite simple and probably fairly typical. I started smoking cigarettes at the age of 13 because I thought it was cool and dangerous. Not because of any pretty patterns on the packets. At the time I smoked maybe up to 2/3 a day but by the time I was 18 I was up to at least 20 a day, often more. I would reach for the pack or rolling kit first thing in the morning and smoke heavily all day. Occasionally I would wake up in the night to have a cigarette. I attempted to give up many times using NRT patches, gum, inhalers, hypnosis, will power alone (that lasted several hours), acupuncture, cutting down, lower strength cigarettes, everything. In the end, a few months before my 34th birthday, determined not to let my smoking habit reach its 21st anniversary, I decided to switch to an electronic cigarette. I immediately went from a habit of 25-30 a day to 1 or 2 a day for a couple of weeks and then none at all. I had the occasional lapse in the month following but only the odd one on a night out. In 6 months I haven’t smoked a single one. I tried one puff about a week ago and found it repulsive. I have now started to reduce the level of nicotine in the juice I’m using and I’m confident that I will be using 0% nicotine fluid within a couple of months. In short, electronic cigarettes have succeeded where all other methods failed dismally and I am smoke free for the first time in 20 years. I feel better, I smell better and I’ll live longer too. I’m fitter (important in my job in the Army) and have lost the chronic cough I had for years. Best of all, I haven’t experienced any of the weight gain or irritability associated with other methods. Also, because I enjoy vaping, I haven’t become the sort of joyless puritan who coughs, sneezes and waves imaginary smoke away from their face in the presence of a smoker. Yes, I don’t want to join in and don’t find the smell particularly pleasant but it doesn’t bother me either way. Vaping, it’s for winners and quitters! Matt