I am a 37 year old mother of two and I currently live in Las Vegas, Nevada. I have been a smoker for over 21 years. I smoked about a pack a day for the first fifteen years and then for the last 6 years I have smoked over a pack and a half a day. I have tried to quit on six or more different occasions. The longest I ever went without a cigarette was about 3 weeks. During my first pregnancy I tried to quit cold turkey. That lasted about 3 weeks. Then I was upset about something and a friend offered me a cigarette. At first I said no, but then I thought ‘well, I’ll just have one’. That was all it took. I cut down A LOT but I still smoked a cigarette about every other day. After my first child was born I tried to quit again using the nicotine patches. I stopped smoking for about 2 weeks with those. I did not like them because they made me feel jittery and gave me a headache. I tried with the patches three different times. Each time I had about the same result. I really wanted to stop. Smoking is not acceptable in my family and I was so embarrassed that I smoked, plus I did not want my child growing up thinking that smoking was ok. I felt low class and gross. I desperately wanted to quit. Next I tried the gum. With the gum I thought I would be more successful because I thought that the oral fixation part of smoking would be satisfied. I was wrong. I stopped for about two and a half weeks but it also gave me headaches and like with the patches, I felt jittery and I still craved cigarettes constantly. When I was pregnant with my second child I tried to quit cold turkey again. Again I only quit for a couple of weeks and smoked at least one cigarette every day. I was so ashamed. I really did not want to smoke. Then I learned about Chantix. I asked my doctor for a prescription and started the medicine. I hated it. It made me moody, gain weight, have headaches and just feel miserable. I went back to smoking within three weeks. One day I was in line at the grocery store and I saw a guy with a weird looking pen like thing that he kept smoking from. I asked him what it was. He told me it was a personal vaporizer. He said he used it to quit smoking. I was interested. For the next twenty minutes I asked him questions about it. Where did he get it? How much did it cost? How much e-liquid did he use in a day? How much was the liquid and how long would it last? ETC, ETC, ETC….. I knew then that I wanted to try one. I originally thought I would have to save up about $200 to start out with an e-cigarette. This was the only reason I did not run out that same day and buy one. I am a single mom now and don’t have a lot of extra income. I did not think the price was extravagant because I was currently spending about $10 a day on cigarettes. I just needed to have it all at once. About six months later I went into a smoke shop to but my usual two packs of Marlboro Reds and I just impulsively asked the cashier if they sold e-cigarettes. I thought maybe he had a cheaper start up kit that I could come back and get in a couple of days. He said they had a great little start up kit for $29. He said if I bought it that day he would give me a free bottle of e-liquid. I was not planning on purchasing it that day but….I went for it! I bought the little kit and also one pack of my Marlboros. I drove home and plugged in my little e-cigarette battery. When the charge was full, I put together the unit (battery, little tank, e-liquid, etc). Then I took my first puff…. It was totally different than I expected. I loved it! I took a couple of puffs and my craving for a real cigarette went away. I thought ‘ok- I’ll see how long this will last…’ I did not smoke at all that night, I only used my e-cigarette. Then next day I went back to the smoke shop and bought a different flavor. I had initially bought tobacco flavor thinking I would want that same cigarette flavor. I actually like the sweet flavors better. That day I went on the computer and started researching vaping and I found a ton of good information on the ECF forum website. There are so many great products out there, and so many great companies selling high quality e-liquids. I want to try them all. I have already ordered from about 15 different companies and found some great stuff. But even with all of the money I have spent on my e-smoking, it is still only a fraction of what I would have spent on regular cigarettes. The pack of Marlboros that I bought the day I got my e-cigarette sat on my counter for weeks. Then one day a neighbor stopped by to ask me for a cigarette and I told her I quit smoking. I looked over to my pack of Marlboros on the counter and said ‘you know what, you can have these, I don’t need them anymore.’ she was so surprised. I didn’t even feel panicked that I would not have cigarettes in the house anymore ‘just in case’. I have now been cigarette free for over 3 months! The only thing that upsets me is the fact that I did not try this years ago!! My kids are happy that I don’t constantly need to go outside for a ‘smoke break’ and I can sit through a whole movie with them now. My clothes and hair don’t stink any more. My car does not smell. My hands don’t smell. I can TASTE food again. I’m not out of breath walking to my car. I was diagnosed with asthma when I was 21. I had to use an inhaler several times a week, and at times almost every day. Since I quit smoking I have not had to use my inhaler even once!! Now I am a total advocate of the e-cigarette and vaping. I am trying to convince all my smoker friends to make the switch. When I smoked, I was ashamed of it. I would hide at work when I smoked. I never told anyone that I was a smoker. Now I am so proud of the fact that I quit that I tell everyone about vaping. The e-cigarette has changed my life.