I started smoking at the age of 13. I regretted picking up my first cigarette for many years. In total I smoked a pack and a half a day for 25 years. I attempted quitting several times through various methods. I was My first attempt was at the age of 19. I used nicorette for 3 complete weeks. It did little to curb my cravings. I did make it to 3 weeks, however I had cravings the entire time. Around the 3 week mark I eventually picked up another cigarette and resumed my addiction. My smoking rose to about 2, to 2 and a half packs a day by the age of 23. Slowly I was able to get myself back down to a pack and a half, but was never able to reduce my smoking to less than that quantity until I discovered the electronic cigarette. Between the ages of 23 and 38, I attempted to quit cold turkey several times. I never made it longer than 3 days. Each time resuming my pack and a half day habit immediately. At the age of 36 I was prescribed Wellbutrin to treat bouts of depression I had been battling. Wellbutrin is the commercial brand name for the drug Buprorion HCL which is also marketed as Zyban, a prescrition aid for quitting smoking. I had been on a dose of 300 MG for 3 years and my doctor said it will most likely reduce my desire to quit. Burpoprion had absolutely NO effect on my desire to smoke. I continued to smoke the same amount; a pack and a half a day during my entire time prescribed it. the only effective replacement I have found to date is what is referred to as the electronic cigarette. Over the course of experimenting with many different models I have finally found several that have lead to the ability to quit smoking; In total I have been cigarette free for 1 year and 7 months. One model I tried that did NOT work is known as Blu Electronic Cigarettes. Although it helped reduce the initial cravings, once withdrawal set in I was unsuccessful and began to smoke again. Being determined to replace smoking with a substantially less harmful replacement, I discovered an online forum full of thousands of members who have successfully replaced smoking with the use of electronic cigarettes. This forum is known as the electronic cigarette forum (or ECF.) With the help of members of this online community, I was eventually able to find several models that have lead me to completely replace my traditional cigarette habit with electronic cigarettes. My health has improved substantially. – I no longer get annual severe bronchitis (which I did regularly as a smoker.) – I no longer have chronic wheezing or shortness of breath. – I no longer experience daily irritated, or sore chest pains that I did as a smoker. – I can now taste and smell much more than I could as a smoker. – I have not gained any weight, a common side effect of quitting smoking. (most likely caused by the need to replace the oral fixation caused by years of smoking.) – I am confident and proud of myself for putting down a habit that no previous method of replacement or quitting was capable of. TO MEMBERS of the FDA: – Electronic cigarettes are a successful method for smokers to replace their habit with one that poses much smaller health risks. – Our daily food intake contains the same chemicals found in electronic cigarettes (excluding nicotine): Vegetable Glycerin USP, propylene glycol USP, and FDA certified food grade flavorings. – Nicotine by is shown to be harmless in small doses, and is considered no more dangerous than coffee. – An increase in appetite and food intake can lead to an increase in national diabetes rates; a health issue that has become referred to as the national health crisis, and is now ranked as the number one health risk faced by Americans. – Alcohol poses far greater health risks than electronic cigarettes. – I, as well as almost every other electronic cigarette consumer I know of support the same age requirements be imposed on electronic cigarettes as . – By allowing tobacco companies to monopolize the electronic cigarette industry, you are clearly allowing companies who have been shown to sell harmful products to corner the market. The tobacco industry has been shown to make consistent efforts to increase the potency and addictive nature of their cigarettes. It is therefore safe to assume that the tobacco industry may very well set out with the same intentions of increasing the potency and addictiveness of electronic nicotine devices such as electronic cigarettes, and most likely drive up costs to consumers in our current economic crisis.