I started smoking when I was 16 years old, smoked a maximum of one pack of cigarettes a day for more than 22 years. During the 3 years after that period I began to gradually smoke more cigarettes, while slowly moving towards a state of a kind of stress-smoking, i.e. lots of cigarettes per day (sometimes more than 30), but fewer drags per cigarette, just letting the cigarette burn, at work, beside the computer etc. So the inhalation volume of my active smoking basically stayed the same, while passive smoking increased. So did the costs of smoking (naturally). My health was always great, including lung capacity (due to sports, singing etc.), but in the last year of my smoking career I started noticing phases of dry coughs, more sputum in the winter months etc., so I thought about quitting for a couple of months. I always liked smoking, had an aversion to the pharma industry, knew the awful relapse rates with regard to their products, so e-cigarettes were the logical choice. In 2012/13 I noticed more and more online reports that e-cigs are a good substitute for tobacco. After a couple of weeks of research into the science I bought an eGo-C starter kit and managed to quit smoking tobacco immediately (July 2012). Quitting completely had always been my goal, so I’m sure that my own will, my psychologial preparation etc. played at least a partial role in the success. It took some time finding the right juice flavor, the right e-cig model etc. (Kanger ProTank models = bottom coil clearomizers), but I haven’t had a tobacco cigarette since. I experienced real (but unproblematic) withdrawal symptoms (uneasy sleep, dizziness etc.) on and off for approx. one month, but had no wish to return to a real cigarette during that time, even though I was still inhaling nicotine using the e-cigarette, and even though the neuro-blockers from the tobacco years were still active to a certain degree, even though I was with smokers regularly (friends, colleagues). From the start I opted for a medium concentration of 12 mg of nicotine per mI of juice, and maybe that could also be the reason why I experienced withdrawal symptoms. I still like to smell fresh tobacco smoke??most of the time at least??, but I have no desire to light a cigarette myself. Habitual body memory has vanished over approx. 2 to 3 months, i.e. I’m not grabbing for the space anymore, where the ashtray with the burning cigarette used to be. Vaping e-cigarette juices is actually quite different from smoking, and there’s a lot more pleasure, taste etc. involved. My overall fitness has not increased noticeably, because that was never really a problem, but my lung capacity became much better in a matter of a few days after quitting, which had a positive effect on my endurance sport activities. A huge advantage over tobacco cigarettes is the absence of the stench of cold tobacco, the possibility to vape even when you have a cold, the possibility to vape in places where smoking is prohibited (except in New York, of course), the release of the financial burden of smoking, regaining a better sense of smell and taste, a more natural digestion, and probably a lot more. The only negative side-effect of vaping e-cigarettes I can think of is the fact that the glycerin in the e-juice has a slight dehydrating effect on the lips and the oral cavity; on the other hand it has led to me drinking more water and more tea than before, and that can’t be that bad. In the long run I will try lower nicotine concentrations, but at the moment I don’t feel that it’s necessary, because 12 mg/ml does not produce any of the nicotine flashes known from tobacco cigarettes. Final note: as a test run I altogether quit using the e-cigarette for 3 days; there were no withdrawal symptoms, no desire to use them at all, so I assume that there is no addiction (at least no significant addiction) to nicotine, as e.g. compared to tobacco. I now approach e-cigarettes similarly to the way I handle tea and coffee consumption; sometimes I vape a lot, sometimes I go without for several hours, and it depends only on the circumstances, not on a drug addiction.