I first picked up a cigarette when I was 13 years old. By the time I was 15, I was a regular smoker. I think it’s very important to note I was part of the first generation of kids to live under the crack down on under age smoking. Adults could be arrested for giving kids cigarettes, teens could be arrested for having tobacco products in school, commercials on TV were not allowed, cartoon characters were banned, there was a ton of anti smoking media everywhere, S.W.A.T. which was a kind of anti smoking club for teens, etc. None of that phased me or any of my friends. We enjoyed the destressing effects of smoking and all the anti smoking stuff just made it seem cooler, more dangerous, and more rebellious. I point this out because I want to note kids make their own trends, not adults, and the more you try to keep something away from them the more they’re going to want to try it and find ways to do so. I continued to smoke until I was 28 years old. I didn’t want to. My original plan was that I would quit when I was 21. That didn’t work out, so I kept setting quit dates and kept failing to keep them. In the end I just gave up. By that time I had tried Wellbutrin, Chantix, the patch, the gum, snus, hypnosis, counseling/support groups, cold turkey, gradual reduction, magnets, cinnamon sticks, herbal replacement cigarettes (made from catnip), chewing gum, probably more methods that I’ve forgotten by now. I was a dedicated pack a day smoker and I just could not quit or even cut down. I was introduced to ecigs by a friend that had successfully quit smoking using them. My first one was a cigalike, the low powered kind with the lit tip that looks like a real cigarette. It didn’t produce enough vapor and required too much work with me pulling on its automatic battery to get a puff for me to quit successfully by using it, but I did notice it helped me reduce the amount of smoking I did. I had this device for a year before I purchased my first high powered variable voltage mod. It just sat in my closet for a few months because I wasn’t sure about how to use it since it had a dripping style atomizer and I didn’t know enough about ecigs to shop for a tank to replace the dripper. The final push came when, after a lifetime spent being susceptible to respiratory illnesses (not from smoking but genetics), my addition of smoking finally caught up with my lung health. I had terrible pain in my left lung, it was 100% obstructed, and the middle tissue surrounding it was swollen. None of the medication my doctor tried got rid of it, and no tests could find the cause for it. All I could do was take prescription pain killers to address the pain and swelling. I was very scared that I was now going to die the way I’ve seen other smokers die. I tried to quit again, but found myself still unable to do it. That was when I finally asked my doctor what he thought of me quitting via ecigs. To my surprise, he was very supportive and optimistic about it as a solution. He knew my struggles with quitting, and reasoned that even if I didn’t quit nicotine and just replaced smoking with ecigs, I would still be greatly reducing the harm smoking caused to my health. I quit cold turkey that week using the mod after getting help from the vendor with selecting a tank for it. It wasn’t easy at all but I found that being able to continue the oral habit, the ability to see smoke come from my mouth, the throat hit, and the way more pleasant aroma and flavors of the eliquid made it bearable enough for me to continue on despite the withdrawal and cravings for cigarette tar. Within a month, my mysterious respiratory illness had vanished completely. I now have not only 100% lung capacity and health, but the added benefit of not suffering from any more respiratory illnesses like bronchitis and pneumonia, which had previously plagued me from early childhood onwards. I no longer fear chest congestion and can rest assured it’ll go away without the need for major medical intervention. I’ve also benefited in that two of my psychiatric illnesses, OCD and anxiety disorder, have also improved in terms of severity. I don’t know if smoking made them worse or if ecigs have made them better, but there has been a noticeable enough difference that I’m not as reliant on prescription medication now. I have been vaping for two years now. I have not touched a cigarette since I quit. My use of nicotine itself has been cut in half. With the variance in nicotine levels, it’s easy for me to control the amount of nicotine I’m getting without having to try to reduce my oral habit, and bump it up when I feel I may give in to the urge to smoke. I started vaping 36mg eliquid, and now I’m on 6mg and 0mg. Even when I get to complete 0mg, I plan to always keep a device and 0mg available in case I get the urge to indulge the habit. I saw with my mom, who quit smoking for twenty years then started again, that even after you quit the urge and potential to start back up will always be with you. Having an ecig with eliquid that doesn’t contain nicotine can greatly improve my chances at never touching nicotine again in my lifetime, much less a cigarette.