Disclaimer: After re-reading my story, I realize that it may offend people that have been happy with smaller batteries, and pre-filled cartos, etc. Whatever works for YOU, and keeps you off of combustible cigarettes is THE best. This is just my own personal experience that I am sharing with everyone. And maybe, someone like me, who went back to combustible cigarettes or couldn’t get off of them and didn’t know that there were other options besides small batteries and pre-filled cartos will benefit from my story. Again, this is just my personal experience…..nothing else…… I am a 31 year old former smoker who quit three and a half years ago thanks to e-cigarettes. I began smoking combustible cigarettes at the age of 12, and wasn’t able to quit until the age of 28. I was smoking around one and a half to two packs of cigarettes a day for the majority of that time period. I had colds almost every 5-6 weeks that would turn into sinus infections or pneumonia. I constantly felt run down. My family and friends had tried desperately over to years to get me to quit. And, I did attempt to quit smoking many times during this time period, and though I failed every time – I kept trying. I used many of the widely available products to attempt to quit and even a product that is only available with a prescription. I tried to quit smoking by using Nicorette Gum 8 times, I tried using the nicotine patch 4 times, I tried to use the nicotine lozenges 2 times, I tried to quit cold-turkey 4 times, and I tried to quit with Chantix 2 times (which made my stomach ill the first time, and made me suicidal the second time!). None of these products were successful in the end, and none of them kept me off cigarettes for more than 2 weeks, with most only keeping me off for several days. The problem was that I enjoyed smoking – I loved the taste and the smell. I craved that first cigarette in the morning, it was the only thing that motivated me to get out of bed most days. In November of 2010, I made the decision to try again. And with the advice from two of my cousins ( who started smoking at the same time that I did, we started together….) I purchased an e-cigarette kit just like they had. This original kit contained 2 small, cigarette sized e-cigarettes and pre-filled cartomizers of tobacco flavored e-liquid containing 12mg of nicotine. Although I was regularly using the e-cigarette, I continued to smoke combustible cigarettes in the morning and through the afternoons at this point. The battery life was poor, the nicotine strength was not high enough to lure me away from combustible cigarettes, and the taste of the e-liquid in the cartridges was absolutely terrible, it tastes like a box of fresh band-aids. The cartomizers would also run out of liquid after only 45 minutes of use and they weren’t cheap. A pre-filled carto is not equivalent to a pack of cigarettes…..i don’t care what any manufacturer claims…. I decided to do some research to try to find a better product. I discovered that I could buy a bigger and stronger e-cigarette than the one that I had initially bought, AND EVEN BETTER I could also buy other flavors and strengths of e-liquid from various companies! I purchased the larger e-cigarette, and bought e-liquids of several different flavors to try in 24mg strength. I began using my new e-cigarette more and more frequently, opting for it instead of a combustible cigarette, because the strength kept me from needing the stronger hit that a combustible cigarette gives. After trying dozens of flavors from various companies, I finally found an e-liquid flavor that I actually liked, it wasn’t plain tobacco! It was tobacco with vanilla and caramel. I stopped using combustible cigarettes immediately, and have stayed off of them ever since. My new ecigarette was much better than the initial little ones, but after about 2 hours of use the voltage would drop off and it wouldn’t be even remotely as satisfying as a freshly charged one. So, I purchased several to have in rotation, which worked great for a little while. Then, one day I screwed a new cartomizer onto one of my e-cigarettes, and it shorted it out. Over 6 months, I got bad cartomizers that would short out and ruin all of my e-cigarettes. Growing frustrated with how many e-cigarettes I had to constantly replace, I decided to invest in a truly regulated e-cigarette, that used removable batteries that I could charge in a separate charger. I purchased this device two and a half years ago, and this is the same e-cigarette that I still currently use – I’ve never had to replace it. My e-cigarette has multiple, and redundant safety features built into the processor just in case one or several features fail at the same time. If I put a faulty cartomizer or atomizer onto my e-cigarette