I smoked cigarettes for 18 years. I started when I was 14 years old. I didn’t really try to quit until I was in my 20’s and soon realized how hard it was to cut down for any length of time. I kept telling myself one day there will be a better time but a better time didn’t ever seem to come along. In my early 20’s I tried zyban to no effect but I didn’t feel ready I just thought I should try to quit. On my quit date I went most of the day before I had a complete crying fit and hid in the bathroom having a cigarette ashamed that I hadn’t even lasted a whole day. In the years following I tried nicotine gum, and cold turkey and hypnosis. I did not ever last an entire day. Over the last year I got serious and tried hypnosis apps that I listened to everyday for two months while on Wellbutrin. I read the Allen Carr Quit Smoking the Easy Way which was really motivating but didn’t work. I ended up going through a long period of depression which is how I ended up on the wellbutrin. I tried smoking an herb called Damiana leaf which I did last a two days with only a couple of drags a day on a real cigarette but my dog ate it and I could not find more. I tried herbal cigarettes which smelled and tasted terrible so I dreaded having one. I researched everything I could on the internet and I finally found ecf forum and read so many stories of people quitting using ecigarettes. I had to have one! I could not afford one right away even though they are an excellent price. My sister who lives in the states came for a visit and gave me her Blu ecig. It did not go very well, it helped me last longer between cigs but I could not seem to feel satisfied with it. I was terribly disappointed again. I went back to the forum and through the wonderful support I received there I decided to try again, this time with and ego and clearomizer kit. It was amazing! For the first week I had between 1 and 3 cigarettes a day without any trouble when I usually smoked a pack a day. On the 4th or 5th day my husband refused to give me one and I wasn’t buying myself packs any more. I was mad and decided I would wait until later and just take one. I ended up falling asleep and not having one that day. I was so impressed I went a whole day I decided I was done. I lasted about 4 days when one of my batteries broke and the other needed to be charged. I caved and had one while waited for it to finish charging. I was surprised it didn’t seem to taste the same. I didn’t find it completely awful but it didn’t taste good either. It was the last one I had. That was March 24, 2013. I had a wheeze for the last couple of years of smoking, mostly at night and a permanent cough. The first couple of weeks of vaping I noticed the wheeze a bit more throughout the day and a tight chest. I was worried but I learned through the forum many people had experienced this. I went to the doctor and she suspected it was just anxiety but had me do a lung x-ray and lung function test. By the time I did the tests I was feeling better and my results were great. My function was normal. I was surprised after the years of coughing and wheezing! I did a brief period of pimple break outs, another result of quitting cigarettes but it did not last long. Now I feel great! My sense of smell works better and I can breathe really well and I am not dropping what I am doing every hour to go outside and smoke. I am still at 24 mg of nicotine but I am going to lower to 18 mg soon. I still don’t like to think of not ever having another cigarette because for some reason this really freaks me out still. I can only imagine it’s from believing I needed them for so long. I am much happier finally being free of them. I hate the thought of being addicted to anything whether it is better for me or not so I will continue to try to drop my nicotine level down to nothing but I will not stress about it like I did with cigarettes and do it in my own time.