I have smoked a pack or more a day of cigarettes for over 46 years. When I started smoking at age 12 – it was the cool thing that all the grownups did. I wanted to be a grownup. At that time I do not believe anyone really thought it was bad for you. My parents smoked, all my Aunts and Uncles smoked and at that time my friends were also starting to smoke. Over the next 46 years cigarettes were my crutch when I was stressed, my reward for a job done well and my relief when finally able to relax. I only every attempted to quit once at age 20 – and that was cold turkey that lasted only 3 days and any time I even though about quitting after that – I became extremely anxious, irritated and actually ended up smoking even more. Just the thought of quitting cause me to become depressed and unable to function in day to day life. A friend brought home an e-cig from Vegas 4 years ago that he allowed me to try – it was ok but at the time I was not too interested. I think my biggest concern was how to replace the cartridges and there is no way I would want to run out. I gave no more thought to using one until I read a lengthy thread on a travel forum about using e-cigs in the spring of 2012. The testimonials of those using them actually got me interested. I then spotted two ladies using an e-cig outside of our local casino in the summer of 2012 – asked them a few questions and the interest grew again. Since I retired in 2010 with more time and fewer restrictions on my smoking – I found my pack a day (PAD) increasing to 1 1/2 PAD and I thought that maybe using an e-cig would help me to cut down on my smoking. I did a little research looking for something that was as close to an actual cigarette as I could and ordered a Colibri Nano and some extra cartridges and a bottle of ejuice to use to refill – since I knew it would not work for me if I ran out. Once my kit arrived on Oct 31, 2012 I actually reduced my cigarettes to 3/4 a day. I continued to research and one day found ECF (Electronic Cigarette Forum). I then spent the next two weeks reading and reading some more. Finally ordered a kit with 2 eGo Twists, some clearomizers and some 18mg nicotine ejuice since the 6mg I started with was not quite enough. At this point I was down to just 1 cigarette at day. Imagine not only my surprise, but that of my husband, children, grandchildren and friends when after receiving my Twists on Nov 21, 2012 I just quit smoking. At this point it is now six month since I quit and I don’t crave one, I am not agitated, irritated or depressed. This has been an truly amazing life experience. I no longer smell like cigarette smoke, my home no longer smells like cigarette smoke. My husband no longer breathes my second hand cigarette smoke. I am sleeping better and have gained very little weight (5 lbs) as a result of quitting. Since I started using an e-cig and have shown family and friends that it actually can work, two of my sons and my best friend are now also trying e-cigarettes. In fact one of my sons best friends is also trying one now. Will they quit – well I am not sure. However, even if they just manage to reduce their smoking it is great that they are trying. If they are like me – they will find that they enjoy the e-cig more and eventually it will lead them to quitting to. So I am now down to 8-10 mg nicotine and may or may not reduce this further. Is vaping safe – well I guess we don’t really know for sure, but it appears to be much safer than smoking and I was planning to keep on smoking. So I will continue to vape and I do hope one day it can be proved to be a safe way for people to quit smoking.