To whom it may concern; My name is Ben, and I am a cig-aholic. As of the writing of this testimonial, it has been 61 days since I lit my last cigarette. A miniscule figure when compared to the approximately 10,826 days that I was a full time smoker. (Yes, I did the math. I smoked for over 29 and a half years.) For over 95% of that time span, I used full flavored Marlboro Red Box. On the average, I estimate I was smoking 1 to 1.5 packs a day consistently. I will be honest here, and admit I really can’t remember WHY I began smoking. I can tell you I continued to smoke simply because I enjoyed it. I am a United States citizen, born, raised, and eventually expect to die here. Legally, I have always been within my rights to choose whether or not to purchase and use tobacco products, and I believe it should always be so. That being said, you may be wondering So why the change? Why quit smoking? Perfectly reasonable query. The answer may not be what you expect. I am almost 47 years old. I have no history of medical problems. No cancer, no emphysema, bronchitis, blood pressure (high or low), cholesterol issues, heart trouble, diabetes, or anything else I have ever heard mentioned in conjunction with medical studies and smoking. So my doctor said I had to! is out. I am a professional driver, so my work days are spent comfort of a vehicle by myself, where I could smoke as I saw fit, so Employer pressure is negated. I am married to an exquisitely beautiful woman and although she is a non smoker, she has never demanded I quit, or even really complained about my habit. The fact is, there’s simply nothing in my life that made it necessary to quit. I just decided I didn’t feel like smoking anymore. Turns out, it’s much easier to start smoking than it is to quit. So, a look at the methods I tried to accomplish it. I tried it all. Patches, gum, lozenges, pills, and of course, cold turkey. Even tried laser smoking cessation therapy at one point. Worked briefly, but soon it just landed on the junk pile of failed methods. (I omitted hypnosis from the list because, frankly, I couldn’t force myself to feign even the slightest amount of belief in the idea.) Now I certainly accept the possibility that these methods all failed simply because I was not truly committed to the goal. I know others whom have had partial or complete success with them. They just didn’t work for me. So let’s get to the meat of the issue. E-cigarettes. On the evening of May 21st, 2014, I happened to end my day at a truck stop in Oak Grove, Missouri. Directly alongside the parking lot was a small Smoke shop. Since I was down to about a half a pack of cigarettes, and Missouri has some of the lowest cigarette tax rates, I decided to stop in and pick some up. This was the first time I was in a store that actually carried actual liquid refillable e-cigarette supplies. Over the past few years, I had tried several brands of thecig-alikes. Blu, Mystic, and Enjoy, for example. For one reason or another, they had all proved ineffective. Some didn’t hold a charge long enough. Some didn’t taste right, and others didn’t feel comfortable to hold like a real cigarette. The one common failure with all of them was they failed to deliver an adequate or satisfactory nicotine dose to satiate my craving. The refillable kind looked like it might offer enough control over the nicotine strength to suit me, so I thought I’d give it a shot. The store carried a fairly inexpensive starter kit made by VX brands for around $16. My theory was if I could force myself to use it exclusively for just 3 days, it would justify the cost. (Cigarette prices at home averaged a little over $7.00 a pack.) If it didn’t work, I felt the low cost was worth the risk, so why not? I put it on the charger back in my truck, and filled it with the 24 milligram (per milliliter) [Marlboro] flavored nicotine e-liquid I bought to go with it, and headed off to dinner. At this point, I would love to embellish the tale, to make for more interesting reading. Regale you with fierce trials and tribulations I endured over the next grueling 3 days, as I fought to break free of my captor who lived in that little red and white box.. but that simply didn’t happen. The truth of the matter, is that I faced only 2 moments of difficulty from the moment I unplugged my new e-cigarette from the charger. First, 24mg strength nicotine was FAR too strong to start out with. It tasted like I lit half a pack at once, and inhaled deeply. I promptly bought a lower dose, and fixed that. The unit performed remarkably well after that. I used it comfortably for the remainder of the evening and in to the next day. And then it broke. My second moment of difficulty. Now faced with a real fork in the road scenario, I believed the choice I was about to make would probably be irreversible. If I lit a cigarette (still half a pack of Marlboro left) it was unlikely I would give E-cigarettes another chance. It’s not like I needed to quit. I could not dispute the fact, however, that while it worked, I hadn’t felt like I needed a real cigarette instead. I did a little research, and found a Vapor store in Freeport, IL, and purchased the Innokin iTaste vv v.3. And some time during the next week or two, I threw away my pack of Marlboro. Still half full. I smoked 20-30 cigarettes a day for roughly 30 years. And the minute I turned an e-cigarette on, is the moment I stopped lighting cigarettes. I don’t call myself a Non-smoker, or an Ex-smoker. I’d be the first one to admit that if you suddenly outlawed E-cigarettes, I would buy a fresh pack of Marlboro without missing a beat. I know this much, though. . In just over 2 months, I have reduced my nicotine content in the liquid I buy from 24mg/ml to 3mg/ml, and have even sampled a few liquids with zero nicotine content. I no longer smell like an ashtray, or have to stand outside to have a cigarette. My taste buds are waking up (jury is still out on whether that is good or bad) and I certainly don’t get winded as easily. And it definitely bears pointing out that spending around $5.00 weekly for e-liquid is much nicer than spending about $10.00 a DAY on cigarettes. There’s no 12 steps for cig-aholics, but thanks to E-cigarettes, I only needed one. Hi, I’m Ben, and I’m a cig-aholic. It’s been 62 days since I lit my last cigarette. Thanks for reading.