I started smoking when I was in the Navy about 10 years ago. After several attempts at quitting, I had been down to 1-3 cigarettes a day (depending on my stress levels and other factors). I could not quite get to the point where I was cigarette free. About 11 months ago, I tried an e cigarette, strictly out of curiosity. I had very low expectations about this being a suitable alternative to cigarettes as a way to get a nicotine fix. I have not smoked another cigarette since then. In fact, I started to one time and it made me feel nauseous. I have been using e cigarettes since then and have been very happy with the results.