to start off, i started smoking at age 7. i was very young and i was stupid to even start. between the age 7 and 13 i was smoking on occasion, maybe 1 cigarette every other month or so. after 13 i was having people buying me packs of malboro reds. switched between red and menthol and eventualy up to newports at 16. 18 i started smoking more heavily since i could purchase my own. one day when i went to purchase my newports, i seen an e-cig for the first time. it was labled electric hookah, came in 6 flavors. i was like ok…. and descided to buy one instead of my pack of cigarettes. on the walk home i opened it and it blew me away. i swore id never buy cigarettes again, but then the battery died before i even finished my walk home. pissed off that it didnt last 20 mins, i walked to a different gas station to see if they had a different brand. speedway had a rechargeable one so i was like fuck yeah. bought it, vaped for 2 weeks and then realized i needed new cartriges. i couldnt find any at that time because speedway took all the electronic cigarettes off the shelf. so feeling disapointed i bought a pack of my regular newports. upon that first cigarette, since the two week break, my lungs felt nasty. i started to hate the taste of ciggarettes, and how they made my lungs feel. back to smoking cigarettes for 6 months, speedway brought back to stock electronic cigarettes. they stocked a new brand witch forced me to buy a new rechargeable kit, but i knew my lungs were going to thank me for shelling out 25$ instead of being a cheap ass and buying a 5$ pack of smokes. so i started using the electronic cigarette again for about 4 months, untill i came across something in the news about how anti freeze was found in some brands. it persuaded me back to analogs witch kill my lungs. after a week back on regular cigarettes, i went back to using the electronic cigarette, i figured a little anti freeze is nothing to worry about since its already in normal cigarettes plus some 4000 other chemicals. reading ingrediants before i make a purchase was starting to become a habit. since not smoking, i feel tons better physicaly, i can breathe easier with out all the tar in my lungs, witch by the way i coughed up after quiting. i keep reading stories about why and how an electronic cigarette can be unsafe. from my end, i will not opperate with error and/or mod my device, so i dont expect harm from me being stupid. the only thing that poses to me as unsafe is the liquid itself, witch i REALY REALY HOPE the FDA starts to regulate. i hope ecigs get regulated so saftey can be acheived. its ben 9 full months since i have smoked a cigarette, i hope to keep it that way. this electronic cigarette is saving my lungs, unless my electronic cigarette juice is contaminated with some sort of health risk posing chemicals. please have these electronic cigarettes regulated and DO NOT take them away.