Dear CASAA, My name is Jared Rivera from Colorado Springs, Colorado. I was 11 years old the first time I smoked a cigarette. Sometimes I look back and can’t believe how young I was when i got introduced to tobacco. I didn’t smoke everyday when I was younger, but I would when I was around friends to appear like I was cool. This habit eventually formed into me trying smokeless tobacco, and persisted throughout my years in middle school and high school. The effects of tobacco on my gums and on my lungs was unbearable at some points. Exercise was near impossible from the shortness of breath I would have. Not to mention the cost I had to pay to feel this way, I always looked for an alternative. Trying nicotine gum and patches never worked, they only seemed like a mind trick. It wasn’t until my senior year of high school when I really began to hear about vaping and electronic cigarettes. I first picked up an E-Go pen mod with a cheap plastic tank, at the time i thought it was rather advanced compared to the cheap cigarette looking vaporizers sold at gas stations. I used it for about 2 months before I made the assumption that vaping wouldn’t ever be for me. As I began going to college, I would always see people with more advanced devices, and they would blow massive vapor clouds. It always interested me, but I never took it too seriously. It wasn’t until about a year ago that a couple of my close friends got vaporizers themselves and i really started trying out some of the more advanced stuff. The flavors they had were amazing, and you could easily get your nicotine without harsh chemicals or bad smells. After seeing my friends using their mods for a couple of months I really started doing some research to try and start vaping again. Around June of this year I bought an Innokin Itazte MVP 3.0 Pro, and a Horizon Tech Arctic tank. I bought my first real setup from a local shop called JVapes. They had a wide variety of flavors to choose from, as well as a friendly staff that was willing to answer all the questions I had developed. I used that setup for 2 months until I tried my first dripping atomizer. The amount of flavor you would get blew my mind and was I instantly sold. I bought a Royal Hunter RDA for my first dripper from another local shop called Extreme Vape Shop. They had a huge amount of premium liquids to chose from with flavors that were better than anything I’d had to date. After a few months vaping I started to learn about Ohms, Watts, Volts, Amps, Joules and other sorts of scientific measurements that I would never have taken the time to learn otherwise. Vaping has overall made me a smarter, healthier and a better consumer. I now know what to look for when going to buy, and am not in the dark when being explained something. It has been 5 months straight that I have been vaping and haven’t has any tobacco since. The amount of peoples lives that have been changed due to vaporizing is incredible. In the time I’ve been smoke free, I have had the chance to meet so many new and interesting people with tons of stories to share, that I couldn’t have heard anywhere else. So many jobs and opportunities have arisen thanks to this community, and is putting people all around the world in a better place. I’m proud to be a part of it, and there’s no way I’ll ever go back. Thankyou