I began smoking ~15 years ago while in college. In school I was a relatively light smoker — about 1/3 to 1/2 a pack a day, mainly lighting up during study breaks and at parties. After school I got married, and at the urging of my wife (tried to) quit smoking. While I was largely successful, I had repeated relapses — I would frequently smoke when travelling or otherwise away from my family. I rarely went more than six months without indulging in a pack or two of cigarettes or chewing tobacco. A few years ago I went through a very stressful period in my personal life, and immediately picked smoking full time back up as a coping device. Life returned to an even keel, but this time I was unable to put the cigarettes down — I was up to about a pack and a half a day and couldn’t seem to get free of them. This despite the fact that I felt awful, coughed incessantly, my allergies were off the charts, and I would frequently have asthmatic-like episodes. I tried off-the-shelf NRT methods; nicotine gum helped some with oral cravings but not enough — eventually (within a couple of weeks) I’d be back to smoking (sometimes finding myself lighting up while chewing the gum). Similarly with patches — only they did nothing for the oral craving. I once made it to the 2nd step down in terms of nicotine content on the patches, but my skin was crawling and I was going crazy for a smoke practically 24/7 — again, eventually I’d find myself ripping the damn patch off my skin (leaving that hideous sticky red irritated spot) and feverishly lighting up. I think by the time I’d give up and buy a pack of smokes my wife would practically applaud, because the withdrawals would leave me so unpleasant to be around. I went 2+ years as a smoker who hated it and was desperately trying (and repeatedly failing) to quit. I tried cold-turkey, NRTs, just stepping down — nothing worked for more than a few weeks. Each failed quit just made me feel that much more defeated; made it feel that much more impossible that I wouldn’t end up with emphysema/COPD pulling around my oxygen bottle on a cart, or dead of lung cancer. (And even those gloomy prospects, despite their looming inevitability in my mind, did nothing to help me quit smoking.) Then — I discovered a marvelous device called the Ego-C. That was over a year ago. Within a week of starting with the Ego, vaping 24 mg/ml juices from various vendors, I was no longer lighting up the real thing. At all. I’ve gone nearly 18 months without a single relapse, including being on travel. I’ve gradually moved on to more sophisticated mods, but still fondly remember that simple, quality little Ego as the thing that FINALLY broke me free. As time has gone on, I’ve also very gradually and pretty much painlessly reduced the nicotine content in the juice I use. Within a month or so I cut down to 18 mg/ml, then eventually to 12, and finally a couple of months ago down to 6. Whereas early on I was as dependent on my e-cig as I had been on the real thing, I now find I can go many hours, even days, without vaping and not experience the horrible cravings, irritability, and other withdrawal symptoms that would set in with even a half a day w/o cigarettes. In short, thanks to e-cigs I have been completely smoke-free for well over a year. I breath better, I feel better. I don’t have to have that 1st smoke of the day as soon as I wake up (despite it making me feel a little sick). I’m not ashamed, trying to hide my filthy habit, skulking around to avoid being vilified. I’m not spending hundreds of dollars a month on something I know will kill me. My clothes don’t stink. My garage (where I hid my habit) doesn’t reek. I’m not worried about second-hand carcinogens clinging to me and harming my children. I can spend more than a couple of hours in settings where I can’t smoke without losing my mind. The only downsides I experience: I have to pay attention to keeping batteries charged. I have to fuss with sometimes cranky and somewhat messy vaping equipment and juices. All in all, a fabulously positive trade-off for me.