I smoked my first cigarette around the age of fourteen. I didn’t start smoking regularly until I was sixteen or seventeen years old. About two years ago I started using electronic cigarettes. I started out with one of the mass produced versions and moved on from there. At first it was hard to use just e-cigarettes, they were unreliable, had short-lived batteries, and were a bit of a pain. I found myself still having to carry a backup pack of traditional cigarettes. As technology improved and modders started coming up with better designs, and online vendors were producing better and better liquids, my need for real cigarettes disappeared entirely. I’ve tried to quit smoking before, and succeeded. I quit cold turkey. Everybody talks about a three day hump when quitting. The third day is the worst. What they don’t say is that hump stretches out a long time after that. A year later I still had smoking dreams(actually dreaming about smoking). Still felt the urge anytime I saw someone else light up. I don’t know if quitting is like that for others but that’s how it was for me. You don’t just quit and be done with it, you quit and you keep on quitting. Every time you pass by one of your old smoking spots, you want to light one up. As a matter of fact, the longer you’re off cigarettes, the more you remember just how much you liked them, and all the bad memories start to fade out. One night, I found myself in a smokey bar, there was a cigarette vending machine, and I became a smoker again that night. A shameful story of weakness, I know, but it happens. After over a year of smoking and a few attempts to quit, I decided I should find an alternative instead. I’d been hearing buzz at work about electronic cigarettes. Several people had them and managed to switch from smoking. I couldn’t find much real information until I came across the youtube channel of P. Busardo(sorry for the name drop, but credit where credit’s due). Using that wealth of information I was able to really start experimenting with e-cigarettes. It still took me a while to find something that really worked for me. Up until then I had been smoking Newports, aka those really strong menthols. It’s hard to find something electronic that quite matches up to that. It took a while and some false starts, but eventually through some good quality e-cigs and a little bit of snus, I was able to drop the newports for good. Not long after that, I stopped using snus as well and switched fully to vaping. The coughing stopped, my lungs feel great, I can climb stairs all day. After you’ve been vaping long enough, a traditional cigarette will make you sick, as well it should. These days I use a Provari, which is basically an e-cigarette battery with a bunch of bells and whistles, with a carto tank(I’d explain what that is but it’s a little off topic, look it up). I’ve been experimenting with mechanical mods and higher level rebuildable atomizers. Most people don’t need stuff like this but for some of us searching for the highest quality vape is what keeps us off traditional cigarettes. If it weren’t for internet sales, I would be stuck with that stuff they sell at the gas stations and supermarkets. That might work for some, but for me that just wouldn’t cut it. I’m not going back to smoking, but I would likely start dipping or switch to snus if that gas station hardware was the alternative.