When I first heard about electronic cigarettes (in the spring of 2010), I thought they sounded promising from the standpoint of something I could smoke indoors – around my computer equipment, daughter and pets. Working from home, my normal practice was to keep my office door closed and smoke freely while I worked, retreating there at other times in the evening to burn one without subjecting them to my secondhand smoke. Having at that point smoked 2 to 2-1/2 packs a day from the age of 15, or 40 years (!), and having tried about every cessation method that came down the pike, from gum and patches to pharmaceuticals such as Zyban, and failing literally miserably, quitting wasn’t something I considered a possibility. So, this new technology was something to supplement, not replace, cigarettes. I ordered a passthrough device (can be used while charging via a USB cord) and the strongest cartridges available, 24 mg. The evening it was delivered, I assembled it and plugged it into my laptop and started vaping. Not too bad, I thought — it tasted pleasantly menthol and vaguely tobacco-like. Before I knew it, it was bedtime and I hadn’t wanted a tobacco cigarette for a few hours, which for me was mind-blowing and unprecedented. The next morning on awakening and reaching for a cigarette, my hand fell on the passthrough so I picked it up instead. That was 3 years ago in April and I HAVEN’T HAD A TOBACCO CIGARETTE SINCE THE PASSTHROUGH ARRIVED! As with every other time I was without tobacco, depression reared its ugly head pretty early on — but my nerve endings weren’t painfully frazzled (as was usually the case with tobacco withdrawal) and once I discovered WTA (whole tobacco additive) and added that to the nicotine-containing liquid, the depression lifted and I have been happily tobacco-free SINCE. To my amazement, within a matter of a few weeks of no cigarette smoke,my decades-long smoker’s cough had totally resolved, a longstanding sinus inflammation was gone,and my exercise endurance more than doubled. The monetary savings are significant too, even though I spent a good bit in the first year trying different types of e-cigarettes and delivery cartridges, e-juice mixes from retailers, etc. My primary care doctor, who wasn’t impressed at first and continued to emphasize quitting altogether, gradually came to respect the method as more effective nicotine replacement therapy for hard-cores like me and valuable from the perspective of harm reduction. Personally, I am thankful to have found e-cigarettes. I truly believe they can make a difference, especially to those of us who had tried, and failed, conventional smoking cessation treatments.