[AGE 20] When I was young, I was raised by a mother who smoked. I remember the thin layer of smoke that seemed to hover int he middle of the room when the sun would hit it. I remember disliking the smell, But for the most part, I don’t know if that had anything to do with how or why I started, but I started smoking at the age of 20. Why, I have no idea. It wasn’t peer pressure, or the cool look effect. But, From then on, I was then considered a smoker. [Age 20-38] I seemed to have leveled out around a pack a day. for the next 20ish years, I would switch from brand to brand. Never menthol, but there was always one brand or another I would like. It started with the stronger types, at one time, I smoked Camels, and then switched from Camels, to Marlboro 100’s… but I would rip off the filter and smoke as an unfiltered cigarette. I considered that as good tasting. I wasn’t concerned with health matters at that time. I would smoke whatever I felt like. This went on for at least 15 years. Being a computer technician, I noticed how the secondhand smoke would clog up heat sinks, and ruin fans/pcboards. The secondhand smoke would stain everything a dull yellow, including the cobwebs. As anyone would expect, I would wake up with shortness of breath, and would occasionally get a phlemmy cough. It was then, I decided I needed to cut down on strengths to help alleviate some of the harshness. [Age 38-42] About five years ago, I decided to cut down on the tar/nicotine. I switched to filtered cigarettes, at first trying Winstons, because they had no addatives, but the cough got worse. I switched to marlboro lights, but this time I kept the filters on… the cough/shortness didn’t get any better. I then switched to Carolton 100’s because they proposed they had the lowest tar/niccotine, and smoked those for a few years. However, during that time, the govornment added taxes to cigarettes which drove the price too high, so I had to switch to something more economical.. which unfortunately had a higher tar/nicotine level, I switched to doral orange box, and that was my last brand. [Age 40-42] I remember passing a kiosk in the mall a few times a few years ago. Someone was casually walking around the kiosk smoking a black Cigarette with a blue light at the end.. the name of the brand was Blu. I never did stop and ask, I always thought it was just a Gimmick… like a Ginsu Knife of cigarettes. One day while in a grocery store, I noticed a starter pack for one of those E-cigarettes for only $20. I bought it not with any intent of quitting smoking, but more as a sure, let’s see what this is all about type attitude. I got home, and put it on the charger, then visited the website. On the website, they explained it was a smoking alternative that you could use at most restaurants, bars, hotel rooms, etc. cool I thought, maybe I could use it in my house as I am on the internet at night. At this time, I did not smoke in the house, but would smoke outside only, and not in cars. I got married late in life, so secondhand smoke was the biggest concern, these smoking alternatives might be something I could do in the house, and just occasionally have to go outside for my regular cigarettes. However, after the first 2 days of using them, I found I liked the taste better than a regular cigarette. The battery, however, did not last as long, so I went out and bought a second battery. [8 months ago] This went on for about a month and a half. I would alternate between the two batteries. The cartridges started piling up, and I kept every one of them. Eventually, I had a bunch of those disposable cartridges. there has to be a use for them, so I looked for ways to refill them, and not only did I find a way to refill the, but a whole different community altogether. I did an internet search for a company to buy E-juice, and found one close by. I bought a bottle, and tried refilling a cartridge. To my surprise, I was very impressed. Not only did it taste good, but it was a fraction of the cost of buying new cartridges. [6 months ago] One day, I decided to see how long I could go without smoking a real cigarette. By now, I was rarely smoking, I was curious if I could quit entirely. The strength of my first E-cigs were 18mg, Within a Week, I was down to none… IT still took some self control, but it didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would. 1 week of seriously trying to quit a 20 year habit, and It worked. I would pocket the E-cig when I went to work. [5.5 months ago] Since I was officially stopped, I decided something had to be done with the short battery life of my Ecigs. I found the battery to be about 180Mah, and it would last me about 4 hours.. just the time it took for the other ecig to get charged. I eventually bought one more, but even that was no help. I finally went to a local shop, and got my first EGO battery starter kit. (1 – 900MaH 1 – 1000MaH with a charger and five CE4 clearomizers).. the price of the kit was about the cost of two cartons of cigarettes (about three weeks worth of cigarettes).. I was blown away with the new flavor. I carried them everywhere. Started with 24mg/ml RY4 juice. The constant cough was replaced by an occasional cough. Phlem was still comming up, and the wheesing was starting to subside. [3 months ago] I ran out of the Ejuice that came with the starter kit and started looking around for more. The closest vape shop (where I got my starter kit) was a full hour drive away. I made a drive, and bought three more bottles. I had to find a better method for getting Ejuice, so I bought some online, and boy was I pleased at the price, as well as the service. I bought 18mg to step down on nicotine dependence. Also, I noticed my sense of smell is much stronger. Once, I walked outside only to smell Burger King from 1/4th of a mile away mixed with the Yogurt shop across the street. That took me by surprise. Also my clearomizers started to crack and leak one by one. (in retrospect, it was probably due to the Dr. Pepper clone flavoring) [2 months ago] I bought 2 replaceable atomizers to replace all my clearomizers. Now I can maintain them myself. The EGOs were working fine, but I still wanted more life out of the batteries. I bought a rebuildable glass tank atomizer, but didn’t use it at first, I knew I was going to buy something larger. I then settled on a premanufactured mod, it had more safety, batteries could be replaced. Altough it looked funny, I still used the replaceable atomizers, and left the rebuildable glass tank aside. I also bought some Kanthal wire and Silica mesh, and started rebuilding my own atomizers. I also noticed my sense of taste is much more improved. I rarely cough at all, and no wheesing at all. [1 month to present] I finally got that glass rebuildable to work. The rebuildable Atomizers now no longer work on my EGO batteries for some reason, and only work on my premanufactured mod. My sense of taste, as mentioned, is much more improved, and I’ve cut down on the ammount of salt I used to add. Overall, I noticed I am quite healthier. The only downside to my ecig usage, is the constant explaining of what my premanufactured mod + glass tank rebuildable is. People do make comments You sure there’s no THC in that thing, or one person said you might’s well just buy a hookah. I still refrain from vaping in public places out of respect of other’s feelings to the visual of it, but sometimes I will still sneak a stealth vape while in the mall when the urge is too much. I am now down to using 12mg/ml juice, and my next batch will be half that. Recently, at Six Flags, I was banned to going to the smoking area to vape.. I now know what secondhand smoke smells like, and found it to not smell anywhere near appealing. To add insult to injury, the smoking area was Sponsored by Blu Ecigs… smoke almost anywhere anytime…. well, not where I was. I have no desire to go back to smoking and I’m glad I made the change. Cost of Vaping supplies so far: $290 Cost of Cigarettes for 8 months: $560 Not only did I save $270 so far, but I also saved my life, which makes it an invaluable switch.