I remember when my wife first told me about electronic cigarettes. I told I thought it was one of the dumbest things I had ever heard of. Nonetheless, I was persuaded to go with her to the other side of town to meet a guy who was selling electronic cigarettes out of the trunk of his car (Joye 510’s to be precise). During the nearly one hour trip, I told her that I would never give up cigarette smoking because it was the one thing I could count on in life to give me what I want, when I wanted it and it never failed to deliver. I didn’t care if that meant that I would live fewer years; at least they would be happy years. After taking three or four drags off of the e-cigarette, I proclaimed, I could probably smoke this thing. I paid $100 for that kit and a 30ml bottle of 24mg Marlboro flavored e-liquid. (Yes, although e-cigs were more expensive nearly four years ago, I did get ripped off.) I continued to smoke the remaining cigarettes I had from a carton I had purchased earlier in the week, occasionally take a puff off of the e-cigarette. When I ran out of tobacco cigarettes three days later, I decided to not buy another carton and see if I could just use the electronic cigarette. That was almost four years ago and I have never had a tobacco cigarette since. In fact, after the first two days of using an e-cigarette exclusively, I was never even tempted to use a real cigarette again. The thought sounds disgusting to me now. Within a week, my morning hacking cough was gone and all of the phlegm I used to cough up. I have not had a cough ever since. In fact, the colds that I used to get several times per year also stopped. I haven’t had so much as the sniffles or even a scratchy throat in three years and ten months, let alone the flu. Some would say that $100 was a ton of money to pay for a Joye 510 and a bottle of e-juice – even back then. I say it was the best $100 I have ever spent in my life! I continue to use electronic cigarettes and don’t plan on stopping. I like smoking and my body tells me that this is a far more healthy way of getting my nicotine fix than tobacco was. Yes, I can definitely feel a difference in how much better my breathing is. I do know myself; though, if there were no e-cigarettes, if they were regulated to the point where I could not get the flavors or nicotine strength that I want or if regulation pushed the price so high, that tobacco cigarettes were less expensive, I would definitely go back to tobacco cigarettes. That, or I would find some way of getting what I want via some black market source. I can only hope that the government will keep its nose out of my business. I don’t need them telling me what I can or cannot do with my own life. Nobody asked them to get involved. If they were so concerned about public health, why are they still allowing tobacco cigarettes to be sold? Until they ban regular cigarettes, there is no intelligent justification for banning or restricting electronic cigarettes in any way.