It is kind of strange looking back at my progression in my new hobby of e-cig vaping. I have only quit smoking a few months ago. Originally I had picked up my first e-cig at the local tobacconist last winter. It was not the greatest purchase I have ever made. The kit was a single mini-battery unit, with a couple of dried out cartomizers and it cost me about seventy-five dollars.

I got home, had a cigarette and charged the battery. O.K. it really was really more like ten cigarettes before that stupid charger turned green. Excitedly, I screwed on the cartomizer and took a couple of puffs. “Man this tastes nothing like a cigarette,” I thought as I exhaled a minuscule amount of vapor. I puffed on the thing on and off for about an hour. I also went through each cartomizer expecting a different result of vapor and flavor. Then the led light on my new toy started blinking and finally died, I tried charging it again but no luck.

I was not impressed, in the least, with this little contraption. I grabbed my keys, lit a Camel and took it back to the store. The owner of shop was there, the man that I had made my first e-cig purchase not four hours before and who had sold me most of my cigarettes for the last three years. He looked me in the eye and looked at the box containing the e-cig. His attitude became volatile and refused to accept the return stating that he had never sold that e-cig to me and it was not the type they sold in his store. I stood there dumbfounded, with receipt in hand and soon found myself leaving. I had been scammed by the store and felt the same about this concept of “Vaping”.

I tried quite a few different legal avenues to get satisfaction, but sadly none ever seemed to pan out. Through that research process though, I had started reading more and more about e-cigs. The more I read the more I realized that what I had purchased was a very expensive piece of junk. But I also found something more.

I found a group of people that were really enjoying themselves, their clothes and homes didn’t stink. They had regained the sense of taste and could smell the air again. These people had taken it upon themselves to create informative forums (like ECF), shops (like ecigexpress) and YouTube videos (with some really diehard vapers). I found that there was a society of ex-smokers that had a totally different perspective on what vaping was and is becoming.

I told my story and I received more helpful information than I could ever have imagined. I now have an Ego kit and just started mixing my own e-juice. I am also impatiently waiting on my first flavor order from ecigexpress as I write this. I may even make a crazy mod and throw a video up on YouTube with the other diehard vapors.

It’s not exactly what I expect to be doing after I picked up my first e-cig at that tobacco shop. I still have that piece of junk sitting on my cabinet and I’m kind of glad I got it now. Don’t get me wrong, I hate that I wasted that money. But I don’t think I would have read and researched as much as I did without that piece of junk.

Oh, yeah… I had almost forgotten the most important thing to me… May 3^rd will be my 3^rd month anniversary since my last cigarette. I had not planned that day or anything, I just didn’t pick up a pack of smokes that day. After 25+ years of smoking it feels kind of strange that I’m not but those analogs just don’t interest me that much anymore.

Dan  from  Wisconsin

I started cigarettes at age 14, over 40 years ago. I tried EVERYTHING to quit, and only managed while pregnant, and then started right back up again. They say cigarettes are as addicting as heroin, and as an nurse, I believe it might be true.
I had asthma when I was born, and lung problems all my life. I couldn’t run with my kids, I got winded and wheezed my way through life. I went to Florida and a friend and I went to a huge Flea Market, and they had a video display of these things I had never heard of before. Electronic Cigarets. Hmmm, I filed that info away, as the cost was rather steep, but after downgrading my cigaret brands several times due to the price hikes, I started researching the e cigs again.
In October of 2009, I made an internet purchase of a kit. They are much more cost friendly than the ones at truck stops, convenience stores and mall kiosks, and you get more for your dollars. On Halloween, I smoked my last real cigarette. My kids noticed the difference right away, as did my patients. I didn’t stink anymore. Within a week, I was using my rescue inhalers less. I quit the hacking cough a bit later. I never have smoked a real cigarette since. I never even craved one, as some did who bought the cheap, but more costly local e cigs.
I was amazed at how much money I had saved with that kit, but then the cartridges wore out, so again, I started researching an even more cost effective way to have my nicotine. I found the ecigexpress website, and a few others and used them all to build up my inventory, mix my own flavors in the strengths I desired, and got my first experience with the menthol crystals. I over did it, but have since learned how to get the flavor just right, and also the strength with their handy calculator. I have stocked up on cartridges, spare batteries, extra chargers and plenty of PG and juice, and can whip up a weeks worth of “smoking”in the time it took to roll my own. Now I place a monthly order at a couple different sites, and spend, on average, $30-$50 a month to Vape. I don’t even know what a carton of the nasty, lower than generic, cigarettes I used to smoke cost now, but they were $110 back then for 2 cartons a week. I saved around $400 a month!! That extra money I saved got me a great trip to Italy, and I don’t intend to ever go back to real smokes again, unless our lovely government completely bans electronics, and I sincerely hope they do not, as I feel so much better, healthwise.

Sherri from Ohio

I’d been pacing the short distance in my tiny RV for hours, hanging off the edge of the bed & even doing head stands; all in an effort to clear my lungs and breathe. None of the ol’ tricks were working. Finally, in near panic, I fired up the engine & drove to the hospital. After securing the rig, I power smoked one last cigarette before shuffling into the ER. “What d’ya want?” the bored intake nurse asked. I managed to gasp: “I’m having trouble breathing.”  Something in my tone must have grabbed her attention. Peering up from her paper work, she took one look at me & hollered into the closed doors behind her, “triage!!!”

Forty years of smoking had come crashing down on me. Apparently COPD (emphysema & bronchitis) is like that.  Decades are spent “getting away with it”, relatively unaware of the alveoli dying off and then: BAM. Critical mass is achieved. The day before I had bicycled & walked miles, smoking all the way. Suddenly hospitalized, on oxygen & a metered steroid drip, I wondered whether I’d ever be able to do anything again. The 10 foot trek to the bathroom left me gasping & wasted. I spent the next month on oxygen, ever so slowly regaining my strength & mobility, though it will never be what it was.

Thus began my 8 year battle with smoking. Picking up that first cigarette after a spell of “Nicotine replacement therapy” provided life saving relief from a seeming pit of despair. I would be an ecstatic smoker for whatever time my destroyed pulmonary system would allow but, inevitably, my COPD would re-assert itself.  Though my friends & family found me nicer to be with when I smoked (testy despair is an unpopular social stance), they all feared for my life as I hacked, gurgled & spit up wads. The various nicotine substitutes became addictions themselves, at a much higher cost than my hand rolled burley and providing no relief. I came to believe that (for me) the primary part of this addiction is not the nicotine; it’s the habit: The divine ritual of puffing.

The e-cig was an untried fantasy and a costly investment in an unknown that had to be ordered from abroad. Then, last October, I had the opportunity to try one. I immediately invested in an over the counter starter kit. Though hopeful, I found that first e-cig to be a poor substitute for the real deal. I suspected that a more powerful product might work for me. (I smoked full flavors for 50 years.) After a month of obsessive research and nearly $300 worth of “trial & error”, I happily hit on my solution.

I have been smoke and craving free for 6 months now! I vape a variable voltage mod on the road & use passthroughs at home. I’m a big fan of cartomizers and have learned to mix my own flavors. The freedom is intoxicating and I’m having a lot of fun introducing others to this accessible miracle. My doctor is delighted and recently referred me to a Pulmonary Rehab Program, which was never going to happen while I continued to destroy my lungs with smoke. I’m free & finally able to begin recovery.

Darryle from California

This is my story

Laugh if you will and I am sure my story sounds the same as many others out there
but I have been heavily smoking cigs for 17 years with the exception of
being pregnant with my son I had no problem quitting for him but one cigarette lead
to another after I gave birth and I was back smoking in no time,
its sad to say it really does only take 1.
My doctors have been riding me about not smoking, when I was 21 I was diagnosed
with Multiple Sclerosis but in my eyes I figured if I was going to get robbed
of a ‘normal life’ why the hell should I have to give everything up? I didn’t
want to quit I am an Aries and hard headed, after many failed attempts at quitting
I gave up till my sister bought me the e-cig for my birthday, I laughed at her thinking
this is so not going to work but what the heck. I decided to try
it one day really try it and not smoke regular cigarettes it has actually worked
the one day has now turned into a month for me! A freaken month I have no desire
to smoke my old cigs the e-cig actually tastes a lot better LOVE the flavors!
I don’t smell like a dirty ashtray, my child isn’t around harmful smoke (I never
deliberately smoked around him but you can’t always escape it outside) my husband
won’t quit kissing me (don’t know if that’s a good thing or not?) and most of all
I am completely satisfied I don’t feel like I’ve given anything up! I still have my
little best friend she just looks a little different ~ she’s been upgraded!
Anyways that is my story I would highly recommend the e-cig to anyone who enjoys smoking
but doesn’t want the dangers of it or smell lmao take care people

April from Florida

Hi, I was a pack and a half a day smoker and I have three other types of ecigarette’s from different companies so I could quit smoking. I was finally able to do that with the Joye510 ecig from ecigexpress!! The 510 satisfies my nicotine craving, the others did not. I was surfing the web for an e cigarette company and I found ecigexpress, I read their customers testimonials and I placed my order for the starter kit of the Joye510 after that. Ecigexpress has great products, a lot to choose from and their shipping is fast too! I love my 510 ecig and I will order another one when I need one. I just got my car charger in the mail, which is great! I am ordering from ecigexpress only and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to quit smoking! I am so happy I found ecigexpress‘s web site! Thank you for selling quality products that work, so I was able to quit smoking!! My daughter thanks you too!!

Thank you,

Marci

I am telling you my story not only to tell how I finally stopped
smoking but to let everyone know that it can be done no matter how long
you have smoked and no matter how hopeless you seem to think quitting
can be. I started smoking around the age of fifteen. I thought it
was funny then and cool. My brother smoked and he was the one that gave
me my first cigarette. Well, from then on it was a never-ending battle
to quit. I would smoke for quite some time then I would quit for awhile
but would eventually go right back to smoking. The only time I would
really quit for any length of time was when my two children were
born. I stopped smoking with my first child for about two years and
about the same amount of time with my second child. Now you may ask
did I really try? The answer is yes. I tried everything. You name it
I tried it. Nothing seem to work. Patches, gum, counseling,
inhalers, medicine, you name it I tried it. All. The battle kept on
for over thirty years. Then, things to become really clear to me.
After losing my son last year and being diagnosed with several types
arthritis I knew I had to do something. I had a special needs daughter
to take care of and I wanted to be around for her. So I tried
everything again to quit but nothing seemed to help. Then one day my
daughter, whose name is Tai, came to me and said, I don’t want to see
you die. Please quit. Quit for me..That did it. I knew I had to
stop. So I started to check around to see if maybe there was something
on the market that I hadn’t tried before. One day, I happened to be on
YouTube and ran across people doing reviews on something called an
electronic cigarette. Also known as an e-cig. The more I read and did
research the more hopeful I became. I finally said why not. I have
nothing to lose. So I bought an e-cig kit. Well, that was over three
months ago. After over thirty years and being a three pack a day
smoker I am now smoke free. I love my e-cig. If it hadn’t been for
it, I probably would never have quit. I feel better, I can taste food
again, I have more energy, and most of all I will be around a little
longer to love my daughter. So, if you think quitting smoking is
hopeless. If you think there is nothing out there that will help you
lay a cigarette down for good then please take a look at an e-cig. You
have nothing to lose and so much much to gain.

Barbara from North Carolina

By way of introduction, I started smoking cigarettes 40 years ago when
I was 13. It’s really a stupid habit, if I do say so myself, but it is
a powerful addiction. Since that time I have quit smoking more times
than I can remember, once for over ten years. For one reason or
another, every time I stopped smoking I would eventually start again.
It was incredibly frustrating and somewhat depressing.

Besides the obvious health issues, there was that prevailing smokey
smell everyplace I smoked. I was fortunate enough to get used to it,
as most smokers do, but my family and friends were not so lucky. It
seems that non-smokers smell cigarette smoke a lot better than smokers
do. (I’ve noticed that since I started vaping I’ve become more acutely
aware of the smell of cigarettes, too.) I was also dealing with the
rising price of tobacco products (nearly ten dollars a pack in my
area). I tried smoking the cheapest brands I could find, most of which
were pretty bad (although I would eventually finish the pack, of
course, when I ran out of less reprehensible smokes).

One day, via an email list I’m on, a message came through in which
someone was describing her experience with e-cigs. I was intrigued and
did some research. I eventually got past my perception that it was too
expensive (around $70 for a starter kit) and bought a pen-style
e-cigarette. It was really amazing! It was a very “smoking-like”
experience that I could engage in INSIDE without making everything
smell like smoke. Even better, it turned out to be less expensive than
tobacco cigarettes once I’d bought the hardware since all I needed to
buy was more juice, some cartridges and an occasional atomizer. After
using the pen-style e-cig for a while I decided to try something
different and ordered one of the 510-type e-cigs, which has been my
go-to vape for the last year or so. In the last year I have smoked
exactly one tobacco cigarette, at the urging of a relative that smoked
my old brand. It was terrible! I’ve had no urge to smoke tobacco cigs
since then.

Now, let me make one thing clear: When I started vaping I wasn’t
particularly interested in a “stop smoking” exercise that involved
expensive medicines that you were supposed to taper off of (I don’t
know many people that have been successful with that approach). I
liked the “business” that goes with smoking but wanted to get rid of
the bad stuff that goes along with smoking tobacco, like the smell and
the known bad health effects. Some of my well-meaning friends have
expressed concern that I’m “still addicted” to nicotine. I’m well
aware of that fact. Frankly, I don’t know if this is a great way to
get rid of nicotine addiction at all, nor do I really care. I can say
that for me it’s worked really well as an alternative to smoking
cigarettes.

Someday I may try to taper my e-juice strength down to 0mg and get off
the nicotine completely. In the meantime, I am pleased that I feel
better and don’t pollute my environment with cigarette smoke. I am
very happy to be VAPING and not SMOKING.

Matt from Washington

Hi All,

Cigarettes must have been my constant friends. Because I had them with me wherever I went. Every day. For 44 years.

How much did I smoke? I was a typical pack-a-day guy. Sometimes more. Sometimes a lot more. But most of the time I sucked down 20 cigarettes a day. I’ve read on The Internets that a cigarette lasts about 10 to 13 drags. Let’s say 10 puffs per cigarette. So … 200 times a day, 365 days a year, for 44 years adds up to 3,212,000 times I’ve taken a drag from a cigarette and inhaled tobacco smoke.

When I go out of my way to do something well over 3 million times I think it’s safe to say I had more than a habit. To be more precise: an addiction.

I knew I was deep in addiction territory when I was madly searching through the house … again … looking anywhere and everywhere for A Cigarette … and settled for a butt that still had a few drags left in it. I was acting just like Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend all because I ran out of smokes. It was time to face up to the fact that I was absolutely and sincerely hooked on cigarettes. So I quit … Until the next day when I bought another pack of one of my friends.

Here’s another mini-drama. Let me set the scene: I ran out of smokes and it was too much of a hassle to go all the way out to my favorite discount warehouse and pick up a carton. I saw a convenience store and walked in.

Normal Person: How much for a pack of Marlboros?

Counter Guy: $7.00

Normal Person: That’s insane! No one in their right mind would pay 7 bucks for a pack of cigarettes!”

Or …

Me: How much for a pack of Marlboros?

Counter Guy: $7.00

Me: Okay.

No matter how much cigarettes cost … I was always going to to pay the price. Even though I’d sworn I would never pay more than $2.00 a pack … over the years I shelled out whatever was the going rate.

I’ve tried to quit smoking cigarettes off and on since 1974.

For my first attempt I bought a cigarette holder with a dial on the stem. For the first week you set it on “1,” the following week you set it on “2,” and so on for 4 weeks. The way it worked was with each setting the cigarette holder allowed more air into the smoke when you took a drag. On the fourth week all you would be getting was … air. I don’t remember how much it cost but I do remember that the program didn’t work. Though the device worked fine … I cheated.

Then I tried acupuncture. The procedure was supposed to eliminate cravings and withdrawal symptoms. After multiple sessions I still wanted to smoke.

Later on I bought a device that I was to program by pressing a button every time I smoked for the first week. Starting on the second week I was only to smoke when it beeped at me. Then the interval between beeps would get longer and longer apart until finally it wouldn’t beep anymore and I wouldn’t need to smoke anymore. That was the theory anyway. The device worked fine … It beeped, I cheated. I kept it safely in my desk drawer. Occasionally I heard it beep. Eventually it stopped. I still smoked.

Then my doctor put me on a special vegetarian diet for 8 weeks. He said that when I stopped smoking after going vegetarian the cravings and withdrawal symptoms would be greatly reduced or eliminated entirely. HAH! Let’s just say the cravings were as bad as if I ate meat every day, 3 times a day, with meat snacks in between.

The next time I tried to quit I bought The Patch. After a couple of days I felt crazier than an outhouse rat.

Time to try The Gum. Nicorette. It said “Mint” flavor on the box but that’s only because Nicorette’s marketing department thought that “Tile Grout” probably wouldn’t sell as well. Once again I made it to 4 days before I just couldn’t stand it anymore.

A couple of years later I spent $400 bucks on a hypnotist. $200 per visit. The most expensive naps I’ve ever had.

Every once in awhile I’d try to quit Cold Turkey. The less said about that the better. It made me want to go buy a dog so I could have something to kick. And I like dogs.

Finally last September I knew I had to quit for good no matter how horrible I would feel during the process. Nicorette had a new flavor, Cinnamon Surge, and it actually tasted like cinnamon. I started chomping away.

Nicorette’s ad campaign says:

Quitting Smoking Sucks
A Lot
Make quitting suck less with Nicorette.

And it’s true that quitting using Nicorette sucks less than going cold turkey. But … If you set the Crazy-O-Meter to 10 … and then drop it down to 8 … you’re still crazy. Just not as crazy as you could be. And in the Nicorette World … I guess that’s called success. Living in a “Sucks Less But Still Sucks World” after awhile put me in a mental state that was definitely No Fun. Going through each day with the consolation that without the gum it would be waaaaaay crazier is a crummy way to count the hours. Which is probably why in the real world the success rate for those using The Patch or The Gum is roughly the same. About 7%.

Nicorette is part of the Johnson & Johnson Group of Consumer Companies and the Nicoderm patch is marketed by GlaxoSmithKline, Aventis and Pfizer. They certainly have the cash to manufacture the propaganda necessary to turn a 93% failure rate into a 7% “success” rate.

So there I was plowing through each day acutely aware that everything sucked slightly less than it could. Hoo-freakinn-ray. The other bit o’ knowledge that goes along with that is I knew exactly how the day could stop sucking immediately. All I had to do was go to the store and buy a pack of cigarettes. After a few blissful puffs however the crushing feeling of FAILURE would once again descend like the anvil on the Warner Brothers cartoon coyote. Oh great. I’ve failed … again. And on top of everything else I stink like cigarettes. This Is An Unpleasant Way To Live … To put it mildly.

Then One Day …

I was listening to the radio when a commercial caught my attention. Smoker’s Savior. An electronic or “e-cigarette.” According to the announcer it feels and tastes just like smoking a cigarette but since you are only inhaling and exhaling water vapor … no harmful anything!

I wrote down the 800 number but before I called I went googling for Smoker’s Savior product reviews. And found them. All bad.

I didn’t call the 800 number but continued Googling around The Internets finding out and reading reviews about all kinds of e-cigs.

Finally I found ECF and read a review that made me change my mind.

I ordered on March 3rd 2010 and the starter kit arrived on the 6th. I put the e-cig together, took a drag, exhaled, took another, exhaled, and knew that this was not going to be a replay of The Patch or The Gum.

This Was Different.

Felt like smoking … tasted better than smoking, but without tobacco or combustion products, thereby eliminating virtually all of the health hazards associated with smoking. And no second hand smoke because there is no smoke to begin with.

I told my wife it’s as if everything I do throughout the day has a muted celestial choir soundtrack in the background. Here I am working … and I don’t want a cigarette. Here I am walking up to school to pick up my little boy … and I don’t want a cigarette. Here I am doing anything … and I don’t want a cigarette!

Let’s see now … when has that ever happened? Oh … never!

When you look for something for 36 years … and finally find it … it seems like an freaking miracle!

Y’see after a miracle happens to me … I get just a leetle evangelical. I’m not about to rig up a sandwich board and go downtown to hand out tracts … but if I were rich I’d order hundreds of starter kits, put them in the back of the car, put a couple of speakers on the roof, and do an Elmer Gantry bit to anyone I see smoking.

Brothers and Sisters … You too can be saved and break free from the clutches of demon cigarettes … just take a couple of drags of this!

If I were to list The Greatest Inventions Ever it’d go something like this: Fire, The Wheel, Disposable Diapers, and E-Cigs.

I hope everyone has the same experience I’ve had … an effortless transition away from smoking.

Finally — I Quit!

Regards,

Bob from Washington

I quit smoking for my final time 16 months ago when I started vaping. I started smoking 55 years ago when I was 15. I had been diagnosed with COPD a few years prior and knew I had to quit or I would soon be on oxygen like my brother and many friends are or were, my brother just died in Jan, because of smoking for over 50 years . I tried my best but although I had quit for five years once and ten years another time I couldn’t stay quit this time. I tried other nicotine substitutes but nothing worked until I tried vaping. To make a long story short I went for my annual check up and I was real curious about my lungs and how they were doing. The last time I had my lungs checked the doctor said my lungs sounded like an accordion so I was anxious to find out how they sounded now after vaping for 16 months. I knew I no longer wheezed or coughed but what would they sound like to the doctor. He was amazed and I was delighted because he said they sounded really good. I told him I hadn’t had a single cold in 16 months although I take care of my grandkids and they have had lots of colds but I haven’t had a single one. I told him I can’t prove it but I think it because of the PG I vape. He was real interested in them because this was at the VA hospital and there are many ol vets like me that have COPD. So I pulled out my Go-Go and showed him how it vaped right there in the examining room. He was pretty amazed and wanted to know where I bought them and how much they cost and how often I used it. lol I am going to start carrying cards with me to hand out.
Besides all of that my cholesterol was perfect and my blood pressure was perfect so I’m a happy ol codger today.

Randall from Washington

I had my first cigarette at Woodstock and it was a less-than-happy experience but people kept sharing what they had until finally someone offered me a menthol and that’s all it took! Decades later, countless thousands of dollars up in smoke and who knows how many tens of thousands of cigarettes polluting my body, I got the wake-up call but it wasn’t for me.

My husband’s health was deteriorating. He quit smoking years ago but the damage was done. I no longer smoked around him but I knew I had to quit but how? I remembered an ad I saw for an electronic cigarette, an ad I had dismissed out-of-hand for a gimmick that, if it worked at all, would be, at best, a very poor substitute.

I started to do research and found the ECF and with it, the useful information I needed. I made a choice, sent in an order and waited, not expecting anything good to come of it. How wrong I was!

The first day I was stunned to see I was down from over 2 packs-a-day to only 10 cigarettes and those were smoked before the mail arrived bringing my V4L kit. Life is good and sharing every minute of it with my husband (instead of running off for an cigarette) is even better! I’ve rejoined society and can live life on the inside!!

[My thanks to ECF and my friends there who offer me encouragement, Vapor4Life and their wonderful products and most of all to that small device that changed my life. I so believe in electronic cigarettes, I have given two kits to family members who used to smoke but now are smoke-free!]

Oleta from Illinois