I started smoking cigarettes when I was a teenager, somewhere around 14 years old (about 1996). I tried to quit many times, never with any success. The longest I have ever been able to quit was about 6 months, but I relapsed.
I’m very passionate about health and fitness, (eating healthy, heavy weight training, etc.) and in 2010, a friend said to me “for someone who cares so much about your health, I don’t understand how you can smoke,” and that comment hit me hard.
I immediately decided I wanted to quit and I gave electronic cigarettes a try. I figured that if I got a cheap e-cig from the gas station, I would be disappointed and end up going back to cigarettes, so I ordered an expensive kit online (I think it was $120). I wanted the best quality device I could get. Way back in 2010, the most common device available was a cig-a-like, which are little e-cigs that look and feel like a normal cigarette and that’s what I bought. Cig-a-likes are still around, but you can get a kit for less than $20 these days.
The reason I went with an e-cig rather than nicotine gum or a patch is because I felt like what I really needed to quit was something that closely resembled smoking.
I’m so happy to say that it worked.
I started with high nicotine cartridges and worked my way down to zero MG nicotine over several months and then quit entirely three months later. I had no desire to smoke again and I’ve been tobacco free since August 2010.
I rarely used my e-cigarette after quitting but I kept it around just in case, for example, if I went to a poker party or if I went out with friends. Even on those occasions, I found that I didn’t really feel like using my e-cig. After a year or so, I stopped carrying it around altogether.
Then in 2015, I started doing research about the benefits of using nicotine as a way to improve focus and increase energy. I learned that vaping had come a long way since I had quit and I got really interested in the new technology. I bought a 20 watt iStick and a Nautilus Mini tank and I absolutely loved it. Vaping became a hobby from there and now I do product reviews, run this blog, and I even do a podcast.
Quitting smoking was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life and it’s important to me that I do what I can to help anyone going through the same struggles and that’s why I do what I do.
Using an electronic cigarette was the best thing I could have ever done for my health.
I honestly believe they saved my life.