Good morning!
I hope to not put you off with the copious amount of verbiage that follows. I love to write and sometimes am able to express myself better on paper than with the spoken word. Part of this post I already wrote in the "What got you started?" thread, but I'm trying to get 15 quality posts in, so I wanted to introduce myself to a forum that played a very big role in my decision to begin vaping.
My name is Michael, and I'm the proud father of four: three daughters (14, 9, and 5) and one son (11). I work for a DoD contractor in the satellite communications field, and for all intents and purposes I'm a healthy guy in good shape. Minus the laundry list of broken bones and torn ligaments I've amassed over one hell of a life so far, my biggest failure was smoking. It flew in the face of everything else I did, and was a constant reminder (especially from my wife) that for as strong as I was physically, I was "weak" when it came to trying to quit. Oh, and how I hated to hear that!
Just because it's easy for some people to put down the pack and walk away, to be called weak-minded for not being able to do the same, well, it grinds me. Another thread, another time.
I started smoking when I was about 16. With my 35th birthday about a month and a half away, that's over half my life! For about half of that time, I was smoking a pack of Newport 100's a day. Then, when state taxes raised the prices, I began smoking Swisher Sweet Little Cigars in the "Strawberry" flavor. Those are just brown cigarettes, really, I never understood how they got around the tax by doing that (the "Little Cigars" physically resembled regular cigarettes, replete with filter). I had tried quitting through the Veteran's Administration once I left the Corps, and went through their smoking cessation program (21mg/14mg patches and Bupropion). I had successfully quit with that combo when I was on active duty, and was crushed when it didn't work. I even tried the state program to quit (patches and gum this time) after that and again, I failed. My wife hated the way I smelled, my kids kept saying they couldn't stand to have me hug them-so I tried to "solve" it by washing my hands up to my elbows and carrying mints, chewing gum, and cologne.
Then one day back in February of this year, I was in 7-11 and saw a display for "NJoy". For about the same price as a pack of my Newports, the signage read, I would be getting over two packs worth of nicotine. Well, why not, I thought? I bought a single disposable "e-cig" with the highest nicotine rating in menthol (1.8%). Instantly, I was amazed at how cool it was! It looked like a cigarette, had a glowing "ember" on the end that lit up when you inhaled, and actually felt like I was smoking a cigarette!
That first week I was still smoking my Swishers, and when the battery died on my first NJoy, I went back and bought another. I used it at my desk at work, and thought it would be cool to have when I didn't have time to go outside for a proper smoke break. When the second NJoy died, I was actually at a local liquor store when I saw they had a e-cig "kit" for sale. I think the brand was "Majestic" or something, and the price seemed ok. I picked it up, took it home, and less than 24 hours later the end of the battery melted in a puff of acrid smoke and melting electronics.
Undaunted, I went to my local Circle K to see about their selections. At this point I was still smoking, but I noticed that I literally cut my usage in half. I was on to something, and I didn't want to mess up another chance to quit! I picked up a disposable menthol by "FIN", and even though it was a few dollars more than the NJoy, it tasted much better. The end of this e-cig even glowed white! Which made it easier to explain away as an "e-cig" than the NJoy, as the NJoy looked a little too real to some people at work.
After one disposable FIN, I bought their "kit". Which I shouldn't have done, because even though it was the best-tasting so far, there was only one battery. The refill box was a little steep, too, but my cigarette usage had disappeared completely! Then, the first of many FIN battery failures happened: one battery went up in smoke while charging on the USB cable, the second arrived by FedEx (they had great customer service, I'll give them that) and then the atomizer broke. Then the third one's atomizer got stuck in a refill cartridge. Then the backup battery I purchased simply stopped charging after a couple days. I reluctantly gave up on FIN, and switched to the other one of Circle K's offerings: 21st Century (21C).
Now, I still have my 21C kit. I have three batteries, two chargers, and probably about a half dozen menthol cartomizers. I was reluctant about going into the "serious" e-cigs as I simply didn't know where to start. The readings I did were confusing; sure I could get a "kit", but the prices were over double what I would have paid for a new kit from the convenience store! What if I got the wrong kit? What if it didn't work like the FIN, where I enjoyed it but the hardware simply kept failing? I had many questions, so I began reading these and other forums for answers.
Complicating this, I was struck by a drunk driver over Memorial Day weekend. I was on a bicycle, he came around a corner on the wrong side of the road, and I ended up in his windshield. Thankfully, the worst injury I had was the top part of my shoulder being torn. In the lead-up to my surgery, I spent hours and hours reading forums and posts and reviews, finally deciding to go with an eGo-T starter kit. I also, just for personal reasons, wanted to support my local businesses. Luckily, I'm in the same city that is home to Armoa EJuice, and I'm still working my way through my first order from them-their WTA is no joke, it's absolutely unique and words can fail to describe just how good their ejuice is! Just a few miles away is ecigsupply, and I am fortunate enough that it costs less than $2 to get my orders from them in just over 24 hours! Between the two of them now I get the lions share of my hardware and ejuice, but I still am looking at other sites for an occasional order or two. I've been absolutely ecstatic that I'm smoke free and probably would not have healed as fast as I have if I had still been an analog smoker.
So, in closing, thank you to all of you here at ECF for your posts, information, and overall quality of forums in helping discover this brave new world of vaping! Going forward, I hope to participate and contribute as best as I can, to include a project I'm doing I'll eventually like to get some feedback on. Still a ways from it (non-commercial, just a GUI really) but I want to help get people to where I am in terms of happiness and improved quality of life sooner rather than later :]
Because damn, I am happy!
Good vaping to you all!
I hope to not put you off with the copious amount of verbiage that follows. I love to write and sometimes am able to express myself better on paper than with the spoken word. Part of this post I already wrote in the "What got you started?" thread, but I'm trying to get 15 quality posts in, so I wanted to introduce myself to a forum that played a very big role in my decision to begin vaping.
My name is Michael, and I'm the proud father of four: three daughters (14, 9, and 5) and one son (11). I work for a DoD contractor in the satellite communications field, and for all intents and purposes I'm a healthy guy in good shape. Minus the laundry list of broken bones and torn ligaments I've amassed over one hell of a life so far, my biggest failure was smoking. It flew in the face of everything else I did, and was a constant reminder (especially from my wife) that for as strong as I was physically, I was "weak" when it came to trying to quit. Oh, and how I hated to hear that!
Just because it's easy for some people to put down the pack and walk away, to be called weak-minded for not being able to do the same, well, it grinds me. Another thread, another time.I started smoking when I was about 16. With my 35th birthday about a month and a half away, that's over half my life! For about half of that time, I was smoking a pack of Newport 100's a day. Then, when state taxes raised the prices, I began smoking Swisher Sweet Little Cigars in the "Strawberry" flavor. Those are just brown cigarettes, really, I never understood how they got around the tax by doing that (the "Little Cigars" physically resembled regular cigarettes, replete with filter). I had tried quitting through the Veteran's Administration once I left the Corps, and went through their smoking cessation program (21mg/14mg patches and Bupropion). I had successfully quit with that combo when I was on active duty, and was crushed when it didn't work. I even tried the state program to quit (patches and gum this time) after that and again, I failed. My wife hated the way I smelled, my kids kept saying they couldn't stand to have me hug them-so I tried to "solve" it by washing my hands up to my elbows and carrying mints, chewing gum, and cologne.
Then one day back in February of this year, I was in 7-11 and saw a display for "NJoy". For about the same price as a pack of my Newports, the signage read, I would be getting over two packs worth of nicotine. Well, why not, I thought? I bought a single disposable "e-cig" with the highest nicotine rating in menthol (1.8%). Instantly, I was amazed at how cool it was! It looked like a cigarette, had a glowing "ember" on the end that lit up when you inhaled, and actually felt like I was smoking a cigarette!
That first week I was still smoking my Swishers, and when the battery died on my first NJoy, I went back and bought another. I used it at my desk at work, and thought it would be cool to have when I didn't have time to go outside for a proper smoke break. When the second NJoy died, I was actually at a local liquor store when I saw they had a e-cig "kit" for sale. I think the brand was "Majestic" or something, and the price seemed ok. I picked it up, took it home, and less than 24 hours later the end of the battery melted in a puff of acrid smoke and melting electronics.
Undaunted, I went to my local Circle K to see about their selections. At this point I was still smoking, but I noticed that I literally cut my usage in half. I was on to something, and I didn't want to mess up another chance to quit! I picked up a disposable menthol by "FIN", and even though it was a few dollars more than the NJoy, it tasted much better. The end of this e-cig even glowed white! Which made it easier to explain away as an "e-cig" than the NJoy, as the NJoy looked a little too real to some people at work.
After one disposable FIN, I bought their "kit". Which I shouldn't have done, because even though it was the best-tasting so far, there was only one battery. The refill box was a little steep, too, but my cigarette usage had disappeared completely! Then, the first of many FIN battery failures happened: one battery went up in smoke while charging on the USB cable, the second arrived by FedEx (they had great customer service, I'll give them that) and then the atomizer broke. Then the third one's atomizer got stuck in a refill cartridge. Then the backup battery I purchased simply stopped charging after a couple days. I reluctantly gave up on FIN, and switched to the other one of Circle K's offerings: 21st Century (21C).
Now, I still have my 21C kit. I have three batteries, two chargers, and probably about a half dozen menthol cartomizers. I was reluctant about going into the "serious" e-cigs as I simply didn't know where to start. The readings I did were confusing; sure I could get a "kit", but the prices were over double what I would have paid for a new kit from the convenience store! What if I got the wrong kit? What if it didn't work like the FIN, where I enjoyed it but the hardware simply kept failing? I had many questions, so I began reading these and other forums for answers.
Complicating this, I was struck by a drunk driver over Memorial Day weekend. I was on a bicycle, he came around a corner on the wrong side of the road, and I ended up in his windshield. Thankfully, the worst injury I had was the top part of my shoulder being torn. In the lead-up to my surgery, I spent hours and hours reading forums and posts and reviews, finally deciding to go with an eGo-T starter kit. I also, just for personal reasons, wanted to support my local businesses. Luckily, I'm in the same city that is home to Armoa EJuice, and I'm still working my way through my first order from them-their WTA is no joke, it's absolutely unique and words can fail to describe just how good their ejuice is! Just a few miles away is ecigsupply, and I am fortunate enough that it costs less than $2 to get my orders from them in just over 24 hours! Between the two of them now I get the lions share of my hardware and ejuice, but I still am looking at other sites for an occasional order or two. I've been absolutely ecstatic that I'm smoke free and probably would not have healed as fast as I have if I had still been an analog smoker.
So, in closing, thank you to all of you here at ECF for your posts, information, and overall quality of forums in helping discover this brave new world of vaping! Going forward, I hope to participate and contribute as best as I can, to include a project I'm doing I'll eventually like to get some feedback on. Still a ways from it (non-commercial, just a GUI really) but I want to help get people to where I am in terms of happiness and improved quality of life sooner rather than later :]
Because damn, I am happy!
Good vaping to you all!
