I tried E-cigs (vaping)......the biggest problem with them is that you generally have to purchase them online, especially if you want to get the good ones that are refillable as opposed to having to buy overpriced replacement tips all the time. Many of the ones you find in stores don't want you to know that they can be easily refilled, they let you believe that once the tip runs dry, you must buy a new tip. NOT SO. They can be refilled. If you actually buy a new tip every time they run dry, then you would not save any money over smoking real cigarettes. The reality is that only the initial gathering of all the equipment you need to refill them yourself is a little expensive, but once you get over that initial investment hump, they are MUCH cheaper and MUCH more healthy than smoking real cigarettes.
Essentially what an E-cig does is deliver nicotine via water vapor. In that tip is what they call an atomizer or cartomizer that super-heats the "e-juice" into steam and delivering the nicotine your body has become addicted to, giving you the illusion of smoking a real cigarette. While still not exactly "healthy", since you are still consuming nicotine, the primary addictive chemical that keeps you smoking, it's still MUCH better than smoking real cigarettes. No more ashes everywhere, no more fire or burn marks on clothes, carpets or furniture, no more cigarette stains on your walls and windows, no more reeking of cigarettes, no more tar filling up your lungs and you eliminate breathing in over 99% of the harmful chemicals you inhale when smoking a real cigarette. Once you fully make the switch to E-cigs, you will find your breathing will improve greatly and you will regain energy and endurance you once had before you started smoking. You may also find that you won't need to smoke as much, especially once you notice the improvement to your health.
Now of course, not smoking at all makes the most sense, but physical addiction to nicotine can be a strong thing to overcome for many people. I know myself that if I try to go cold-turkey for longer than a day, I get all anxious and short-tempered and thoroughly unbearable to be around. The only thing you can think about is cigarette, cigarette, cigarette. Frankly, it's kind of pathetic, but that's how it is for me. It has been a trend that every time I try to quit smoking, I end up actually smoking MORE cigarettes. E-cigs can not only be a healthier and far cleaner alternative to smoking real cigarettes, but can also help you eventually quit altogether since you can step down the amount of nicotine in your refills over time.
Right now, I'm still smoking real cigs, since the E-cig I have now is one of the ones bought in a brick-and-mortar store that simply cost too much to operate compared to just rolling my own real cigarettes, but I was able to go over 2 weeks without a real cigarette using the E-cig without any of the side-effects of going cold-turkey. The energy surge I experienced in just that short time was quite enlightening. I also don't smoke as many real cigarettes now as I used to before I tried vaping, which to me means that my vaping experience garnered at least a little bit of success in my quest to quit smoking altogether.
If you guys are really serious about getting away from the mess and stink and health issues of real cigarettes and want to learn more about E-cigs and the cheapest and best ways to use them, I found a really great site that is purely for discussion of E-cigs. All of your questions, concerns and links to places to get all the best equipment to start vaping can be found here:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com (recommended only for people 18 and over)
The members there are friendly, helpful and understand how hard it is to quit smoking. They will bend over backwards trying to help you get into successful vaping by suggesting the best sites to get the equipment from, the best brands to use and the best prices online to get all the stuff you need to start vaping efficiently and eliminate your dependence on real cigarettes.
I don't consider this an advertisement for that site, I have no affiliation with them other than being a member there myself. It's just that when I became interested in vaping and looked around for a site to help me get started with it, that was the best site I found for that purpose. It answered ALL the questions I had about vaping. Read their stickies. Read the success stories people have had in completely quitting smoking by using E-cigs. It's definitely worth checking into if you want to protect your health and explore alternatives to smoking.
Now that I'm back to work at a real job where I have a chance to eventually have a surplus of money, as opposed to working part-time at a fast-food joint and barely surviving paycheck-to-paycheck, I plan to eventually switch over to E-cigs entirely, and maybe quit smoking completely one day, since I'm now in a position to get over that initial investment hump required to start vaping full-time without just being ripped-off at brick-and-mortar stores to do it.
