From Part-time to Full-time

I do have some experience with vaping.  I picked up an electronic cigarette at a convenience store several years ago.  When I first tried it I was kind of amazed at the clouds of smoke it produced!  It looked like a cigarette and the end of it even glowed red when you took a puff. And yes, it was kind of like smoking only you had to draw pretty hard on the device to get any smoke.  Also it didn't really taste like smoking.  Not exactly anyway.  It had a bit of a sweetness to it.

Nonetheless I was intrigued.  I went home and googled e-cigs and settled on a brand called "Green Smoke"  (www.greensmoke.com)  At the time I think I paid about $100 for the start-up kit (they have since dropped in price significantly).  What you get in the kit is a few batteries, a charger, and a pack of something called "cartomizers".  The cartomizer looks like the filter on a cigarette and contains the nicotine juice and a heating element to vaporize the juice when you draw on the e-cig.  The cartomizers come in different flavors and strengths.  I ordered the highest level of nicotine in their Red Label tobacco flavor.

When I got the kit I charged up the batteries and gave it a go.  It was definitely better than the one I picked up at the convenience store!  It produced even more smoke and it tasted much better, still not quite a cigarette, but close enough to satisfy.  The higher level of nicotine definitely produced a more satisfying vaping experience.

I didn't really know whether or not it would entirely replace smoking for me but I liked the fact that I could smoke in the house.  I could smoke while watching a movie, working on my computer, reading a book, or fixing dinner.  I wouldn't have to brave the cold and the rain to get a nicotine fix.  And another plus -- no ashes and no butts to deal with.

So I entered the vaping world.  I have used my e-cigs intermittently ever since.  They have not completely replaced smoking for me.   In fact, sometimes I have left them untouched for months at a time.  Then I will remember them and order a few refill packs at about $16 each and start vaping again.

Since I work from home I mostly use them at my computer while I work.  I still smoke real cigarettes (or "analogs", as the vaping world calls them) and have sometimes wondered if by vaping while I'm working I'm actually increasing my nicotine addiction.  But I don't think so, I have actually cut back on the analogs.  Not consciously, just as a by-product of vaping and I don't seem to crave the real thing as frequently.  It seems many smokers use e-cigs this way- just as a convenience when they can't smoke.

But now I am ready to leave the analogs behind.  My decision was motivated by a friend who introduced me to her vaping friend, also known as the "Vaping Fairy".  My friend told me the Vaping Fairy had switched from analogs to e-cigs over a year ago and never looked back.  So I emailed her to ask some questions.

She was a wealth of knowledge and recommended that I switch to a different style of e-cig so I could try all of the different e-juice flavors.  I had only used the tobacco cartridges from Green Smoke and though I knew there was a wealth of e-juice flavors available, everything from Raspberry Cheesecake to Caramel Macchiato, they never really intrigued me.  She easily convinced me that there were other benefits of switching -- the battery would last longer and be more reliable (I had trouble with the reliability of the Green Smoke batteries) and the price would be significantly less.  So I decided if I wanted to switch from a part-time to a full-time vapor I should heed her advice and look into my options in e-cig models.