Well, I'll fess up. I've always liked tobacco. I don't really drink at all, never done drugs, but a cafe creme blue cigar or several is my weakness. Or rather it was.
I was very slightly older than 39 this year, and although the missus didn't really nag, I could see she was getting less happy about my habit. And frankly it wasn't making me feel too great either. Twenty five years of enthusiastic smoking (the first fifteen or so of which were cigarettes) hadn't yet taken their toll, but I was pretty sure it was only a matter of not much more time and I was going to start paying (and not just the daft price any cigarette or cigar now seems to command).
The big problem for me was not during the day - I work long days and I haven't smoked during the working day for years. My weakness started when I left for home and in the evenings. A little cigar or if I'm honest, a number of little cigars, was my reward for working hard and making it through the day. Oh, and I did inhale as well.
So I did a little googling, and youtubing about electronic cigarettes and cigars. Lots of videos of people saying how once they had bought one they never smoked another real cigarette again.
"Boll*cks" was my immediate and fairly emphatic reaction.
Despite my utterly immense skepticism I ordered a £27 Halo e-cigarette starter kit from these folk (please note - I have absolutely no affiliation with them whatsoever):
http://www.ecigarettedirect.co.uk/
There are lots of others on the market but this seems to be the most impressive.
It arrived a week ago with some trepidation I charged it up and I haven't touched a cigar since. It is utterly, utterly incredible. This latest generation of ecigarette smokes the same, tastes the same, hits the back of your throat the same, gives you the lift the same, creates "smoke" the same... and it contains no carcinogens or tar at all. All it contains is nicotine in a cartridge that is vapourised as you drag on the cigarette and tuned to vapour. This does you no more harm than a coffee, probably less, and what is even more astonishing is that there is no burning of anything. So you can have a few drags, blow some smoke rings, then pop it back in your pocket.
The smoke has no smell, doesn't stink up the house or your clothes, and has no secondary effects on anyone. All you actually inhale and exhale is water vapour.
I have since discovered that amongst the enlightened who use these, smoking is now referred to as "vaping". :)
See it on David Letterman with a nice hottie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_wr0X_3wpA
My biggest problem with tobacco was that I actually really liked it. I liked having a drag. I like the ecigarette just as much because I genuinely cannot tell the difference - so I don't feel like I am depriving myself of anything.
And as a final clincher - it costs less than a third the price of tobacco and you can legally use it anywhere including pubs, workplace, public transport etc.
So why have I written all this? Simply because having found this totally life-changing product I wanted to share it and hopefully help a few of you (come on, own up) as well.
Buy one - it will be the best money you have ever spent I absolutely promise.
Happy vaping,
TFB
:D