It’s been well over a year now and I can honestly say I haven’t touched a cigarette in several months.  I tried to smoke a cigarette maybe six months ago, I got less than half way through it and threw it away.  It tasted horrible and I had no desire to smoke it.

I got my wife to quit smoking also.  She’s quit for a little over a year also.  She does smoke occasional cigarettes on some weekends, but she’s basically smoke free.  I’ve always been the heavier smoker out of the two of us.

I quit with 24mg liquid, then I got down to 16mg, then went back up to 24mg, then went back down to 16mg, then down to 8mg, then back  up to 24mg, then back down to 16mg, then back down to 8mg, then down to 0mg, then back up to 24mg…  Basically I’ve been on a nicotine yo-yo in the last several months.  I find it’s very easy to go up and down in nicotine strength.  The 0mg was kind of rough for me and left me unsatisfied.

I’m using a new approach now to either get off e-cigarettes or get off nicotine.  I figure I’ve been using this product long enough and as good as my body feels I think anything done for too long a period of time can potentially be harmful (even though nothing has been proven as harmful with electronic cigarettes, who knows the actual long term effects).  I started my new approach on the strength I was using which was 24mg.  Then I used 2 30ml bottles at that strength.  After that I dropped to 16mg.  I used 2 30ml bottles of 16mg.  Then I went down to 8mg.  I used 3 30ml bottles of the 8mg.  Then since I know 0mg is my weakness.  I didn’t go to 0mg.  I mixed 1/2 0mg with 1/2 8mg to create 4mg.  I’ve used 2 30ml bottles of this mix and that brings us to today.  I’m using the 4mg and I think I’m going down to 2mg for a bottle or two starting in the next couple of days.  After 2mg I’m going to 0mg and seeing if I can stop completely.

There is definitely a big difference between having even a little bit of nicotine in the liquid and none at all.  When you’re at 0mg there is no kick whatsoever.  Since I’ve been weaning myself off slowly hopefully I won’t miss the kick.  I’m not having any problems with the 4mg and find it satisfying.  I think I’m flying through cartridges faster though.

I’ve also switched models since the first postings.  I’ve been almost exclusively using the fino KR808D-1 for almost this whole year now.  I really prefer the cartomizers over the cartridges.  I fill all of my cartomizers at once maybe once or twice a week and then I don’t have to worry about dealing with liquid all of the time.  When I go out I carry two batteries with me and maybe four cartomizers.  I still fiddle around with the other models because I do like the contrast between the different styles, but this model is the main one I use.

Hopefully on my next update I can say I quit e-cigarettes completely, but who knows?  Cigarettes and nicotine are tough habits to break.

Feel free to share your story or any updates on how you’ve been doing.  Believe it or not a lot of people read the comments and the story.  I’ve gotten tons of emails about the first My Story and they read the comments and said it motivated them to make the move to e-cigarettes.

For the first couple of weeks I “vaped” during the day and at night I smoked cigarettes.  Then I figured since I’m smoking anyway why bother vaping?  I let it slide for a couple of months, and didn’t really vape much.  Then one day I said to myself, “I have a lifetime supply of e-liquid and e-cigarettes and have read tons of testimonials of people that have succesfully quit using this, I have to give this a serious shot.”  I either said that or just said to myself to really try. 

Then I really gave it a try.  I vaped constantly.  I had an e-cigarette in my mouth just about all the time.  The battery dies no problem I have a spare or I can switch to another model.  Constantly refilling the e-liquid in my cartridges.  Whatever it takes.  This time I really did it.  Yes I’ll admit the first two weeks I smoked 2 – 4 cigarettes a day (that’s down from a half a pack to a pack a day).  While smoking I said to myself, “I don’t need this anymore I don’t even get the head rush I use to get after not smoking for a while.”  So I stopped.  No more stealing cigarettes from the wife.

I have “cheated”.  In the last 2 weeks I’ve smoked, 4 cigarettes.  Every time I smoke them I feel that there was no purpose since my body doesn’t really need it anymore (I guess it’s a mental thing).  I don’t feel the same as I use to about them.

I’ll update this page every once in a while to say how my quest is going.  So far so good.  I feel better as a person, I don’t smell like cigarettes, I’m more active than I was.  I didn’t quit due to any health problems, I did it to stop any potential future health problems (related to smoking).

Remember the e-cigarette isn’t FDA approved so I’m not making any claims by writing this, I’m just sharing my story.

Do you have a story? Feel free to share yours.  Share your story so others can read it and than they can make an educated decision on whether this is right for them or not.

Update: I just posted up an update to this story on December 15, 2010.  It’s called Update to My Story After Over One Year of E-Cigarette Use.