Huli, can you PM me the name or website where you got your e-cig?  I’m not sure i would want one with those limitations (2 ‘puffs every 10 or so minutes’) but i am certainly interested in them.

I’ll send it to you Dave.  I surely won’t give particular brands here anyway because they don’t belong here even if discussions do.

Erik and I just got back from the movie.  We went to see MegaMind and I really REALLY enjoyed it.  In part because I was not thinking ‘hurry up and end the movie so I can get the hell out of here!!!’  I was completely relaxed.  My e-cig was clamped in my hand and at one point I needed to show myself that the handcuffs were really off….............even though I didn’t really need it, I took a few puffs, right there while watching the movie and then I put it away and had one of the most relaxing movie nights I’ve had in, years.

4th day:  I had 2 puffs of lighted tobacco yesterday.  None today.  I removed the regular cigarettes from the ‘smoking bathroom’ and packed them away along with the lighters.  I removed the ashtrays and took them upstairs to be washed and put away.  They’re really not ashtrays, just very tiny little bowls so they’ll go with the others on the kitchen shelf.  Then I turned off the air filter that has been running in that tiny room for 6 years. 

It’s suddenly so quiet in that room and I realized today that I’d practically been living in there (been a prisoner to it I guess).

Well, Huli, I can definitely see that these are doing good things for you.   I’ve thought the e-cigarettes were a good idea ever since I heard of them, simply because now the habit really doesn’t affect anyone else.

I thought maybe it’d be a good idea to share an e-mail I received from Erik about 30 minutes ago from his office, who does not and has never smoked and for whose sake I confined myself to basically a closet.  I was alarmed because he does not understand at all what this addiction is like.  He is referring to the e-cigarettes I’ve just started using: 

“I’m glad that it seems to be working out for you and I assume it will be cheaper in the long run too.  However, every once in a while I’m sure you’ll want to light one and I think you enjoyed making your own - HAHAHA!!!”

I need for him to understand and those others who may read this thread who also do not.  Here was my response:

“No, I don’t want to light one.  They are what have been making me cough and I don’t want to be involved with the tars…........which have caused the bathroom to be sticky and which have coated the walls, your sink etc.  It’s the tars in burning tobacco that is deadly, not just sticky Honey.  It’s the tars that cause cancer, emphasema, raise blood pressure, the high red blood count, and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.  So, no, even if this costs the same or a little bit more, I do not want to be lighting up real cigarettes or tobacco.

This has not been an easy process….though I may have made it seem so to you.  I am tempted, sorely tempted to light up and that is NOT what I want to do so I will need your help in this to keep temptation down Erik, not encourage it.”

For a lot of readers here this entire thread may seem to be either silly or unimportant or nonsense.  I can assure all of you that it is none of those to me and millions of others like me.  I’m not unique.

Huli, I don’t think anyone here thinks it’s silly or unimportant.  After watching Dave try to quit, I know it must be very difficult to change a long-standing, addictive habit.  It becomes a part of you, and it’s hard to walk away from that.  And now Berlyn is trying to quit smoking—she’s on her fourth day now.  It’s very difficult for her, also, but she’s determined to stick it out.

Basically, if the e-cigarettes make it possible for you to quit smoking, then awesome!  And if they make it so you’re not confined to one small area of your home or ostracized when you go out in public, or so that you can enjoy a relaxing movie or dinner out, then that’s awesome too!

It’s true Crafty that without these e-cigs I would not even begin this process.  Nicotine addiction is equal to heroine addiction.  If I continue with the e-cigs in order to receive nicotine, then I have at least removed the most dangerous sides of the delivery, the tars. 

Berlyn, don’t give up, stick it out, do what you need to do. 

Dave, though there’s no way you’ve been smoking as long as me, your situation has made this addiction to be one thing that has been soothing to you under the circumstances.  And that’s what makes it all the more dangerous to you.  It may be that the very best way for you is the avenue I’m using since it is less likely to make changes to your physiology that would affect other medications.  Those physical changes for you need to be kept to a minimum.

And again, please, PLEASE all of you who do not smoke Please PLEASE NEVER START!

I’ve never taken up smoking myself but I do understand it’s hard to give it up. I hope this process of using the e-cigs helps you to give up smoking for good.

As I was sorting the newspapers to take out to the recycling bin this article caught my eye.

You might want to look into it.

Yes Tah, I had already read this one and several others.  In fact I had put this in one of the other threads about e-cigarettes (those links are provided here at the first post).  Which is why I did a number of researches on reviews and then finding those brands from this country (that is not to say that all the parts are made here any more than American cars are an assembly of only American products).  The FDA and health department have at least advised to purchase only those sponsored here in the US and warn against those made in China. 

Those that I ‘smoke’ use regular glycerin (like you buy at Walgreens) as the part that produces vapor.  All brands I have looked into offer graduated ml nicotine and yes, they also offer just the flavors without nicotine. 

I am very sure that some minors might find this interesting just as they do many other things like sniffing glue, paint fumes, cleaners, pot, cocaine etc.  I don’t think though that these would be nearly as interesting as the other things.

I have not had a fire lit cigarette now for the past three days.  I am not coughing or wheezing, my sense of smell and taste are also becoming more acute, I have more energy, am sleeping better, and in truth, I am feeling better physically all the way around.

*looms up behind Huli in the darkness*

*hefts whifflebat*

So… how’s the no smoking coming along?