About 2 weeks before the WI indoor smoking ban I tried an E-cig from the Carter Casino Smoke Shop. It was a $14 disposable. It leaked, it tasted bad, and lasted for about the equivalent of  a half a pack. It did show promise though.

E-cigs are actually personal vaporizers. They don’t burn anything, they evaporate into steam a mixture of flavorings, water, nicotine, and a carrier base, either vegetable glycerin (VG) or propylene glycol (PG). The PG base sounds too much like anti-freeze to me, and I had a bad reaction to it. Now I only use the glycerin base.

So anyway, a week later I saved up my pennies and sent $60 off for a better e-cig and some Chinese “Marl” PG juice for it. My research paid off, and the e-cig worked great. The juice did not. It had that same nasty taste as the disposable. After about 3 days I started having a bad reaction to it and went off of the e-cigs.

The next week came my order of a sampler from a very highly regarded WI juice company ($22 shipped). Jackpot. They had pina colada, orange, Swiss Miss cocoa, mint, two kinds of tobacco, and a neat spice one too. Between that and my better e-cig I was clearly onto something.

In the next couple of weeks I literally spent a few hundred dollars figuring out what works the best for e-cigs and liquid. I have tried out different brands of disposables and found a good one. I have 4 kinds of atomizers, two kinds of batteries and some really outstanding juice. I am very well researched, and I have the best stuff IMHO>.

My interest in the e-cig has a lot of aspects. I smoke too much and that is obviously bad. It is a long term heavy thing, and quitting has eluded me for many attempts. Smoking is also very expensive, socially unacceptable, stinky, and banned at the workplace.

At the moment I am positively delighted with my e-cig. It has my smoking in half in 3 weeks. It is delicious. I am not saving any money because I keep buying stuff, but in theory I would. A bottle of juice that lasts about 3 1/2 packs worth is about 6-8 dollars vs 25 or so. The plan is to give up the old fire and leaf cigs and then slowly wean myself off of the nic in the e-cigs by reducing nicotine content over time.

One thing that I have learned is that nicotine is not the only addictive substance in cigarettes. My e-cig gives me all of the nic that I want, but there is still that urge for an ‘analog’ cig once in a while. To paraphrase a guy from a message board, it is one thing to go four hours without a cig when you are quitting or have to. It is an entirely different thing to forget to smoke for four hours. There is also still that time first thing in the morning, after dinner, whatever.

Did I mention that I am smoking about half of what  did 3 weeks ago, I am happy about it, and working hard on making that number continue to progress?

Equipment..

After a lot of research I settled on the ever popular 510 series of e-cigs. I have 510 stuff from Joye, TECC, Boge, and SLB. They all have their own place. Some are stronger or milder than others, some work exceptionally well. Start with a 510 series.

For someone starting out I recommend cartomizers over atomizers. Atomizers should be dedicated to a flavor, cartomizers are disposable atomizers with a built in cartridge.

When starting out one mistake that I made was starting with atomzers and trying 8 different kinds of juice in one atomizer. They get a flavor hangover that is nasty. Cartomizers do the same thing as atomizers, but are $2.50 instead of $8-12, and are considered a disposable item. I have 4 of those that I rotate, each one dedicated to a flavor. Once you figure out what you like, sure try a nice atomizer.

As far as juice..

After having a mild reaction with my first Chinese juice I am a fussy guy. I only use the USA made vegetable glycerin based (VG) juices. I get a super premium juice from a company that claims that it is the purest on earth, and uses pharmacy grade, suitable for NRT nic extracts and glycerin. It isn’t cheap, but it is super premium.

It is great juice, and their flavors are out of this world.  This morning’s flavors are Valencia Orange, orange & cream (dreamsickle), Marcado,(a cinnamon and clove spice), and a really spectacular apple pie. Or a Winston light. (Raspberry) I also have new flavors coming in the mail today or tomorrow.

Here is the big thing. E-cigs are saving lives. They are taking long term committed smokers like me and getting them off of cigarettes. I am sold and I want to tell the world about it.

Go read the signature comments on this petition. They had an article in the Milwaukee fishwrap putting down e-cigs, and the comments read the same way.

It might be too late for me. Thirty three years is a long time to smoke over a pack a day without bad results.  I have to try though, and this is actually working. I want to shout it from the highest hill. E-cigs save lives.

What  haven’t figured out yet is if I am going to start selling them and the juices or leave it a hobby. I am leaning toward selling stuff, and have spent the last week looking into the legalities and logistics of it. I even own a great domain name for it already, e-cigsandjuice.com. If I survive the permit dance and it still looks good, I will probably have e-cigs, related stuff and juice distributed for sale at places locally and on-line. If not, the domain can become a blog or message board.

In the meantime if you want to try an e-cig, ask. I have nice ones and good juice, and usually have 3 or 4 flavors along. I also set a few friends up with kits and juice this week. A nice starter kit with juice is $30 and up. If you already use e-cigs and want some juice I can always part with some. It is really good stuff.

If you smoke try an e-cig. If it’s nasty try again, there are good ones out there. It might not be for everyone, but it is working for me and an exponentially growing number of people. If you don’t use nicotine you would be insane to start. If you are a committed smoker and want to smoke inside and/or get off tar cigs, try an e-cig.

RJB