10 Real Powerful Vaping Stories from our customers

I am 35 years old. I have been a smoker for 23 years. It’s been a long a hard journey quitting cigarettes. For 10 of those years, I have tried multiple types of smoke cessation tools, nothing has worked. I have a beautiful 3 year old son and a wonderful wife that I would do anything for, including quitting ciggarettes. I have tried vaping on and off for the past 9 years, since it was just pens. The more recent advances and flavors in vaping nicotine e-liquid have made it easy to quit. I was smoking a pack a day and because of vaping, I have been cigarette free for 4 months. I have no intention of ever going back to cigarettes. I’m grateful for vaping, it saved my life! 🙏

This is what I wrote to the FDA back in 2014 when the deeming regulations were coming out. It’s still appropriate.
I am a consumer of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes or e-cigs) and a member of the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA). Like millions of others we are the primary stakeholders whom these regulations will affect. As written these regulations will hurt me, the person you are trying to protect. The regulations will hurt me financially as well as physically. The regulations will drive up the costs of equipment and liquid to the point where I could not afford to use electronic cigarettes any longer which would affect me physically by most likely driving me to smoking again.
The FDA exists to protect me the consumer, but these regulations appear to protect large corporations not the consumer. There appears to be no consideration of us consumers in these regulations. The impact statement only considers impact on industry and the effects on the consumer are ignored by the FDA and the so called public health community.
I am 58 years old and smoked for over 40 years until I discovered e-cigarettes last December. In the past I tried the FDA approved devices such as gum and patches, but they did not work for me. Yes they provided nicotine, but that is not the whole picture. That picture also includes the physical routine of picking up a cigarette inhaling and exhaling the smoke. Since I have started using e-cigarettes the cigarette has been replaced with my advanced personal vaporizer and smoke with vapor.
I started my journey using the devices the size of a cigarette. They were OK, but they were not going to replace a cigarette for me. The battery only lasted 1 to 2 hours before needing to be charged. The cartridge containing the liquid would last only a little longer and really did not taste good. If I continued to use the cigarette sized devices it would cost more than smoking a real cigarette. They did do one thing well, that was to get me to research more advanced devices. When I purchased my first advanced device I went from smoking one pack a day to four cigarettes a day. Within two weeks it was zero cigarettes. I have been tobacco free for 7 months now all thanks to advanced electronic cigarettes.
The flavors available are also one thing that keeps me using e-cigs. If I could only vape tobacco flavor or menthol flavor I would probably return to smoking. Flavors are not used to market to minors, adults like flavor believe it or not. Yes, I agree that e-cigs should not be sold to minors at all.
My health has improved since I started using e-cigs. I used to wheeze and cough a lot and my wife would worry about me. Since I have started using e-cigs my wheezing and coughing have stopped. I recently went to a doctor for a check-up and he told me my lungs sound normal. Before e-cigs I would actively seek out elevators even for one change in floors. I recently had to work at a place in Singapore, on a business trip, where the elevator was out of order and the office I needed to go to was on the fifth floor. If I was still smoking I am sure I would have had to stop many times in that climb, but I was able to climb those 80 stairs without problems.
If these regulations go into effect without changes I see three choices for myself: return to smoking cigarettes, stop vaping, or start making my own liquids. I don’t want to start smoking again, but that may happen with these regulations. Stopping use of electronic cigarettes, this is an option but not likely in my case. The most likely option would be for me to make my own liquid. I will purchase the needed ingredients prior to the implementation of the regulations in large enough quantities to last several years. I have already started to purchase purely mechanical devices that do not require anything more than batteries, wicking material, and resistance wire. I feel that a lot of current vapers will choose this option. I guess that would make me a criminal for trying to stay off cigarettes.
My life and millions of others lives have become part of a political game and we are just pawns. The power brokers in the big companies, government, and un-caring activists are moving the pieces with no concern for “We the People”. The problem is this is not supposed to be a game. We are talking about the health and well-being of millions of people here. Please do not send me and millions of others back to cigarettes or turn us into criminals for trying to stay off cigarettes!

I can not add anything new to what many former smokers have said. We all have tried quitting cigarettes by using the patch, gum and cold turkey. Vaping can take the place of cigarettes due to the nicotine. But, after putting down cigarettes and picking up vaping I can assert I have not had those harsh hacking coughs that would last for weeks. I sleep better due to breathing better. I can also assert that I do not get the common cold as often as I did when I smoked tobacco. It’s been over five years since I first started vaping and if this was truly as dangerous as tobacco I would not be writing this today. While nothing but air should enter our lungs. We who vape can attest that vaping not only helped us kick the cigarette habit. We overall feel better since we kicked that habit and started vaping. This point should be looked into further before our politicians place a total ban on vaping.

I am a 52 year old man, I was a 4 pack a day smoker, cigarettes were literally killing me, and not so slowly, I am a single and my Son needed better from his dad, and he needed food and clothes and things, I was in the fight if my life and I was losing at every turn, and then I learned of vaping, it saved my life, and helped me be a better father by example and deed, I know we do know for sure yet what level of risk there is, but I know for a fact that it is far less to my life and more importantly my Sons, so I am thankful for this product that saved us, regulate the sale of it like alcohol and cigarettes, prohibition will only sentence many to death by cancer, and make the rest of us rebels with a CAUSE, by the way this old man hates tobacco flavor now, I can’t stand it, it was the candy flavors that made quitting possible for me.

Hello my name is Thomas and I smoked two packs a day for 18 years. Over the years I tried to quit smoking several times with no success. Cold turkey,Gum,patches and Pharmaceuticals after taking chantix for about 6 months and becoming angry and violent and thinking about taking my life I didn’t think anything would work to get me away from death. I started vaping in 2014 with custard flavored e-liquid and I have not smoked since. Vaping saved my life and I do believe I will now have more time with my kids.

I was a smoker for 35 years and in 2013 I moved into a townhouse where I was not permitted to smoke so I decided to try vaping in my house so I wouldn’t have to go out in the cold. Well, that was the last time I smoked a cigarette. Now I can’t stand to even smell a cigarette. This would not have been possible without the vape. So, Mr. President with all due respect please hear the pleas of the people who elected you and don’t ban our flavors. If you have not been in out shoes then you can never imagine the blessing it has been in our lives.

I began smoking at an early age. 12 actually. It definitely was not flavor that attracted me. By 15, with my first part time job, everyone there was smoking, I was smoking a 1/2pk a day. I kept that habit for 30YRS. I tried cold turkey, the patch, chantix. My doctor even put me on Paxil in my early 30s when I quit due to having what he discovered was panic attacks from the withdrawal of combustible tobacco. I actually remained off ciggarettes for 8mths that time. I never gained my sense of smell, taste, or breathing deeply back. I got stressed around Christmas that year, bought a pack of cigarettes and by day 2 was right back to a pack/ pack and a half again. I just figured by then I would be a smoker for life, nothing worked long term and at my age there was no point. The tobacco store I bought from opened a Vape section. The more I went in there the more I saw it grow and I became interested, but not sold on the idea. My nephew, who’s 25 btw, kept telling me to try vaping. So early 2016 I started looking for any and all legitimate information I could on it. You tube was definitely my go to. He made me promise I would try for him one last time. So, one day I went in bought my carton if cigarettes, but walked over to the the vape section and the guy there knew a lot. He had vaped 10yrs. He set me up first w an Aspire pen because I didn’t want to spend much. I started skeptically.
I continued to smoke hoping maybe just to cut back. Then within 3 days to my suprise, my sense of smell and taste started coming back. By mid morning day for, my ciggarette literally smelled and tasted so repugnant to me I was sick to my stomach. So I went back Into the store. Started asking more targeted questions. Got a nicer Smok v8 pen, 2 actually. I kept one by me and moved the other around any place I would have a “trigger” spot like by the coffee maker, phone, anywhere I knew I would need that extra help that would trigger the mind set of needing that cig. I was able to quit on a 3mg eliquid. I had to fight through some withdrawal. There weren’t the variety of products on the market that there are today. When I got to week 3 and got the fidgety hand problem, the vape assistant showed me building ad a next step. I bought what I could, but they had mostly really old Rda and Rta selections. He then recommended online shopping because most shops can’t carry ALL the latest or the variety they would like to at a local store vs online. He recommended VaporDna. I became a customer and have been for 3 years now. Still smoke free. Still building. Still healthier every year. This is why it’s not only important to keep community and local shops open, but online as well. Store’s can’t carry what online can, but you get one on one when you start out. We need Both. I’ve been a customer mainly here, but I also try and support local store’s and visit them if I run out of something or need it immediately. The thought of not having access to either is unimaginable and vital to vapor’s as we grow in our style or want to try that new device. VaporDna has been with me and anytime I’ve had a question, needed help, and one time a return no fault to them, they’ve completely taken care of me. They’ve always been regulated and had restrictions in place since I’ve shopped here. We are a community. To lose any part of not have a current smoker, new vapors, or even current vapors have the freedom to finally make that leap and enjoy a healthier lifestyle is so heartbreaking to me. We must all stand up as a community and support, speak, and educate for what we love.
Thank you to VaporDna for your years of being my go to, for supporting the cause, and donating to fight

I started smoking on January 24th, 1985 – the day my 5-week-old daughter died. Some well-meaning person gave me a cigarette at the hospital, and I lived on cigarettes for weeks after that. It gave my empty hands something to do I guess. Then, I was hooked. I have tried numerous times over the years to quit. I can’t use the patches because they cause me to break out something terrible. I can’t take Chantix because I have tried to commit suicide in the past – I have PTSD and Major Depression, and every other method I have tried didn’t work. My husband was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer 2 months after his 44th birthday and died 2 weeks later laying in my lap and even that didn’t help me quit. Last year my daughter convinced me to try vaping and I haven’t had a cigarette since! Next week will be my 1 year anniversary!! I started at 6mg and am down to 1 1/2mg. My doctors are thrilled because my lungs sound so much better and I feel so much better, also, I have so much more energy. My 9-year-old grandson told me he is happy I quit smoking because now I have more time to play with him. It doesn’t get any better than that!! I agree that there needs to be something done about the black market places that are selling crap to kids, but, I also know that a total ban on something is not the answer – especially when cigarettes, that kill so many and cause so many health problems, are sold in every store and gas station across America. What kind of sense does that make?

I began smoking at the age of 40, never thought of so much as touching a cigarette before that. But thanks to the relationship from hell and and at the time very stupid I decided to let the drama win. But hey, we all learn differently. The relationship ended after a few years (thanks to the formation of a backbone) but the smoking continued. It was a way to self medicate since I was without my prescription medication. Cigarettes did not bring any joy nor did it make me feel very good about myself.
This just goes from bad to worse, right?
Well, thanks to a coworker who introduced me to vaping my life was transformed. It’s been approximately six years and at 51 could not be happier. There are many other folks who vape where I work, so I realize the conversation is even different. It’s a general feeling of self improvement and caring about ourselves. Vaping is more expensive but well worth the price. I’m proud to say that not only do I not have any toxicity in my life, but I feel better about life overall.