I’m sure many people inquire with the deepest curiosity about your vapes or maybe not and I was just a crazy stranger that gets too nosey. Either way, you were the most helpful strangers that I’ve met my entire life.

Being a pack a day smoker since I was a kid- I didn’t see anyway out. With both parents smoking- it doubled my risk of becoming a smoker and I fell into the statistic. People scolded me my whole life about my health risks, how nasty it was, how stupid it was… and really- all that made me want to do was get away from them and go have another cigarette. Sadly, my mother died from cancer and the chance that it was from smoking is incredibly high. Even though that scared the shit out of me- I still couldn’t quit.

I’ve been a true prisoner to cigarettes for a long time and have tried every method. Little did I know, that I would walk out for a cigarette at the airport and see you guys. You didn’t tell me to quit, you didn’t tell me how much healthier it was. You were just so nice, so informative, even down to the address of a place in LA you knew and trusted for your vapes.

Well, I want you to know as soon as I got back into town from my trip, I went to The Vape Shop in Koreatown and loaded up on 2 vapes and 2 bottles of juice. Even though I did this- I had no intention to quit- just try it and maybe SOMEDAY quit as I always say. In fact, as soon as I was in my car from leaving the shop, I was smoking a cigarette.

It wasn’t until 2 weeks ago that I was sick, and I always have this paranoia (rightfully so) that I have cancer. I promised myself that if I got better and didn’t have cancer I’d quit smoking- and I did. It’s been 2 weeks and I’m cigarette free.

Now, I’m not stupid- I know this vape and the juice still aren’t the healthiest thing for me, I’ve started at the highest level nicotine juice and am going to work my way down with nicotine levels until I’m vaping non-nicotine juice, and then I’ll taper off my the vape all together. Plans like that don’t really exist with cigarettes, why would the tobacco company want to make it easy for people to quit? Lucky for me- many people vape just non nicotine juice (I have no idea why- but thank goodness for them) so there’s gradual nicotine level juices, down to no nicotine at all.

This was not an easy transition, but it is the easiest one there is. The first 3 days of vaping all I could think about was a cigarette. I even got one in my mouth on the second or third day- then put it down and back away. Unlike previous times I attempted to quit smoking- I did not throw my cigarettes away. There are several packs in the drawer along with all the lighters. Ashtrays are put away too. I didn’t want to feel like I couldn’t smoke. I like having the feeling of choosing not to. Most of this will probably only make sense to smokers or extremely empathetic people.

Everyday I still forget I’m a non-smoker. I wake up to go have a cigarette and remember I don’t have to. I don’t have to douse myself in perfume, wash my hands every 45 minutes, wash my hair everyday, air out my car… brush my teeth 10 times a day (I was a great cover up smoker in case anyone is wondering).

The things that feel best for me for no longer being a smoker is the freedom to hang out anywhere and not feel constant urges, to be free of the smell and taste and the satisfaction in knowing that I still quit fairly young so my chances for my my body to repair are very much in my favor.

So this is to thank that fantastic couple and to let everyone that does smoke, or if you have a smoker in the family know, that vaping worked for me to stop smoking cigarettes.

Is this trading one addiction for another? Yes. But it’s obviously and without question the lesser of two evils and vaping has a great stepping stone system for nicotine addicts to stop.

The best way to find vape shops in your area are to look on Yelp, Google and Instagram.

The specific one I went to here in LA is:

The Vape Shop

125 N Western Ave LA CA 90004

Oh, and this is coming from someone who had those little electronic cigarettes for years. Every kind I tried them all and nothing works like my vape I have now. In my opinion, if you are a heavy duty smoker- you need a heavy duty vape to help you quit.

My model is the Aspire CF VV+

I have always hid the fact that I was a smoker and it’s not an easy thing to be public about. I’m only sharing this in hopes that it reaches a smoker that’d like to try and quit again and also to encourage people that being nice and informative to people can really change their lives- just as that couple did for me.