I can still remember when I had my first cigarette. I was in a car on a long drive with a buddy of mine. He was a smoker and he said here have one it will give you a buzz. So of course like any bored college student I puffed on it and sure enough had a buzz. Fun!

After that it was bumming a cig off someone here and there, then it was at parties or out drinking, then it became buying a pack a day and fully embracing the habit. This habit went on for about 5 years and became about a 1 1/2 to 2 packs a day habit. Have you seen the cost of cigarettes lately?
Living in New Jersey the price is anywhere from $6-$8 and the brand I smoke was just under $8.

It was killing my wallet, but I loved smoking, I knew it was bad, but I was not ready to quit. That is when I heard about electronic cigarettes and decided to check them out. No additives, no tobacco, and no smoke, just nicotine vapor.

So my first venture was to grab the ones I had seen at the gas station which was a disposable electronic cigarette. These give you about 400 puffs which is equivalent to 1 pack of smokes. I think I had grabbed the Blu Cigs brand to be honest and I was real curious to see how it would pan out. I decided to leave the reg smokes in the car and bring these with me.  I was counting the minutes to my smoke break, when I realized wait… can I smoke this inside? I mean what are the rules. I asked the office manager and he said he really didn’t know, but said just go in the hallway to be safe and not start any drama.

So I did. It was different, but it did satisfy me and got me through the day. As soon as I got to the car I lit up a reg one and of course it was better, but I had gone through the day pretty much with no smoke, additives etc… and felt fine.

I decided I was going to try and quit the reg cigs and start with the e cigs. That is just what I did. It took me about 2 months to go completely electric.

The positives? I am saving about $300 a month! That is nuts! I don’t smell like smoke and neither does my house. I am also not breathing in all the smoke and additives as well as the people around me.

I can smoke in many more places now. It is still one of those borderline things though since many places do not have laws in place, but you can get away with it pretty much anywhere.

They are also great conversation starters. So now I actually spend about $60-$120 a month on cartridges depending on how often I go out on the weekends. After trying a lot of disposables, I finally grabbed a V2 cigs starter kit and I am loving it. It will cost you anywhere from $40-$160 for a starter kit which comes with all you need and then you can get 40 cartridges which equal 40 packs of reg smokes for $65. That is a day!

If you are on the fence about e cigs then you should look more into it. Over at ECigaretteNow they have a great e cigarette buying guide http://ecigarettenow.com/electronic-cigarette-buying-guide/ that will teach you all you need to know.

The easiest way to get started is to just grab something at the gas station or local convenience store and see what they have. They will cost about $8-$10

I want to eventually quit completely, but for now I feel good about this and someday I will stop completely.

How about you? Have you tried e-cigs yet? Would love to hear some feedback below.

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