I can't breathe.
It was the morning after Father’s Day, and I woke up with a fit of coughing that I couldn’t stop. The coughing was worse than the need to breathe. My lungs ached like they were being torn apart, my chest felt heavy as if it was being pulled down by an invisible anchor.
That was June 16, two years ago. During my years of smoking, I had become a self-proclaimed professional smoker. I had smoked for sixteen years, and I could average four packs a week, even more if I was stressed that week. My addiction was worse than any smoker I knew. Moreover, my work from home job allowed me to smoke constantly.
I know, cigarettes are slowly killing me.
Even light mowing leaves me out of breath, which is not normal for a healthy 33-year-old. I’ve tried to quit smoking many times. I’ve tried quitting about five times, I’ve tried patches, gum, and disposable e-cigarettes like Blu, Premium, and Krave, but nothing has worked.
It may have been a coincidence, or it may have been fate, but I was introduced to vaping by my brother-in-law. We were having a Father’s Day picnic, and he had been a smoker for a month. He invited me to join him at his local vape shop, Precious Vapes, right in my town of Madison, Tennessee.
I wasn't impressed, as I thought it was just like the disposable e-cigs I bought at the grocery store. When my brother-in-law offered me a puff from his box mod , I decided to give it a try, it couldn't hurt.
I admit it tasted better, and felt more natural than what I had experienced with disposable e-cigarettes. I thought it would be that way. But that morning, I realized that cigarettes were slowly destroying me to the point where I couldn’t ignore them anymore.
That morning, after my cough had subsided, I returned to Precious Vapes. Since I was the only customer in the store, I went straight to the owner, Steve. I expected to hear some sweet talk, but I didn’t expect to find someone who understood what I was going through.
Steve prepared a box mod, Kangertech Micro Pro-tank and a bottle of 24mg nicotine juice . My last cigarette came 3 hours later. I realized that vaping was the first time I really tasted tobacco. After that, every time I smoked, I felt like I was eating cigarette butts.
My first concern when I could no longer stand the taste of a cigarette was, am I switching my addiction from one thing to another? I pushed that thought away, and continued on my path away from cigarettes.
Suddenly, I realized that 24mg of nicotine was too much. I started to reduce the strength, until 6mg became the most suitable strength for me by the end of the first year.
And the worry I pushed back came back. After a long time of being imprisoned by cigarettes, I knew the truth. After the first year, I put the box mod down and waited for the same or similar side effects of quitting smoking. But I was surprised to find that all I missed was the taste. And after 4 months of nicotine-free vaping, I bought a 3mg bottle of juice. Not because I was craving nicotine, but because I missed the kind of juice I liked, and without nicotine, it felt like something was missing.
Now, as I sit back and relax with my beloved box mod by my side, I finally understand that the phrase “vape for life” is for me.
This means I can move around, can do light work like mowing the lawn without getting out of breath.
Which means I can walk two kilometers to the repair shop to pick up my car.
That means vaping can fit and change with your life, not hold you captive until you die.
Article published on Vapenewsmagazine
Author: Marty Jones
Translator: The Vape Club
