Huffy

When I smoked analogs I never smoked in my house. I didn't want the smell on everything (or the tar film that builds up on every surface). I tried my 510 inside the first day I got it and found out there was no smell whatsoever from the vapor. I'm mostly using Ecopure VG in various strengths. Love the flavor, and when I cut it with some extra VG the vapor really is nice. It's great being able to vape at home, or stealth vape at work! So I tried blowing some rings with the vapor and immediately my cat came to full attention. Now he loves to sit on the floor beneath the rings as they float around and dissipate, and if I grab the PV he gets all excited knowing he's going to get to watch the vapor. He doesn't chase it, he just stares at it as if it's the most fascinating thing in the world. He's a cat, after all, and they have very tiny brains I think. But I take that as a vote in favor of the 510. [Animal lovers, please note: If I thought the cat was going to inhale any of the vapor I wouldn't do it near him. I don't know if there's anything in it that might be harmful to a cat.]

I bought a PCC when I got my 510. I've used it once (I guess it worked okay, but I never noticed how long it took to charge the battery). It's easier for me to just charge a couple extra batteries and carry them with me. They take up no more space than a pen in my pocket. I don't vape much at work, just at lunch time, so it's not really an issue for me to make it through the day without needing to recharge anything. But what I did this past week was order another 510 kit that came with a charger (the kind you plug in the wall). I got the $35 "no box" Joye 510 kit from cignot (2 complete 510's in the kit). For less than the cost of two batteries and two atomizers, you get those plus 5 prefill carts and a charger. So, now I have a charger at work and one at home and it's no big deal to have fresh batteries ready at all times. (Not sure what I'm going to do next summer, though, when I go camping and there's no place to plug in a charger....fingers crossed for a solar powered charger by 2010!)

One of the great things about switching to e-cigs is how quickly you get back a lot of your lung power. I went for a hike yesterday on a trail that's pretty much all uphill on the outbound leg and I was amazed how I didn't have to keep stopping to let my pulse get back to normal. That, plus how great everything smells out in the woods and on the tundra in the autumn, especially since my sense of smell is so much better now than just a couple weeks ago. Perfect weather, too: it was about 40 degrees, so after the first quarter mile you could take off your fleece jacket and hike without sweating. Of course, I did stop to take in the view and enjoy a bit of vaping. Nice to know I couldn't accidentally set off a forest fire!

Well..... depends on where you live in Alaska. I live in Anchorage, and we only get below zero (F) for part of the winter. Last year it got kind of chilly and we hit -26 one day and it sort of stayed brisk for a bit. Generally, though, if you live in the southcentral part of the state (Anchorage and on down the Kenai Peninsula) it's not much colder than Minnesota or North Dakota, but we have shorter days. The sun comes up around 10:30 and sets again by 3:30 in late December. In the interior of the state it routinely gets down around 40 to 50 below zero. I think the people in Fairbanks are crazy, but they do get the northern lights like mad so there's an upside. There are a couple places here that provide heated smoking shelters outside their buildings for their employees, but most people just go outside and try to be quick about it. If it's warmer than about 15 degrees it's no big deal. Colder than that you don't really want to take your glove off, but the alternative is burning your glove! I'll be happy not to have to hassle with that this winter, and when I'm out ice fishing it'll be nice to vape with my gloves on. Heck, just about anything I do this winter will be nicer, because I'm going to have so much better lung capacity. Can't wait to get out on my snowshoes or my cross country skis or out on the frozen lakes to skate around. Believe me, I lived in Florida and will always miss the warm winters and the fishing, but nothing compares to living here where there's so much incredible beauty and so much room to enjoy it in peace and quiet! [Edit: By the way, The Smoking Man, when it hits 40 toward the end of the winter people are out with short sleeve shirts. If it was 55 every day of the year here I think most of us would think we died and went to San Diego. The general feeling here is that anything over 70 is unbearable. Not kidding about that.]

For the past couple years I've known that smoking was really affecting how much I could enjoy outdoor stuff that requires good lung function: hiking, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, stuff like that. I made adjustments, though, and could still do those things if I paced myself. Then I joined a gym a couple months ago with the intention of getting back into competitive powerlifting after years away from it. It didn't take long for me to see how my heart was beating like a rabbit when I tried to do squats and deadlifts. Lower body exercises really place a demand on your cardiovascular system, and you need to be able to oxygenate the blood effectively between sets. That was it for me. I knew that until I got rid of cigarettes I was going to make nowhere near the progress in the gym that I need. I started weaning myself from cigarettes and was down from nearly a pack a day to about 10 cigarettes when I saw an ad on a web site for those Blu e-cigs. I had never heard of e-cigs before that. I looked for reviews on line, found several forums about e-cigs, and thought "gee, it seems like a lot of people are actually quitting smoking with these things." I got a couple Joye 510's from cignot.com (great price) and from the first moment I tried vaping I knew I was done with the analogs. Every good thing everyone had said about vaping was true for me: Instant gratification of the nicotine urge and sufficient simulation of the smoking mechanics - the inhale, the resulting "smoke", the feeling of the throat hit - to let me forget about cigarettes. I have not felt this good in quite some time, both physically and psychologically. Every day I see another example of why this has been a great decision. Like so many others, I knew for a long time that there was nothing truly good about smoking. I just somehow always found a way to justify it. When I found a new goal that was incompatible with being a smoker, I knew that with the right help I could find the willpower to quit. E-cigs are that help, as far as I can tell.

Great reminder about the vents. I fired Ozium into all the vents and when I drive somewhere I turn the blowers up all the way to get them cleaning themselves out (wow, sort of like my lungs when I'm at the gym.....). Now I'm going to probably get people asking me why I smell like glycerin, I suppose.

I seocond most of what's been said. I've been vaping for just under 2 weeks, and here's my take on getting started: The Joye 510 is probably as reliable and effective e-cig to start with as anything out there. You will know within a day or two of getting one whether vaping is for you. Don't go nuts buying modifications, exotic e-liquids, and different models of e-cigs. Stick to the basics, get used to vaping, and spend some time reading forum posts from those who've spent tons of money and time figuring out what works for them. I recommend getting: Two complete 510 setups: battery and atomizer Five pre-filled cartridges, either in 18 mg strength or a variety of strengths (I don't think it matters) A battery charger A few small (5 ml) bottles of different e-liquids, such as VG-based ones like Ecopure or some flavored ones. That should all come to no more than about $75. Don't worry if you buy your stuff and find out you could have saved $10 by going somewhere else. If you figure what you're blowing on analogs, $10 only buys you a day or two of those filthy things. And if you get into e-cigs the way I and others have, you'll forget about the $10 when you start stocking up on stuff! (I've spent maybe $175 in the past two weeks, but I have enough supplies right now to last me easily three months.)

I don't think my tastebuds are any different, but I know my sense of smell is. About 2 days after my last analog I got in my car to go to work and couldn't believe how foul it smelled. I got home that evening, got out the shopvac, cleaned every bit of dust and stray ashes and what have you out of there, detailed every hard surface, then blasted the car with Ozium, shut the windows and let it sit overnight. Repeated the Ozium three straight days and now the car smells almost like no one ever smoked in it. If you've never tried Ozium, you can pick it up at just about any car parts place for about $5 in the air freshener section. It's awesome at eliminating odors indoors. This weekend's project is getting some of that foaming spot stain remover for carpets and upholstery, and I'm going to hit the ceiling liner and seats with it to get every last bit of that nasty tar residue out of the car. The other thing I discovered was how all my fleece jackets reeked of cigarettes. Here where I live we sort of wear fleece 9 months out of the year, so you end up owning quite a few jackets, vests, sweat pants made of the stuff.... Anyway, I've washed every darn jacket I have. I really can't believe how great it feels to know that I'm not inadvertently grossing anyone else out with how my car or my clothes smell. And don't get me started on how cool it is to know that I'm not blowing cigarette breath on anyone..... This is one of the most liberating things I've ever experienced. Like they say, you never know how good it is to be healthy until you get sick. Well, you never know how good it feels to smell things that are clean until you smell your old rancid cigarette infused belongings.