Electronic Cigarettes - Passing Fad or Permanent Alternative?

Oh, I tried all the normal methods. I wore the patch, but it made me nauseous. I chewed the gum but I hated the taste. I even tried Chantix, but it gave me eerie dreams and made me very cranky. Nothing worked. And cold turkey … well, that never listed more than a few weeks.

So, here's the part where I tell you how I broke the addiction, right? Well, I'm afraid not. I'm still a slave to nicotine, but I found a way to make my life a bit better. We'll get to that in time. For now, it's enough to know that there's hope.

Just remember ... and I can't preach this enough ... fully breaking yourself of nicotine dependency is the best thing you can do for your health, but for some of us, a healthier alternative is all we can hope for as we find ourselves helpless to quit an awful and needless addiction.

The honest truth? Because we are addicted to nicotine, and that's what most of the smoking cessation products are based upon – breaking that addiction. Now, some of you have the will-power to tough it out, but as I said before, I've had no luck with any of the conventional methods – so I had to think outside the box. To do that, I had to think long and hard about all the reasons I wanted to quit: I hated smelling like a cigarette, I hated the bad breath it gave me, I hated how my secondhand smoke affected others, I hated what it was doing to my lungs.

Enough reasons for anyone to quit – right? If you are still reading this, you know (as I do) that reasons alone are not enough for everyone to give up on a habit that steals life slowly from your body. Heck, even the price going up made no difference for me. At $5.00 a pack, I was still ready and willing to walk into the convenience store and fill up on my bad habit. Something had to change …

In layman's terms, it's an addictive substance that does something to the brain to make us crave more. Some say it's more addictive than heroine though I would prefer never to do any research on that one. It's enough to know that it's a difficult habit to break – especially when one has smoked for 24 years as I had. Yep, that's right … I quit smoking cigarettes … or perhaps not … you need to be the one to decide by the time you reach the end of this document.

Alas, I never found one, but I realized an ultimate truth. Other than the nicotine, I craved for nothing inside of that cigarette. I needed a substitute that wouldn't make me sick, dizzy, or crazy – and I needed to find it before cigarettes claimed my life as another statistic of bad health. And so, I went on the internet seeking the cure … and found something I consider a better substitute – the electronic cigarette.

You see, the electronic cigarette is a device that heats a wad of cotton that has been soaked in flavored nicotine. The user then inhales the nicotine and breathes out … water vapor. Now, this is the first bonus. There is *no* secondhand smoke issue with electronic cigarettes. You breathe in water vapor during a hot shower with no ill effects. Even better yet, it's odorless, so it doesn't offend others and leaves no stinky residue in your mouth. Cool, eh?

As I said before, you are just breathing in the nicotine. That means all the tar, menthol, and other harmful cancer-causing items are no longer present. That's a win, right? Also, most (but not all) electronic cigarette cartridges have a *lower* does of nicotine, so that means you are taking less nicotine into your body.

Am I claiming they are 100% safe? Absolutely not. Nicotine is still an addictive element and it can be dangerous to the heart. However, if you take out all of the other nasty things you inhale in a normal cigarette and remove some of the nicotine, you do arrive at a healthier alternative. The healthiest choice by far is to quit cold turkey, but this is a viable option for those who just can't break the dependency.

For me and many others? Yes. I haven't had a real cigarette in three months, nor do I crave them. For others, they still crave, using a mixture of real and electronic cigarettes to curb the damage (though I don’t recommend this – if you're going to move away from real cigarettes, just do it and get it over with. There's also a smaller portion who just can't make the adjustment. For them I feel sad, as they will probably be taken away by emphysema, lung cancer, or one of the many other surprises real cigarettes have to offer.

Therefore, as a smoking alternative they work for most people. As a smoking cessation product … well … I hear stories of how these cigarettes help people quit smoking, but I will make no such claim. In my opinion it's no more than replacement therapy, swapping one nicotine delivery method for a safer one. As such, this product will not help you to stop smoking, but it might crutch you along until you become stronger-willed and determined to finally break from the madness.

I could do the research for you and provide a list of what electronic cigarettes worked best, but I think it better you do the research for yourself so you can be an informed customer. My purpose here today was to educate you on a possible alternative and to let you know – I suffer from the addiction too. If all other methods have failed to produce any results, then this might be the alternative for you.

Three months from the date I stopped smoking real cigarettes, I can breathe batter, food tastes batter, and my smelling has improved. In time, I expect these things to improve even more, making my investment in this odd product well worth what I paid.

We might not all be able to quit smoking, but with any luck, some of us will find a way to better our habit – allowing us all to live a bit longer.