I Am a Non Smoker!

On August 21, my friends Sarah and Michael came for a visit with their children. They were helping me run the 3rd Annual Pagan Alliance Network Yard Sale. Sarah has been a social smoker for most of the time I have known her, and recently started smoking on a regular basis. They had brought an interesting little device with them, an electronic cigarette. Of course, I wanted to give it a try. I have been wanting and trying to quit for quite sometime. As readers of this blog know, I have been committed to quitting this year.

So, I did some investigating of this electronic cigarette.  The brand is bluCigs and is available online.  I did some reading on their website and some further investigation elsewhere and came to the conclusion that this was a viable option for me. I ordered my bluCigs on the 22nd. With up to a week to wait for their arrival in my mail box, I did not think I could go without cigarettes while waiting. I bought a couple more packs over the next couple of days, and on that Thursday I bought a pack of ultra lights on my way home from work. Knowing full well that before the cigarettes were gone the bluCigs would be in my possession. And I was right. The next afternoon they had arrived in the mail.

I have not been going without other sources of nicotine since the bluCigs arrived. I have been using a transdermal nicotine patch as well. But on my days off I go without the patch and use only the bluCig. That last pack of smokes lasted me just about a week, having one or two a day on my way to or from work. But I have not bought a pack of cigarettes since that Thursday on my way home.

What I like about this electronic cigarette, which is a nicotine inhaler, is that it comes with five different flavors. Classic tobacco, menthol, java, vanilla and cherry. The cherry is okay, but it is not my favorite by far. I prefer the java and vanilla the most, but the classic tobacco is nice. Oddly enough, instead of tasting like a cigarette, it tastes like pipe tobacco or a really nice cigar.

Another nice things is that I use the bluCig a lot less than I would be smoking cigarettes. When you smoke, you feel the need to smoke as much of the cigarette as possible. And putting it out and relighting is not a very flavor friendly method of getting the most out of the thing. So, when you light up you do everything you can to get every last breath of nicotine and other nastiness out of that cancer stick. Which means that you take drag after drag, get pissy when someone interrupts your smoke break at work, and sometimes find that you smoke while going to the bathroom or even while eating. Both of those last are NASTY!

I think the best thing about the bluCigs and most other brands of electronic cigarettes is that they do not contain all those nasty carcinogens that cigarettes and other treated tobacco products do. They contain liquid nitocine, flavor, and water. You are inhaling a water vapor, not smoke.

How have I been handling this? It has been over a week since my last cigarette. I haven't had but a few desires for a real smoke. At work, I will take trash out or go sweep the lot and take a few puffs of the bluCig, but it hardly seems to matter if I take two or five in a short period. I am satisfied and do not have the need to run right back out and get a few more puffs if a customer comes in and interrupts my vape break.
At home I sit at the computer and play games, do email, and watch programs on NetFlix. The bluCig sits on the keyboard and is often ignored or forgotten about. When I am lounging on the sofa watching a movie or a reading from a book I hardly even think about smoking or picking up the inhaler.

My sinuses are treating me like shit right now, they are draining out all that nastiness that I have been forcing into my body. My lungs are congested and I cough up nasty phlegm on a consistant basis right now. But I know that all of that will pass. I can smell things much more clearly. Which means that not only do I appreciate the plants and flowers around me, but the strong cologne and perfumes that people wear give me fits. I can walk into my apartment and know that the cats have naughty or nice (Mister likes to display his protests over my absence or other "neglect" by leaving a deposit on the bathroom floor). I can also enjoy the wonderful fresh scent of the rain and the fall leaves without struggling to smell it. Foods taste better already, and I know that they will only get better as time goes on.

I have been a smoker since October 31, 1992. And I am proud to say that I am no longer a smoker.

(Writing this post, I have taken one drag off the bluCig. Which makes about five drags total since getting home from work four hours ago.)