Vaping changed my life

I started smoking Djarims clove cigarettes when I was 14 years old. Later in my teens I moved to Marlboro reds. Fast forward 17 plus years and I had a virtually unbroken habit of smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day. I started to question my habit in my mid twenties. I saw the tobacco stains on my fingers. The smell always lingered no matter how much I washed my hands. My gingivitis had receded my gums a bit and my teeth were yellowing. My sense of taste and smell were severely limited. My clothing smelt of burnt tobacco and ash. I was very self conscious of how I smelled around others. I hated the tobacco flakes in my pockets and in my home. And the ash was always present. Always. In my hair, my carpet, in my car, and my clothing. The stigma was pretty debilitating as well. I was a social out caste. My family always made rude remarks. In public people shamed me with rude and persistent comments and passive aggressive coughing. Smoking was typecast as something lazy or dirty people do. Employers where always suspicious of myself and fellow smokers as we went on our smoke breaks. We where to engage our smoking habit in the open without any shelter or roof and almost never any ashtray. Marching at a quick step to get to an approved smoking area took up most of the break time leaving only a couple of precious minutes to suck down a cigarette and run back to work. I heard of vaping. I had tried horribly marketed and produced products like Blue or Vue. They tasted horrible. The vapor production was nonexistent. The cartridges where just as expensive if not more expensive than cigarettes. And somehow every single time I tried their products I got headaches. I gave up on vaping. It was a fad or a niche. I have tried gum and lozenges to help quite or reduce. They tasted horrible. And the nicotine going into my stomach caused acid reflux. I tried patches. As a man who works physical labor the patches always fell off within 10 minutes of working. I even tried using bands and gauze to hold the patches in place. It never worked. And for all these smoking cessation aids they caused nightmares. I heard of vaping yet again. This time through a website known as Reddit.com in the e_cigarette forums. I tried a different approach after asking questions. I located a local brick and mortar shop and purchased a 1800 mah Ego Twist battery and a clearomizer tank. After sampling e-juices I settled on vanilla 50/50 PG VG blend with 18 mg nicotine. I was simply amazed. How was it a billion dollar company like RJ Reynolds could not make a product work but a company like Kangertech could? The difference was literally night and day. I found good quality equipment with a great quality e-juice. After quitting smoking cigarettes cold turkey I am happy to say I have not had a single cigarette in 2 months. Where big pharmaceutical and tobacco companies had failed me, these Asian designed/derived products excelled. The difference vaping has made for me is massive. I no longer am out casted to run outside for a vape. I can kiss my fiance without fear of ashtray breath. I can smell. I can taste. And, most importantly, I can breath! I don’t litter cigarette butts on the ground anymore. Ash is no longer covering myself and my personal effects. The annoying tobacco flakes are no longer haunting my pockets or my dyers lint trap. And the general public does not castrate me socially because I have a nicotine habit in public. My bosses and my family don’t make rude comments. In fact I’ve received quite a bit of encouragement! When I interact with people they no longer recoil in disgust from my cigarette smell. I have read countless times peoples anecdotal evidence and I have to say I completely agree. After reviewing a basic summary of the new FDA language I am highly disappointed. While at first glance it seems like a positive move for a Federal agency to regulate basic safety guidelines for consumer protection there is more language that is far more ominous. This statement and document released is really nothing more than an effort to rally a very large consumer base back over to companies such as RJ Reynolds. This has nothing to do with consumer protection and everything to do with marketing and money. The very agency tasked with providing us safe regulations for us consumers is the same agency swashed with contribution monies and lobbying by pharmaceutical and tobacco companies. it can be seen in histories past established companies discrediting new technologies. Reference Edison and Tesla in the AC versus DC electrical distribution public relations wars. Or automobile versus diesel companies. Or even now as we speak the established energy generation companies versus renewable/solar companies. This is not about public safety, its about a public relations war to sway by proxy or regulatory force a large consumer base back into a large market. This is simply about the FDA being as of yet discovered buy out to force people back into a virtual monopoly or oligopoly. I support the vaping community. I will continue to do so. Please keep in contact and encourage open discussion and ACTION for our community.