Since many of you know me by these blog scribblings or the scribblings of customer service emails here at Greenleaf, you might not know that I am was a smoker. In fact, for one of my first jobs at the label I was carted off to sell CDs on a Keystone tour in Europe (lucky me, huh?) where a couple of the dudes nicknamed me Jimney (ref. Chimney) because of my smoking habit. But I recently got engaged, and now I’m trying to get a little healthier — not eating as many Chicago hot dogs per day, riding my bike to drop off orders to the post office, and the big one, quitting smoking.

Quitting smoking has been tough. I can’t even definitively say that I’ve quit, because I’ve broken down and bummed a cigarette more times than I can count on two hands in the last month. But one of the things that has helped cut down 90% of my smoking has been this electronic cigarette I bought on a whim. Here is a short video from YouTube if you haven’t seen one.

Basically, it works just like a normal cigarette. You suck in, the end lights up, you inhale the vapor, get your nicotine (some vapor is nicotine-less), and then you blow out the vapor. It’s pretty realistic. Moreso than a patch or a piece of gum anyway.

I’ve realized that there were cigarettes that I wanted, and then ones that I needed. The needed made up most of my habit — the ones I didn’t think about, didn’t enjoy, but smoked mindlessly. Those cigarettes (with my coffee, after my coffee, morning break, before lunch, after lunch, in traffic, etc etc etc), I’ve successfully replaced with this mechanism.

The FDA hasn’t approved any of these mechanisms to be “safer than cigarettes,” FYI. Don’t know what the hold up is, but to me it seems like a no-brainer here (even if they’re bad for you, they can’t be as bad).

Like I said, I’ve broken down a number of times — after gigs seems to be the hardest time for me — so the e-cig isn’t a smokeless messiah. In the end, I know that this is temporary and that I need to quit 100%. But, as demeaning as it is for me, for now I’m content smoking this laser-pointer. For anyone who has smoked for as long as I have, this may be the replacement that helps you kick the habit. If so, good luck. All of us need it.

Happy vaping.