A smoke-free me?

Early last month, I made a small purchase at Walgreens. Or, well… to be totally honest, I made a regular purchase and “sneaked in” a small item which, if purchased alone, would have been a small purchase. I didn’t know it at the time, but that little act with that little item would give me the desire to be smoke-free by Christmas.

The item was a Blu disposable electronic cigarette.

I’ve had my eye on electronic cigarettes (or e-cigs) for years. I’m attracted to the fact that they are smoke-less and have much fewer chemicals than cigarettes. I wasn’t sure how I’d like e-cigs, so I figured that $7.99 for a disposable would be a great way to try them out before investing in an eventual cost-saving starter kit. When I got home with my new novelty purchase, I opened the package and started “smoking.” I loved it! The flavor was tobacco-ish, but better. Sweeter. The hit was very similar to the Camel Turkish Golds and the L&M Turkish Blend that I was accustomed to. And the smell? No offensive odor. According to others around me, it either smelled like nothing, or had a very slight coffee smell. After that first disposable, I made it a point purchased more when life would allow. Being smoke-free by Christmas didn’t exactly happen (I smoked two packs of Camels, and also used Ex-Husbands loose tobacco with rolling papers), but I was smoking less tobacco overall.

I’ve been doing the e-cig/regular cigarette combo consistently until today. Ex-Husband kindly purchased a Blu starter kit for me earlier in the day, and even though there is less nicotine in the starter kit versus the disposable e-cigs or regular cigarettes, I plan to not regularly smoke anything but my e-cigs from this point forward. I don’t feel comfortable saying that I’ve quit smoking, because I’m still “smoking” something (the e-cig community uses the term “vaping” because the smoke in an e-cig is not smoke, but water vaper). Either way, it is a better smelling and less chemical-y alternative to smoking, so it will be healthier for me (not totally healthy, but healthy-ER).

As for which brands are best, I’ve only tried two. Blu and Finity (both sold at Walgreens). In my humble opinion, Blu rocks when it comes to flavor and “hit.” The flavor of Finity, in my opinion, is gross and metallic tasting. Your mileage may vary, but I highly recommend Blu based on personal experience. Also, there might be other brands out there better than Blu, but I don’t have a desire to seek them out. For now, I’m happy with Blu and I like their products enough that I’m not inclined to seek out any other brands.

If you’d like more information about e-cigs and Blu, you can visit www.blucigs.com.

*Blu and Walgreens gave me nothing for posting this. In fact, they don’t even know I’ve blogged about them! This is not an advertisement. :-)