Well, it’s now been a total of 12 days since I took delivery of my Ruyan V8 E-cigarette, and the news is all good!

When the package first arrived, I set about getting the e-cigarette ready for use. An impressive 4 day delivery from China, I must say! The charger was duly set up, and although they say you’re supposed to charge it for an extended period the first time, I couldn’t stop myself from taking a few puffs on the battery which came already screwed into the e-cigarette - SMOKE! INSTANT SMOKE! I was totally blown away by the accuracy of the simulation of smoking.

The process is not identical. It takes a slower, longer drag to get the same kind of experience, but after a while, you do get used to it, and the e-cigarette becomes a definite substitute for smoking.

I measured my cigarette intake over the first week of using the e-cigarette. The week prior, I estimate that I probably smoked between 150-160 normal cigarettes - you can imagine how that made me feel in terms of health. My energy was low, my chest was heavy (not surprisingly given the punishment I was giving my lungs!) - in one short week this consumption level was slashed to a very impressive 8 cigarettes.

Now, I must add here, that when I purchased the e-cigarette I wasn’t anywhere near the right frame of mind to quit smoking. That was never my intention, but I can confirm that the e-cigarette has been such a good substitute, that if there were no real cigarettes in the house, I wouldn’t be flying into a mad panic - nor would I be jumping in the car to rush up the road and buy a pack. The nicotine replacement removes any craving I have, and gives me the satisfaction of actually “smoking” a cigarette.

There may well be two different schools of thought on the effectiveness of the e-cigarette. On one hand, it stops you from smoking normal cigarettes, but on the other hand it doesn’t really address the nicotine addiction - well, not forcefully anyway! You could conceivably smoke the e-cigarette with full strength cartridges for the rest of your days - at least your health will benefit. However, there are some who will tell you that this doesn’t solve the problem, which I guess is partly true. The way I look at it is - if you’ve tried to stop smoking using al the other methods - how can the e-cigarette be a bad thing? The main issue for me, considering my past health issues around smoking, is that it’s eliminating the bad stuff - which is ALL GOOD with me!

There are a huge number of benefits to this marvellous invention, here’s a few that I’ve found already:

• Health - you will feel better almost immediately
• Smell - there is no lingering smoke, which basically means cleaner air for everyone
• Mess - no stinking filthy ashrays - even smokers can’t stand this by-product!
• Confinement - driving in my car, in the rain, windows up, smoking an e-cigarette (before I got the e-cigarette, I would have simply gotten wet!)
• No need to go outside - with the smoking laws in New Zealand, you’ll often see a bunch of smokers huddling outside - outcasts in their own society! The e-cigarette eliminates this phenomenon.
• Choice - you can choose to have one puff and put it back in your pocket. Or, if you’ve just had a stressful experience, you could smoke the equivalent of 8 cigarettes before putting it away!
• Cost - in comparison, e-cigarette cartridges are majorly cheaper than buying real cigarettes - the economy is obvious!

All in all, my experience with the e-cigarette so far has been life-changing. I’m a different person, and my family have a cleaner, more friendly living environment. Everyone is happy!