I quit smoking in 2013. Sounds weird now, but I LOVED smoking - the whole process of it, unwrapping a new pack, the fact some habitual cigarettes were "rewards", the time out talking to people on smoking breaks - everything about it. It was the first thing I did after waking and the last thing I did before bed.
When my wife got pregnant with our first child, I quit in the July. I didn't hold out much hope, I'd tried to quit about a thousand times previously, despite loving it. I've had more last cigarettes than hot dinners in my lifetime! However, spending £200-300 a month when I had a child to drain my bank accounts didn't seem right, plus I didn't want to smell of smoke while holding him. I tried everything from gum, to patches, to inhalers, to cold turkey previously - nothing worked and every time I caved to cravings. I tried vaping on that last attempt at quitting and it worked. I vaped for 2 years, dialled down the nicotine levels in the liquid from the end of year 1, and eventually just stopped. Within a few weeks of quitting cigarettes, my blood pressure improved a lot, as did a number of other health aspects. Some of these continued to improve for months after too (cough, amount I got ill, etc).
Anyway, my point here is that yes, vaping isn't good for you. It's not 100% safe. However, it's about harm reduction. It's a lot better than smoking, so if it's a choice between one or the other, vaping is the way to go. As a means of quitting, it's the only one that ever worked for me.
Ironically, I quit in July 2013. I celebrated my 10 year non-smoking anniversary with a type 2 diabetes diagnosis in July 2023. As celebration events go, I wouldn't recommend it, it's a 1 star review so far!
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