Testimonials

Real People. Real Stories.

The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA) is collecting successful vape stories and testimonials from smokers who used smoke-free alternatives to quit or reduce their smoking. The testimonials are posted publicly on our website for everyone to see, and may be sent to lawmakers to fight anti-vaping legislation.

This public collection of successful vape stories is a powerful response to those who want to restrict access to e-cigarettes and other smoke-free products. Our goal is to present a large collection of compelling individual reports that will make it impossible for anyone to claim that substitution of low-risk alternatives (e-cigarettes, snus, and other smoke-free tobacco/nicotine products) is not a proven method for quitting smoking.

You are free to write your own story and include or exclude any details as you like. However, if you would like a few suggestions, below is a list of questions to consider:

How long did you smoke?
How long ago did you start using a smoke-free alternative?
Exactly what type of smoke-free products do you use (please do not include company/brand names), and has this changed over time?
Do you still smoke, and if so how much have you cut down?
Did you both smoke and use the smoke-free product for a time before quitting smoking entirely (if so, how long?), or did you switch immediately? Did you stop tobacco/nicotine entirely for a while and then start using a low-risk alternative?
What methods (NRT, Chantix, counseling, etc.) did you use to try to quit smoking before switching to a smoke-free alternative? How long were you able to go without smoking using these other methods before starting again?
What changes in the quality of your life (both positive and negative) have you noticed since adopting the smoke-free alternative?

You may prefer to write your story in a word processor and paste it here. You need to enter your entire story at once – you cannot start it and come back. There is no maximum length. Please remember that by submitting this, you are agreeing to have it posted online.

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Read some of our 13,501 testimonials!

Raised in a traditional Christian home, I first tried a cigarette when I was about 18 years old in rebellion against a friend who would not keep her promise to stop smoking. It wasn’t until several years later when I got my first job as a Technical Support Analyst that the occasional cigarette with a coworker grew into an expensive habit that I immediately wanted to quit. I tried to quit cold turkey, and then I tried using a nicotine patch, gum, lozenge, and even hypnotherapy. Each time I would have some success, but eventually life’s stressors or my own

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Raised in a traditional Christian home, I first tried a cigarette when I was about 18 years old in rebellion against a friend who would not keep her promise to stop smoking. It wasn’t until several years later when I got my first job as a Technical Support Analyst that the occasional cigarette with a coworker grew into an expensive habit that I immediately wanted to quit. I tried to quit cold turkey, and then I tried using a nicotine patch, gum, lozenge, and even hypnotherapy. Each time I would have some success, but eventually life’s stressors or my own stubborn ADHD brain would bring me back to cigarettes over the next 15 years until I discovered an invention called “electronic cigarettes…” I was immediately fascinated by the gadgets when I first saw them in Clackamas Town Center shopping mall, and threw several hundred dollars for “starter kits” for myself and some friends. Unfortunately, some of the parts were lost within a few days so it mostly sat on a shelf for about a year until one day my (then 7-year old) daughter objected as I was stepping outside for a cigarette, and said “Daddy, isn’t that ‘pretend cigarette’ better for you? You should use that instead.” Inspired by her pure intentions and desire to keep her daddy alive and healthy, I began researching electronic cigarettes and tobacco harm reduction. Within a few days after finding a better model and trying some different flavors and strengths, I found that I could customize “vaping” into an experience that I enjoyed as much if not more than smoking. I wasn’t planning or expecting to quit smoking but was happy to drop to just one or fewer cigarettes a day, but eventually my senses of taste and smell improved and I lost interest in smoking. One day it occurred to me that I couldn’t remember when I’d last had or wanted a cigarette. I stopped smoking the same way I started: As an unintended consequence of spending time with techies! In order to have a calendar date to point to, I intentionally smoked one cigarette on New Years’ Eve, Dec 31, 2009 and I haven’t had a cigarette since.

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