Now, as a technical 'nonsmoker', this post might not be as useful to people who do smoke. I'll leave things like 'does this effectively replace smoking' shit to Gremlin.

This is most of my 'kit'. My 'digital smoking paraphernalia'. I use the single week Pill 'reminder' device to sort my cartridges -- I can fit nine in each slot, and each slot will be devoted to a different flavour, with one for blanks, and one for carts that need washing.

The strange [computer] mouse-shaped thing above it is the battery recharger for the 510. Next to that is one of the batteries. The shiny thing with the lights is the 'PCC' for the 510 [in silver], and, next to that, almost out of the picture, is the 510 PassThrough. It's purple because, well, black wasn't in stock.

This is the 510, broken down to its component parts. The battery [the longest], the atomiser [in the middle] and the cartridge -- or 'cart' -- with a cap on it.

The battery is manually operated, obviously. And you use it the way you use a regular cigarette -- you just have to either buy prefilled carts, or buy blank carts, and bottles of nicotine liquid [e-liquid, nicquid, it's got lots of names].

This is what mine looks like when you push the button. Bright blue LED on the end. Gremlin's got red. The red, I suppose, is to make it more realistic to the user. The blue is meant to make it less likely that others will confuse what you're smoking with a real cigarette, so they won't get all uppity at you.

This is the passthrough, freshly out of its wrappings, and unassembled. The little battery goes into the box in the line, for use away from the computer, if you have to. It's meant to be used plugged into a USB port, though, so you're not draining one of your other batteries needlessly.

The PCC [Personal Charging Case] next to the passthrough, with atomiser and cartridge attached to the passthrough. It kindasorta gives you an idea of the size, but not really, since you don't have an exact reference for either. And...I'm not going to give you one. So there.

The green light at the bottom means that the pack is done charging. The red light at the top means that the battery I have inserted in the pack [for recharging] isn't done charging.

If you can ignore the glare, this is a shot of the inside of the pack. It's got three holes for cartridges [or two for cartridges, and one for an extra atomiser], and one hole for recharging a battery.

There's a slight...issue with the PCCs for the 510. The contact that allows for recharging is made through pressure, instead of screwing it in like you'd do with the wall charger. And the manual batteries aren't quite long enough for it to work in the usual way. An easy workaround is to put the cap from one of the cartridges loosely on the end of the battery you intend to charge, and then close the pack. The added height will cause the battery to be pressed down just enough for the necessary contacts to be made.

Unfortunately, I got kinda stupid here. I forgot to unwrap the bottles of liquid before taking a picture of them -- possibly because I was just so impressed by how well wrapped they were. these are two [glass!] bottles of liquid from JohnsonCreek -- I'm a little hazy on the URL right now, so I won't be linking to them. They do pack impressively, though.

The bottles came with those medicinal caps on them -- the 'press down' type childproof caps, and a glass eyedropper, and two tiny little bottles that are meant to be used with syringes. Luckily, I just happened to have gotten some good syringes from Nuvape....

These are the tiny little bottles, which were empty, but are now full of liquid from each bottle from JC. JohnsonCreek's liquids come Some Assembly Required.

But both the almond chocolate and mint chocolate seem quite tasty. so far.

...and, wow, was that annoying. Apparently, something about WPG3 doesn't quite get along with the new version of wordpress. My post got all jumbled, and half of my images disappeared. I had to copypaste everything into word and rewrite it over there to get it into the proper order, and get all the images included....

Anyway, your basic 510 starter kit is around $50. and comes with two complete e-cigarettes [two batteries, two atomisers]. Usually, they also come with five prefilled cartridges of varying strengths. A PCC will run you about $25. Same with a passthrough. Neither is strictly necessary, but they might improve your e-smoking experience. The initial expense is well worth it, though. Once you find a flavour and nicotine level you're comfortable with, you won't need to buy regular [analogue, organic, whatever you want to call them] cigarettes again. Just about everyone I've met since starting this experiment has the same story -- bought an e-cig, quit smoking regular cigarettes the same day. Some of them don't even like regular cigarettes anymore.

Even with all this stuff, we've still saved a couple hundred dollars this month. That's...really all you need to know, isn't it? There's significant savings involved. Even over other, more approved methods of quitting.

I've got some...pretty serious anxiety issues. And a bit of an aversion to pharmacologically-induced zombism, which means I'm more than hesitant to try anything a doctor would recommend. Because, really, I can't imagine that the out-of-control panic feeling could possibly be made better by anything that would make me feel even less in control of who I really am.

So, I turned to the occasional cigarette. And, wouldn't you know it, those evil little tubes bring something other than dire warnings of 'worse than heroin' addiction and slow, lingering social and literal death from the pneumonia you developed after being banished to the special smoking booth that just happens to be located under twenty feet of water in the underground, unheated pool....

Just a little bit, and I'd be able to get the shaking under control. It would force me to control my breathing, too, which isn't easy. And, sure, smoking would make me a little angry, but that comes with the 'nice, orderly thought process' benefit, and beats the living hell out of panic.

Once or twice, they even helped with minor headaches.

But, it was smoking. And smoking is bad. And something I couldn't ever allow myself to get comfortable with, even while supporting the rights of others to smoke.

...except, I've found an alternative. A nice, modern alternative. Electronic cigarettes.

They have flavours. And options. Oh, the options they have. Options that you can no longer find in the regular smoking world, unless you spend thirty to fifty on a box of nicoderm. But they don't...really count, now do they?

For example -- I can get zero nicotine chocolate liquid, fill a cartridge with it, and have the activity without the nicotine if I want to. And I just might. But, if I don't, I can get a low or medium level fluid, and have the flavour, but with nicotine. But not nearly as much as I'd likely be getting if I were smoking a real 'organic' cigarette -- as Gremlin's calling them.

...and, aside from the initial expense -- which is about the cost of a carton in most states, these days -- it's cheap. It might even be cheaper than my rather excessive Coke habit. And I'm talking about the cola variety, here.

All I can really hope for is that they don't suddenly tax and regulate this into ultra-expensive hell. They probably will, but I'm sure it'll take a while. They have to move at the speed of government, after all, even if they do decide to fake a bunch of science....

Hey. Maybe they'll get so focused on this, they'll leave your sweet and caffeinated drinks alone for another couple of years....

If you're curious about this -- maybe interested in trying it out, I can recommend the JOYE 510 -- also called the Titan, and about a thousand other names. And I can recommend Midwest Vapor and E-SmokeyTreats. There's also BluCigs, which...I can't quite recommend yet, as much as I'd like to.

The 510 is a nice little model -- and, understand, I'm saying this as someone who's never tried anything else. It's a little longer than a 100, and probably a little thicker. Definitely heavier. And it's manually controlled -- there's a button on the battery that lights up the LED [mine's blue; Gremlin has a red one] and turns on the atomiser. The atomiser heats up the liquid in the cartridge, [a little plastic thing with...y'know those fishtank things? Fluval make them? Kinda looks like that. Like cotton, but...not. That soaks up the liquid, and it just sits there.] making steam, which you inhale. Just like a cigarette. Except without the extra chemicals, including that new 'fire safe' stuff. The liquid's just Propylene Glycol or Vegetable Glycerine [PG or VG], nicotine in a level of your choosing, and flavouring [I think it's usually candy oils, or something like that]. You can buy pre-filled cartridges for whatever model you have, or, in some cases, buy blanks to fill with 'nicquid' of your choosing.

There are, obviously, risks. Nicotine is a poison, and, if you use too much, you'll get sick. Just like if you smoke too many cigarettes -- more than you usually do, that is. And, if you get any of the liquid on your skin, you should at least wipe it off, if not wash it off. It can be an irritant. And I guess you also run the risk of getting a flavour you don't like, but that can sometimes be avoided by either ordering a cheap batch of prefilled carts, or by ordering a 'taster' or 'sample', which are sometimes offered at places dealing exclusively in 'nicquid'.

You can make your own flavours, though, by getting the right ingredients. And there are communities online with people doing just that. The BluCigForum is really the only one that I can personally recommend. Some of the others might not be as welcoming or friendly....

That's really all I have right now. I'll probably be able to say more later, when I've tried more flavours, or had an incredibly positive or negative experience with some company or group of people....