I really like vaping, but if I'm honest, there are things I miss about smoking. I was with some relatives who used to smoke and then for a long time only smoked while I was around. I was their "get out of jail free" card, as it were. They let me use their place while they were traveling, so for old-times' sake, I got a pack of smokes.

What I miss most about analogs is the ability to dangle it from my lip. And the throw-away nature of it. The only thing I had to worry about was getting more. When I'd get down to the filter, I'd flick that shit away and never think about it again, or if I was feeling responsible and respectful to the environment and my fellow man, I'd put it in the trash. There's a certain ornamental quality, a dramatic quality inherent in smokes that the e-cig doesn't have. When I've got my eGo out, I get lots of puzzled or concerned looks, mostly because people think I'm consuming a drug other than nicotine, but once in a while I get someone who asks me what it is or what kind it is, how I like it, etc.

From the hobby side, I do enjoy the whole process of cleaning my e-cig and filling up the tanks. I don't really enjoy replacing coils or figuring out what may or may not be wrong with it and if a tank does indeed have a crack, or any of the other myriad, finicky things that go along with ecigs, but I think it's a healthier alternative.

I think achughes is right to ask if there's more to smoking than simple nicotine consumption. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've lit up and talked about other forms of nicotine delivery, like snuff or chaw and the derision that many smokers have for smokeless tobacco. Also, I now feel a bit separated from Smokers as a group. I no longer have the same rituals as them, though I'm in search of the same buzz.

Anyway, I have about a half pack of American Spirit Yellow (I was sharing, otherwise I'd have gone blue, or maybe Nat Sherman; Havana sweets or maybe Classics) which I am really trying not to smoke. The reason? Surprisingly (to me), it's not the health angle, since I don't really think at this point that a pack here or there will do much damage, is: I don't want to smell like cigarette smoke. When it comes right down to it, I love nicotine and most of the ways it can be consumed, except for smokeless. From my limited knowledge about e-cigs (I asked about them on hubski to get started) those Bedford Slim batteries look pretty weak though.