From Chris

Hey Phil,

My name is Chris Kunkel. I’m a 32 year old father of three and I have been a fan of your videos for a little over a year now. I’ve seen other success stories posted on your Taste Your Juice blog, and felt it was time to share my own. With all of the negative publicity out there and the deeming regs being published, I felt that if my story can help others like me, that it was time to tell it.

I had my first cigarette when I was 11, stealing from the pack of Virginia Slims my mother had. I smoked off and on through middle and high school to appear rebellious and cool, stupid I know. It was in 2002 when I started full time. I had just graduated high school and had enlisted in the army. I found myself at 18 stationed in Korea, half a world away from my family and practically anyone I knew. I was alone for the first time in my life and I picked back up smoking to deal with the stress. For over 13 years, I smoked at least a pack a day. I was an active duty soldier and smoked even heaver during my two deployments. I knew I had to quit and had tried multiple methods. Cold turkey never worked and I would be back on the smokes within a few days. The patches and gums made me sick, so again, back on the smokes. My experience with Chantix was the worst though, and almost cost me my life.

I had finally decided to talk to my doctor about quitting. I had tried all the over the counter methods with no success and had seen an ad on TV for Chantix. I asked my doctor and he was all too quick to prescribe me this new miracle drug in the fight against tobacco. I picked up my first month’s supply and was eager to get started. The first week was interesting to say the least. I had the most vivid nightmares I had ever experienced. Every night I dreaded going to sleep because I never knew what horrors awaited me. And for someone who already suffered from PTSD due to deployments, it just made the situation even worse. But I soldiered on, this was going to help me quit right? I stopped smoking as instructed at the start of the second week.

The nightmares continued, but the meds were doing their job so I kept taking them. Near the end of the third week, my wife and two young children went out of town for the weekend to visit family. I was on call for the Army and wasn’t allowed to travel more than 50 miles from the base, so they left me at the house. Saturday evening, I was watching TV when all of a sudden I decided that I should end my life. Just like that. No hesitation, no questioning, it was as routine as going to the kitchen and making a sandwich. I went to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of sleeping pills that I was prescribed for my PTSD, downed about 20 of them, and went back to watching TV. If my wife hadn’t decided to cut their trip short and come home that night, I wouldn’t be here writing this message to you now.

I woke up in the ER surrounded by my family. My wife arrived to find me unconscious and unresponsive on the sofa with the bottle of pills on the counter and called an ambulance. I had never had a history of depression, nor ever had a suicidal thought. But on this miracle medication, I came within moments of ending my life. My children watched as I was loaded on that ambulance near death. My oldest still vividly remembers that night!! Needless to say, I threw out the Chantix and never looked back. Within three days, I was smoking again.

Around 2011, during a deployment to Afghanistan, I purchased my first electronic cigarette online. It was one of the ones that look like a cigarette with a light on the end of them. You can find them in most gas stations now. It was a cheap one made and shipped from China, but I was intrigued by this device and loved being able to intake nicotine without having to go out in the 120 degree heat. It wasn’t meant to replace smoking all together, just supplement it. When I got home later that year, I threw the cig-alike out and returned to my old habit full time.

Winter was always the worst for me because of all the damage done over the years from smoking. Any time I got sick, it seems it lingered with me three times longer than anyone else. I decided I wanted to try vaping again in winter 2012 when a friend of the family had opened up a vape shop. I purchased a newer ego setup with a refillable Kanger Protank. This almost did it for me a few times, but it just wasn’t enough for me to quit. I’d do well for a week or two, but then I’d get stressed and buy a pack of smokes.

Finally, in winter of 2015, I came down with Bronchitis, close to full blown pneumonia. I couldn’t breathe, let alone smoke due to the burning in my chest. I picked up my e-cig again and just like in Afghanistan, I was able to use it to supplement for my nicotine fix. Anytime either I or my wife get sick, we are banished down to the basement so as to not get everyone else in the house sick. It sounds cruel, but we’ve got a full sectional sofa, a plasma TV with surround sound, cable, and a PlayStation down there, so it’s not the worst place to be on the mend. In my isolation, I started looking more into vaping and discovered a series of videos from a rather large Italian. After watching a ton of these videos, I knew what I needed to do.

Once I was able to leave the house again, I went to my local vape shop and bought an iStick 50w, a Kanger Subtank Mini, and a vanilla custard flavored liquid at 12mg nic. Of course my wife wasn’t happy when she saw the price of my new hobby. Within a week of that purchase, I was able to put down the smokes for good. This was March 7th, 2015 and I haven’t had a cigarette since. The secret for me was a combination of the right flavor, the right nicotine, and a device capable of a direct lung hit. See, I didn’t need something to replicate a cigarette, like a mouth to lung device, because that just made me want an actual cigarette. What I needed was something new. Something different. The Subtank was that device for me. Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with those who enjoy a MTL vape, it just didn’t work for me.

Since I started vaping full time, I have noticed a major difference in my day to day life. I can climb up a flight of stairs without losing my breath. I can play and keep up with my now three children, the third of which wouldn’t be here if I had been successful in taking my own life. I’ve even started running again, something I haven’t been able to do in many years. I started vaping at 24mg of nicotine, near the top available, and I’m now down to 3mg. Thank you Phil for opening my eyes to what is truly possible. Vaping has changed and even saved my life!!