Category: Success Stories

Hi Phil and Dimitris

I just felt the need to thank you guys for playing a big part in my transition from smoking to vaping.

My name is Errol I am from South Africa. I have been a heavy smoker for 24 years. I started in my teens and wasn’t able to give it up. I had a heart attack at the age 27 because of it. I tried to quit after that, but even with that scare, I still wasn’t successful and continued to smoke.

About 5 or so years ago I gave vaping a go, but it was more of wanting to try it then to stop smoking. I played around with it for a few weeks but continued to smoke while vaping and didn’t really bother with it much. I did subscribe to Phil’s youtube channel during this time because he is so detailed in his reviews of products which I really liked. I am glad I did that, because it would be the thing that ended up helping me in the future.

About 3 weeks ago, I came across “The smokers show” video on my youtube feed and decided to watch it. Your guys information and encouragement made me want to give vaping another go and do it properly this time.

I went to a vape shop and got myself a kit and some juice and I have been smoke free for over a week now I feel great and I have no desire to go back to cigarettes.

So again a big thank you from me. What you guys to do to try help smokers make the switch is truly admirable. You are changing lives for the better and it is really appreciated.

Thank you and keep doing what you are doing.

Kind Regards

Errol

Hello Phil,
Greeetings from Germany.
Could not agree more with you and Dimitri about what you said about
Nicotin Levels on the “Smokershow #8”.
I quit smoking almost 4 years ago and vaped ever since. No cigaretts at
all. No need for them. Nicotin was reduced down to 0 over a year ago.
Now i’m going through a rough time and started smoking cigarets again.
That was until my neighbour (also a Vaper) caught me smoking on my porch.
So he gave me (after ofc he called me names first for smoking) one of
those Pod-System Devices (“myblu” former “vonErl”) with 18mg Nicotin and
those few cigarets are now gone again. I now use them when the crave hits
me again, take some puffs and i’m fine. After all they are small enough to
carry alongside our “big german vape gear”.
Thanks for pointing out that nicotin is NOT the main problem. Even long
time vapers like myself can/ might fall back to cigarets when going
through rough times. Long Time Vapers tent to forget that. We’re all
adicts after all as i just had to learn again the hard way.
Keep up the good work.
Cheers
Stefan

Hello my name is Jacob I have been vaping for 3 months now and have watched a lot of your YouTube videos just wanted to say thanks for all you do and I hope I get to meet you at the expo in mobile have a great day/night my friend

Hi Phil,

I know how you like stories from previous smokers, here is mine:

I tried to quit smoking 3 to 4 times, including nicotine patches, be aware, they burn and taste bad, nothing helped, made me very cranky (like a ticking time bomb), you know the deal.

It started 2008, I just came back from a business trip from Chicago and had some money to spend. I walked to my favorite store for getting Zippos in the town I lived in at that time and noticed a sign outside about electronic cigarettes. I asked about it, he showed it to me and I bought it for a ridiculous price for a 901 device and some depots. I saw it as a last straw to quit smoking and as a test. What did I had to lose? Either it may work or not. Well, I drove home, read every bit I could find about it, which wasn’t that much, and put me under pressure by smoking the rest of my pack. At 6:30pm on 05/31/2008 I started vaping. I made it through the weekend and didn’t missed cigarettes. It had everything: nicotine, something to suck on, throat hit. Only the mouth feel was different, plastic instead of a soft filter. I went back to the store, bought some more depots and different flavors, I was happy. After a few days I noticed that I slept better, coughing got better and my apartment didn’t smelled better, not like a used ashtray.

I started to look around if there is more on the market and ran over the pen style devices, which was also expensive but overall cheaper than the 901, more varieties in flavors and so on. I ordered a set and what a difference it made, more flavor but also trickier to use. Keep in mind that you also had to be a bit masochistic back into the days. Product quality was mediocre, depots wasn’t filled correctly, no liquid flow, leading to burned tastes and so on. I even shopped around in china for cigar style devices.

In 2009/2010 the german market gained traction, online stored popped up, selling devices out of their kitchen or backyard (I visited a few) and new devices came to the market, like pipes, which I really liked but after two months the wood began to crack because of liquid seeping out of the atomizer, wetting the wood. Also the first liquids came to the market, including test kits which where reviewed in the forums.
I think 2011 or 2012 the first came to the market with a real switch. Man, what a difference this small beast pumped out in flavor and clouds. It was reliable, lasted log, easy to refill. The first reviewers popped up on YouTube, igetcha69, Grimm Green to name a few. A colleague told me about your channel and I was hooked, since you were different. I still remember your liquid test with very strange flavors like Crab juice.
Modififying the 510 depots was a big deal, including rolled teabags, steel mash, name it. Tanks entered the market with punched or slotted atomizers but longevity of only a few days. I liked them but they leaked like hell and gunked up pretty fast. I think the Ego changed the whole market. Easy to use, reliable, good flavor and good vapor production. The 510 connection became the de-facto standard which allowed modders and small production devices entered the market and the first DYI Atomizers where available in germany. I also bought them, are you kidding?

2013 and 2014 I bought my first real mods, tried the Genesis devices and bumped into you at vape bash 2014, we talked a few words, but there was no way to have a real conversation. I also showed my my mod called The Swabia (which was built in the Stuttgart area). I also visited Nick, who was either hung over or flat out tired 😉
(I worked in IT at that time and travelled to our branch near Chicago annually).
I watched nearly every review you and Nick pumped out and based my buying habit on them.
In that timeframe I also started buying juice in larger quantities, esp. from Flavor Art from Italy and switched over to mixing my own juice, since I had more freedom flavor-vise, and it was cheaper 😉 I also was still a MTL vapor, had a Kayfun 3.1 (loved it), the 4 (which I also really digged) but switched over to DTL and ditched making my own coils because I got fed up with making and fiddling my own coils. DTL gave me everything I wanted.

2016 I got on a 7000 mi road trip, starting in WA, down to CA, over to NV, UT (saw Brice Canyon), CO, KS, TN, GA, FL, TX, all by car. We did a installation of Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) in 10 shoe stores. I came to the US with 1l of my juice, the uwell crown and a Wismec Reuleaux 200. On that trip I bought a Aspire Cleito in Ridgecrest (main attraction: a 90 degree curve on the main street and a cinema 😉 ) and ordered the Hohmwrecker G2. I still use both daily. I also left IT after 20 years and joined our ESL team in Germany.
In 2017 I had the opportunity to move to the US helping to gain traction of the ESL market in the US. On 06/27/2017 I left Germany with two suitcases and my two cats.
The best decision I’ve ever made. I really like it here in NW Indiana. 🙂

In 2012 my mum was diagnosed with COPD, making her to quit smoking. She asked me if I could help her start vaping, send her some devices I had laying around, some juice and she made almost immediately. Half a year later her lungs got significantly better, after a year her lungs where back to 90%.
2013 she opened her small store in northern Germany and is specialized on converting smokers to vaping with easy to use and inexpensive MTL devices like the AIO.

Thank you for all the passion and time you put into your videos, your crankyness sometimes, your advocacy and your help converting smokers to vapers with everything you (and Dimitris) do.
I don’t blame you for having your own juice or devices, everyone needs to make some money and you worked hard for it.
Thank you for the last 10 years of this bumpy ride the first years.

I never smoked a cigarette since 05/31/2008 6:30pm.

Matthias

Hi Phil

Just watching the smokers show today have watched every episode since you started.

I have sent a link to four of my work college’s of each episode’s and all of them understand a lot better what benefits vaping have over smoking.

Each of them came to me to help them purchase a starter kit and juice this was 3 weeks ago since they started and they all are loving it and 100% off the stinkys.

So guys your show is doing a good job educating smokers about the benefits of vaping we as vapers need to advise smokers where to view your show so we all have a part to play to get this info out.

I was watching tonight and when you were discussing the benefits over smoking its not just a health benefit we have a large area of our country that suffers every year from bush-fires evidence says a lot of these are started from smokers throwing smoke butts from vehicles this would be eliminated if they vape not to mention all the cigarette buts that litter our streets and waterways

So at the end of the day vaping is a cleaner and healthier solution for us as people and the environment.

Keep up the good work guys

Thanks
Jeff

Hey old friend. Years ago you recommended the MVP 2.0 and the Aspire Nautilus to
help me quit smoking. It worked, for five years. Then work got to me. Recently due
to staffing shortages and a promotion I have been working seven days a week, this
has been going on for months. (I work with at risk youth in a residential setting).
I had long since moved on from the mouth to lung crowd and into the 3mg sub ohm
crowd. As work got more and more stressful, I became more and more desperate for an
outlet for stress, and eventually broke down and bought a pack of the dreaded stink
sticks. You know the story from there. I noticed the change almost immediately, I
was more tired, I ran out of breath faster, I was getting colds more frequently. I
tried to quit using my current mods and tanks, however 3mg direct lung just wasn’t
enough. So I started researching mouth to lung. It was then that I found the
Platform Series and the Kroma-A and Zenith tank. I received it today. I smoked my
(hopefully) last cigarette today. Not only was it comforting finding a product that
you had a hand in developing it was comforting seeing you not only still at it, but
still the same as you were years ago. Honest reviews, a little comedy, and a
willingness to help. Thanks again my friend, for again saving me.

Hey, just a quick message to thank you from France. 1 year without smoking, and ur part of it. 🙂
Just got my Ares (was the only way i think to thank you), and I love it. It’s becoming my daily setup with my Kayfun Prime. Great product, and great tool kit btw.

Still cancer stick free I know it’s been awhile since the last time I thanked you for your help I am just glad that you are going through all the trouble to keep the community the same with Dimitris please keep up the great work thanks again for helping me with your videos back then.

I stopped smoking (alot) because of you and your videos. i tried the small cigarette things but was not impressed. So i started searching if anyone knew of something better. That is when i came across a review of you holding (The Vamo) a HUGE metal wand. i immediately ordered one, punched my first carto and started vaping away. i even managed converted a lot of my friends over the years so now i have smoke free friends as well. im now both smoke and vape free.
I just wanted to tell you that I will forever be indebted to you for saving me a lot of money and eventually my life.

Just wanted to add another success story. It was your reviews that finally managed to get me to quit smoking and start vaping. The details in the reviews explained everything clearly enough to give me the confidence to vape. I tried pretty much every type of NRT, and Champix, but none of it worked. It’s been 6 months since my last cigarette, and the funny thing is that with vaping I’ve actually enjoyed quitting. I’m 33 now, had my first smoke at 9, and been at least 20 a day since 16 so that shows how effective vaping is. I’m using the Ares most of the time for the last couple of months (first rebuildable) so you also got me into RTA’s as well! Wish I’d got down to the event in London to thank you in person, but I was stuck on long shifts at the hospital right through. Maybe next time!