Category: Success Stories

Good afternoon Sir,

I just wanted to say thanks for your detailed reviews, and informative sharing of information.
My wife and I both have quit after being heavy menthol smokers. For me it was the Subtank Mini that finally gave me the satisfaction needed, and for my wife the Nautilus Mini. I used to watch your videos which gave me hope that I could build something that worked and would give the throat hit & airflow I needed without being over complicated. I have since moved on from the old set-ups and devices, but still have a couple mini tanks on the shelf.

The depth you review products without classifying what is the right and wrong way to Vape, keeps me always looking to see if you have reviewed a device I am interested in. With the onset of regulations and the continued negative media we don’t need to hurt ourselves.
Quite frankly, I can’t think of any “wrong” ways to save a life.

Jeff

I am a ~4 year lurker and have watched every single video you’ve done during that time – starting with the carto tank days and then vaping along with each new discovery you presented to all of us out here in the peanut gallery. Little wonder that I, too ended up on the Kayfun most of the time at 15 watts right alongside you. I really can’t thank you enough for being my sage guide through these years. You gave me just the inspiration I needed to get cigarettes out of my life for good – after smoking for 25 years. The sheer number of lives you have saved through your work is truly incredible.

My very best wishes to you – keep the faith, vaping brother.

–Steve

Dear Phil
My name’s Kian, I’m a newbie vaper, a former smoker of 11-12 years. I
live in Iran and there’s literally no vape shops here, not a single poxy one.
Therefore, my sole source of information on what I could buy over the internet, is
the internet itself. and in that, your channel is my go to channel. You, my good man
Phil, are the only person who speaks like you mean it. you don’t try to be hip (yet
you are the coolest), you don’t try too hard to be entertaining (yet your videos are
an absolute delight to watch), and you don’t follow meaningless trades, instead you
give genuine information (and your face is not covered with a tattoo of a Japanese
demon like many others). and that’s why I could learn from you. So, I thought I send
you this message to thank you for what you have taught me, and to let you know that
I seriously rely on you as a reliable source of information. I simply could not have
become a vaper without your channel to guide me, hence: a gesture of gratitude,
however insignificant, seemed due.

I wish you a long and healthy life and look forward to your every next video.

Yours truly…
Kian

Hi Phil ( I called you Pete the last time I contacted you -sorry – I think
that it happens a lot to you for some reason). I just wanted to drop you a quick
line because I caught your appearance on the Vaping Dusk till Dawn from 3/16 ( I
know – I’m way behind on my viewing). Great show. It was great to hear more about
your journey and life and not just about vaping gear. I love your reviews and your
passion and information about vaping has changed my life. I haven’t had a cigarette
in over 4 years. Better than that, I love vaping. It has become more of a hobby
rather than an addiction. You have helped me more than you could know with all kinds
of info over the years. Anyway, somehow I feel like we’re friends that just haven’t
met yet. You talked on this show about how work, family, reviewing, etc leaves you
little “Phil time. Please remember my friend, taking care of yourself includes
granting yourself permission to take some time to goof off any old way that you’d
like to. I (and all your vaping friends) can do with a few less reviews as long as
we still have a healthy, happy and passionate Phil giving us the real info on vaping
gear. Harm reduction also has a very personal and emotional side. Take time to
“smell the roses. We’ll wait until you get to the next review. Rock on DJ Miami.

your friend
Eric

Hi Phil how are you my name is Carlo you recently attended the CVE in Toronto and met my friend Danielle I admire your knowledge of the Vaping world I was floored when Danielle show me that video I want to express my gratitude for the knowledge that you have provided me and everyone in the Vaping community also would like to say that you are extremely influential and knowledgeable in what you and your colleagues do to provide us with information I thank you for that. PS
you and Dimitri look cute together hope to hear from you soon and please let’s continue on this relationship ensuring knowledge and empowerment to those who need it most oh and by the way the cruise was phenomenal I’m Italian and I love to eat take care hope to hear from you soon

Hi phil just want to say thanks for everything you do for us vapors. I can see you lead a very busy life. And for you to go out of your way for these great vids and events im very grateful. Thanks for pushing so hard to inform all of us. Im an ex smoker vaping for 4 yrs. Now and I live not far from you Im in buffalo ny. Would love to get one of my mods signed by you some day. Thanks for inspiring so many people.

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!!

Hi phil,
Let me introduce my self, my name is Firas am from Iraq. I have been vaping since
2010 and all because of you. I was a heavy smoker, I use to smoke between one to two
pack of cigarette a day. I am so thankful for you. you made me an expert in vaping
because of your intensive knowledge and breakdown of each piece of mods and
atomizers. I have been a big fan of all of your YouTube videos even before you got
your dedicated web site. I’ve never missed any video you put on YouTube or website.
I immigrated to USA on 2010 and I have became a US citizens last June 2015. The
story is that I am alone here in US, my family is still living in a war zone.
However, I feel like you are like one of my family here. Watching you video and your
sense of hummer always made me happy and informative.
My only hope is to meet one day and we become friends.
I would like to apologize to poor English!
Please, keep do what you do and never pay attention to those childish people.
You are greater than those tiny minded people.
Thank you for every thing you did for us vapors.
God bless you !
Firas

I love your reviews, you go into detail and lay out facts, not a lot of
sunshine blown up my rear end, oh and you make it fun as well.. I love
your sense of humor. I have never made a purchase based on your thumbs
up that has ever been a disappointment or anything other then what you
described. I greatly appreciate your honesty and integrity and value
your opinion highly. Loading up tasteyourjuice.com is part of my daily
routine. My advice to you when you run into that level of bullshit is to
quote Bill Murry from Scrouged “brush them off.” You just keep on
keepin on and being you, it works my friend, I will guarantee that those
of us who love what you do vastly out number the blow hard bafoons.

Phil

Smoke Free for 4 years, 2 Months and 24 Days

Two years ago a friend introduced me to vaping, I went out and bought a $15 dollar ego starter kit and have not had a cigarette since. Today I ran across a review you did on vaporbeast when I was looking into the Kanger drip box. I appreciate your honesty. I have learned more about vaping in one day of reading your site than I have in the 2 years I’ve been vaping. Thank you