To possess a book is greater than owning the words printed within. To be sure, without the words it is far less of a thing but to hold a book, feel its heft, open it for the first time and hear the spine gently crackle while your nose enjoys the myriad smells of paper, binding and ink is one of life’s pleasures. Yes, I love books.  So why do I read from a Kindle?  Electronic book readers are certainly less ‘romantic’ than a leather-bound volume, but they are so much easier to hold in your hand, have adjustable text size, store whole libraries and have a certain geek appeal all of their own.

 

The same is true of musical appreciation, the pleasure of reading the cover notes of a vinyl album or admiring the lasered sheen of a CD can still be remembered but in reality, I listen to music streamed from a server which holds millions of tracks that are easily searchable and accessible at any time for fewer Pounds Stirling per month than I previously spent on physical media.

 

No one hire a VHS tape to watch the latest blockbuster at home or take 35mm film to the chemist to process photographs, however fondly they remember such activities.

 

Now it is the turn of the cigarette to undergo this electronic revolution.

 

Traditional tobacconists with a huge range of cigarettes from home and aboard, loose tobacco, snuff, racks of pipes and displays of expensive lighters and are a thing of the past but having spent most of my adult life enjoying a packet or two of cigarettes every day I still appreciate the tidy perfection of the crush proof pack, the smell of Virginia’s finest and the symmetry of 20 filtered waiting to be extracted and enjoyed.

 

But it seems to me that cigarettes are soon to be part of history, now they are labelled as ‘analogues’ or even ‘stinkies’ by the converts to Vapers who’s number I now belong, and rightly so because ‘analogues’ are extremely detrimental to good health, diminish your wealth and have become increasingly viewed as anti-social.

 

Nicotine is addictive, maybe individuals each experience different levels of addiction to nicotine in a similar way that some people are more susceptible to the lure of alcohol than others are, but for me nicotine does seem very addictive.  Despite serious illness a few years ago which was caused by cigarettes and my solemn determination to eschew their Siren call I found myself again under their smoky yoke.

 

I tried using many different Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRTs) such as patches, inhalants and lozenges and found them unable to satiate my addiction let alone wean me off it, I concluded that I was dammed to live (and soon die) a smoker. It was at that point that I heard talk of Vaping, a device designed not to stop my need for nicotine but instead one made to supply it, regularly, conveniently and above all much more safely than my old ‘analogues’.

 

From the first time I tried one (over two years ago) from ELiquid Depot I have not had or needed another cigarette. Many vape juice that I tried were not great, but they did their job. Now there is a plethora of eliquids (ejuice) to choose from which are of increasingly improving performance and quality.  Enough choice for the use of vape juice to almost develop into a hobby, enjoyable in its own right.

 

For as long as vape juices are available (and that’s another story) I know that I will not need to smoke cigarettes again, I now prefer ‘vaping juice’ to smoking.  I might now even live long enough to trade-in my combustion engine thumper of a motorbike for the quiet electric whir of a mobility scooter.