Well, after five years of living in Asia I’ve finally returned to the US. I won’t lie to you. It’s been a bit of an adjustment.
For one thing, everything is so much more expensive over here. Back in my apartment in Bangkok I could wander downstairs and find a great meal at my doorstep for 50 cents. OK, so it may not have been the cleanest food, but at least it was cheap. Just last night I went out with some friends to a restaurant in Portland (a cheap place, my friends claimed) where I paid $8 for a burger. I could eat for about a week on $8 in Thailand.
The biggest shock, though, was the cost of cigarettes. A pack of Marlboro Reds costs $3 to $4 in my local store. The same pack in Bangkok costs just $1.50.
Now I’m a pretty heavy smoker, and in Asia I was smoking a pack a day (even more, if I went to a bar). Back in Portland I just can’t afford to keep up the habit. If I continued to smoke a pack a day here in the US it’d cost me a ridiculous extra amount each year, and I don’t have that kind of money lying around.
Fortunately, after reading a few e cigarettes reviews I found out that they are cheaper. I saw these things on sale in Asian markets, but it wasn’t until I got home and saw the price of a pack of smokes that I decided to check them out. I gave them a try a couple of weeks ago with a starter pack that gave me everything I needed, including nicotine cartridges that are equivalent to about a pack and a half or so of cigarettes.
I’m pretty impressed so far. I haven’t had a real cigarette in a week, and I honestly don’t want one. I expect the e cigarettes to taste unpleasant and feel a little weird, but it’s just like smoking a real cigarette. I even keep trying to stub it out when I’m finished!
It’s not just that e cigarettes are cheaper than regular smokes, though. There are all sort of other benefits. For one, e cigarettes don’t smell. It’s been a long time since my clothes didn’t smell like an ashtray within an hour of getting dressed, and it’s funny how you never notice the smell until it’s gone (my girlfriend certainly appreciates it).
What’s more, you can ‘smoke’ indoors without having to deal with the tobacco police. My landlord doesn’t allow smoking in my building, so when he saw me collecting the mail with my e cigarette in my hand he gave me a stern look. As soon as I showed him what it really was, though, he loosened up.
Finally, it’d be silly not to mention the health benefits. While my regular smokes are packed with toxins and poisons, my e cigarette delivers only nicotine. No more tar coating my lungs, and a greatly reduced risk of cancer. Not a bad deal, right?
So, after a month back in the US I now consider myself a non-smoker (technically, at least). E cigarettes are cheaper, healthier, more socially acceptable and much more pleasant than my old Marlboros. I can’t really see a good reason to go back.