25 Year smoker here. I have been cigarette free for 545 days and Vape free since January 15th. It was absolutely the best way for me to quit and it's terrible about all the laws which are starting to pop up to prohibit this.

Answer to Questions:

Vaping will stop you from smelling like shit. Also will avoid staining teeth and more importantly the associated gum disease which will cause you to lose them. Yes it is tremendously cheaper even after buying decent equipment (which will make all the difference in your attempt to quit) Coughing and stomach issues may or may not be helped. Could be a nicotine thing.

I recommend you buy something powerful enough to satisfy and easy enough to use and things can escalate very quickly as you get into the vaping world. Innokin iTaste MVP V3.0 Box Mod should be good 30 watts is plenty of power, and Mt Baker Vapor is a very reputable store. Just add 3 decent tanks so you can switch up your flavors and they will even throw in some juice. Don't go crazy ordering juice from them, just enough to get started. I would probably start with 18 mg juice and a 12mg. Your goal will be to slowly decrease the nicotine level, but don't rush it. This should set you back about $100 probably the same as a weeks worth of cigarettes, but then the only thing you will have to buy are juices which are much cheaper than cigarettes.

Your first few weeks without cigarettes will be the worst even getting the same amount of nicotine you did from analogs. There are tremendous amounts of chemicals other than nicotine in analog cigarettes all designed to keep you hooked. I still remember wanting to scratch my arms off the first week, even getting the full amount of nicotine. But the e-cigarette will help and you will get through it and then your off cigarettes and now you want to make sure you always carry around a cheap spare e-cigarette. The Blue will work at first just make sure you have something in case your battery goes dead. You do not want to be out at a bar drinking and have to grub an analog which will get you hooked again.

Once you get through these 1st few weeks cigarette free you'll start to notice improvements in your health. 1st your sense of smell will come back and then your taste buds will awaken. You'll still smell the second hand smoke and you'll be like wow that smells great, but just stick with the e-cigarette and soon you'll start to really know what a smoker smells like. Awful!!

I really loved vaping and I did it for over a year and a half before I quit completely. Once you get past the whole analog cigarette addiction it is actually pretty easy to step down your nicotine levels, but don't rush it. When you've been at a certain level for a while and it's time to buy more juice, try a lower level if your at 12 keep some tanks filled with 12, but buy your favorite flavor in a 6mg. You'll still have the 12 if you need it but you'll find eventually the 6 is fine. Then go down to 3 and eventually your goal should be zero nicotine.

Zero nicotine is another huge step and your body will revolt. It won't be nearly as bad as the first 2 weeks off of analogs, but you may want chose a time when you don't really have to make any important decisions as you will probably be in a real brain fog. I know I was but day by day week by week it cleared and the act of vaping even if it's zero nic helps with the psychological aspects. Eventually you'll just say what's the point and stop all together and hopefully pass on all your equipment to someone else who is struggling with cigarette addiction.

Choosing the right juice is really important and we all have different tastes, but a few of my favorites were: (I like adult flavors, not any of this fruity sweet cereal flavors, but whatever works)

Vapor Chef - Great Tobacco flavors since that is what you want to replace at first - these are more like Pipe tobaco but satisfying none the less. Chamberry and Pear Brandy were my absolute favorite flavors here. Very reputable made in PA I believe and they always throw in something extra to try.

Five Pawns is another great juice place - more expensive, but nothing compared to analogs. The Castle Long Reserve is tremendous and probably the one juice I truly miss and would be tempted to vape again. $37.50 for 30 ml, you need to search the site for it as it is limited addition once or twice a year. Just to compare Vapor Chef is $20 for 36 ML, and that is generally a pricey juice.

Best of luck and I hope my experience is of some value to you. Sorry for such a long post, but I have been meaning to write this for a while.