Trying to switch to vaping...

[BongoBongo]

There's never been a proven connection between smoking cannabis and lung cancer, because of its protective qualities. You can be sure they have looked very thoroughly for one

oh god don't say that or I'll lose my willpower and go back to smoking.

wow. Thank you so much for the generosity of time in your reply. I'm grateful and will remember to do a good deed for someone else today.

I'm noticing some of the side benefits. I can vape indoors, no smell. I can bring it to bars. the taste is interesting though I don't care much about that. Maybe as I get more into vaping I'll get more sophisticated.

anyway..day6 update to come!

@BongoBongo

Well done on making your decision to quit combustion. Nearly all of the below has already been said, but maybe reading this will keep your motivation to not combust strong.

I was a non cigarette smoker but combusted herb and tobacco (90% H / 10% T) for around 5 years. I started getting into running, and healthy eating and knew my joint smoking had to stop.

The transition can take a while, what also helped me was taking a few days as a tolerance break a week into getting the vape. When I had the first hit after 5 days off it hit me SO hard. I am sure this will fix your 'not hitting me hard enough' problem.

Now nearly 4 months in I have not had 1 single puff on a joint, and this time has allowed me to discover so many of the benefits of vaping.

• The smell - I can now use in my house without a horrible smell on myself or in the house for hours.
• Covertness - I have used my vape on the train and in the cinema, whilst a little rebellious it's nice to enjoy the herb wherever you please.
• Efficiency - Over time most people on this forum lower their usage. They end up getting the same high but for less herb used. Better for your body and your wallet.
• Health - You mentioned you were into exercise, just watch your ability increase as the months roll on. I went from half marathon distance to full marathon in the first 3 months I stopped combusting.
• Reclaiming - Someone else mentioned vaping becoming a hobby, and it has. Spending time on this forum learning new things, especially about reclaiming. Does depend vape to vape, but I use the Arizer Air, and I soak my glass stems in ISO once in a while and evaporate and i'm left with an amazingly potent hash type substance. I am also saving my ABV and am about to make my first batch of infused coconut oil to use in cooking.
• The taste - As I was shocked myself, and what hits all my friends is the pure flavour of the herb you experience whilst vaping. The first thing most my friends say when they have a puff is "omg the flavour". I just reply "Yep, thats the flavour of weed before you mix it with the deadly tobacco and burn it."
• Community - Switching to vaping has allowed me to find this great community right here. FuckCombustion is great. So many switched on cannabis enthusiasts looking to move the subculture forward. Also community in person, just wait till you meet another enthusiastic vaporist in real life. I recently went to the 4/20 protest in London and met a Arizer Solo user. We spoke about vaping for nearly 2 hours. Friends made all due to switching to vaping. Crazy isn't it.

Well thats most the stuff that comes to mind right now. Best of luck with your transition and just keep remembering that the short term cons of transition, are far far outweighed by the long term benefits of vaping.

Day 6 update

FIRST NIGHT I HAVENT HAD TO FIGHT THE URGE TO SMOKE!

No edibles, no alcohol. it wasn't as "fun" as a night smoking weed...but I wasn't craving either.

Because I don't get as high or as couch locked, I cleaned my kitchen and did laundry and dishes for like 2 hours. so its not terrible that vaping doesn't (yet) knock me out. The downside is I'm less laid out the upside is I'm less laid out lol.

I even put myself to bed at 145am and it worked!

A lot of guys have recommended a T break. I'd love to try that but I think I might be too addicted at least psychologically for that right now. but I think I'm also consuming less now anyway, for a couple reasons:

1 - when I roll a joint, I smoke the whole joint. When I vape, I take a hit and then wait until I feel like taking another hit.

2 - Vaping isn't "fun" the way smoking is (because of the lack of the headrush). Which means I reach for it less.

I will try to work decreased quantity in there...but one of those postice/negative things is that discreet vaping means I've been vaping earlier in the day than I smoke normally. So I don't know.

Anyway, last night went well. I'm loving my plenty now that I'm figuring it out a bit more.. Tonight will be date/alcohol/probably sex so I'm ready for my triggers but I'm more optimistic today than I've been so far in this process.


THANKS EVERYONE see you tomorrow!

 

[grokit]

oh god don't say that or I'll lose my willpower and go back to smoking.

Vaping is a WAY better experience, and way better for you!

 

[mwahle1]

I was similar to you; it took me a week or 2 of no combusting to really appreciate the high from vaping. In the first week or two, it felt as if "something was missing" from the vaping high, but I took the advice from others to stop combustion for a few weeks and it worked amazingly; although, like you it was difficult. Now I get more high from vaping than I ever got from combustion; furthermore, vaping taste great and now I like the "ritual" pertaining to vaping as much or more than when I was combusting. Just give it some time; you will be happy.

 

[Winegums]

I've had no issues switching from being a 'buster to a vaper. The amount of material I save is enough to keep me away from burning by it's self. I calculate that I'll recoup the cost of my herbalizer in one year from what I save by not burning.

The advantages of vaping make smoking weed look silly. I'm a total convert and I'm happy you made the switch! Stay strong and get lifted.

 

[weedemon]

I haven't read all the replies, but try cranking up the heat. the higher you go the closer to combustion and you may find that easing into vapor that way. (think of it as a transition)

It's true, I don't get that "stoned" feeling very much from vapor, but i sure do get a high feeling. it's different and quite often it's not the medicinal ingredients people are missing. it's all the other shit that comes with smoking that they have come to think of as the high.

I've also found that people who smoke cigs don't like vapor as much because they never get the benefit of not taring up their lungs on the regular. it's hard to notice the benefit of something if you are still doing something else much worse as well.

It's kind of like trying to cool a sunburn, and then pouring vinegar over it when your done with the aloe...

 

[grokit]

Yeah being high is much better than being stoned

 

[CarolKing]

I am so glad I switched to vaping over 2 years ago. I had smoked for 25+ years. I think it took me around 2 weeks after that I didn't desire to smoke anymore. Its so much more of a cleaner high too. Your brain doesn't seem to be in so much of a fog. Also knowing the strains of cannabis that work for you helps.

FC gave me the courage to go out and get my medical certificate. I deal with every day pain through out my body but the Arthritis in my feet seem to be the worst. Sometimes I have to use a cane. I keep moving and the cannabis helps me do that.

Vaporizing is the only way to go. I know someone mentioned that you can't get cancer of the lungs from smoking cannabis but you can still get emphysema and other lung diseases. I could tell that I was doing damage to my lungs from smoking. I was starting to get a little bit of a morning cough before I fucked combustion.

So vape on my friends, one more day until the weekend.

 

[GetLeft]

... getting high from vaping was never an issue for me.

Sorry to hear of the s to v transition issues. I'm a relative noob to the vape, but I've not had a single instance of not getting buzzed and buzzed favorably via the vape. And like @CarolKing says, the high is so much cleaner that it's a much improved experience for me. And like @bluenavey00 says, all of it. But I have to admit I'm a lightweight, don't do tobacco, and never could have smoked several joints in a day.
Best of luck; I hope you get where you want to be!

Yeah being high is much better than being stoned

@grokit, can I borrow that? I know it will come in handy somewhere!

 

[shredder]

I'm not convinced either way but feel you should not be inhaling any type of smoke into your lungs and holding it there. Just the tar alone is enough to cause all sorts of serious problems.

We can only hope more testing is done now we have legal states.

Here is some useful info here regarding the tests done to date regarding the effects of cannabis smoke and why proving the results are so tricky.

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/abo...-questions/does-smoking-cannabis-cause-cancer

Egg zackery, and on this site you'll get thousands of co-signers. Most all of us can relate our personal journey, and it's been positive for most all of us.

 

[RwaNde]

All the negatives/side effects by carbon monoxide and tar should be a very strong stressor to abandon that outdated habbit, combustion has built into your mind. Purely the taste of tar and its vandalising, perverting effect on the real and true flavour of your herbs, along with the utter unefficiency of THC delivery by combustion should be a decisive factor to swap for the much better good.


* I don't feel high. I feel like I imagine anti-depressants would feel. I'm a bit more relaxed and a bit more numb and a bit less into doing things.


Loosing general interest and fatigue can be symptoms originating from lifestyle habits as well as the type of herb you're vaping on. Look into anything that might affect your general mood.


* I also don't get that immediate headrush I used to off of the joints I rolled (which I think came from the tobacco because I didn't really get those the few times I've had to smoke 'pure' cigarettes).


Finding the right dosage per vape session is very important. If you're after an additional hit, I recommend to vape on some tasty eJuice to get a nice buzz from nicotine. It's only amplifying the positives (at least for me).


* I used to use weed to knock myself to sleep. That doesn't seem to work anymore. The first two nights I was up until 5am and both times only got to sleep by giving myself a massive food coma, which isn't really a healthy alternative to smoking


I've found impossible not to hit yourself to sleep with a few, super milky balloon


* I don't really enjoy the act of vaping. When I smoked, there was an instant "ahhhh" feeling. With no immediate payoff, I'm just breathing in hot air that makes me cough sometimes.


Once you found the most enjoyable way of vaping, best suited for your own needs and realising the utter damage combustion is causing, your mind will more likely to shift towards vaping. The purity of the ingredients reaching my bloodstream with every hit off from the bowl is something that worth every penny to me.


1 - I try to take long draws, like 10-15 seconds, and hold it in my lungs for a long time.


Try to reduce your draws to the most comfortable timescale, before you start feeling any discomfort and don't keep it down for longer then 5-10 seconds. It might sound a bit short, but makes you feel better not to force your diagraph muscles for too long. Stay relaxed. Your high will be most likely different in the positive way then stressing your body unnecessarily. This will also avoid prolonged negative experience with vaping in the long run.


2 - I inhale until I'm not seeing any vapor anymore. This is a bit tricky because I vape at night, and often if I hold it in, much of the vapor is absorbed, but every once in a while I do a little test draw, just into my mouth and breathe it back out to make sure something is still there.


Don't forget that with vaping, you're extracting much higher amount of cannabinoid (~80-90%) then with combustion (~40%). Absorbing as much as possible from this figure is down to user experience and yet again, technique. Play around with bigger and smaller clouds, you will find your sweet spot. Less is more applies here well though


3 - I've been using the pre-set temperatures on my crafty (inbcluding boost) and with my plenty I start at 5 and then go to 6 and then go to 7. I pack full bowls in the plenty, which are huge, so it might be 3 or 4 sessions to get through it all (including some the following day)


I highly recommend you to try the techniques by MGG and stickstones in the link below to produce some extraterrestrial experience - see if it fits your needs better!

http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/how-to-get-the-best-hits-from-your-vaporizer.18270/

Look into highly concentrated wax and oils to experiment with as well, a dab pen looks not just stylish but highly efficient wherever you are.

Vaping is a never ending game for many. Play or get played. Fuck combustion.

 

[grokit]

Congrats on the certificate @CarolKing

Haha use it freely @GetLeft

I'm off my pain pills and out of flowers so I'm combusting sugar-leaf doobies out of necessity for a few days. I "took an ~ounce off the top" of my hydro garden today, it will take a few days to be vapable. I used to be more of a vape snob but I need my medicine what can I say. I hate smoking but when I do it it's so gross that I really appreciate my vaporized flowers when I finally get back to them, so that's a plus.

edit: found my huge (tootsie-roll sized) chunk of wand hash for evenings so I'm good

 

[Ghostxyz3]

You could turn your vape as high as it will go for a feeling closer to combustion, however I think the major thing here is going to be getting accustomed to the feeling and effects of vapor. It's much different than smoking, and when I first started vaping I was underwhelmed by it. However, within a few weeks of only vaping, I was noticing increased and BETTER effects. When I tried to smoke after, it was gross. Tastes dirty, feels heavy in the lungs. Also did not seem as efficient or effective as a vaporizer. So give yourself some time to adjust to it; I promise your lungs and mind will thank you!

 

[h3rbalist]

Egg zackery, and on this site you'll get thousands of co-signers. Most all of us can relate our personal journey, and it's been positive for most all of us.

I serched the internet for Egg Zackery and did not find what you said I would.

I excect those with not so positive journeys are sadly no longer around to tell there stories.

 

[Nok21]

Your body needs to adapt to vaping, imo. NOTE: I started with the MFLB, then Vapor Genie and now own a PAX Ploom that is my daily driver.

When i first started vaping I would not get nearly the same effect as i would from combustion. About a month goes by (I also use nicotine, but in an vg/pg based eliquid) and i start to notice that it gets me more and more lifted than actually combusting. At first, i felt i had wasted $100 on my first vape (MFLB- great vape, but it takes forever to do 1 session to get where i want to be).

Then over time i adjusted to vaping- and now im at the point where 4-5 good puffs from my PAX on low will get me beyond what 1-2 bowls in a combustion water pipe could. Its now been a year on vaping (And the very rare use of combustion pipes when im around a friend and without my vape) and i can tell you there are even points where if i vape too much that its almost psychedelic- no joke.

Vaping also produces less of a head rush imo, but that is equaled with the amount you save. Vaping has cut my habits cost in HALF. It also takes a little longer to "Kick in" and last at least an hour or two longer than smoking IME. Your "Rush" is also made greater by the nicotine kicking in at the same time, so you need to adapt for that change.

If you were used to smoking tobacco with your spliff I'd recommend nicotine replacement therapy (Assuming you dont want to start buying smokes/ecigs?) such as Gum or a Patch for a while, I hear better things about the gum.

Nicotine WD is a pain in the ass and is honestly one of the worst withdraws I've seen cold turkey- when i quit using my ecig after a surgery the hot/cold flashes and mood swings were SO intense unless i had a patch on (Which i did not find that helpful- I hear gum is better once again). Not as bad as some types of pills, but bad.

Good luck, and keep trying- I've had many family members reject vaping or hop on board the bandwagon.

Healthwise, you will for sure notice a difference. I no longer get bronchitis 2x a year since switching over to my PAX and a nice Ecig with premium eliquid, before that when i smoked tobacco and used a combustion pipe it was 2-3x a year like clockwork, requiring narcotic cough syrup and antibiotics.

Sorry for the long post, i hope i can be of help to you somehow. Overall I'd say give vaping a month or two (Or take a major tolerance break and THEN start vaping) and work on that nicotine problem. Even at the amount you described, its physically addictive and the withdrawl sucks- mentally you want that rush and that "Ahh..." feeling you get from a cigarette/spliff. I've never tried a tobacco/herb mix in my PAX because i use an ecig, but that could work with one of your vapes if you use less tobacco than normal.

Overall, my advice to you is:
1. Give vaping-only (No spliffs, only vaping) a month or two long try. Your body needs to adapt to the new form of intake and vaping is very different than smoking- low temp vapes are more heady and high temp vapes are more couch-locky.
2. Find some form of nicotine to take before or after you vape if you miss your "Rush", as your likely also craving nicotine even if you dont feel you are.
3. Read as much as you can about the proper use of your vaporizers. With my PAX, for instance, I have to "Pack" the oven tightly and draw very slowly.

Good luck once more, and I hope i was somewhat helpful! I also did not intend to make my post this long.

 

[RUDE BOY]

I've also found that people who smoke cigs don't like vapor as much because they never get the benefit of not taring up their lungs on the regular. it's hard to notice the benefit of something if you are still doing something else much worse as well.

I still smoke 5-10 Camels a day and Love my vapes, Won't smoke herb ever again if I can help it.

Also If i vape a large enough quantity(like a whole joints worth) I find i still get at LEAST as STONED if not MORE so then I did in 40+ years of smoking herb.

I can't be the only one here who gets higher when vaping then when smoking.

 

[grokit]

you are not the only one my friend

Yeah totally

 

[BongoBongo]

The good news is Day 7 done. One full week!



This was hard, because of the usual triggers - alcohol, sex, home by 11pm with nothing in particular to do and not tired. Wanted a smoke, but fought it off. Stayed up until 4am though :/ But there are lots of solutions out there to getting a better night sleep, and my old style of smoking can't be the only one. So, moving on.

Thanks for the comments above. It's all the posters telling me I will come to enjoy vaping more, and that there's light at the end of the tunnel in a couple weeks, that is keeping me going. Thank you.

I never enjoyed smoking a "pure" joint of marijuana either. I liked the mix of 90/10 weed/tobacco or maybe 80/20. There's that lovely headrush, and then as the headrush dissipates, whoa, I'm stoned! I don't really get that headrush from a pure joint. So it's the tobacco I miss, but only in the context of a joint. Smoking an actual cigarette would be gross. Even if I put too much tobacco in a joint accidentally, that would be gross. So I don't think I need the e-nicotine. I just want that blast when I smoke...

...BUT I am reconciling myself to just understanding that that particular kind of high is dangerous for my lungs and not reproducable. Fine.

Part of what is going on here -- and I love anonymity and the ability to be introspective -- is that the "knock myself out / turn my brain off" effect of what I used to smoke was masking other issues in my life. Knocking myself out covered up things like I have nothing to do tonight / I want to escape my troubles / I don't want to deal with difficult issues or stress / etc. Once in a while that's fine. Every night is a problem. So the other night when I vaped and cleaned my kitchen for a couple hours...(clearly I must have been at least a bit high) is in long run where I want myself and my life to be.

@Nok21 thank you so much for your long post. And @RwaNde. I do think that I need to learn how to vape properly. I mean, 7 days into combustion, I probably wasn't doing it "right" either. Anyone in WeHo or Silver Lake who wants to come share my Plenty and my Crafty (I'll supply the bud) and show me is welcome to free weed. Lol. But i'll go back to those threads on these forums (already watching both) and re-read, watch some videos, and keep experimenting. And read this thread http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/how-to-get-the-best-hits-from-your-vaporizer.18270/

A couple of questions that came from the posts above (and I read each of them thoroughly and thank you):

1/ Do concentrates produces a different or "better" high? I'd probably prefer to use concentrates anyway for discretion and travel reasons.

2/ Do people here use edibles? My delivery place insists on including a vast amount of edible with every order. Maybe if I eat some of those an hour before vaping or so.

3/ Can I put some tobacco in a vape with my weed? Does anyone actually do that? I think I read a suggestion to do so. I'd give that a shot unless anyone thought I was going to damage my vaporizers.

---

I'm going out of town for two nights today. I'll bring my vaporizing stuff, but no combustion material (rolling papers, tobacco, lighter)...those are easy to re-create but hopefully the hassle factor will act as a further deterrant. I don't think I should bring my Plenty on the plane, but the crafty should be fine once I clean it.

 

[RwaNde]

1/ Do concentrates produces a different or "better" high? I'd probably prefer to use concentrates anyway for discretion and travel reasons.

Concentrates are capable of providing both gentle or monsterous highs and everything in between, achieved in a very short period of time. It's yet again, finding a great dosage. Purely trial and error without much of an error There is a lot more into it then many people give them credit for. The real breakthrough came with dab pens gaining momentum in recent years, until then it was a major pain in the ars to consume most of these products on the go - however I'm not an expert here on concentrates, I'm sure there were great ways to dab even before. Now, they are just like any other personal vapourisers/ENDS/e-cigs. Another upside, just mix some herbal products for flavour enhancement (lavender, oils, anything that is entitled to be vaped)

Recently CBD infused eJuices are coming out to the sushine but they contain very low amounts so they still got a way to improve. I belive very soon we will see eJuices concentrated to the levels of today's waxes

2/ Do people here use edibles? My delivery place insists on including a vast amount of edible with every order. Maybe if I eat some of those an hour before vaping or so.

I'm staying away from edibles as it's just not my thing. I either vape or eat. However it can make sense to push in some before your vape session. Go for it

3/ Can I put some tobacco in a vape with my weed? Does anyone actually do that? I think I read a suggestion to do so. I'd give that a shot unless anyone thought I was going to damage my vaporizers.

My experience with vaping tobacco is... well... horroristic. Never again. Based on my research back in january, I found no tobacco available for vaping but as times changing so the products on the shelves - there might be something out there, however conventional tobacco products are generally not for vaping. At all.

I quit drinking and smoking by vaping quiet some time ago and even THC had been forced into the backgrounds recently since pure, higher concentrated CBD honey oils become available legally. I hope vaping will give you the momentum as it did for me on DAY ONE. I think it already did

 

[BongoBongo]

Not much time to post today but I didn't want people reading the thread to think I'd given up and gone back to combustion. I got through the trip as well as last night. I'm on Day 11 now.

I'm losing some of the craving to smoke. I'm not sure I'm loving vaping, yet. It's OK.

@Rawnde thanks. Next project is to check out "pure, higher concentrated CBD honey oils"

 

[Nok21]

Hey, BongoBongo! Have you found a nicotine substitute or quit using tobacco all together? Also glad to hear you have not yet given up!

 

[zor]

FWIW, cancer isn't the only adverse effect from smoking...COPD and other lung-related diseases may develop especially with the tar produced from smoking.

 

[Gunky]

The advantage of joints is that you can consume quite a bit in a very short time. To get a similar effect vaping it helps to have a heavy hitting vape for times when you want to raise your level quickly. I use a Glass Vapor Genie for this purpose. It has a huge bowl and you can get humongo hits. Most of the time I am ok with a log vape like RockZap.

 

[WeedyGirl1979]

I feel your struggle. You can see from my sig that it took a bit for me to lock into vaping. I combusted all the way until I got my Solo in the mail. I don't remember if I'd smoked before I gave the Solo a try that day- but I do know I haven't smoked since. I was having so many issues with my lungs that I would've had to quit mj all together. Thank goodness for FC, when I came looking for help I had a lot of awesome people with advice and support.
Hang in there BongoBongo! There will be a time that you'll look back and say "wow, I used to combust, that's crazy" and mean it.

 

[Churrucaman]

Found my same situation in the topic subject and thought I may expose my situation here as well, you're not alone BongoBongo WARNING long post ahead talking about myself and no potato in the end.

Been a combuster for 21 years, more than half of my life. Was happy with it for long but after feeling the typical minor consequences of so many years smoking and specially since I knew about my future parenthood I decided to make a serious try on this and try to get the smoke out of my life.

Most of my friends have left smoking except for a few so it isn't much present in my routine out of myself. My pair dropped smoking years ago and has never used weed out of the occasion so I'm mostly enclosed in my den when I do this and since some time ago I don't even like smoking around people that don't, just can't forget it stinks like hell. Friends are having kids and it's starting to seem out of place in a lot of situations (talking about joints) so I must really like this stuff to keep doing it, I would sure find a way to keep doing it in fuckin space if I had to be there.

Use about 3-4g daily, used to be mostly joints 60-70% weed with king size paper and paper tip. Too much tobacco I know but is common here. I would also burn a few cigs when at work so I know I'm fully addicted to death to both tobacco and weed but if you pull my leg you can add caffeine to that list as well.

Having a timid start with vaporizers since I had only tried a volcano once bought a solo and went full on to kill tobacco right away, lasted three days and went back to smoke didn't know shit at that time, didn't know about FC and didn't have much motivation. Since then I've gradually been adapting to vapor, lurking FC, trying a few timid smoke brakes and experiencing my new addiction: the VAS. I now own a few portables, a volcano and lots of ecigs but to be true I've been keeping the smoke for all that time as well. At least so far managed to cut smoke out of doobies and during work week before dusk, but after a few lazy tries the most I've been able to stay without a joint is a few days.

I finally signed up here two weeks ago after too much lurking . Guess I didn't have much to say and was more of the reader than writer type (who could say that looking above) but had a few tips to share and you know, it's just getting started.

Finally decided to make another go and get rid of smoke once and for all. Yet may stumble a bit still have time since my kid is old enough and for first time in my life I'm sure of what I want and realize how much of a pest living with a smoker is, I was raised in a heavy smokers house so I had never smelled that tar and burnt shit before (and weed aroma is specially sticky imo), it was natural to me but I now know for sure that I don't want that for those to come. As BongoBongo said stating it makes it more serious (or something like that, just vaped a volcano bowl) and for so haven't dared to bring this up myself before but here I go.

Been about a day without smoke when I just saw this topic and decided to jump in the conversation. At this moment I'm in the missing couch lock and head rush phase with some severe craving and wandering how will I get to sleep ever and pass the weekend, at least this time I have a ton of hardware to fight this battle and we aren't talking about dropping weed

Wow a few more pages and this is a fuckin novel, guess I cannot go without potato

 

[Grim Chiclets]

That was a fun read, I'm as vaked reading as you were writing I think...

Anyway, I thought as an ex-smoker of cigarettes and herb I'd pop in and say how much you'll enjoy strictly vaporizing; and really- if I can do it, ANYONE can do it!
What really helped me the most was the first time I hit a Volcano, I knew I had to get into vaping, and did some crazy intense research all over the net. After a bit of musical vapes now I mostly run a Solo and a beastly e-cig.
Since you've got e-cigs you could try a nice cloud of nicotine right after hitting the bag at 7.9-8- usually gets ya pretty dickered pretty quick

Good luck in cucking fombustion, all of you; and I hope many more friends follow in our footsteps.