Its an upgrade
I'll try to describe my experience:
I switched around 4-5? years ago. Bought a pack of cigs just before buying my first e-cig, just in case, ended up never touching that pack.
To be fair, I was kinda negatively disposed towards regular cigarettes at the time. At some point they had started making me drowsy, I also wasn't a fan of the whistling coming from my lungs when I exhaled deeply.
I had been cutting down the nicotine/tar content of the cigs, I used to smoke marlboro red's(1.2mg), by the time I switched to e-cig I was smoking silver phillip morris(0.1mg). All though, I started doing that way before I even heard of e-cigs, just happened to be a lucky coincidence which I think helped me transition.
Anyways, the first e-cig I got was a piece of shit (didn't know it at the time), came with 18mg/ml juice that was really nice though.
Smoking e-cigs is somewhat different, you don't get the instant gratification as you do with the first inhale of regular cigs, rather you get that 30-60 seconds later. To get closer to the regular smoking experience though, I got myself 100% PG juice which has a harsher "throat hit", that successfully masked the lack of instant nicotine delivery for me.
After that it was a month of bliss, literally. I guess this depends on your body chemistry but on most people, smoking has a mild depressing effect, mostly from the various monoamine oxidase inhibitors naturally found in tobacco. Take that away and substitute with more nicotine = smiles all day, at least for me. This didn't last forever though, the effect wore off in a month of two, I'm guessing due to my body chemistry adapting. I think I still ended up more cheerful on e-cigs than I was on regular cigarettes though.
Some other improvements I noticed were increase of stamina, no more canker sores, no more wheezing and a better sense of smell. Those came slower though, I think it was around a year before I fully got rid of my wheeze.
After that I got more into researching e-cigs and their juices, started building my coils and mixing my own juices.
Fast forward to today - I still build my own coils, I find the prebuilt atomizers sold locally to be kinda shitty. I don't mix juices anymore though, mostly because I get "vapers tongue" really easily - its when you can't really taste the flavor of your e-juice after a while. Its not permanent of course, wears off in a day or two and you can vape a different flavor meanwhile but I just got so used to flavorless vaping that that's what I decided to do - vape unflavored liquid. Hella cheap too, 1L of unflavored PG costs ~€40 and lasts me for a year.
Also, 99% of the bad things you hear about e-liquids are about some chemical in the flavorings. Truth is, most chemicals used to flavor e-juices are merely food grade and usually not extensively tested for inhalation. Ironically, the safest chemicals to flavor your liquid with are tobacco flavored ones because those have been tested, for decades, in cigars.
I think I should also note that I never intended to quit. I just like the activity and the nicotine too much. All though, e-cigs certainly seem to have a lower physical addiction, I don't get nearly as uncomfortable on a long flight as I used to.
Also, e-cigs are certainly not for everyone. Around 20% of the population is mildly allergic to either VG or PG, results in temporary wheezing and shortness of breath. Severe cases are very rare but not unheard of. I've also heard of a handful of cases of people getting popcorn lung which is permanent lung damage from bad juices containing dangerous flavor sweeteners. Also, there is a huge disparity of nicotine tolerance depending on age and species. Children are 12 times more vulnerable to nicotine poisoning than non smoking adults, cats/dogs up to 100 times more vulnerable so definitely a good idea to keep that stuff out of reach because unlike cigarettes, e-juices don't taste that bad.
Anyways, that's just my story. Whether that encouraged or frightened you, you can't find out what it'll really be like unless you try, if you want to try
If you don't mind me asking, have you tried the new Philip Morris IQOS cigarette that they have started selling in various countries around the world? I don't know any smokers, so would be interested in your opinion of that!
