That’s not smoke coming out of the e-cig user’s mouth. It is harmless vapour – coloured water vapour.
But that hasn’t stopped others, usually non-smokers, from moaning, making remarks, waving their hands in their faces and coughing at the sight of the vapour from the electronic cigarette.

They see you inhale and exhale something and just assume that it has to be smoke and therefore it is unhealthy and has to stink. The whingers and whiners imagine they can smell the smoke, when in fact they’re not smelling anything. Can you smell the steam from the kettle? Of course not!

We were sitting on the outside patio at the club the other evening, enjoying sundowners and my wife and I were puffing away on our electronic cigarettes. The conversation changed to a discussion with another group, on the matter of electronic cigarettes. Needless to say, this group were misinformed and dubious as to the merits of vaping. I stated that among the benefits, the e-ciggie did not smell, made no mess and emitted no smoke. One of the other ladies immediately claimed she could smell it and voweed that she found the "smoke" offensive. This is pure imagination and defies logic - especially as we were sitting outside!

Electronic cigarettes don’t burn anything at all and do not give off any smoke, but they’re at the centre of a social and legal debate over whether it’s okay to “light up” in places where regular smokes are banned. By definition, in terms of the smoking legislation, smoking is defined by words such as combustion, ignition, burning, smoke and takes particular care of the effects on an innocent bystander. But, telectronic cigarettes don’t do any of those things and can not affect anyone else, so where is the tolerance?

Some countries and even certain states in America, have clarified in their legislation that the battery-powered devices do not fall under those bans. Other more conservative places are re-defining their smoke-free laws to include them.

E-cigarettes are battery powered plastic and metal devices, that heat a liquid nicotine solution in a disposable cartridge, creating a vapour that the users inhale. The principle is the same as a kettle, where water is heated and produces steam. Nothing is burned. Electronic cigarette users call the practice “vaping” rather than smoking. Some e-cigarettes are made to look like a real cigarette, with a tiny light on the tip that glows red like a real cigarette.

It’s not clear what risks second hand e-cig vapour holds, as no conclusive scientific tests have been satisfactorily concluded, but it’s safe to assume there is no harm, or at worst, minimal risks compared to normal tobacco smoking. The e-liquid mixture is mostly just water, even though it may look like smoke.

Electronic cigarettes can contain nicotine, but there is a complete absence of tars, chemicals and carcinogens.

Some public health experts say that even for users of a reasonably high level of nicotine in an electronic cigarette, the level of any carcinogens was favourably comparable to those found in nicotine replacement therapy like inhalers, or patches, because the nicotine in all of the products is extracted from natural tobacco leaves.

E-cigarette devotees tout them as a way to break addiction to real cigarettes. They insist the devices address both the nicotine addiction and the behavioural aspects of smoking – the holding of the cigarette, the puffing, exhaling something that looks like smoke and the hand motion - without the more than 4,000 chemicals found in tobacco cigarettes.

Industry estimates put U.S sales of the devices and accessories at $200 million to $250 million annually. That’s a lot of users and a big blow to the tobacco companies (and a lack of spinoffs for the government).

But e-cig users are being lumped in with traditional smokers when they want to “vape” and are being asked to not use them in places where smoking is prohibited. This is due to ignorance and fear.

New Jersey is the only U.S state that specifically bans the use of e-cigarettes where regular smoking isn’t allowed. Some local governments have banned the devices under their smoke-free laws.

However, in Virginia, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli wrote an opinion saying that because e-cigs don’t burn tobacco, the “vapour emitted by an e-cigarette would not fall within the definition” of the law.

“The whole purpose of a smoking ban is to protect people from second-hand smoke, and there isn’t any smoke from an electronic cigarette,” said Elaine Keller, vice president of Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association, an Alabama-based, non-profit body that works to ensure the availability of alternatives to smoking. The group says it hasn’t received any funding as yet from e-cigarette companies.

“Your nose will let you know whether somebody is smoking or not. … and your eyes will tell you, too, as soon as you get close enough.” she said.

Some e-cig users have even taken to “stealth vaping,” a method in which they  hide the e-ciggie and hold the vapour in their mouths long enough for it to mostly dissipate, or exhale the vapour discretely, so as not to attract unwanted attention.

Still, the American Non-smokers’ Rights Foundation, a group that has helped states and localities to draft laws on smoking bans, includes electronic cigarettes in it’s model legislation, due to the public fears over the safety of the devices.

They remain a contentious issue, because of lack of anyone prepared to foot the bill for extensive medical testing. “They still raise a significant health concerns for us. We don’t know exactly what is contained in the vapour mist, we don’t know what else is in the contents of that electronic cigarette,” said Cynthia Hallett, executive director of the American Non-smokers’ Rights Foundation. “The good news is that more research is on the cards. … We may learn more, and if in the end they’re safe, we’ll have to rethink.”

But, she said that to be allowed in places where regular cigarettes are banned, electronic cigarettes wouldn’t just have to be safer; they’d have to “do no harm at all.”

The Food and Drug Administration announced plans in April 2011 to regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products, instead of under stricter rules for drug-delivery devices. This news was considered a victory for manufacturers and distributors of the electronic cigarette devices.

Hallett also said that because the devices look similar to real cigarettes, it makes it confusing for individuals and more difficult to enforce smoking bans.

“It truly makes no sense,” Ray Story, CEO of the Tobacco Vapour Electronic Cigarette Association and head of e-cig maker WannaVape, said of e-cigarette bans.

Allowing e-cigs in workplaces also would save millions in productivity from employees not having to take smoke breaks, Story said.

And Keller, who uses her e-cigarette regularly at a northern Virginia bowling alley and other public places, said being able to use it in places where traditional cigarettes aren’t allowed is a “powerful incentive to switch to something that can save their life.”

After smoking cigarettes for about 45 years, Phillips said electronic cigarettes helped him to quit tobacco, after numerous attempts of using nicotine patches and prescription drugs had failed.

“Not one cigarette in almost two years now,” he said. “How could you be against that?”

For now electronic cigarette users will have to be content with closet vaping in public places. The best is to speak to the owner or manager of the establishment, explain how the vapourizer works and abide by their wishes. Most are pretty tolerant – until someone complains.

This article was written by Derek Robson, who is a retired manufacturing engineer and a full time Internet marketer. He is an expert syndicated author and has had hundreds of his articles featured on websites around the globe. He is an ex-smoker and a staunch supporter of converting smokers to electronic cigarettes.

Together with his wife and son, Derek runs a business supplying the ECS brand of electronic cigarettes to customers across Southern Africa. Electronic Cigarette Suppliers have an informative website, a library of relevant articles, an online store and they offer overnight delivery. Find out more by visiting
www.electronic-cigarette-suppliers.co.za

By: Derek Robson_admin On Thursday, 21 July 2011 Comments( 0 ) Views(329)