For some reason, I'm getting the IWOOT newsletter. Today, they sent me an email which just featured the one product: the electronic cigarette.

This thing is supposed to be totally safe, both for the smoker and people around them. No second hand smoke, no tobacco, no carcinogens, just nicotine and a little device to produce vapor, replicating smoke.

Obviously throughout all this you have to wonder if it is actually worth the price. IWOOT are selling it at £49.95, claiming that it feels and tastes just like a real cigarette. Now, although I'm an ex-smoker, I know that different brands have different tastes, and some are considerably less pleasant than others. So how does this thing taste? Can it really provide an effective substitute for cigarettes? Also, despite its claims to be unaffected by the smoking ban, you do have to wonder how many establishments will believe a customer who claims its totally safe. You probably wouldn't have much trouble if you were a regular someplace, but think of the hassle of explaining yourself in each club/pub/restaurant you go to! You'd probably also have to deal with the consequences of other people lighting up real cigarettes since they've seen you "smoking". It also seems rather big, at 11cm long.

Still, if it does everything it claims to do (and well) then it sounds like a really nifty invention. I'd have to assume that it's something of a cop out, personally, but it's a cool idea.

It seems like a glorified inhaler in many respects.
Also claiming to have no harmful health effects is pretty stupid if you're still inhaling nicotine; the cause of blood clot problems in smokers. That and they obviously can't have made any long term trials, so we still won't know if the nicotine itself has links to cancer or other long term health effects.

"Glorified inhaler" seems quite an apt description, I'll be honest. I think the whole "no health risk" claims might've been my imagination, to be honest. I read the description over again carefully and this time came away with the impression of "virtually no health risks". A wiki article on e-cigarettes seems to suggest that there have been studies on these things which support the claim that they're "healthier" than regular cigarettes, though.

It clearly can't taste like a real cigarette. Not that it's a taste I enjoy anyway, so I certainly wouldn't miss it.

So without the nicotine, its just appearance? Then what's the point? I heard people are addicted to the substances within the cigarette (nicotine obviously), but I haven't heard of people addicted to the "look" of smoking one.

Yes, it comes with nicotine packet things. But explain to me the point of the thing without them.

Swing by a local high school or college some time

But this day and age, the "image" of smoking cigarettes doesn't give you the popularity edge. Especially since the consequences of smoking has been so ingrained in people's minds.

It's probably a good method of helping people quit, or at least cut down; something to do with having an object in your hand*. Same way some people chew pens or whatever when they quit.


* I tried to add to that example to make it clearer, but it just looked dirty...

its nice to burn your throat with hot smoke then cough a bit though bet you didnt think about that one huh

It's an electronic vaporizer...it's not an inhaler.

However, I'm pretty sure there have been enough studies on the products in cigarettes to the point where they can DEFINITIVELY SAY nicotine has no carcinogenic effects--it's the tar and everything else in tobacco.

Honestly I think it's pretty ****ing genius. It's just sad that something like this for illegal substances hit the market before it did for cigarettes. If you can't quit, at least you can cut a lot of the bull****.

Just have to wonder how much the rechargers are.


Swing by a local high school or college sometime.

Seriously, you have no idea how many 14 year old girls I've had beg me for a cigarette. I know they don't smoke, I know they're not addicted, but they want to be cool. Well that and, at first, the body high is amazing for about 10 min after a cig.


Finally, the habit. Doing something with your mouth, bringing your hand up to your mouth. A lot of people pick up snacking because it, to an extent, makes that habit go away.

I ordered the crown 7 a year ago. It's real, it really works, you can do it indoors without smell or smoke, in a dorm room or whatever. The cartridges last forever and are pretty high in nicotine. The only downside is drawing on the crown7. You have to give it a really good draw to get enough smoke to be the equivalent of a normal cigarette and therefore what you are substituting it for. This isn't just a puffing thing, you gotta try.

There are no rechargers, just order new batteries. I haven't had to in a year and it came with several. In case it wasn't clear, you turn it on and off by twisting it like a pen and there is a red light that comes on at the end.

Edit: I didn't realize this link was about the Gamucci brand, a year ago there was only the crown 7. Maybe this one is better or worse

This wouldn't really work for me. I'm not addicted, and I smoke for the feeling of burning **** swirling in my lungs and the smell of burning tobacco.

I also smoke alone almost all the time. I guess I see the purpose, but I don't really get it, if you take my meaning.

Sure. Sure.

I SWEAR!

But seriously, I never finish packs of cigarettes because it takes me two months to smoke one and they get stale and ****ty. We are talking like five or six cigarettes a month. Hardly even enough to qualify as a smoker.

Perhaps I just suffer from an overabundance of personal discipline.

Just wait til it only takes a couple weeks...then a week...then a day...

Then you're ****ed

*ahem*
http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=914916#post914916

not sure what you meant to post there man

I have no idea what you're talking about >.>

Okay, I lost an arm wrestling contest to a girl.

It was just once.

This would be great if they had nicotine packs with a lower concentration...

But the thing with addiction, at least with cigarettes, is that you don't get addicted to just the nicotine. Every little flavor, action, smell, etc is part of the addiction. So even if you get the nicotine, the chemically addicting component, it's probably not as satisfying.

Erm, it's pretty much the same thing, one uses a canister of compressed gas to disperse the fluid as a mist, the other releases droplets into the airflow where they vapourise into a mist. Technically it's a nebulizer rather than an inhaler but that's just being pedantic.

Nicotine on its own hasn't really been tested properly yet. A quick search shows that it's been linked to impeding cell apoptosis and perhaps is a major creator of free radicals within the body, making it indirectly carcinogenic. And as I said earlier, it's the cause for blood clots which with picture of gangrenous limbs was part of the propaganda they used in my school to warn people not to smoke.
It's certainly healthier than normal cigarettes but the adverts saying it has none of the negative side effects in my opinion are wrong.

As drizzt said, it doesn't pull like a real cigarette. For most smokers, the draw is the most important part of the smoke, the nicotine and flavor come second.

despite the fact that i would look like a dweeb smoking it, i think its awesome.

would love to try one

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http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=vaporizer

Yoshi, what's your point?

ELL

TWO

READ [/color]

I didn't think any other smokers thought the pull was as important as I did so I didn't post why it was important to have a good pull, but I'm glad someone agrees. One of the reasons I love the taste of turkish silvers and golds but don't buy them...

I've had "high end" cigarettes before that had no (or minimal) pull, and yeah, it was like something was missing. I didn't feel like I was actually smoking. IMO that's dangerous, probably leads to smoking a lot more than you would otherwise.

Cloves are like that for me--I usually smoke menthols.

But I'll be damned if they don't taste like awesome.

Next: the e-joint. Pure THC with no marijuana! No second hand smoke or side effects.

the hypocrisy of the world...

Second-hand smoke problems from joints? That's news to me.

Too late

Wow, I'd heard of those but never seen one. It's way smaller than I had pictured.

Well, that isn't a really good example since marijuana, specifically vaporized THC, is essentially completely safe (with the exception of rare complications with certain medications).

And/or previous psychiatric disorders--unfortunately the exact actions that it takes on the brain are still somewhat unknown. Hell, they know more about how LSD effects the brain, but that probably has to do with the way it was marketed at its inception and what Hoffman (rest in peace) wanted done with it up until Leary came and FUBAR'd the situation.

Also, the problem isn't so much THC, but other cannabinoids which lie in the marijuana you're smoking (a little known fact--sometimes "good" weed doesn't necessarily contain more THC) and how horribly under-studied they are.

[quote=cigarette the spambot]Thanks for the post. I learned something cool today. My brother told me that these cigarettes are awesome and I would really try one. Thanks for the information, I will surely tell my brother about this. Nice one![/quote]

Haha Dj-Yoshi was talking about drugs

Sucka

haha oh wow