Posts Tagged ‘electronic cigarette’
There are many people who really are still unaware that a product such as the electronic cigarette even exists. On more than one occasion I have brought them up in conversation only to be met with blank expressions and shoulder shrugs.
Why am I so interested in the future of electronic cigarettes when in fact I am a non smoker? Well, despite the strong opposition the e cigarette (as it’s sometimes referred to) has faced in the several years it has been available on the market and when you consider the destruction that regular tobacco cigarettes cause, then a product that at least on the surface claims to be less harmful than regular smoking methods, surely must be given a chance to prove itself?
Tobacco cigarettes and the smoking of them may have had to endure stricter regulations in recent years but there really is no sign of them ever being outlawed completely, despite the known harm that is caused by them, not only to those that smoke them but those around and about the smoker too.
My father was 53 when lung cancer took his life. Twelve months before he died, he was told by doctors that his cancer was related to cigarette smoking. The scary thing is, he never smoked a cigarette in his life but he had shared every lunch time for over 30 years in builders’ huts, with gangs of builders and labourers who smoked one cigarette after another. The dreaded passive smoking!
I am well aware that electronic cigarettes need to be tested and researched thoroughly and indeed if they are determined to be as harmful as or more harmful than tobacco cigarettes then they shouldn’t be given the green light. But, this is very unlikely when you consider that the electronic cigarette (although it does contain nicotine) contains no tobacco at all and because of this, none of the harmful cancer causing tars either!
I am sure most of us (tobacco companies aside) would in an ideal world love to see the back of smoking forever but if that is not achievable wouldn’t we rather see our relatives and friends, if they absolutely must choose to smoke some kind of cigarette, smoking something that is far less likely to send them spinning towards bad health and an early grave?
Let’s give electronic cigarettes a chance to prove themselves, especially as it may turn out to be a much, much less harmful product than the tobacco cigarettes that have destroyed so many lives the world over.
The electronic cigarette has been in existence since 2003 but it is only in the last few years that the product has risen to the status of being “big news”. There is an ongoing tug of war of epic proportions being fought, with the electronic cigarette right in the middle.
Manufacturers and distributors are obviously keen to see the product succeed whilst opposition from governments and health authorities are urging caution to say the least and in some countries they have tried to implement a complete ban.
Initially, e cigarette companies were billing the product as a “healthier” alternative to smoking and as a device to help quit smoking. However, due to the strong opposition to the e cig and the way it was being marketed, distributors in many cases have been forced into changing their marketing language.
Instead of “healthier”, some promoters are now billing the device as “less harmful”. It appears that branding the e cigarette as a method of quitting smoking is now generally prohibited with phrases such as “an alternative way of smoking” being the new preferred language.
What is all this fuss about anyway? Most electronic cigarettes look very similar to their tobacco counterparts with the main difference in structure being their reusable nature. E cigarettes are battery and cartridge operated and emits only vapour rather than smoke.
Perhaps the most significant difference between an e cig and a regular tobacco cigarette is the tobacco itself. The electronic version contains no tobacco at all and as a result all the tar that comes from the tobacco is absent also. This, claim the distributors of electronic cigarettes is what makes the product “less harmful” than tobacco cigarettes, after all it is well known that the combination of tobacco and resulting tar can cause cancer.
One ingredient that is present in both products however, is nicotine (although a nicotine free cartridge can be used with an e cig). This is of course the ingredient that is addictive and it is also the ingredient that health authorities and certain governments are keen to see the electronic cigarette closely monitored over.
The debate will likely rumble on for some time to come but bright news for the electronic cigarette and its supporters is the fact the smokers who have decided to try the product, mostly seem delighted with it and many never go back to their old tobacco cigarettes again, claiming that they do in fact feel generally better than when the smoked their old cigarettes.
There have been many articles written about the general controversy and coverage of electronic cigarettes and there are likely to be many more written too. How about just for a moment, we take a look at what the distributors of e cigs say are the positive things about the product, and then if you are interested you check into it all in more detail at one of the many websites that promote them.
To take a clearer look at some of the so called benefits of electronic cigarettes, we first need to think about all the known terrible things about smoking regular tobacco cigarettes.
Bad things about tobacco cigarettes:
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Diseases and illnesses. Lung cancer is the most obvious of the cancers than can be caused by smoking but there are many more besides, such as throat cancer and mouth cancer. Bladder cancer and cancer of the kidney are also much more common in smokers.
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As well as all the cancer threats there are also cardiovascular diseases and other lung diseases to worry about. All in all, research has shown that smokers are likely to live 7 or 8 years less than those that don’t smoke.
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Passive smoking – not only does smoking put the smoker at risk but also the health and lives of the people around them, through passive smoking or inhaling second hand smoke.
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Bad breath, yellow fingers and teeth and smelly clothes are some of the other unpleasant effects of smoking tobacco cigarettes.
How are electronic cigarettes less harmful?
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Although an electronic cigarette still contains the addictive nicotine, there is absolutely no tobacco present and therefore none of the tar (which is the cancer causing substance) build up that is associated with regular cigs.
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An e cig only emits water like vapour (no smoke); therefore there is no danger of passive smoking.
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The vapour itself is odourless so none of the smelly breath or clothes occurs.
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They are legal to smoke anywhere, unlike tobacco cigarettes which are banned from pretty much all public places.
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E cigarettes are approximately about 80% cheaper to smoke then ordinary cigarettes, so potentially a huge saving.
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Without the tar, there is little or no pollution which actually makes e cigs much greener and less harmful to the environment.
So, are electronic cigarettes less harmful than tobacco cigarettes? On this particular evidence the answer would have to be an unequivocal yes! There’s lots more information out there than can help you decide whether as a smoker, the e cigarette is something for you or not.
Do you have and opinion? Add your comments to this post.
Taxpayers’ money gets spent in increasingly unusual ways these days. Just a few months ago, we were told that we’re buying some rubbish bits of banks and yesterday I awoke to the somewhat hilarious news that health officials in Dundee have decided that they are going to bribe people in order to get them to stop smoking.
Apparently, cigarette smokers can be tested weekly (how much does that cost I wonder) and expect anything up to £12.50 per week off their shopping if they pass the test proving that they haven’t lit up. That money should be pumped into alternatives to smoking like the electronic cigatette, not pumped into the pockets of weak-willed smokers. It’s a sorry state of affairs when you have to get money off the Government to stop you from putting a little white stick in your mouth; these people on the trial must feel like they’re living back at home with Mum and Dad, getting paid not to hit their little brother or sister.
Not only is this scheme ridiculous, it is irresponsible because it encourages smokers to feel rewarded, therefore the money that they’re given on the ‘Smart Card’ could easily be spent on treats which will inevitably promote unhealthy eating/drinking. It’s a vicious circle, and is not being welcomed by some non-smokers or ex-smokers who have totted up their bribe back-pay.
Well we may not give you money to buy your weekly shopping but the electric cigarette that you could be using right now from Smart Smoker could make you better off financially in the long run and help you to enjoy doing the weekly shop with your own money!
The e-cigarette from Smart Smoker is the only real alternative to smoking regular cigarettes and is widely available from the Smart Smoker website.
Well, we’re all on a get-fit-quick regime at the moment. Everyone’s talking about their summer holidays, whether it’s time away with families or friends, home or abroad, we all want to look good and feel good. We’re on a Nationwide exercise binge that is inspiring the most unlikely of followers, even my 82 year-old Grandmother is taking swimming lessons!
The trouble is, who wants to see a well toned body, a body of someone who has worked hard to achieve results, smoking a deadly cigarette. I mean, why go to all that effort in getting ‘healthy’ when really, the single most effective thing they could do to improve their health would be to find an alternative to smoking.
E-cigarettes would be an alternative; instead of getting out of the gym and lighting up, smokers could get out of the gym and smarten up instead. Smart Smoker’s electronic cigarette is discrete as well as free from harmful tar and carcinogens, meaning that even the most image conscious smokers can do what they need to do without carrying around an oversized replica of a cigarette. Smart Smoker now retails a more accurately sized 87mm electronic cigarette that is really easy to use.
So what are you waiting for? Throw it in your gym bag today!
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