Take a stroll down your local mall and you will notice some people clamoring up at some stall with sleek and sexy ladies giving demos to potential buyers. The product in question? Electronic cigarettes, also known as E-cigarettes. Sounds like something straight from the future right? Well, sort of. I would like to think of it as a prototype for all things electronic, the future of everything.
Although the product seems weird, it’s certainly fascinating to see. I bet seniors will have a high time checking this one out. We all know how hard it is to kick this bad habit away and it’s about time they think of something more than nicotine gums and patches.
E-cigarettes are manufactured in China, shipped to US. Primarily, E-cigarettes were sold over the internet since there were some hesitations from the selling parties on how well E-cigarettes will do in the market. Obviously, there were demands hence marketing of the product was brought forward.
Interesting enough, E-cigarettes boast of lessening bad effects of traditional tobacco smoking which is 4000 something toxins; 200 of which are known to be poisonous and about 60 of them are carcinogens. Plus, second hand smoke delivers the same potent effects of its first hand counterpart. E-cigarettes produce vapor, not smoke so you are safe from smoking bans. No more smelly clothes, tar stained fingers and ashtray mouth. Most of all, it doesn’t involve lighting or burning so it’s safe for seniors right?
So how does it work? E-cigarettes look like your average cigarette stick. It uses a cartridge which holds liquid nicotine inside. The rechargeable batteries heat up the nicotine which will then produce vapor, ready and waiting to be dragged by the smoker. The tip of the gadget glows like the real thing everytime you take a hit. Once your cartridge is used up, you replace them with another one. You can even choose your cartridge’s nicotine level every time you buy a new set.
Well, taking it at face value, E-cigarette is an innovative product that has a lot of potential for smokers. A safer alternative to tobacco smoking but it still uses nicotine. Well, nicotine is nicotine and we know how harmful nicotine can get. Nicotine causes addiction, the same substance that makes you smoke cigarettes stick after stick and never quit the habit. So, it makes me doubt E-cigarettes especially when it claims that this product can help you stop smoking.
Upon digging deeper, I found out that E-cigarettes are not regulated by any governing agency and it lacks medical backings. In short, these products are not tested and approved by right agencies. To some extent, it may be safe; safer than tobacco and it goes around smoking bans so this is certainly good news for smokers right? But not until it is regulated and proven safe, this product stays unrecommended by FDA for use. Better safe than sorry right?
