Jul 03 2009
e-cig: tech and addition meet
I’ve been enamored by the e-cig ever since the product went on sale over a year ago. The technology is impressive – instead of burning tobacco leaves, e-cigs head nicotine to produce a clean, water vapor that gives you your fix without the harmful additives and tar.
It’s really the best of both worlds – you don’t get all the bad stuff that gives you cancer, but you get nicotine, which is what makes you want to smoke in the first place. The best part is that since the e-cigs don’t have any actual smoke, you can use them indoors, on planes, in hospital maternity wards, etc.
I’ve held off on buying an e-cig for a long time, however, because they were just too expensive. Most places were selling them for $100+ – that’s too much for what is essentially a battery and a heating element.
However, the prices of e-cigs have dropped dramatically over the past few months, and you can now find these devices on sale for around the $30 - $40 range on eBay.
So, I got one, and it arrived yesterday.
The e-cig is designed to look like a real cigarette. It has a brown disposable tip that contains a nicotine-filled gel. The rest of the e-cig is white. The device is mostly metallic though, so it is heavier and harder than a real cig. It’s also a bit longer than your traditional cig. Still, the shape of the device allows you to ‘smoke’ naturally and handle the e-cig just like you would with a real cig.
A single nicotine cartridge is supposed to contain as much nicotine as a pack of cigs. 10 of these things cost less than $10, compared to a carton of cigs which now will run you $50. So, the device is cheaper than real cigarettes. In fact, one pack of 10 e-cig cartridges will make up your investment in the e-cig itself.
The e-cig ‘smoke’ is kind of like real smoke, I suppose. You inhale and exhale water vapor that looks like smoke, although it is not as harsh and it has no odor. It does give you the feeling and appearance of smoking, but there is no mistaking e-cig smoke from real smoke. I guess that is both good and bad.
The tip of the e-cig contains a red LED light that gives the appearance of a lit cigarette. It also tells you when the device is charged. As you are smoking you can’t really see the LED light though, so it is really designed to give others the appearance that you are smoking.
And that’s a big problem with the e-cig. Sure, you aren’t actually smoking so you can use the e-cig indoors. But the thing looks so much like a real cig that it really turns heads…not in a good way.
I mean, normally, I would love to show people what assholes they are by breaking open my e-cig and showing them that it’s not a real cig. But that is tedious, and people are very very stupid. It’s cool to explain how an e-cig works once or twice, but not all the time. This is why I’d prefer that the e-cig looks less like a real cig. Like, ideally it would look like an asthma inhaler or something. After all, I’m not trying to make a statement, I’m just trying to get my fix.
And boy can you get a fix. The e-cig really doesn’t give you any way to measure how much nicotine you’re inhaling. Sure, one cartridge represents a pack of smokes, but you don’t know how many puffs equals how many cigs. The result, after playing with it all day yesterday, was that I was a bit lightheaded. I can see how you can easily overdose on nicotine with this thing.
Anyone who has smoked a huge cigar knows what too much nicotine can do. Cold sweats, nausea, dry hurling…not pretty. The FDA has cited this as a potential reason to place controls on the e-cig. I don’t think that’s necessarily needed – you really just got to keep track of how much you’ve been smoking.
It’s also annoying to have to carry around a charger for my cig. In reality, I guess it’s not dissimilar from a lighter and a pack of smokes, but I do hate all those wires. My e-cig set did come with a wall charger, car charger and USB charger though, so I don’t have to be worried about the battery running out…as long as I have the charger with me, of course.
Verdict?
After a day I have to say I really like the e-cig. It is convenient to take a few puffs here and there at work, while shopping, in the car, etc., instead of going through the whole go-outside-and-light-one-up routine. I don’t think it will replace traditional smoking, but it will decrease traditional smoking, which has both cost and health benefits.
I don’t like explaining what an e-cig is, and how it works. The first few times it was fun – after that it was just tedious. But at the end of the day the e-cig gives you your fix, and that’s really all that matters.
