Do Electronic Cigarettes Really Work?

Do Electronic Cigarettes Really Work?


Posted on July 12, 2011 by joe.d

Making the decision to quit smoking is one of the healthiest decisions of your life, along with one of the most difficult. The cravings can become overwhelming, causing irritability, trouble concentrating, and physical sickness due to withdrawal symptoms. There are hundreds of products on the market ranging from nicotine gum and patches to prescription drugs such as Zyban to reduce the nicotine cravings.

One of the newest stop-smoking trends is the electronic cigarette. You see it on TV commercials, in magazines, and on nearly every curb market counter that you visit. It supposedly mimics the look, feel, and sensation of smoking, without the harmful chemicals found in tobacco.

Sounds like a perfect fix…but does it work as well as advertised?

It is true. The vapor cigarettes provide the nicotine that is craved by a smoker without the harmful carcinogens found in chemicals and tar. In addition, the second hand vapor is completely harmless to people around you.

So the simple answer is yes. They really work. They are a healthy alternative to cigarettes and provide the nicotine “buzz” that accompanies a cigarette. However there is a catch.

I talked to a few people who had tried the electronic cigarettes, and they were very happy with their purchase. They said then enjoyed smoking them…along with their cigarettes! Of the people I spoke with, only one had actually quit smoking cigarettes, and he was not able to quit smoking the electronic cigarette.

So the electronic cigarette is a great alternative to tobacco if you are actually willing to give up the tobacco. Otherwise you are just increasing your nicotine dosage and in turn increasing your addiction. A complete switch over to the electronic cigarette is definitely a healthy alternative, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you will have any easier of a time trying to drop the habit completely.


The truth is, it took you a long time to develop such a stubborn habit and it will take you a lot of dedication to get rid of it. However, quitting is always the best option. If you can take advantage of products like the electronic cigarette along with medicines like Zyban to help lessen the cravings, you may very well be able to drop the habit for good an begin a new healthy lifestyle.

About joe.d

Joe is a native of North Carolina. He holds a B.A in Literature and works full time as a Research Scientist working in Agricultural Biotechnology. He works part time as a freelance writer for scientific journals along with fiction and news media publications.

View all posts by joe.d → This entry was posted in Current Health News. Bookmark the permalink.

Important to note
E-cigarettes are NOT classified as a cessation device or quit smoking aid and are not FDA approved as such. They are simply an alternative to traditional smoking.

However, if you would like more information about the benefits of e-cigarettes and would like to try a Free Sample click here  advantageecigs.com/free/

 

New graphic warning labels for cigarettes

TYLER (KYTX) - Recently the FDA unveiled new graphic warning labels for cigarettes.


They're not even on the packs yet, but people are already responding.
Calls started pouring into national smoking cessation hotlines.
More than doubling in numbers just days after people saw those images.
But many smokers here in East Texas say it won't affect whether or not they light up.
Rusty Walker has smoked for 43 years, and knows all the dangers.

"All the information is here, just a matter of making the choice to stop," says Walker.
So he decided to buy an electronic cigarette at Tobacco Junction in Tyler.
And he doesn't feel disturbing images on the pack could make any difference for anyone else.

"It's like seeing a billboard everyday, after a while, doesn't notice it," says Walker.
Just after the images debuted quit line calls nationwide nearly doubled.
whether it be a cessation class, whether it be a nicotine replacement, whether it be motivation to quit, people are looking for that and this is a good tool, great way to get motivation they need," says Lorri Essary with the East Texas Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. She says 75% of smokers are looking for a way to snuff the habit.

"Takes out the marketing appeal," says Essary  before you open the pack and light up, you'll see the graphic images right on the front. Cancerous tumors, rotten teeth and gums, where you can't miss it.
"When I grab a pack my hand wraps around it and can't see anything except the tip of the cigarette," says Bill Harley, smoker for 40 years.

"Only so many ways to warn people to not do it. Can read or look at it, it's the same," says Savannah Sterling, a cashier at Tobacco Junction. Some will look beyond those warnings and images and keep going, but others hope to put the habit in their past."Wish me luck," says Walker. Speaking with organizations here in East Texas, they think the images will have an impact on the number of calls they receive.
They're going to have to wait a year to see.

Also worth noting...

Advantage E-cigarette is currently offering a free sample e-cigarette. Go to http://www.advantageecigs.com/free/ there is a short video explaining e-cigarettes and free sample offer.

Up in Smoke

Up in Smoke

By: Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
6:43 pm
Saturday, July 2nd, 2011 2share3 0

AFP Photo
Smoking kills. Everybody knows this, including hardcore smokers who can’t get through 10 minutes without taking a puff or two.

The question then is, why smoke at all, considering all the damage that it can do to one’s body, from wrinkles to yellow teeth to emphysema and lung cancer? Not to mention the fact that smoking jacks up laundry expenses, because it takes a lot more soap and fabric softener to get the unpleasant smell out. No wonder smoking in a crowded place never fails to elicit angry glares from dedicated non-smokers. Then there are the ordinances from local governments banning smoking in public places and putting smokers near the level of criminals.

Ask a hundred smokers and you will get a hundred reasons for them continuing to smoke anyway, despite the obvious dangers and inconveniences: It relieves stress, helps us become more creative, is a silent, uncomplaining companion, just can’t enjoy a drink without it, etc.

But mainly, smokers smoke because it makes them feel good to give in to the urge, over and over again. Blame it on the addictive nicotine in every stick.
This is not to say, however, that cigarette smokers don’t want to quit. A good number of them do; it’s just that it’s far easier said than done. Otherwise, smokers would have long become extinct.

Common knowledge dictates that it takes a smoker at least three attempts before he or she finally gives up the dangerous habit. One way to do just that comes courtesy of the electronic cigarettes appearing in department stores and flea markets nationwide.

Selling from a low P380 to as high as P3,200, the e-cigarettes are supposed to provide smokers a “healthy” alternative to smoking because they do not contain nicotine and other harmful chemicals – just the cigarette “flavor.” Plus, you can still look “cool” because the e-cigarette still looks like a regular stick, complete with smoke – although odourless – and what looks like a flaming tip, from a small red light. And it does not burn.

 According to vendors, an electronic cigarette has “the obvious effect of reducing smoking frequency.” It also does not produce second-hand smoke “and causes no harm to people and to the environment.” And because no lighting is needed, it is not a fire hazard.

The e-cigarette has two main parts: the cigarette body and the flavor cartridge. The body is charged for two to three hours every day. The reserve power is needed not just to power the “flaming tip” but also to heat the inside of the flavor cartridge to produce both smoke and flavor.


The joy of puffing: An electronic cigarette pack comes with a charger, flavor cartridges and other accessories. photo: diytrade.com

A regular e-cigarette pack comes with 10 cartridges, each one providing that alternative cigarette “flavor” that smokers out to reform themselves may be looking for. One can choose from high, medium low or no flavor. Each cartridge is good for about 150 puffs before it has to be replaced, otherwise the user will just be sucking air.

Depending on how often you suck on the e-cigarette, it can go on for at least five hours before the light at the end of the cigarette body starts flickering, indicating that it has to be recharged.

Understanding that some persons may become as addicted to the e-cigarette as the regular cigarette, the Chinese manufacturers made it convenient for people to charge this pseudo-smoke, with the pack containing a regular wall charger, a USB charger and even a phone charger – all in the name of uninterrupted enjoyment of the e-cigarette.

But is it really all that enjoyable to puff on a e-cigarette? The jury is still out on this one.

For entrepreneur Nono de Monteverde, e-cigarettes have been a boon to his health and outlook as these have provided him a “healthy” substitute for the cigarettes that he’s been smoking since his college days at the University of the Philippines.

“E-cigarettes help me quit because they are a good substitute when I feel the urge to smoke,” De Monteverde, 41, says, adding that they at least look like cigarettes so they give him that notion that he is still actually smoking – some joy with no side effects.

Sure, e-cigarettes do not taste the same as the regular cigarettes that he still craves for once in a while, but it’s still better than nothing.

But e-cigarettes had quite the opposite effect on Gerard Jerome C. Dumlao, who says the faint taste of burning wires in e-cigarettes makes him go back to puffing away on the real thing.

“They are okay once in a while, but they really don’t taste the same. It’s not enough of a substitute for me,” he says.

For him, there really is just one way to go, and that is to quit cold turkey. It’s just a question of when.

Kanawha County might ban e-cigarettes

Kanawha County might ban e-cigarettes

County officials not sold on tobacco-free nicotine devices
By Rusty Marks
The Charleston Gazette
Advertiser

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper wants to ban the use of electronic cigarettes for county workers on the job.

The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department recently banned the use of electronic cigarettes on Health Department property and in Health Department vehicles. The state also recently banned e-cigarettes for state employees on state property.

Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered devices that use a liquid-filled cartridge to simulate the effects of smoking by creating a fine mist that users can inhale like cigarette smoke. The liquid often contains nicotine, and the devices often are made to look like a conventional cigarette.

Electronic cigarettes are touted by manufacturers as being safer than conventional tobacco products. The medical field, however, has had mixed reactions to the devices.

Although the American Association of Public Health Physicians has said e-cigarettes might significantly decrease the amount of secondhand smoke in the air, an FDA study showed that the vapor produced by the devices might contain carcinogens and other harmful chemicals. The FDA recently lost a court battle to have electronic cigarettes regulated as drug-dispensing devices. They instead will be regulated as a tobacco product.

Some health professionals think electronic cigarettes can be an effective way to help people stop smoking, but Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, thinks there are enough questions about the safety of electronic cigarettes that health officials decided to ban the devices on Health Department property.

Gupta said there is effectively no limit on the amount of nicotine that can be delivered by the devices and said they could be modified to deliver other types of drugs. Opponents of electronic cigarettes also fear the marketing of the devices could encourage children to smoke.

Gupta sent copies of the Health Department policy to county officials and officials with the city of Charleston, suggesting they consider similar policies. "Our policy is to protect our own people," he said.

Raise cigarette taxes — and skip the ugly photos

Raise cigarette taxes — and skip the ugly photos


Boston Globe

These pictures make smoking less pleasant, just as higher cigarette taxes do. But while the latter generates useful public revenue, these images are essentially revenue-less taxes. We can tax behavior in lots of ways — with social stigma or painful ...

See all

Living in Connecticut getting a bit more expensive

Living in Connecticut getting a bit more expensive


TheDay.com

The cigarette tax increases by 40 cents to $3.40 a pack. Taxes on snuff rise 55 cents to $1 per ounce. Cigar taxes can now reach 50 cents per cigar. • The diesel fuel tax increases by 3 cents to 29 cents per gallon. • The number of income tax brackets ...

See all stories on this topic »

Rocky Mount delays start of sales tax on cigarettes

ROCKY MOUNT -- Almost 60 percent of Mason Haynesworth's revenue at Chillin Smokes on Franklin Street comes from cigarettes. He's worried about how an impending town cigarette tax of 10 cents per pack -- which had been set to begin on Friday -- will affect his business.


"I'm going to have to pocket it," he said of the added expense. "If I go up a dollar a carton, there's a store less than a half-mile down the road that will have a dollar to play with" in their pricing.

But Haynesworth will be able to put off the tax a little longer.

The Rocky Mount Town Council approved the new tax two weeks ago as part of its $8.5 million 2011-12 budget, but preparations to collect it aren't finished. The town estimates it will raise $125,000 from the new tax. The cigarette tax is now scheduled to go into effect Aug. 1, but that date could change as town officials complete details, said Town Manager James Ervin.

For now, some retailers are confused about how the tax will be collected. Johnny Singleton, owner of Riverside Minute Market, said he thought the distributor who supplies him would be responsible for the tax and provide the tax stamps on the packages.

Haynesworth thought each retailer would have to buy rolls of the stamps from the town at $1,500 a roll for 1,500 stamps to account for the tax.

Both situations are possible, Ervin said. The distributors could buy the stamps, or if retailers find themselves with unstamped merchandise, they can purchase a roll of stamps. As soon as details are solidified, the town will focus on educating the retailers, Ervin said.

Singleton acknowledged how difficult the decision must have been for council members but said he thought it was unfair to tax a select group.

"Everyone needs to pay their fair share," he said.

The tax won't change the shopping habits of Melissa Goodman, who lives near Singleton's store. But retailers fear people will start shopping in the county, which like all Virginia counties except for two in Northern Virginia cannot levy a cigarette tax.

"People are still going to buy them, but they will aggressively shop" for the cheapest price, Haynesworth said.

Kimberly White, with TNC Oil and Grocery just outside the town limits, expects her family's business to benefit from the tax. A smoker herself, White said she would ride just up the road for a cheaper pack of cigarettes.

Some 30 cities, 43 towns and two counties receive revenue from the tax, according to a 2009 report by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.

Town officials originally proposed a 20 cents per pack tax, but town council decided on 10 cents, with a plan to revisit the tax in six months.

"Taxing is extremely difficult," Ervin said. "No one likes taxes, but everyone has certain service level expectations. And we want to meet them."

Vinton began taxing cigarettes in August 2009 at a rate of 20 cents per pack and has collected $292,548 for the nearly finished fiscal year, according to Barry Thompson, the town's finance director.

In much more populous Roanoke, city officials project revenue from the tax will hit $2.34 million, or about 2 percent below budget, according to Ann Shawver, the city's finance director. Revenue from the tax -- the region's highest rate -- has declined about 7 percent from the prior year.

Salem has collected $365,000 in revenue so far this fiscal year from its cigarette tax, though like Roanoke, that figure has been in decline in recent years, according to city spokesman Mike Stevens.

Staff writers Mason Adams and Brian Kelley contributed to this report.

REPORT ON HARM FROM MENTHOL CIGARETTES DUE THIS YEAR, FDA SAYS

Source: Bloomberg News

Date: 2011-06-27

Author: Jeffrey Young, jyoung89@bloomberg.net

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-27/report-on-harm-from-menthol-cigarettes-

due-this-year-fda-says.html

ID: 322394
The Food and Drug Administration said it will issue preliminary

findings on the health effects of menthol cigarettes this year

after outside advisers review an internal report starting next

month.

The U.S. market for menthol tobacco products is $25 billion a

year, or about 30 percent of cigarette sales, according to data

compiled by Bloomberg Government. Lorillard Inc. (LO) of

Greensboro, North Carolina, makes the best-selling brand,

Newport, with sales of $5 billion a year. Marlboro Menthol, made

by Richmond, Virginia-based Altria Group Inc. (MO) and the Kool

and Salem brands sold by Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) of Winston

Salem, North Carolina, are other leading brands.

The FDA is weighing whether to outlaw sales of flavored cigarettes

PICTURES TO WARN THE WORLD ABOUT SMOKING

Source: New York Times Blogs

Date: 2011-06-24

Author: TARA PARKER-POPE / Well Blog

URL:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/24/pictures-to-warn-the-world-about-smokin

g/
ID: 322387

This week, American health officials released nine graphic

warning labels for cigarette packs. The move puts the United

States in the company of nearly 40 other countries that have

already adopted pictorial warnings on cigarettes.

From graphic photos of face cancer in Thailand to skulls on

cigarette packs in Romania, cigarette packs around the world

vividly warn of the perils of smoking. To see the images,

compiled by the University of Waterloo’s Tobacco Labelling

Resource Centre, watch the slide show below.



Category -International -Federal -Tobacco Control -Labels/Lights

Org -FDA

Electronic Cigarettes: Take Another Look

Electronic Cigarettes: Take Another Look
Advertorials
admin
March 2nd, 2011

The next time you’re on a train or a plane and you look across the aisle and think you’re seeing people smoking in violation of the rules, take a second look. The suspected culprits may actually be ‘vaping’ rather than smoking; in other words, enjoying electronic cigarettes, a cigarette without cigarette smoke despite deceptive appearances.

At first you may be tempted to think, “Well, it looks like smoke to me, and they shouldn’t be doing that in here!” Take a moment to relax, however, and sniff the air. Do you smell smoke? Sniff again. Do you smell anything at all out of the ordinary? Occasionally, depending upon what mixture is being used in E Cigarettes, you may catch a faint scent of orange or peppermint, but never will you find the scent of burning tobacco despite the fact that the person appears to be smoking.

Full Story

Some E-Cig Smokers Say Devices Helped Them Quit!

Some E-Cig Smokers Say Devices Helped Them Quit Smoking Cigarettes


By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

 Feb. 8, 2011 -- Can puffing electronic cigarettes help smokers quit smoking?

It sounds wrong. E-cigarettes should be banned, says a long list of prestigious anti-tobacco groups including the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association. But a federal court has stymied FDA efforts to keep them off the U.S. market.

Meanwhile, more and more Americans are buying e-cigarettes. And many of them say they've used the nicotine vaporizers to quit smoking real cigarettes, according to a new survey by Michael B. Siegel, MD, MPH, of Boston University School of Public Health.

Full Story