I have been using an electronic cigarette for a year and a half now. Ok big deal I’m embracing my addiction. It beats the hell out of that pack and half Marlboro addiction that I carried for thirty five years. I don’t have the smoker’s hack any longer, my breathing feels clearer than it has in many, many years. I walk into professional settings now and hear comments such as "I can’t smell anything, so obviously you’re a non-smoker (That felt good). My dentist says my gum disease has become remarkably better, and my doctor is fascinated when he listens to my chest.
I catch some negative comments from people, but don’t give a shit. It’s been a blessing for both my wife and I. To hell with the haters. Leave me the hell alone and let me live my life.
It would be illegal because the airlines say they are not allowed. Failing to obey the instructions of a flight crew is illegal and, I believe, a federal offense.
The artificial smoke generators referred to are not e-cigs. It looks to me as if the study focused on levels of PG that create a mist “commonly used in artificial smoke generators in discotheques, theatres, and emergency training.” Picture the fog that covers the stage at a Broadway show, or the effect at a dance club. A fog bank, IOW. Also from the cite: “The exposure concentration of PG (geometric mean 309 mg/m3) was quite high, compared with other exposure measurements of this compound in work environments.” It was a study of occupational exposure to PG, and anyone who expands the conclusion to cover the sliver of vapor emanating from an e-cigarette is stretching things, ISTM.
IMO, if someone finds the meager tendril of vapor coming from an e-cigarette offensive, it is purely psychological, “anything that looks like someone enjoying tobacco near me is EVIL” knee-jerk nonsense. The vapor from an e-cig bugs you? Really? That tiny plume of water vapor? That says something more about you (the generic “you,” not Jackmanni) than the person creating the imaginary pollution. I don’t use e-cigarettes, and obviously one must follow the rules in places like airplanes, but I would use it wherever else I felt like, and if anyone didn’t like it, tough shit.
If you go here, and select the Smoking of Electronic Cigarettes on Aircraft link, you can submit a comment about the proposed regulation. I submitted a comment roughly mirroring my posts here, but Stratocaster, your post above could mostly be copied and pasted as well.
I doubt it will make a difference, but it wasn’t hard to comment.
ZenBeam, I might if I get a chance, though I agree, it won’t change anything, not when it relates to the self-righteous hysteria associated with anything that even suggests tobacco use.
BTW, when I mentioned the cite, I should have clarified that I went to the source, not just the DOT’s highly selective reference to it. Here it is if anyone is interested. Full text is in a pdf.
To play devil’s advocate, though, the crew never make an announcement over the PA, and there’s no guarantee that anyone reads the instructions in the airline magazine, and so unless one is (a) caught and (b) told to stop, it’s probably not illegal unless you insist.
FWIW I know this person who recently quit smoking again and also frequently flies 12 hour to 15 hour flights, and because these long flights are always business class in a pod where no one else can see him or her, has never had an issue with his vaping on personal vaporizers.
If it was just “water vapor” there’d be no issue. If there’s propylene glycol and other chemical vapors being exuded into an enclosed, poorly ventilated space like a airliner cabin that could be a problem.
Remember when we used to hear about there being no problem with indoor smoking, since gentlemanly smokers would gladly extinguish their smokes if anyone complained?
The Gentlemanly Smoker went extinct when non-smokers started acting like dictatorial butt-hats and began stomping (figuratively) all over them with hobnailed jackboots
Unless the e-cigarette is billowing out a cloud bank of mist, I think the concern is nonsense. PG is legally used today in a multitude of products–cosmetics, shampoo, deodorant, in certain foods. Apparently it only became an offensive health risk when it took on the appearance (only the appearance, mind you) of someone enjoying tobacco. The PG emanating from an e-cigarette is miniscule, and I’m not aware of any studies that show that level of PG poses any form of health risk, and I also must have missed the protests over people being permitted on airplanes after using deodorant (frankly, I think forced deodorant is a better policy).
You miss my point, then. I’m not saying “I’d use this harmful product, others be damned.” This product poses no harm and any outcry against it, IMO, is manufactured, knee-jerk nonsense. Someone complaining over a cigarette has a beef, and only a jerk would ignore it. Someone bitching about an e-cigarette is hallucinating, apparently. I wouldn’t indulge that, just as I wouldn’t if someone complained that I was drinking a soda or reading the newspaper or any other activity that poses no harm and is none of his business.
