What's wrong with electric cigarettes?

Factual Questions
1

A question for the Teeming Millions:

I’ve been trying repeatedly to quit smoking (patch, gum, chantix, etc.) without any success. I heard about electric cigarettes and became intrigued. All the research I did on them turned up all these great attributes - no smoke, no nasty chemicals, cheaper than real cigarettes. But I couldn’t find anything bad about them except for the fact they contain nicotine. What gives? For someone trying to quit smoking these sound too good to be true… what am I missing?

2

tar

3

I don’t think that they’re any cheaper - but I guess it depends on where you are and what you’re spending on a pack.

The downside is that you remain addicted to nicotine. They are probably safer than cigarettes - but I dont’ think there’s any conclusive proof.

Also, nice username. I was thoroughly confused since I didn’t remember starting this thread. Took me a minute to realize that you weren’t me.

4

Electric cigarettes: what’s all the brew(ah)(ha) about?

5

My son got one for Christmas because he is trying to quit (as he has been for years.) If he only used the e-cigs it would have been a great thing but at this point it looks to me like just an additional nicotine delivery device for use when real cigs aren’t allowed. They are supposedly cheaper per smoke too. But, the people I know who use them also still smoke normal cigarettes when they get a chance and the e-cigs may be causing them to smoke more (in total) than they did before. IMO.

6

Thanks, I tried going for yours but it was already taken (of course).

There is significant up front cost of about $65 for the battery, charger and other peripherals which is balanced out by refill cartridges costing about $2-$3 per, depending on the manufacturer. At my current rate of spending $8 per pack, and consuming it in two days, I’ll start saving money on the electric cigs after two weeks.

That’s kind of my point Robert, there appear to be many benefits of going with electric cigarettes over real ones. I’m looking for potential downsides.

7

Wow, that really needs a cite…

The jury is out on whether there are significant adverse effects or not. Nicotine isn’t good for you, but how bad it is in the quantities in an e-cig isn’t well established. Suffice it to say, they’re safer than a real cigarette.

BTW, electronic, not electric.

8

No nasty chemicals, except for the nastiest one. Though I suppose they have adjustable dosage, so you could gradually dial it down and quit.

9

I’ve found that it’s not anywhere near as satisfying, which, over time, is incredibly irritating. I’m back to real cigs at this point.

10

That’s the downside for me.

11

I had a co-worker who tried all the different e-cigs he could find. The cartridges don’t last as long as they claim and the cigs themselves broke fairly rapidly. At first he thought they were great, but he ended up going back to regular cigarettes.

My main concern is what the hell else they may have in them. AFAIK, they’re pretty much all made in China, where they’re a bit lackadaisical about quality control of consumables. And no one is testing these things to see what they’re actually putting in.

12

I’ve been using the Cig2O for a few months. It was pretty cheap. For the battery, USB charger and 2 refills, it was right around $17+change. A refill pack contains 3 cartridges (Either 18 mg Nicotine, or 24 mg Nicotine - I started out with the 18 mg, and have continued to use that strength) , and they cost $7+change. Much cheaper than regular cigarettes, and a 3-pack of cartridges lasts me a week. I was smoking real cigarettes at the rate of 3 packs per day. This is a huge improvement for me. I haven’t smoked a real cigarette since I started using the Cig2O a few months ago. I can’t say enough good things about it. I’m still using the same battery, and USB charger that I started with, also.

13

If money savings is a potential draw for you, sure, e-cig cartridges are far cheaper than cigarettes. If you fill your own cartridges, however, it’s even cheaper. You can buy the “e-liquid” premixed, with nicotine, flavoring, and base, or you can buy the above ingredients and mix your own.

Filling your own cartridges will you give a much more satisfying puff, will generally allow you to go longer on a cartridge, and of course is more environmentally friendly. I don’t have a cite for just how much cheaper, but to put it into perspective: I just placed an order the other day for supplies to make about half a liter of e-liquid. This should last me 250-300 days. It cost me about $30.

Even with replacing atomizers, batteries, etc, it’ll cost me under $100 a year to smoke. It would cost me around $3.2k a year here in Rhode Island for a pack a day habit.

As far as downsides that you asked about, that’s not entirely known, really. Obviously people have been inhaling nicotine for many many years, and the effects of that are well known. The base of the liquid is generally either food-grade vegetable glycerin or propylene glycol. I’m not aware of any definitive studies on the long term effects of inhaling the vapor of either of these.

There’s definitely no tar or any of the other myriad nasty chemicals, though. Another downside is that many folks don’t find it as satisfying as smoking a cigarette, but that is entirely subjective. Careful selection of your setup goes a long way, though. For example, I use a low resistance atomizer. This will cut down your battery life, but they heat up faster and hotter, resulting in a warmer and fuller puff, more like an actual cigarette.

I won’t ramble on about them, so I’ll point you to an e-cig forum where you can find a wealth of info: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com

14

e-cigs are not a substitute for we who smoke to feel the burning chemicals flowing through our bodies. We for whom smoking is a lifestyle, not just a nicotine delivery habit.

I’ve tried several different e-cigs. Spent a couple hundred bucks. e-cigs don’t replicate the reason I smoke.

15

Smoking is a lifestyle ?

Do contemporary mainstream TV shows have characters that smoke ?

The cig companies must have thought they’d died of lung cancer and gone to heaven when Mad Men came along. with good-looking, well dressed people puffing away on long cool Malboroughs, just like the old days.

16

I consider my smoking a nicotine delivery habit. That’s why I use the e-cigarette.
It’s really nice to not have my house, my cars, or myself, smell of the stench of cigarettes.
I have begun to notice how folks smell that smoke regular cigarettes. We’ll pass each other on the street, in a store, or wherever, and the stench that comes off them is amazing. I used to smell like that, and I’m very glad I no longer do.

Now…If I could just put the e-cigarette down, and never pick it up again, I’d be a happy ol’ gal!

17

E-cigarettes still generate smoke, unless one plays with the definition of “smoke”. They generate an aerosol of mostly submicrometer droplets of stuff that other people may or may not want to ingest. Generally the mechanism of getting stuff really hot so that it evaporates, only to condense into fine droplets a moment later, is the same as in ordinary cigarettes. Because they are new and unfamiliar in the popular awareness, they may get away with suggesting that they don’t create smoke, but by any reasonable technical standard they do.

18

Really? How are smoke and vapor the same thing?

19

Where are you buying your supplies, Goldmund? That’s a lot more than I pay. Please email me if you don’t want to advertise.

Speaking of which, the Volcano e-cigarette guys have fluid made in the United States.

20

The term “vapor” isn’t very accurate for what eventually comes out of e-cigarettes. True vapor is an intermediate step in both e-cigarettes and ordinary cigarettes. The vapors condense to fine droplets in each; thus both generate fine aerosols, a.k.a. smokes, in the end.

Here’s a scholarly reference discussing their smokes: