[85] Electronic Smoking Cigarettes – A Healthier Alternative?

The tar in cigarette smoke is a carcinogen and tobacco contains many other harmful substances. That’s why no matter how pleasant smoking may be, almost every smoker has thought about quitting. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done. But there is an alternative now – in electronic smoking cigarettes.

With just about everything else benefiting from the rapid advances in technology, electronic cigarettes should come as no surprise. Let me explain the idea behind it. If you’re a smoker who has tried to quit, you know that it’s not just the rush from the nicotine that makes it hard to kick the habit. It’s also a psychological thing. Holding the cigarette or pipe, lighting up after dinner or during a break, tasting and twirling the smoke. So what if you could have all that, but without the tar and other carcinogens of tobacco smoke?

This is where electronic smoking comes in. It doesn’t do away with nicotine, so there are no withdrawal symptoms. Unlike patches or gum, it also doesn’t take away the physical aspect of a cigarette, a cigar, a pipe or a cigarillo; it does replace them with an e-cigarette, e-cigar, e-pipe and e-cigarillo. These smoking products use sophisticated, patented technology to vaporize special liquids, not surprisingly called an e-liquid, to produce smoke and deliver nicotine just as if you were smoking a real cigarette. For those who like the comforting glow of burning tobacco when they inhale, those e-smoking products even have a little light that simulates the glow when you inhale. Not necessary as far as I am concerned, but the makers apparently thought it added a nice touch.

So the idea here is to simulate smoking, down to getting that nice nicotine rush and the smoke, without actually burning tobacco with all its associated negative health aspects. But if there is still smoke, isn’t that bad for you anyway? Well, it’d probably be better not to smoke at all, but if tar from smoking is the primary concern, there is none.

How does one use electronic smoking products? Do you just flip out an e-pack, smoke and then discard the cigarette butt? Nope; it’s all different. Since the e-cigarette has a rechargeable battery and a liquid container for the smoking liquid, you use it over and over again. In that sense it is more like a pipe where you don’t discard the pipe but simply put in more tobacco. Likewise, you don’t discard electronic smoking products; you simply put in a new e-cartridge and occasionally recharge the battery (there’s even a USB-eCig that doesn’t need a battery; you just plug it into a USB port on your computer).

Do all e-cigarettes (there are also “e-MiniCig” tiny cigarettes) taste the same? They don’t. There are a couple of dozen tastes to select from, including those of some leading cigarette brands, and there are also different nicotine levels, from none at all to extra-high. There is no doubt that electronic smoking cigarettes require getting used to, and the technology is probably still in its infancy, but smokers who are really concerned about tar may want to take a look at e-cigs.