Doc: Why not demo it at CES? It's a nifty little electronic gizmo, so CES seems like the perfect place to demo it to me. I first learned about the whole e-cig thing from videos of them at CES 2008. I've only smoked one or two real cigarettes since.

Dennis: From what I've read, your complaint is one of the most common. But also fairly common is e-cig users coming to prefer the flavor of their e-cig to their once-beloved favorite cigarette brand, often claiming that after a few weeks on the e-cig exclusively, regular cigarettes taste like licking an ashtray. These aren't just casual social smokers saying this either; this is coming from long time, multi-pack per day smokers as well. Certainly though, smoking an e-cig is different from smoking the real things, and some people don't want to make the switch.

Nicotine is indeed extremely dangerous. Based on what I have read, letting a small amount of pure nicotine absorb into your skin can kill your ass, quick. However, the stuff is these cartridges, even the higher strength ones, is far from pure nicotine. And while smoking can certainly cause cancer, I've not found any studies saying that nicotine alone can cause cancer. It does seem to lead to hardening of the arteries (due in part to the fact that it can raise blood pressure, I think), and some studies indicate that it can speed up the growth of existing cancer (according to wikipedia).

So no, nicotine is not entirely harmless. But that's not the point. The point is that inhaling just nicotine is probably a lot safer than inhaling nicotine plus several other know carcinogens. It is worth mentioning here that you can get the cartridges for these e-cigs with zero nicotine, so you can use them to help you cope with the hand-to-mouth, oral fixation, “Oh lookit! I'm blowing smoke rings!” issues where other nicotine replacement therapies (gum, patches, etc.) fall severely short.

Also worth mentioning is that the idea that each e-cig cartridge equals about a pack of real cigarettes is an outright marketing lie. No e-cig user I've ever talked to has been able to get more than about 5-7 cigarette's worth of smoking out of a single cartridge. Luckily, you can find cartridges for much cheaper (about $1 each) than the $5 these jerks want to charge for them.

Doc: Why not demo it at CES? It's a nifty little electronic gizmo, so CES seems like the perfect place to demo it to me. I first learned about the whole e-cig thing from videos of them at CES 2008. I've only smoked one or two real cigarettes since.

Dennis: From what I've read, your complaint is one of the most common. But also fairly common is e-cig users coming to prefer the flavor of their e-cig to their once-beloved favorite cigarette brand, often claiming that after a few weeks on the e-cig exclusively, regular cigarettes taste like licking an ashtray. These aren't just casual social smokers saying this either; this is coming from long time, multi-pack per day smokers as well. Certainly though, smoking an e-cig is different from smoking the real things, and some people don't want to make the switch.

Nicotine is indeed extremely dangerous. Based on what I have read, letting a small amount of pure nicotine absorb into your skin can kill your ass, quick. However, the stuff is these cartridges, even the higher strength ones, is far from pure nicotine. And while smoking can certainly cause cancer, I've not found any studies saying that nicotine alone can cause cancer. It does seem to lead to hardening of the arteries (due in part to the fact that it can raise blood pressure, I think), and some studies indicate that it can speed up the growth of existing cancer (according to wikipedia).

So no, nicotine is not entirely harmless. But that's not the point. The point is that inhaling just nicotine is probably a lot safer than inhaling nicotine plus several other know carcinogens. It is worth mentioning here that you can get the cartridges for these e-cigs with zero nicotine, so you can use them to help you cope with the hand-to-mouth, oral fixation, “Oh lookit! I'm blowing smoke rings!” issues where other nicotine replacement therapies (gum, patches, etc.) fall severely short.

Also worth mentioning is that the idea that each e-cig cartridge equals about a pack of real cigarettes is an outright marketing lie. No e-cig user I've ever talked to has been able to get more than about 5-7 cigarette's worth of smoking out of a single cartridge. Luckily, you can find cartridges for much cheaper (about $1 each) than the $5 these jerks want to charge for them.

Note – I smoke. But I do not want kids starting to smoke. Which, alas, means that even if politicians ever stop taxing a $1 pack at $6.50 (or more) my costs will keep going up.

Note – I smoke. But I do not want kids starting to smoke. Which, alas, means that even if politicians ever stop taxing a $1 pack at $6.50 (or more) my costs will keep going up.