I’ve recently had the pleasure of discovering electronic cigarettes and I have to admit that I’m absolutely crazy about these things. I used to smoke a pack and a half of cigarettes every day and I was having all kinds of health problems…coughing in the morning, barely able to exercise at all.
About 3 months ago a friend recommended electronic cigarettes as an alternative and so I gave them a shot. That might have been the best decision I ever made. I’ve completely quit smoking real cigarettes and it wasn’t even difficult (unlike every other method to quit out there). I actually ran 6 miles yesterday and felt just fine; and while it took me a while to work up to that, I feel so much better I can’t even describe the change.
So, for any of you smokers out there looking for an alternative to all that nasty tar and cancer-causing crap, here’s a brief overview of electronic cigarettes. If there’s anything I didn’t cover here, feel free to let me know.
Electronic Cigarettes
What are electronic cigarettes? They are relatively new devices that were invented with the intent of being an alternative to regular tobacco cigarettes.
The primary difference between electronic cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes is that electronic cigarettes are supposed to contain fewer cancer-causing chemicals that traditional tobacco cigarettes. The benefit of this is that for those who are addicted to smoking, they can use electronic cigarettes instead of tobacco and it’s supposedly quite a bit safer.
Comparison of ECigs
First of all, if you’re interested in electronic cigarettes, you should check out this electronic cigarette comparison so you understand the different brands of ecigs and how they differ from one another. On that same site I also found some electronic cigarette reviews, which helped me decide which company to purchase from.
Price of Electronic Cigarettes
One of the biggest differences between electronic cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes are the prices. Tobacco cigarettes can cost anywhere from $6 – $10 per pack, depending on where you live. Electronic cigarettes are a bit different in that they don’t come in packs. Rather the ecig device consists of a battery, an atomizer, and a cartridge which contains a liquid nicotine solution. Instead of pulling out a new smoke like you would with a tobacco cigarettes, you simply replace the cartridge on an electronic cigarette when it runs dry.
Cartridges on electronic cigarettes generally last quite a bit longer than a standard cigarette. Each company varies, but the average is around 5-10 cigarettes per cartridge. So in order to compare the price, you have to consider the cost of the cartridge against the cost of a standard cigarette.
Electronic cigarette cartridges cost about $1-2 each, which equals about 10-20 cigarettes. By comparison, a tobacco cigarette costs anywhere from $0.30 – $0.50 each (based on $6 – 10 per pack). If you assume you’ll get the equivalent of 10 cigarettes out of an e-cig cartridge (a modest estimate), then an e-cig cartridge at $2 is equivalent to $3 – $5 of tobacco cigarettes. So a packs worth of electronic cigarette cartridges will cost you $4, a savings of $2 – $6 over tobacco cigarettes. Not bad.
Health Benefits
In addition to the cost savings, it’s suggested by many smoking and addiction experts that electronic cigarettes are likely significantly less harmful than tobacco cigarettes. The primary harmful materials in a tobacco cigarette are what’s known as “by-products of combustion.” In laymans terms, the bad stuff in a tobacco cigarette comes mostly from inhaling smoke from burning the tobacco, rather than the tobacco itself. Since electronic cigarettes don’t burn anything, rather they vaporize a nicotine solution just like a humidifier vaporizes water, so they’re generally thought of as being much safer.
It’s important to note that the safety of electronic cigarettes has not been fully studied as of yet, so keep that in mind.
Appearance and Functionality
Electronic cigarettes work just like tobacco cigarettes. You take a drag, the vapor fills your lungs, and you exhale. The primary differences are how you put the items together. Obviously there’s no assembly with a tobacco cigarette…you just pull one out of a pack and light it. Electronic cigarettes are slightly different. When the cartridge runs dry, you slide it off the device and slide a new cartridge on. Not much effort really at all, but slightly different from a tobacco cigarette.
The other big difference is that there’s no smoke with an electronic cigarette. E-Cigs vaporize a liquid nicotine solutions, so rather than inhaling actual smoke, you inhale water vapor with nicotine mixed in. This difference is the primary reason electronic cigarettes are thought to be significantly less harmful than tobacco cigarettes, and likely to cause less cancer.
Electronic cigarettes don’t look a whole lot different from real cigarettes. In fact, from a distance, you wouldn’t notice someone who was smoking an electronic cigarette at all. Some companies sell devices that are very large and look strange, so you’ll probably want to steer clear of those products unless you like drawing attention to yourself.
I prefer to stick with a brand that looks just like a real cigarette. All of the companies have plenty of pictures of their products for you to browse before purchasing so you can get an idea of the size and appearance of each company’s electronic cigarettes. Some notable electronic cigarettes that look much more like real cigarettes than others are Blu Cigs and NJoy. These two companies in particular have gone to great lengths to make sure that their devices look very much like traditional tobacco cigarettes.
Most ecigs have a small LED at the tip of the battery which lights up when you take a drag. This LED serves two purposes. The first is to simulate the look of a real cigarette. You’ll notice when you take a hit from a real cigarette, the cherry glows bright enough to see quite clearly. The LED on an electronic cigarette does the same thing. The other purpose of the LED is to serve as an indicator that your battery needs charging. If you take a drag on your e-cig and the LED doesn’t light up, you know you’ve got a dead battery and it’s time for a recharge.
I suppose there’s a third reason for the LED, depending on what company you purchase from. Some companies manufacture an electronic cigarette with an LED in colors other than amber. The most common color for these LEDs is blue. The reason for this is so that you can more easily smoke your electronic cigarette indoors in locations covered by smoking bans. Being able to smoke in bars and restaurants is a big selling point for electronic cigarettes to many people. The devices are not, in fact, covered by smoking bans since they only emit water vapor instead of noxious smoke. Because of this, you’re allowed to smoke electronic cigarettes even in bars and restaurants that have banned tobacco smoking.
However, if you purchase an electronic cigarette with an amber colored LED at the tip of the battery, this could very easily be mistaken for a traditional tobacco smoke, and you’ll likely have some explaining to do when you “light up.” The products with blue LEDs are designed to prevent such an awkward situation. It’s quite clear that you’re not smoking a real cigarette when the blue LED lights up, and by now, many bar and restaurant owners are accustomed to the color and the fact that they are okay to smoke.