Electronic Cigarettes - Beat the No-Smoking Bans!

Originally posted by MR BOB
Just a warning these things are made in china, cheaply.
who have differant standards of safety and are not tested to be safe/unsafe

you dont really know what else you get with that vapor.

This is always something people need to be mindful of. I would suggest to always shop at a trusted seller. The most critical component to keep an eye on is the e-juice. The great thing about the e-juices that some people sell is that they are made by the seller. So if you trust the seller you can trust the quality of the juice. Steve at puresmoker.com sells some self-made juice, and he also sells juice of another brand that is widely trusted.

reply to post by Skamindy77


I generally hear nothing too bad about NJoy. Though I have heard that the quality/cost ratio isn't exactly on par. That definately could have changed though. Overall I think some people generally like them.

I am happy to report that at this point in time my sister has gone from cigarettes to the e-cig, and has now successfully stopped smoking the e-cig as well. She is officially a non smoker!

My mother, a long time smoker, has successfully migrated from cigarettes to the e-cig. She has never had any measurable success in attempts to stop smoking in the past. This is the only thing that has worked for her. Go mom!

My father, a long time smoker, has also successfully migrated from cigarettes to the e-cig. He is now going through periods of time without smoking the e-cig, too, but does utilize it intermittently in order to relieve himself of probable symptoms of withdrawal (not being able to fall asleep at night).

I am currently still using the e-cig rather than cigarettes, and I find myself content with this at the moment. I am young (25) and I still enjoy the act of smoking for various reasons. I am not opposed to quitting altogether, but I am not in that frame of mind at the moment.

Now if only I could get my brother to be willing to give it a chance...
(yes, we -were- a family of smokers)


I invite everyone to share your success stories with us! These stories may help others who are unsure as to the benefits and ease of migration concerning e-cigarettes. I can say with confidence that this technology seems to be the turn-key solution to smoking cessation that we have been waiting for.

-Sanity's Last Day

[edit on 11-2-2009 by Sanitys Last Day]

reply to post by Sanitys Last Day


I'm still waiting for mine, the web site I used was out of stock on most of their items. But I should get it by the end of the week and will let you know how it goes.

I too have many smokers in my family and would love to get them to switch, but when I explain the device they look at me like I'm crazy. As soon as I get my e-cig I'm hoping they will try it out.

Which flavor do you like the best? What type of cigarettes did you smoke prior to the e-cig's? I'm just wondering if the taste transition was hard. I am considering buying some of the flavored juice, but have never been keen on flavored cigarettes.

Anyhow, thanks again for the thread. Hopefully I will be sharing success stories soon.

Originally posted by Skamindy77
I'm still waiting for mine, the web site I used was out of stock on most of their items. But I should get it by the end of the week and will let you know how it goes.

Does this happen to be puresmoker.com? They were the ones I originally went with. Now that everyone my sister and father know wants one they don't have any in stock. I ended up getting together with a manufacturer in order to get my own little stockpile.

Originally posted by Skamindy77
I too have many smokers in my family and would love to get them to switch, but when I explain the device they look at me like I'm crazy. As soon as I get my e-cig I'm hoping they will try it out.

Everyone in my family thought it was crazy, too. That is until I visited and had the chance to demonstrate it. It was instant facination with every one of them. Now look where they are at. When you get yours just play with it and get the feel for how they work. Once you feel pretty comfortable with it go ahead and demonstrate it. They will think differently.

Originally posted by Skamindy77
Which flavor do you like the best? What type of cigarettes did you smoke prior to the e-cig's? I'm just wondering if the taste transition was hard. I am considering buying some of the flavored juice, but have never been keen on flavored cigarettes.

I used to smoke Marlboro Milds. I haven't tried all of the flavors, but I have to say that one of my favorites is Coffee flavor from puresmoker.com. It has a nice, moist, smooth draw that leaves a slight sweetened coffee taste on the back of the pallet. I understand that it also smells fairly nice as well. Strawberry is also good and Risky Yuice is rather nice. Vanilla is a classic, but nothing overwhelmingly special for me. The Minty Mentol is, eh, not a good replacement for menthol smokers. Its kind of like inhaling cool peppermint air only its a little overpowering for something like smoking. I haven't tried much of the other flavors, and I tend to alternate between mostly coffee, risky yuice and strawberry. Hell, maybe you could try mixing coconut and chocolate to make a Mounds bar flavor. Maybe rum and coke, haha.

If you can smell it I am curious to see if that changes the perception of these flavors. I lost nearly all of my sense of smell about 8 years ago, and I am willing to bet other people's perceptions on the flavors might differ slightly. Just keep that in mind.

-Sanity's Last Day

I've been smoking electronically for a few weeks now, ordered my electronic cigarette from New Smoke. I highly recommend it, i managed to reduce my nicotine intake succesfully! Here's a cool e-cigarette video demonstration of how it works...

Seems the only Canadian distributor I can find is currently sold out of everything! Man, do they ever sell!

It makes me want to become a distributor myself... hmm.

It's a possibility.

Originally posted by SolarSeaman
Nicotine is a poison. So that WHO report was a waste of money. I understand the concern but they coulda used that money in Africa instead of on a silly redundant and dull report.

Ya, so let's make these affordable in China due to those folks having such a high amount of smokers?

these things were invented in china....ya they actuallly do invent some of their own products come to find out...
it's also the one reason I am hesitant about them...
ya know, a cheaper chemical comes around than the one they are using, the think their is no harm and well....there is harm instead. I am looking for a provider of the cartridges that isn't china based because of that one small concern.

as far as coming up with you own solution for them, there's someone on ebay selling a recipe for around $10. you can refill the cartridges...

personally, I am gonna get one of these before april 1st, and on the first, I am gonna go out and visit as many non-smoking resturants as I can, and well...probably get my self put in jail for the trouble I cause.
one, I ain't smoking...
two, I am just out letting the world know.....I ain't paying more taxes so those who find favor with the government can have healthcare..
three....no, I won't leave or stop until some one can answer my little question....

just where in the constitutuion does it give the government the right to pick and choose just who amoung that growing mass of uninsured, underinsured, can't afford the healthcare system....are deserving of that healthcare and then proceed to take more money from the rest to provide it for them...taxes to electronically digitize their health records....why should any taxpayer mo ney go into a healthcare system when the taxpayer can't afford the healthcare !!!
all those non smokers out there think that they won't end up paying for this...we smokers will pay instead....let's all pick the first to go out into the world and let them know that WE ARE NOT!!!

Originally posted by SolarSeaman
Nicotine is a poison. So that WHO report was a waste of money. I understand the concern but they coulda used that money in Africa instead of on a silly redundant and dull report.

Technically everything is a poison in certain doses.

Nicotine becomes poisonous to the average human body at around 50 or more mg of intake.

That would be the equivalent of EATING 4 cigarettes. However, the nicotine intake from smoking a cigarette is around 0.5 to 1 mg.

It's technically impossible to overdose and poison yourself via nicotine through smoking... however, cyanide, arsenic, and tar are certainly negative factors that WILL destroy your health.

In theory, if you were to smoke 50 or more cigarettes AT ONCE (as in, all of it at the same time) you could take in nicotine in poisonous levels.


Aside from cigarettes however, misuse of nicotine gum and patches can and will poison you. Over-exposure to nicotine laced insecticides will also poison you.
But smoking cigarettes doesn't give you enough nicotine to reach poisonous levels.

E-cigs match the nicotine levels drawn into the body to that which you will find in regular cigarettes.
Meaning that, your average intake of nicotine from an e-cigarette will be approximately 0.5 to 1 mg as well.
Each nicotine refill cartridge contains the equivalent of 8 cigarettes (mini cartridge) to 15 cigarettes (regular cartridge).

Remember... that means the maximum intake of nicotine from an e-cigarette, start to finish of it's cartridge would be approximately 15 mg.

That's way shy of the 50 mg levels which would poison your system.


Yes, nicotine is a poison at high volumes (50 mg), but not at the levels that are taken in from cigarettes (1 mg) or e-cigs (approx max 15 mg start to finish, in the time it takes to smoke 15 conventional cigarettes.)


Remember, you can also poison yourself with water if you take enough of it in. Everything is poisonous in the right quantities.

Nicotine happens to be poisonous at 50mg for an average adult.

[edit on 5-3-2009 by johnsky]

reply to post by johnsky


I happen to be a Canadian retailer based out of Edmonton selling the E-Cig. I originally tried puresmoker's E-Cig and it was decent but he switched over to some weird cheap rubbery cartridges on my last order so I decided to start up my own business. My stock is pretty high quality and I price very well. I price well below any US or Canadian retailer.

I don't want to advertise too much on ATS as it might violate the TOS, so if you or anyone else wants some more info such as website just send me a PM and I'll fill you in on the details.

We'll I've been doing further research into e-cigs.

With additional assistance from member : Metro
Thanks for answering my questions Metro.

I'm very near purchasing one now.


I figure I'd share with you the information I've found so far... or at least a summary.




From tip (ember) to mouthpiece.

(LED|BATTERY|SWITCH|ATOMIZER|CARTRIDGE|MOUTHPIECE|

Power Supply : All manufacturers appear to use Lithium-Ion batteries. A good choice, as other batteries have horrible issues with battery memory and short life span under repetitive stop-start use.

The lithium Ion batteries are charged in a 5V DC charger connected to a 120VDC wall plug, or 220V outside of North America.
You can also purchase USB chargers, as the USB power supply from your PC is conveniently 5V.

There are a few companies that sell you a USB patch cord which replaces the battery with a wire, in case you'll be using it at your computer for extended periods of time and don't want to constantly charge and drain your batteries.

The power supplies in E-Cigs are switched on and off via a pressure trigger.
When you suck on the mouthpiece, the low pressure inside the unit triggers the battery to feed energy to the atomizer, beginning the process of vaporizing nicotine.

One type is a mechanical pressure switch, and the other is an electronic pressure switch.
The mechanical pressure switch is prone to wear and tear, and the electronic pressure switch, like all electronic meters, is prone to initial defect.

All power supplies come with an LED indicator on the end. The LED comes in various colors, the standard being ember orange. Most manufacturers make the LED glow (rather than blink) during inhalation to simulate the ember of a cigarette glowing. The LED is also utilized as a battery indicator during recharging, and often to indicate when the battery is near-dead.

The Switch, LED, and Battery are all part of the same assembly.


Atomizer : For most of them, the atomizer is a small heating element. The atomizer receives the nicotine solution from the cartridge in the same manor a wick draws fuel into a torch. The atomizer then vaporizes the nicotine solution, and the suction you supply (from mouth) draws the nicotine vapor into your lungs.

Notice I said most of them use heating elements.
The original patented design (by a mister Ruyan) used what he called "ultra-sonics" to vaporize the nicotine solution. Basically, instead of heating through a heating coil, it's done through high frequency friction.

I haven't surmised yet which atomizer lasts longer. The original sonic atomizer, or the heating element system, but the sonic variety costs a little more to manufacture.

The atomizer and wick are part of the same assembly.


Cartridge : The cartridge is typically a two section vial. An outer wall allows air flow past the inner vial toward the mouthpiece to allow the user to draw the vapors past the cartridge from the atomizer.

The inner vial is open at one end, the opening facing the atomizer. Inside the vial is an absorbent wadding that soaks up the nicotine solution and acts as the first part of the wick, (The other part of the wick being in the atomizer itself) passing the nicotine solution to the atomizer for vaporization.

The mouthpiece is typically one of two designs, the classic flat ended plastic mouth piece simulating the wood mouthpieces from the 30's/40's (you'll find these on cigarillos) , or the standard cigarette butt shaped end, which instead of a cotton filter, has a small diameter hole.

The wick, vial, and mouthpiece are part of the same assembly.


Nicotine solution : Commonly a mix of Nicotine, Propylene Glycol (commonly used in consumables and harmless to ingest), and water.

Other substances can be added to add flavor, such as artificial flavoring.

The nicotine is acquired by extracting it from tobacco. No other materials from the tobacco make it into the solution... IE, no harmful tar, cyanide, arsenic... nothing. The extracts from the tobacco are refined via distilling them into their individual components.

The solution is not combusted inside the device, no carbon monoxide or dioxide is generated.

Essentially, no carcinogens, no toxins, no second hand smoke, and with many solutions no smell (some artificial flavors have scents).

It should be remembered however, in large enough doses, Nicotine is a poison. It becomes harmful to the average human body at doses of over 50mg. However, the solutions and e-cigs are designed to regulate nicotine intake to 1.1 mg per 15 puffs on average.

Specialty mixtures can be acquired with higher levels.



Issues.

Standard issues with electronics apply : battery chargers can have defects, batteries can die after a while.

The atomizers have a life span, usually ranging from 2 weeks, to 2 months, depending on how often you clean it, how often you use it, and if you abuse it through a process called "dripping", which involves dropping the nicotine solution directly onto the atomizer instead of the wick doing it's job.

The atomizers life span is due to two failures.
1: Thermal wear and tear.
2: Grime buildup.

Thermal wear and tear is not as common any more, as the battery assembly will cut off power if you attempt to drag for too long. This is done to spare the atomizer from overheating.

Grime buildup is more common. Eventually, even with cleaning, grime contaminates the heating element through the process of the glycol overheating as it passes the element, the buildup occurs over a span of time and use. Eventually, enough buildup is present that all thermal energy is passed directly to the grime, rather than being used to vaporize the nicotine solution.

Boiling the atomizer in water, or (as some have tried) bathing overnight in Pepsi then rinsing, can clear this buildup off of the atomizer, allowing it's life cycle to be extended.
But atomizers are not expected to last forever, they are expected to fail eventually.


Refilling nicotine cartridges requires care. Nicotine can be absorbed quicker through the skin than it can through smoking. High concentrations of nicotine absorbed through the skin can cause drowsiness, fatigue, cold sweating, unconsciousness and in high enough doses, death.

The concentrations present in refill vials would require you to spill most of the contents of the vial onto your skin, and show considerable negligence in washing it off in order to poison you at lethal levels.
Nevertheless, wear gloves, or simply be cautious.

Never drink, inject, or bathe in nicotine regardless of concentration strength.

I just ordered mine...came to $108. I got the basic kit and quite a few extras (even a flavor to try). It sounds like a lot of money, but I figure I can save $300 a month now that I have to spend $5 a pac.

The information that everyone shared was very helpful.

Thank you

hehe, didn't know there was a topic about this on ats

I bought my e-sig just over a year ago in Holland, they aren't allowed to sell them in my country because of the so called risk of nicotine poisening.

I still use it in restaurants and so far, besides the looks, no one ever told me I couldn't smoke it.
can't get used to it for full time use though, it's just not the same

I know quite a few people I work with that have these. They are pretty interesting.

reply to post by johnsky


Johnsky....

Great info! This is exactly what I was looking for, along with others' personal experiences.

Thank you.

Originally posted by Sanitys Last Day
I used to smoke Marlboro Milds.

If you smoked milds, why did you first order the extreme versions that you discovered were too strong? (I'm asking because I'm worried that the e-cig will be weaker). What do you prefer now? (sorry if you already answered this--I tried to read through every post).

I smoke ultra lights now, so I bought the lights and one of the medium version.

I'm glad to hear that your family listened to you and are doing well.

[edit on 1-4-2009 by Pamie]

reply to post by Sanitys Last Day


A 1000 times Thank you! I first saw your thread on last Friday and I have been obsessed with the e cigarette search since then. I have been smoking for a VERY long time and I had not even heard of this (once recently in passing, it did not really register in my brain) then your thread.
I love you and you are my new hero. I finally figured it all out and placed my order, now I am patiently waiting.

Again thanks!!!!!!!!

Cindy

How many of these cartridges would you have to use a day for a 2 pack a day smoker?

I just stocked up and bought like 20 lbs of tobacco before the price went up, but now I'm curious about these e-cigs. Would be nice to use these in the house, and car (nicotine smell) and smoke the real ones outside. When my tobacco supply runs out, I'd like to switch to these permanently if the cost is decent enough. It's either that or try to quit.

Thanks to this thread, I ordered my ecigs the middle of March. I was able to stop smoking (over a pack a day habit for 20 years) with no cravings and no grouchiness. The problem is, supply. As of March 27, Health Canada has pretty much outlawed the sale of them.

Source: cbc.ca



Now that makes steam come from my ears. With all the poisons they currently sell in cigarettes, alcohol, the cosmetic industry, etc etc etc, I feel a more honest headline would be "until we evaluate how to tax them".

I phoned Health Canada, they told me since it contained nictoine it had to be regulated. I informed them that there was a non-nicotine option available; and would that be okay to purchase. The representative then changed his tune, saying I would need a license to sell medical equipement, and since it could be used with nicotine, it would require special licensing.

I did run across the most fascinating article when researching the e-cigarettes. One of the main ingredients is propylene glycol, which can also be used as an air germicide.

Source: Time Magazine (1942)




So for any e-cigarette users, it would be interesting to note if you get fewer colds/viruses.

This seems to be right up my ally. I've been smoking for nearly 20 years, 2 packs a day habit. i have tried everything to quit. The longest I've been able to go so far is with the patch, but I don't like the side effects very much.

My problem is that I really really enjoy smoking. I like to sit back and relax with one, especially when I'm working(work at home, so don't have to worry about someone telling me not too).

This seems like it will give me what the patch did in the nicotine, as well as allow me to sit back and relax. Hopefully I can ratchet down the nicotine doses as I go and eventually get to the 0 nicotine deal and then work on the rest without the nicotine addiction.

But I'd honestly just be happy with it as a replacement. I figured it up and it's about $20 for a carton with these, compared to $50 a carton for cigs. And I can atleast get rid of the extreme health risks from cigs(smoke 2 packs of camel a day for 20 years and you will feel it every day).

Thanks for the thread, hopefully this helps me get rid of my biggest vice. I'll post results after I try them.