Electronic cigarettes have exploded in popularity over the past decade, being hailed as a viable alternative to traditional cigarettes. Although the first electronic cigarette actually dates back to 1960, they didn’t become widely known or mass-produced until more recent years. The e-cigarette industry has rapidly developed in a relatively short period of time, and now there are over 250 different brands of e-cigarettes available in a wide variety of flavors including mint, java, strawberry, and bubble gum.
So what exactly is an Electronic Cigarette or E-Cigarette?
It is a slender cylindrical device that looks very similar to a real cigarette, but it is battery-operated to produce a vapor that you can inhale to simulate the conventional smoking experience. This vapor comes from a small cartridge inside the e-cigarette known as a cartomizer, which contains a special flavored liquid known as “e-liquid” or “e-juice”. This e-liquid is heated and vaporized by a small heating element within the cartomizer to produce a smoke-like vapor that is inhaled by the user. Any time you puff on an e-cigarette (an act that is commonly called “vaping”), the end lights up just like a real cigarette, but this light is actually produced by way of a small LED within the tip of the device.
The e-liquid inside of the cartomizer consists of a mixture of ingredients including water, propylene glycol (a widely used solvent), vegetable glycerin, flavoring, and nicotine. Each of these ingredients is present in e-liquid in varying amounts, based upon which type and brand of e-liquid you choose. The e-cigarette is sometimes technically referred to as an “alternative nicotine delivery device”, as it is a way for current or former smokers to manage their nicotine addiction without having to go “cold turkey” by no longer smoking conventional cigarettes.
Many e-cigarettes are sold in starter kits that can range in price from about $30 to over $100. A typical starter kit contains the e-cigarette, a rechargeable battery, a USB charger, and a couple of refill cartridges. While many critics point out the expense of e-cigarettes, it must be put into perspective by comparing it to the cost of maintaining a pack-a-day conventional cigarette smoking habit, which can easily run over $1,000 per year.
As far as regulation goes, a federal court decision in 2011 gave the Food and Drug Administration the right to regulate e-cigarettes under the same laws as other tobacco products. This means that just like traditional cigarettes cannot be legally purchased by minors, no one under 18 years of age can purchase e-cigarettes either. As of this writing, no other regulations have been imposed on e-cigarette manufacturers except an FDA-issued warning to refrain from making unsubstantiated claims in their marketing and advertisements.
As far as the health risks of vaping and e-cigarettes are concerned, the jury is still largely out. Vaping is still a very new phenomenon, which means that we currently don’t have the advantage of several years of scientific study to discover what the health effects of e-cigarettes may be. At this point, it is a commonly accepted fact that e-cigarettes are safer than conventional cigarettes, but there are no detailed scientific studies available to give us an idea of what the long-term health effects of vaping may be.
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