Electronic Cigarettes

This month marks the three year anniversary of me stopping using tobacco.

Notice I said 'stopping using tobacco' as that's important - I'm still a nicotine junkie and pretty damn ok with that. E-Cigs have become a better way of delivering that nicotine and, well, kinda a hobby too.

Three years ago I'd become sick of smoking. I'd been a pack-a-day (at least) man for over 20 years but there were certain things about my addiction that were becoming increasingly hard for me to justify: The smell on clothes, furniture and in the house and the cost.

I'd read some articles on E-Cigs and decided to give them a try. The premise was that your nicotine (medical grade, the same stuff which goes into gum and patches) was delivered in a vapour (the stuff in asthma inhalers and nightclub 'smoke' machines called Propylene Glycol) without the thousands of chemicals which make up the smoke of a traditional cigarette.

I was sold.

My first kit was purchased from Amazon and, to be honest, it performed terribly in all but one respect. The battery lasted 90 minutes if you were lucky and there was no taste at all from the vapour.

It was, however, giving me nicotine and I didn't crave tobacco in the slightest.

I was even more sold than a few lines above.

It was only a few weeks later that I discovered the more 'hobbyist' side to E-Cigs and that was only because I was searching for a longer-lasting and more efficient method. I went to a website and purchased my first eGo, the workhorse of the E-Cig world.

An eGo:



I've got all manner of devices from the £10 eGo to hand-crafted, bespoke E-Cigs like the Steampunk and the Touchwood:





I was one of the first to buy a Lavatube:



And it's spiritual successor, the Vamo:



In fact, here's my 'Vaping cupboard':



Now, you might think this is excessive and it probably is (you only really need a few eGos and some tank atomizers for the liquid) but the fact remains that I've saved a fortune from not buying packs of cigarettes (a £7.99 30ml bottle of liquid will last well over a week and that's cheaper than one 20 pack of tobacco ciggies, and that's even not as cheap as making the liquid yourself, which I do) so a lot of these devices are little treats to myself.

I'm not here to preach health benefits as I'm no doctor but I do know that my lung capacity has improved back to the levels of a non-smoker and my sense of taste and smell is an awful lot better than it used to be. Ally this to the lack of smell from me, my clothes, my car or my house and I'm as content as can be.

If you're a smoker thinking of switching do some research and if you want to progress, give me a shout. I got into the scene (ugh ) pretty early so am on first name terms with a lot of the vendors. I'm not on commission though, so sleep easy - I won't recommend something because it's handy for me to do so but because I've tried it and liked it.

Oh, I've tried a lot of rubbish too. Loads of it.

I'll leave you with my latest little toy, a CoolFire:

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Looks like a Sonic Screwdriver.

A friend of mine recommended an electronic pipe, don't know if it works on same principles though, you have to place a cigarette inside the pipe.

I tried them... I still got the one I bought ages ago.

Thing is, they have had absolutely no safety testing and there's a big deal whether or not they should be banned until a thorough check can be made on them.

They've also apparently killed people within a few weeks of using them which has fuelled the fire, so to speak.

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I read about one exploding in someone's mouth and causing their lips and tongue to get ... ripped apart. But that's just something I read. It makes me wary of them, though.

They look cool, though, but so do normal cigarettes, and look at how many people have died from smoking those.

Exactly the same principle - The E-Pipe is basically a battery holder and a switch. The battery powers the atomizer, which turns the nicotine liquid into vapour.

I was never a pipe smoker so never hankered after an electronic one but know a few people who use them. There's an Italian company which makes lovely hand-crafted ones.

Wonderful looking things, but expensive. Link

A tenner will probably buy you something from Dealextreme etc but I can't vouch for the quality.

Thing with normal cigs is that they take a while to kill you.


Those electric ones have killed people within weeks.

Here's mine.

E-Lites... looks like a regular cig but is made of metal and glows green on the end.


The butt end is the nicotine capsule that you replace every now and then... the white part is the battery that you charge up by plugging into the USB on a computer.

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Ok, safety: Regulation is coming to the EU in 2015 but I can't see anything changing in terms of the e-cig's constituent parts, just the cost of them once they start to get taxed.

The 'exploding e-cig' stories (of which I've only seen one proper documented case) seem to happen when batteries get stacked in bespoke devices and it shorts. The vast majority of devices on the market have short protection, reverse polarity protection, under volt protection etc but I have 3 or 4 totally mechanical e-cigs as well.

I use good quality AW or Efest batteries (torch users will know who I mean) and chargers and never stack them.

Are electronic cigarettes just as dangerous as regular cigarettes? Will they still give you lung cancer? If they don't or if it's even just less likely, that would be appealing to me.

I've been smoking 24 years and would love an easy way to quit. I might give this a try.

They're cancer free apparently...


The 'smoke' is water/liquid vapour that is laced with nicotine... so there's no toxins from tar and stuff that comes from actual tobacco.

Just liquid vapour and nicotine.

They are still addictive as the capsules contain nicotine, but they lack all the other dangerous chemicals, so yeah, they are definitely less dangerous. They are also not harming the environment and therefore you can also smoke them in restaurants (at least in Belgium, but I think it's the same in other countries)

I still smoke tobacco at the moment, but I might try these electronic cigs one day. The ones you have look rather nice, Tacitus. Perhaps this is the future of smoking.

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Depends on the doctor you speak two. I spoke at length about e-cigs to my two regular GPs when I stopped tobacco and their response was basically 'anything that keeps you off tobacco cigarettes is a positive'.

If you're not already a smoker, my advice is to not even think about buying an e-cig. They're a nicotine delivery system (although you can buy nicotine-free liquid) after all, and nicotine's one heck of an addictive drug.

I've never been able to become hooked on cigarettes. I've smoked plenty of them, but, I dunno, maybe never enough to the point where I always needed them. They tend to make me nauseous and often when I buy a pack, I'll end up smoking half of them and then throwing the rest away. They also tend to give me headaches.

But it's a fun habit, I think, in a way, to just stand around and smoke. And I like the buzz I can get from a cigarette.

Yeah, if you still get the "nikki buzz" when you smoke, then the best thing to do is stay off them before you do end up hooked.

An e-marijuana cigarette would be nice.

E-Crack...

Do you just turn these things on and they're already lit? There's no lighting with a lighter or anything?

Charge up the battery using a computer USB...


Then, attach the nicotine capsule.


Then, all you have to do is take it out of your pocket when you need it a puff on it like a regular cig.

The thing comes to life and gives you the nicotine hit. When you're done, you just stick it back in your pocket.

There are plenty of cheap one-use (ie, when the battery's done you throw it in the bin) disposables out there and I think that's the best way to switch - Not all smokers take to e-cigs and some miss the WTAs (whole tobacco alkaloids) which come in tobacco.

Not tried them (the lookalike e-cigs when I started were total trash) but the Ritchy disposable seems to be pretty good.

The next step would be an eGo starter kit. There are loads of cheap eGo copies floating around and I'd personally stay well clear. You're looking for something branded a Joyetech eGo - They invented them and I've got 3 or 4. They're the only things I take 'out and about'.

EDIT - If anyone wants to PM me, I can give some more well-tailored advice. I'm really only familiar with the UK vendors but have used a few of the US ones. One in particular is my go-to store for liquid.