Most of us started smoking when we were teenagers.  I made us look “cool”.  Why not? We were young, carefree, no responsibilities, no bills and cigarettes were so much cheaper years ago.  Cigarette price crawled up and we “suck it up”.  We were so addicted we didn’t care.  It just kept getting more and more expensive. 

Let’s stop for a minute and think about this.  I won’t talk about the 4,000 plus lethal chemicals you and the people around you are inhaling not the higher health and life insurance you pay for because of smoking.

It’s a well known fact that smoking is a long term expensive habit.  For a $10 a day smoker (most smokers spend more than that), that’s $70 a week, $280 a month, $3,640 a year.  How much has it been since you started smoking?

Nothing can be done about the money spent on cigarettes all those years of smoking.  what we can control is NOW.

An ex smoker can get an electronic cigarette starter pack for the cost of 1 week supply of real cigarettes.  After that, the electronic cigarette uses e liquid which only costs $10 per 10ml bottle.  Some vapers use 10ml more or less depending on the user.  Every couple of weeks a new atomizer ($10) is needed and every couple of months a new set of cartridges.  That’s all.  No wonder the electronic cigarette gains popularity everyday.  The money savings and health benefits make it a no brainer.

Everyone is vain.  Most people deny it, but they are vain.  We pick and choose the clothes we wear, our eyeglasses, get facials, manicures, pedicures and for some cosmetic surgery.  What makes us look good makes us feel good.  We are all bothered by scars, wrinkles, eye bags, chipped tooth etc.  The list is endless.  We eat (or at least try to) the right food and exercise but if you smoke, might as well throw in the towel.  All of that is for nothing.

Cigarette smoking constricts blood vessels thus compromises blood flow to all parts of the body.  Due to poor blood circulation, you are more prone to wrinkles, warts, acne etc.   There is nothing cool about smoking. 

Smoking stains your teeth.  Brushing morning, noon and night is no guarantee.  It increases the risk of gingivitis and periodontal disease.  It can eventually lead to loss of teeth.

Using electronic cigarettes instead of the real cigarette is the best option for those people who are worried about their looks and health but are not quite ready to give up smoking.  Some electronic cigarettes even look like real cigarettes.  You get the same throat hit from e cigarette without the 4,000 plus toxic chemicals present in real cigarettes.  The vapour is harmless to the vaper and the people around him.  It only contains propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, food grade food colouring and nicotine (also available without nicotine).  Using electronic cigarettes does not restrict blood flow to the body.  Because blood circulation will improve, everything else follows.  Feel good without depriving yourself by using electronic cigarettes.

In what may very well be the first case of its kind in Australia, a 67 year old retired builder has been fined for using an electronic cigarette in an area where smoking tobacco cigarettes is prohibited.

The whole affair began on the morning of 30 April 2013 when Anthony Campo was waiting for a train at Gosford train station. Campo was puffing away on his e-cigarette when he caught the attention of a pair of police officers who approached him to investigate the device that he was using. According the Campo, one of the police officers initially told him that he would only be cautioned and that he would not receive a fine. Nevertheless, a fine for the amount of $300 for smoking “in or on a public passenger vehicle, train or public place” did arrive a few days later in the mail. Campo decided to take the matter to court with the intent to plead guilty but hoping to avoid the $300 fine.

The judge who heard the case at Gosford Local Court on 15 November 2013, Magistrate Alan Railton, admitted that this kind of case was a “first” for him. The crown prosecutor submitted that an electronic cigarette fell within the definition of a “smoking product” under the Smoke-Free Environment Act 2000 (NSW) which defines a “smoking product” as “any tobacco product or other product that is intended to be smoked”. He further submitted that the court was obliged to find the defendant guilty and impose a fine. It was at this point that Campo decided to change his plea to not guilty, whereupon he produced a plastic bag containing an e-cigarette and told the magistrate that “it was only an electronic cigarette”.

Magistrate Railton then decided to postpone the trail till 19 December 2013. We will have to wait until then to see whether the court determines that e-cigarettes do indeed fall within the definition of tobacco products as outlined in the Smoke-Free Environment Act 2000 (NSW).

Although electronic cigarettes are a relatively recent invention, the companies that sell them in the United States are using the same marketing methods that were employed by tobacco cigarette companies in the middle of the previous century, before this was severely curtailed by legislation. As the market for e-cigarettes grows rapidly – it is predicted that annual sales will reach $2 billion this financial year – electric cigarette sellers are spending huge sums of money to market their product using television commercials with celebrities, as well as sponsoring sporting events. 

Whilst these marketing techniques can no longer be employed by tobacco cigarette companies, electronic cigarette companies are not hindered by the laws that impact upon the way that the former can advertise their products. So e-cigarette companies are copying the techniques that worked so effectively for their counterparts for so many years. Furthermore, electric cigarette companies are also using the methods that are still available to tobacco companies such as the hosting of special events, print advertising, promotions, and sample giveaways.

One of the biggest American electronic cigarette companies, Blu Ecigs, has recently added a second actor, Jenny McCarthy, to its list of star endorsers. The other is Stephen Dorff. Blu Ecigs has so far spent $12.4 million on advertising this year, a marked increase from the same period last year when it had spent $992,000. Other big e-cigarette companies are also spending large sums on advertising.

Not everyone is happy with this new marketing blitz. Matthew Myers, the president of the Washington DC-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, stated that “It is beyond troubling that e-cigarettes are using the exact same marketing tactics we saw the tobacco industry use in the 50s, 60s and 70s, which made it so effective for tobacco products to reach youth”. He added that “The real threat is whether, with this marketing, e-cigarette makers will undo 40 years of efforts to deglamorise smoking.”

Electric cigarette companies dispute this claim, arguing that their target market is the adult population, not children. They also point out that the purpose of their product is to help people quit smoking, not to encourage them to start. They add that electronic cigarettes are legal and are no different to other quit smoking products such as nicotine gums, inhalers and patches, and quit smoking drugs.

Like tobacco companies, e-cigarette companies are spending large sums of money to promote their brands. Elliot Maisel, chairman and chief executive of the Fin Branding Group, which sells the Fin E-Cigarette, declared that “Our company is built on branding”. This is reflected in the fact that the company plans to spend more than $8 million this year on advertising to exploit “the opportunity to build a great American iconic brand”. The company’s vice-president for marketing, Joana Martins, stated that the target market is “adult smokers, 25 to 44, whoa re tired of being ostracised”. The message is that “it’s OK to smoke again”.

Despite increasing regulation of electronic cigarettes and even calls to ban them in the United States and numerous European countries, their popularity continues to grow. In the United Kingdom alone, it is estimated that there are 1.3 million electronic cigarette users.

The electronic cigarette – which is also known as the e-cigarette or electric cigarette – is a battery operated device that is similar in appearance to a normal tobacco cigarette and is used to quit smoking. Instead of smoke, it produces a vapour that is inhaled and exhaled in a similar manner to tobacco smoke. The vapour is composed of vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol and food flavour. The contemporary incarnation of the device – it was invented in 1963 but never mass produced – was developed in China in 2003 by a pharmacist whose father died of lung cancer.

Partly because of its relative newness, there is limited scientific research into the effectiveness of the e-cigarette as a quit smoking product. Some research, however, has been undertaken. One such piece is that conducted by researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health in 2010 and published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine the following year (Michael B. Siegel, Kerry L. Tanwar & Kathleen S. Wood (2011) Electronic cigarettes as a smoking-cessation tool: Results from an online survey, American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 40(4), 472-475). It was found that 31 per cent of survey respondents stated that they had successfully stopped smoking for a six month period with the assistance of the e-cigarette, a figure that is significantly higher than the quitting rate for more traditional nicotine replacement therapies such as gums, lozenges, patches and puffers, which have a success rate of between 12 and 18 per cent.

More recent research conducted at the University of East London found that 86 per cent of participants had not smoked cigarettes from several weeks or months as a result of using the electric cigarette. Three-quarters of the subjects reported that they used the e-cigarette to quit smoking, whereas 22 per cent said that they started using the device for different reasons, such as to get around smoking prohibitions in clubs, pubs and restaurants. The research was published in the journal Addiction (Lynne Dawkins, John Turner, Amanda Roberts & Kirstie Soar (2013) ‘Vaping’ profiles and preferences: An online survey of electronic cigarette users, Addiction, 108(6) 1115-1125).

Scientific research, as well as anecdotal evidence from the tens of thousands of people who have quit smoking with the aid of the electric cigarette, suggest that it might be the most effective quit smoking product available on the market.