Electronic Cigarettes: Mana from Heaven?

[shotgun903]

I was just curious if you guys have an opinion on Electronic Cigarettes or Personal Vaporizers.
E-Cigs are products which allow the user to vaporize liquid, usually water based (with other ingredients), laced with nicotine. The result allows one to inhale "smoke" that feels similar to the act of smoking tobacco cigarettes, and get one's nicotine absorption in the process.
The liquid contains propylene glycol (PG), vegetable glycerin (VG), water, artificial flavorings and, if desired, nicotine.
There have been some questions raised (mainly by the FDA) as to the safety of using these. I'm a 20 year smoker (pack a day average) and have been using one for several weeks now.
I have no desire to smoke a regular ciggarrette anymore. I have tried to stop smoking many times unsuccessfully, and this simple device worked immedietly. I have already switched to using non-nicotine or very low nicotine liquid. More importantly this replaces the "habit" completly.
From what I have read these e-cigs are much safer than smoking tobacco.

Just thought this would be a intersting topic or the show. Lots of info available at http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com

[Dr Steve]

I was just curious if you guys have an opinion on Electronic Cigarettes or Personal Vaporizers.
E-Cigs are products which allow the user to vaporize liquid, usually water based (with other ingredients), laced with nicotine. The result allows one to inhale "smoke" that feels similar to the act of smoking tobacco cigarettes, and get one's nicotine absorption in the process.
The liquid contains propylene glycol (PG), vegetable glycerin (VG), water, artificial flavorings and, if desired, nicotine.
There have been some questions raised (mainly by the FDA) as to the safety of using these. I'm a 20 year smoker (pack a day average) and have been using one for several weeks now.
I have no desire to smoke a regular ciggarrette anymore. I have tried to stop smoking many times unsuccessfully, and this simple device worked immedietly. I have already switched to using non-nicotine or very low nicotine liquid. More importantly this replaces the "habit" completly.
From what I have read these e-cigs are much safer than smoking tobacco.

Just thought this would be a intersting topic or the show. Lots of info available at http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com

We did a whole segment on a past show on E-Cigs. Here's the deal:

1) inhaling nicotine alone is WAY safer than smoking. No tar, no carbon monoxide, no formaldehyde, etc.

2) There's no evidence, however, that the e-cig is a safe delivery system for inhaling nicotine.

3) Nicotine is still bad for you. It's a tumor promoter and a vasoconstrictor (causes vessels to spasm...try that in your heart someday and see what happens, wait, no don't).

4) If the e-cig manufacturers could just somehow guarantee that they deliver a metered dose of nicotine with each inhalation, I'd be on board. Let's just say that one day you get a defective one and you get the whole load of nicotine in one breath, it could cause serious damage if not death. Having said that, I've never heard of this happening. So the things probably are safe, the manufacturers (who are not US based companies) just haven't tried to prove it yet.

5) On one of their websites, the importer said that ecigs are "Probably safe" which is not enough for me. :smile:


I'm not against ecigs, despite all that I said above. I'm just leery of a drug delivery device (and that's what it is, make no mistake about it) that isn't approved and regulated by the FDA, with all the testing that goes with it.


From a historical standpoint, RJR and a couple of the other cig manufacturers petitioned the FTC and the FDA to let them produce a "safe" smokeless cigarette about 10-15 years ago. It was shot down and now we're importing crappier ones than RJR would have produced. I mean, the tobacco companies may be scum (I'll leave that to you to decide), but they sure do know how to make cigarettes.

More as it comes out.


your pal,



steve