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Electronic Cigarettes made a debut in the market at a time when consumers were actively searching for an alternative to smoking tobacco. For generations, smokers were an acceptable part of society. Smoke tobacco was common and the only place you might not see someone lighting up was in church. An ashtray was a common desk accessory in most office buildings. The only place where smoking wasn’t acceptable was in retail stores where fabrics and products made a lit cigarette a fire hazard.

There were always people who didn’t like the smoking habit but their voices were muted and usually confined to asking guests not to smoke in their home. You knew smoking wasn’t good for your health but had also been told if took many years of smoking to cause health problems.

Electronic Cigarettes Answer a Growing Demand

The problems for big tobacco began with a Canadian study about the effects of second hand smoke. There had been increasing questions about the safety of smoking tobacco in homes where children and non-smokers were present. Once it was assumed that the smell of cigarette smoke might be unpleasant for non-smokers but posed no hazards. This first study proved how wrong that view might be.

There were no sweeping revelations from the study but the connection between health and second hand smoke had been established. Further studies and re-interpretations of the initial research made it clear non-smokers could suffer from health problems due to breathing the left over smoke dispersed in a room where a smoker was indulging his habit.

Before the debate about secondary smoke, you could sit in the comfort of your favorite chair and smoke with no complaint. Once smokers realized they might be placing the health of their spouse or children at risk with their habit, the view of smoking as an acceptable practice changed. The news reports of dangers of second hand smoke provided a weapon for non-smoking organizations to use in discouraging smokers and urging them to quit.

Smoking cessation products became best selling consumer items as many smokers tried to stop smoking with as little discomfort as possible. The first nicotine replacement patches were available by prescription only but after years of use with few complaints of side effect, the products were allowed to be sold over the counter. The patches were joined by nicotine gum and lozenges and stop smoking clinics and seminars were offered even in the smallest towns.

E-Cigs Offer the First True Alternative to Tobacco

The early e-cigarettes were fun to try but did not produce enough vapor to satisfy a person addicted to tobacco. The concept of electric cigarettes, however, captured the imagination of smokers. Not every person wants to quit smoking. Some may be stubborn and resent pressure put on them to stop a habit they enjoy. Others have tried to stop smoking many times and failed.

Smoking tobacco is much more than an addiction to the drug nicotine. There are small habits a smoker develops over the years that include everything from tapping a pack of smokes sharply to pack the tobacco tighter to having a cigarette in their hand when they talk on the phone. It is the full smoking experience that makes quitting so difficult.

The quality of Electronic Cigarettes today is far removed from those early e-cigs that were sold cheaply a few years ago. The technology for batteries and flavors has improved which allows leading producers of e-cigarettes to sell a product that is now a viable tobacco alternative.

The vapor volume of the best e-smoking products can deliver much the same smoking experience as lighting up a tobacco cigarette. The flavors are not exactly the same as you are accustomed to but new flavors in e-cigarettes are very close to full and light and even menthol tobacco products.

How Electric Cigarettes Work

Vapor volume is the end result for any e-cig and everything is designed to produce a thick, lush vapor for the e-smoker to inhale. Older versions were 3 part designs that required the e-smoker to frequently disassemble and refill the e-cig. Often the flavors tasted little like the flavor description and the early liquid refill drops could provide too much or too little nicotine and leave a bad aftertaste in your mouth.

If you took your e-cigarette with you on errands you had to carry cleaning implements and a bottle of refill liquid that could leak in your pocket. You frequently needed to find a table or shelf where you could take your e-cig apart to clear a clog and re-saturate the little sponge inside. At first, this made e-smoking interesting but the need to constantly pay attention to keep vapor flowing made e-smoking too much work. It was easier to just light up a traditional smoke and many early e-cigs ended up in the trash or a junk drawer.

Today’s new two-part designs eliminate the need for constant maintenance or cleaning. The best cartridge designs add a new mouthpiece each time you refill your Electronic Cigarettes as each new cartridge is a new mouthpiece and atomizer. The short lived heavy batteries initially used have been replaced by leading manufacturers with lithium ion batters that can be recharged and hold the charge for quite some time.

You don’t need to use e-liquids as each cartridge is a refill and the liquid is carefully measured by the manufacturer to provide reliable taste and nicotine levels. It’s easy to carry several small refill cartridges in your pocket with no danger of leaks or staining to your clothing. When your e-cigarette vapor begins to taste a bit stale you simply unscrew the mouthpiece and discard it. Screw on a new, fresh cartridge and you are immediately ready to inhale vapor again.

Your electronic cigarette turns itself on when you draw on it to take a puff and immediately stops producing vapor when you stop puffing. There is no secondary smoke rising from an e-cigarette held in your hand. Your hair, clothing and furniture don’t acquire the nasty smells you associate with tobacco. Best of all, once people around you realize you are using an electronic cigarette, they aren’t concerned about your smoking interfering with their air quality.

E-Cigarettes or Cigarettes, it is Your Choice

If you are concerned about the health hazards of tobacco smoke you inhale into your body, e-smoking may appear to offer a healthier alternative. We don’t yet know if e-smoking is better for you though it’s difficult to think of a product that could carry health risks worse than tobacco.

Scientific studies are underway to compare the health benefits and risks, if any, of Electronic Cigarettes to use of traditional cigarettes. It takes years to conduct proper scientific protocol and until those tests results are published, e-cig manufacturers cannot make health claims about their products.

This is something new as the FDA only recently began regulating electric cigarettes. Prior to 2010, the products were not regulated and some of the claims on sales pages were optimistic rather than reality based. Big tobacco ignored the fledgling e-cigarette sales when the products first hit the U.S. market. As consumer demand grew and leading manufacturers of electric cigarettes emerged the e-cig products became mainstream.

Tobacco companies first tried to ban the sales of Electronic Cigarettes by putting pressure on the FDA. When that did not work as planned, the FDA tried to regulate e-cigarettes as drugs. A federal court struck down that attempt and instructed the FDA to regulate electric cigarettes under the same rules and laws used to regulation the sale of tobacco products. This was a huge victory for consumers.

The latest e-cigs provide a real smoking alternative to tobacco use. Whether you replace inhaling tobacco smoke entirely or choose Electronic Cigarettes to use in places where tobacco is not acceptable is up to you. The importance of the highly efficient e-cigs sold today is that these are the first products to provide a real alternative to use of tobacco.

If you’re looking for the best e-cigarette, I recommend the one from Green Smoke. For the best coupon codes, check out the coupons & promos section. Or if you’d like to know more, click here for a more detailed review of the Green Smoke E-Cigarette.

Mary Kay Rivers