Smoke Free Cigarettes

Archive for July, 2010

blu Cigs electronic cigarettes are quickly becoming a favorite among e-cig users, and understandably so! blu Cigs have some significant design differences that provide their users with a more satisfying and realistic “smoking” experience — without the irritations that are associated with many other smoke free cigarette brands.

Like most smoke free cigarettes, blu looks, feels, and tastes like a traditional tobacco cigarette, but contains no tar or tobacco, and does not produce actual smoke and the associated odors and second-hand smoke concerns. When you use blu Cigs, you will no longer need to worry about tobacco-stained teeth, hair and clothing that are infused with the smell of smoke, and that stale smoke odor that lives in your car, furniture, carpet, and draperies. blu electronic cigarettes do not produce the mess associated with cigarette ash, butts, and burns.

Furthermore, blu Cigs, like other electronic cigarettes can be smoked anywhere, even in places where traditional tobacco cigarettes have been banned — restaurants, offices, theaters, bars, airports, etc. And best of all, blu Cigs are up to 75% less expensive than regular cigarettes… and in today’s economy, that’s really good news!

So, what makes blu different from other electronic cigarettes?

Well, I think that blu is simply the coolest-looking of any of the smoke-free cigarettes on the market today. With it’s perfect size and weight, it feels closest to a “real” cigarette, but its eye-catching blue LED will ensure that it’s never mistaken for a traditional tobacco cigarette.

In addition, blu Cigs have the absolute best flavor cartridges on the electronic cigarette market today. Manufactured right here in the U.S. (Johnson Creek, WI, to be exact), the blu cartridges contain more liquid flavoring per cartridge, produce a more consistent flow of vapor and flavor, and come in five great flavors: Classic Tobacco, Magnificent Menthol, Cherry Crush, Vivid Vanilla, and Java Jolt.

Another great thing about the blu Cigs system is the blu pack. It’s more than just a box… it also functions as a battery charger for when you are on the go. The blu pack holds up to 5 extra flavor cartridges, plus a spare battery. Its hard plastic shell is lightweight and crush-resistant, and comes in your choice of white or black.

Finally, you will be thrilled with the price of your blu Cigs. Unlike other brands, where “starter” sets cost $100-$150, your blu Cigs starter kit contains your blu pack, 2 batteries, 2 atomizers, a wall charger, USB charger, and 25 cartridges in the strength and flavor of your choice (the equivalent of 150 traditional tobacco cigarettes), all for the low price of $59.95. And even more amazing… that is the total cost — no shipping and handling charges are added if you choose to have your order shipped via USPS!

So, once you take the time to research the different brands, models, and designs of e-cigarettes, you will save yourself a lot of unnecessary (and expensive) frustration by choosing blu Cigs. They definitely offer a technologically superior device that provides the most enjoyable “smoking” experience around. Combine this with the reliability, convenience, and price of blu Cigs electronic cigarettes, and you have the best possible choice in smokefree cigarettes.

During her 34 years of cigarette smoking, Carolyn Smeaton worked her way to a three-pack-a-day addiction. Over and over again she tried every method she could think of to quit, or at least cut down, including a nicotine patch, nicotine gum and a prescription drug. But these smoking-cessation aids were never enough to totally replace her long-standing habit.

Finally, after seeing an infomercial for an electronic cigarette, Ms. Smeaton decided to give quitting one more try. This device, which claimed to be a less dangerous way to feed her addiction, was quickly and easily purchased online. The battery-powered faux cigarette delivers an odorless dose of nicotine and flavoring without cigarette tar or additives, and produces a vapor mist nearly identical in appearance to tobacco smoke.

“I feel like this could save my life,” said Ms. Smeaton, 47, who, with the help of her e-cigarette, has cut her tobacco smoking to a pack and a half daily.

Thousands of traditional cigarette smokers just like Carolyn have visited web sites and mall kiosks to purchase electronic cigarettes, despite that fact that they are not government-approved and virtually no scientific studies have been done on them. The attraction is further fueled by the fact that, since they produce no smoke, they can be used in workplaces, restaurants, airports, and other places where traditional cigarettes are prohibited.

However, this device has produced a range of negative reactions from the medical community and other anti-smoking groups. With responses varying from calls for methodical testing to suspicion to complete hostility, these opponents claim that any positive results are merely rumor and innuendo, since the actual components of the electronic cigarette have never been subjected to any rigorous clinical studies.

In fact, the Food and Drug Administration has already blocked the import of dozens of shipments of e-cigarettes from entering the country, mostly from China — where they have been manufactured for over five years. “These appear to be unapproved drug device products, and as unapproved products they can’t enter the United States.” said Karen Riley, an FDA spokesperson.

However, enough e-cigarettes continue to make their way into the country that they are still in strong supply in shopping malls and online.

In fact, for $60 to $100 or so, a user can purchase a “starter kit,” which usually includes a battery-powered cigarette, replaceable cartridges, and a charging mechanism. The cartridges typically contain varying levels of nicotine (nicotine-free cartridges are also available), flavoring, and propylene glycol, a liquid whose vaporizing produces the smoke like mist. When the user inhales, the cartridge is heated, producing the smoke-like vapor. Common flavorings include tobacco, menthol and cherry.

Propylene glycol is used in antifreeze, and also to create artificial smoke or fog in theatrical productions. The F.D.A. has classified it as an additive that is “generally recognized as safe” for use in food. But when asked whether inhaling it was safe, Dr. Richard D. Hurt, director of the Nicotine Dependence Center at the Mayo Clinic, said, “I don’t think so, but I’m not sure anyone knows for sure.”

When questioned about electronic cigarettes, Dr. Richard D. Hurt further stated, ”We basically don’t know anything about them. They’ve never been tested for safety or efficacy to help people stop smoking.” Public health officials also worry that the fruit flavors, novelty, and ease of access may attract underage users and non-smokers.

Jonathan P. Winickoff, an associate professor at the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children and chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics Tobacco Consortium, had this to say regarding e-cigarettes: “It looks like a cigarette and is marketed as a cigarette. There’s nothing that prevents youth from getting addicted to nicotine.”

However, Matt Salmon, a spokesman for the Electronic Cigarette Association, which represents six distributors, said e-cigarettes delivered nothing more than a mixture of nicotine and water vapor and emitted “no carcinogens.” Added Mr Salmon, “It’s a really good alternative for people who smoke tobacco.”

Edwin Schwab, who quit smoking regular cigarettes last year after trying e-cigarettes, likes them so much he has started selling them at a mall kiosk in Providence, R.I.

Mr. Schwab took his e-smoke along when he went out one night, he said, “and when everyone was smoking outside in the cold, I just stood in the warm bar, smoking.”

Video Transcript:

I’m guessing that you’re watching because you are very curious about the vapor cigarette, aka, electronic cigarette. You have just taken the first step in discovering the most amazing alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes. And I can personally attest to that, because with the aid of this little marvelous tool, for the first time in forty years, I am cigarette-free. And I have to tell you folks, it was so, so much easier than it had ever been in the past, with all my failed attempts. And I think the reason for that is that this little marvelous gadget allows me to continue to enjoy everything that I love about smoking, while eliminating everything that I, and most smokers, and certainly all non-smokers, hate about cigarettes.

The vapor cigarette does not contain any tobacco, so therefore no tobacco residue, eliminating the yellow fingers, the teeth, the walls, the curtains, the nasty interior of your car, ashtray breath… It can be smoked pretty near anywhere that a traditional tobacco cigarette is banned, because there is no fire, no combustion, so therefore no ashes, no cigarette butts, no dirty ashtray.

It doesn’t emit either first- or second-hand smoke, just a water vapor that dissipates in seconds, and is harmless to the environment and all those around you. There is no offensive odor, either in the air, or on you personally. It costs a fraction of what it costs to smoke traditional cigarettes. And it contains barely discernible, negligible carcinogens, as compared to the over 4,000 carcinogens found in a traditional tobacco cigarette, half of which are known to cause cancer [see note below].

What it does give, is it gives the taste and feel, and the mechanics of smoking, which satisfies that oral fixation. And it gives nicotine in the strength that you need and crave and desire, giving you the best odds. It eliminates the classic withdrawal symptoms, at least that I have struggled with and failed at in the past.

As amazing an advance in microchip technology that this little device is, it is incredibly simple to use and maintain. There are hundreds of electronic cigarettes on the market today, in all shapes and sizes and colors and costs and quality, but they all function the same. There’s three main components. There will be the rechargeable lithium battery; there will be the atomizer, which is really the heart of the vapor cigarette. Powered by the battery, it heats up to a sufficient degree to vaporize the liquid contained in the third component, which is the cartridge, or the mouthpiece.

Assembly is as simple as screwing the atomizer onto the battery, like that, and inserting the cartridge into the atomizer, and then smoking it as you would any traditional cigarette.

If you’ll notice, there is an LED light that lit up here at the end when I took a draw. That serves a couple functions. It lights up every time you take a draw to let you know that the unit is functioning properly, but it also would light up and blink repeatedly when the battery needs to be recharged. Most batteries can be recharged up to about 300 times, and manufacturers are saying that the atomizer is self-cleaning. However folks, I have not ever found an atomizer yet that is self-cleaning without user intervention. So, as inexpensive as they are, I recommend that you keep a couple on hand, ‘cause honestly, what good is a vapor cigarette without the vapor?

So whether you do it for your health, your lifestyle, for those you love, the cost, the convenience, whatever your reason, just please do it. Besides that, you know, how awesome is this?

Note:
Just to clarify, Donna really meant to say that vapor cigarettes contain only trace amounts of any hazardous chemicals — the same amounts you can find in other processed foods such as peanut butter, milk, and canned corn. Also, tobacco cigarettes contain over 4,000 chemicals (not carcinogens), 40 of which are known to cause cancer.