FYI:
So I came across this show on the Aljazeera America network called
TechKnow. They have a show that was dedicated heavily to e-cigarettes. I don' t know if you can watch the episode online, but some of the key things they pointed out were:
- The vapor that is created by the e-cigs isn't at all just water vapor. It contains a swarm of metals that seem (based on what I glean from the show) to come from the filter.
- The FDA has commissioned a study to determine the effects of e-cigs.
- It appears that e-cigs are healthier than traditional cigarettes, but that's not to say yet whether they are specifically unhealthy for either the smoker or the people in the vicinity of the smoker.
One thing that I took from the show is that there are a lot of folks who apparently enjoy smoking -- be it e-cigs or traditional cigs. I guess that isn't really surprising as I know literally hundreds of "closet" smokers and folks who claim to "only smoke when they [whatever]."
Now although I am a smoker, I have the same thing to say to anyone whose retort about smoking nicotine products is something akin to "Oh, I only smoke when...." My response to them is always the same: Fool, do you really think anyone started out by smoking a pack a day?
The one thing I can say about my smoking is that it's taught me that nicotine is likely the most addictive thing out there. People seem able to kick other drug and alcohol addictions with far more success than do folks who smoke.
Smokers are a funny bunch. I've heard lots of them say, "Oh, I can quit whenever I want." Those folks offer some example of how they stopped for X years at some point, but now they have a smoke just occasionally. To those folks, my response is, "Well, by my reckoning, you have yet to quit seeing as 'quitting' means
never smoking again. It does not mean taking a long hiatus." I suppose other types of addicts may say the same sort of thing, but my thinking about those folks/addictions is the same as that about smoking.
All the best