Katerine Heigl on David Letterman with her e cigarette

A February newsletter just wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Valentine’s day.  Most people I know detest this little holiday devoted to all things love, either because they’re not in a relationship or because they are in a relationship.  You just can’t win when it comes to getting a gift to symbolize how much another means to you.  Roses wilt, chocolates melt and practical gifts like blenders or vaccum cleaners become grounds for divorce.  Of course, I think an electronic cigarette is the perfect gift, which is why I’m offering an extra incentive this month.  Buy a Pink DSE901 e cigarette and we donate $5.00 to The Breast Cancer Society in Arizona.   This way you can say “I love you! (and your breasts).”

Laying down the Law on E Cigarettes

Utah House Bill 88 Titled Electronic Cigarette Restrictions, sponsored by Ronda Rudd  Menlove, (R-Garland) was passed unanimously by the Utah Legislature February 18,2010.   The bill makes it a misdemeanor to provide an electronic cigarette to a person under 19 and a class C misdemeanor for an 18 year old person to buy, attempt to buy, accept, or possess an electronic cigarette.  If an 18 year old does buy, attempts to buy, accepts, or has in the person’s possession an electronic cigarette is subject to the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court.  Further it describes when the sale of an electronic cigarette is required to be face-to-face and provides criminal penalties for violation of those requirements.  It describes when free distribution of an electronic cigarette is prohibited and provides criminal penalties for violation of those prohibitions.

Proponents of the bill site their concerns that children may have access to nicotine which could prove fatal.    Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, highlighted the potentially serious, even fatal, effects of tiny doses of nicotine exposure on toddlers. The amount of nicotine in two or three regular filter cigarettes is enough to kill someone in ingested. However, because nicotine is only partially consumed and is mixed with air going into the lungs over several minutes spread out over many years, the risk of nicotine poisoning from cigarette smoke is very low, even for chain smokers, Ray said.

Opponents of the bill point out that the logic is flawed.   Spike Babaian, president of the National Vapers Club, concludes that by passing HB88, Utah would rather someone who is trying to switch their smoking habit do so only by inhaling nicotine, the addictive drug in cigarettes, in its dirtiest, most unhealthy form.

See the bill le.utah.gov/~2010/htmdoc/hbillhtm/HB0088.htm

How do you feel about the passing of this bill?  Let these lawmakers hear from you, especially if you are directly affected by this legislation.

– John Foster Dulles

How many years have you made the resolution to put down cigarettes once and for all?  Each year I promised myself I would quit smoking. I would smoke all my cigarettes New Year’s Eve, determined to be rid of them by the time the ball dropped and Dick Clark was rocked out,  only to find myself a the closest convenience store the next morning.  My resolution left me disillusioned before a single day had passed.   That is until I changed the way I thought about smoking.  Instead of focusing on giving up cigarettes, I focused on what I would gain – stamina, fresh breath, clean smelling clothes, car, home, more cash in my pocket and probably years of life.  I no longer thought of ending my habit, I thought of beginning a new way of life.

So with that, welcome to a new beginning.

Ecigarettecigar.com is experiencing a new beginning too.  We’re back with a new look, new products and a NEWsletter.

Did you hear?

On January 14, 2010, Federal Court Judge Richard Leon ruled in favor of Smoking Everywhere, Inc., in a lawsuit brought against the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Judge Leon ruled that e-cigarettes should not be classified as drugs, but rather customary recreational devices which are exclude from the meaning of drug or device under the FDCA.  Unless suppliers make specific therapeutic claims, the FDA has no jurisdiction to stop the import of e cigarettes.  That is until they can until prove it is indeed a new drug or the electronic cigarette is legally classified as a tobacco product.

And you thought switching was hard….

My dad has been smoking cigarettes for 52 years.  Even after he had a heart attack ten years ago, he was unable to quit cold turkey.  He cut down to just a few cigarettes a day and took up walking.  Eventually he quit walking and 1 or 2 cigarettes a day became 4 or 5, then 9 or 10, until he was right back to smoking a pack or more a day.

When I bought my first e cigarette, I got him one too.  I didn’t know if it would help either one of us quit smoking, but figured it was worth a shot.  I was able to switch over to using my e cigarette exclusively, but my dad continued to favor tobacco cigarettes.

My dad came to visit us for Thanksgiving and told me he was ready to give up tobacco cigarettes once and for all.  He stocked up with extra batteries, atomizers and smoke juice, knowing that he didn’t want to get stuck with a dead battery and resort to buying a pack of cigarettes.  I’m thrilled to report that he’s 100% off tobacco cigarettes.  It took him just one week to completely switch over and he’s been doing great.

I can’t tell you that e cigarettes will help you switch too.  I can just tell you that I never thought the day would come when my dad actually quit smoking.  Of course, with or without the e cigarette, it call came down to him deciding it was time to quit.  It just took him over 50 years to make the decision.

As we embark on this exciting New Year, I just had to take a moment to look back.  As many of you know, these last few months have been extremely difficult.  I’m happy to report my family and I have all come through the experience with a greater appreciation of life and each other.  Thank you to each and every one of you for your outpouring of support and well wishes.  Your encouragement made all the difference!

Thank you!

Alan

The second thing I want to share is that the best thing about e smoking is the choice of flavors available. I never in my life thought that I would enjoy smoking different flavors or even menthol. But I have come to realize that our x high menthol and the cappuccino are my favorite things to smoke. The regular tobacco is good for a while, but it is nice to not be limited. You don’t have to try them all at once but do yourself a favor and try a new flavor once in a while; it helps to clear your mind of the limitations of tobacco.

Our customer Suzanne wanted to share that she is getting more use out of her cartridges by adding a couple of drops of water to them after they start to dry out. She is also storing her cartridges in an upright position after she refills them to avoid leakage, and replaces the rubber stopper after filling. She also keeps her smoke juice in the refrigerator for long term storage to make sure that it maintains its long term suitability. The Manufacturer says that the liquid is good for 2 years, but placing it in the fridge certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Here is a direct quote from the email that Suzanne sent to me. “This is just the best thing that I have ever done for myself… bar none.
I am breathing easily, sleeping through the night, no more dry mouth, no anxiety… which comes with trying to quit…. More energy…. I could go on and on….”

Thanks Suzanne for allowing me to share this with others and I hope that your e smoking journey continues to be great.

The good news about e smoking is that there are other senators like Reps. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) who are using electronic cigarettes and are very clear about their benefits. Senator Stearns has even gone so far as to send kits to President Obama and to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). When you go that far it is pretty clear how you feel about something and Senator Stearns could be a great ally if this issue turns into a fight.

The FDA has clear jurisdiction over any drug that claims to be a smoking cessation drug as they should. It is flat out wrong to make claims that cannot be substantiated through studies. 80% of the people who use the patch to quit smoking are back to smoking in less than a year, probably not because there is anything wrong with the patch, but because the psychological draw of nicotine is very hard to overcome. Electronic cigarettes can’t help you quit anymore than any device or drug that claims to do so. What they can do is mimic the act of smoking without smoke. The primary function of an e cigarette is to vaporize liquid that feels and tastes like smoke to the user. They are available without any nicotine at all. They are not a drug delivery device. They are a vaporizer of liquid, nothing more.

The truth is that while I feel it is safer for me, and even though there have been some studies done, I can’t tell you that it is any better for you than regular cigarettes. I can tell you for sure that cigarettes do have chemicals and agents in them that are proven to cause cancer, emphysema, and a host of other health related issues. Ultimately I believe that the choice should be left to individuals and not to the FDA. Soon the only choice we may have is e cigarettes without nicotine, or tobacco. I still choose my e cigarette.

People will turn to e smoking. E cigarettes give close to the same feeling as tobacco and the cost is far less. I believe that all it will take to make tobacco a thing of the past is for every smoker to give this new technology a try. Sure there will be a few who can still afford cigarettes and want to continue to smell like smoke during the day, but they will be fewer and fewer every single day.

With the added pressure from employers and cities to push smokers further and further away from being able to enjoy their habit comfortably, electronic cigarettes may become the only viable solution. We will all benefit from the cleaner air, less trash, and reduced cost. If you haven’t tried e cigarettes yet you are in for a great big happy surprise. They are better than tobacco and a heck of a lot cheaper.

I am not trying to quit though. I have decided that e smoking is better for me and I will continue it for the foreseeable future. What I don’t like is regular tobacco cigarettes. I tried to quite many time over the course of 25 years of smoking without success. I don’t use tobacco any longer but I still “smoke”. Or vape! It doesn’t really matter to me what you call it, I love it. I can’t tell you that it is any better for you than smoking, but it sure feels better and more importantly, I feel better. Watch the video and decide for yourself. If you decide to try e smoking then we are here to help any way we can.

I want to talk about the price of tobacco cigarettes first, not the health price or total cost of ownership there, which is probably to high to actually measure, just the price of buying a pack of cigarettes and smoking them. In my part of the country cigarettes cost about $5.50 a pack which is going up very soon which you can see on money central. I am not even going to use the $5.50 price for myself. I used to smoke about a pack and a half a day, but I bought my cigarettes in New Mexico for $35.00 a carton, or $3.50 a pack. So that is my reality. I smoked 10-1/2 pack a week so it was costing me about $2002.00 a year to smoke cigarettes. It cost me $38.50 a week or $165.55 a month figuring 4-1/3 weeks a month, all of that to smoke 210 cigarettes a week.

Our refill cartridges are about the equivalent of ½ a pack of cigarettes and cost .80ea. So for me just the cost of refills would cost $16.80 a week or $72.24 a month or $873.60 a year. A savings of $1128.40 but that doesn’t take the price of the device and replacement parts into account. Lets say that every year I need to buy a super mini e cigarette kit at $50.00 and I go through 6 atomizers at $9.50 each and 2 extra batteries at $15.25 each. Total device and parts would cost me somewhere around $137.50. If I add in those costs I am still only spending $1011.10 a year and saving about a grand. I don’t know about you but for me that is almost a house payment. (Or a trip to San Diego) which is what I prefer.

I believe my costs will be even lower with the Johnson Creek smoke juice but I haven’t been using it long enough to tell you for sure. Early indications are that there will be a difference and maybe even close to half. But I will still need to buy refill cartridges once in a while because they do wear out even with the juice. I have no idea how much you smoke or how much you would save, but for me even if it cost more I would still use it. At this point my family would insist, they love not smelling smoke in the house.