Why do I want one?
Public use
There’s many reasons as to why somebody would want to get an electronic cigarette. First and foremost, it’s a replacement to the traditional cigarette. In most countries, smoking a cigarette in public is now illegal due to the harmful smoke they release. By smoking an electronic cigarette instead, you’ll be able to smoke anywhere and at any time with no issues at all. This means that instead of being kicked out of a restaurant or pub, you’ll be able to address your craving without any problems. Second hand smoke from other smokers is almost as bad as smoking yourself. So with an electronic cigarette, not only are you refraining from hurting yourself, but others too!
Health reasons
It’s been stated that although electronic cigarettes are a method of getting nicotine into the blood stream, it avoids many of the more harmful substances such as tar.
People worry that if they stop smoking, they’ll start to gain weight. This is generally because they replace holding a cigarette with eating. Nicotine patches will remove the cravings for nicotine but do nothing else. By having the electronic cigarette in your hand, not only will your cravings for nicotine will be filled, and your hands will be kept occupied. Research for the British Medical Journal shows that on average, a male average smoker will lose 11 minutes of their life span for each cigarette smoked. Over the course of a life time, this could equate to around 6.5 years. It’s not the nicotine itself which causes the problems, but all the other chemicals and bad substances mixed together which go into the lungs. Link to reference.
Electronic cigarette cartridges will generally only have nicotine, water vapour and food flavourings.
Quitting smoking
Other people like to use electronic cigarettes while trying to quit smoking, and do so successfully. This is because you are able to manage the amount of nicotine going into your bloodstream easily. Cartridges come in various different strengths which can be changed at will to suit your current needs. One of the main issues smokers have is that they feel a void in their hand when they don’t have a cigarette. The electronic cigarette needs to be held like a normal cigarette, so a quitting smoker won’t have such feelings.
How do electronic cigarettes work?
The main idea behind the electronic cigarette is to make it look and feel as close as possible to a regular cigarette, but without all the harmful side-effects.
There are many different parts which all come together to create this cigarette look-a-like.
Cartridge
The cartridge normally contains nicotine in a liquid form, but doesn’t always have to do so. There are many different types which also contain varying amounts of nicotine as well as flavours. It’s not uncommon to find flavours such as apple, lime or caramel. The cartridge will last a certain amount of time before needing to be replaced, and this varies from vendor to vendor. The average amount of time is normally equivalent to smoking 20 to 40 regular cigarettes.
There are other types of electronic cigarettes which don’t use cartridges, but these can be slightly harder to use since before each flavour change, the device needs to be cleaned.
Vaporisation chamber
This is the core part, responsible for turning a liquid into a vapour which can then be inhaled. It contains a method for drawing out the liquid nicotine (or other flavour) from the cartridge to the heating coil. As the user inhales, this activates the heating unit and allows the vapour created to enter the mouth.
Battery
The battery generally made to look like part of the cigarette for aesthetic purposes. As they are lithium batteries, they are easy to recharge and last a very long time. These have progressed to the point that they can be charged by mains charger or even USB. This gives you the ability to smoke anywhere without worrying about running out of charge. If you are worried about running out of charge, it’s possible to get a second battery to carry with you since they are extremely easy to swap out. This also means that you never have to worry about forgetting a lighter or matches again.
What to look out for when buying electronic cigarettes.
There are many different types of electronic cigarette, and therefore you need to pick the one that suits you best. Firstly, you need to make sure that they are legal in the country you live in since they have been made illegal in many places. They have been made illegal because they allow people to get nicotine into their system.
The two main types that the majority of users go for are the fully disposable cigarette, and the streamlined cigarette. After the charge on a disposable one has been used up, it’s a simply a matter of discarding it and buying another.
The streamlined type is slightly more complicated but generally ends up cheaper over time as normally only the cartridge needs replacing. Each part of the cigarette can be removed individually and replaced as needed.
Other types of electronic cigarettes such as clearomizers, get rid of the cartridge and have the liquid nicotine placed directly into the device itself. The downside to this is that the user has to manually transfer the liquid from a bottle into the device which can take a bit of time. Furthermore, the device has to be cleaned out each time before a different flavour is used, unless you’re happy to have them mix. The upside to this type of electronic cigarette is that the flavouring may be slightly less expensive as you have to do the filling of the device yourself which takes time.
- Most brands have their own cartridges. Make sure that you check out what flavours they have to offer before you purchase a kit. Starter packs have the potential to be costly, so you want to know you’ll have a good choice you’ll enjoy.
- Electronic cigarettes come in all shapes and sizes. Try to hold as many different types as possible before you make your selection. You may find that you prefer holding a cigar-shaped one, instead of a cigarette shaped one.
- Some retailers offer warranties you may be interested in. For example, Dansmoke (Europe) offers a stop smoking warranty in which if you don’t stop smoking within a year of using their products, they will transfer money directly to your bank account.
