Electric Cigarette: A 50 Year Smoker’s Point of View

The electric cigarette (E cigarette) is a simple devise that delivers nicotine in the form of a vapor.  There is no tobacco associated with it and as such it falls outside the boundaries of what is considered ‘smoking’.  There is no second hand smoke because there is no first hand smoke.  It is simply a water like vapor lifted from the liquid that contains the nicotine.   The E cigarette is currently very popular and many people, including myself are using it to cut down on regular smoking.  For me it has been extremely effective in that I have reduced my cigarette consumption by 75 percent.  The E cigarette presented in this article is from smoke51.com (Smoke Anywhere USA, inc.) and called the TRIO™ Electronic Cigarette. 

There are currently two primary forms of the E cigarette: 1. duo process whereby the battery and atomizer are one piece and the second piece is the cartridge 2. trio process whereby the battery and atomizer are separate and the the third piece is the cartridge.

TRIO (left to right: cartridge, atomizer, battery)

The system comes with a battery charger.  I would highly recommend that if you purchase a E cigarette that you get two batteries.  The battery heats the atomizer which produces the vapor from the nicotine liquid in the cartridge.  It is not like smoking a regular cigarette.  The E cigarette will satisfy the craving for nicotine but it does not satisfy the inhalation habit associated with regular smoking. 

Inside the cartridge is a small white plastic container that contains an absorbent material that holds the liquid nicotine.  These cartridges are easy to refill but a bit pricey to purchase.  Refilling cost is reasonable (about 18 dollars for 1 ounce bottle of 18mg of Nicotine liquid). 

In the above picture the paper clip is used to push out the small white container that is in front of the cartridge.  The white item at the front end of the cartridge is a rubber plug that is used to keep the nicotine liquid from evaporating when the cartridge is not attached to the E cigarette.  I use 6 drops of E liquid which for me is about 4 or 5 cigarettes.  These E cigarettes are advertised with some false claims about how much one cartridge will last.  If you purchase a fresh cartridge you can expect to get 4  or 5 smokes out of it. 

Is it worth the cost? Answer: ABSOLUTELY!  This little piece of technology has helped me to greatly reduce the amount of cigarettes I smoke, thereby reducing a lot of the chemicals associated with regular cigarette smoke.  My breathing has radically improved since I started using the E cigarette.  Because it is nicotine the E cigarette is just as addictive as regular cigarettes but without the hazards associated with tar etc. going into your lungs. 

As to this particular brand (TRIO™ Electronic Cigarette), I have no complaints about it.  It does exactly what it was intended to do and the company was very quick to process my order.