The Beginning And The End Of The Cigarette Man

This is one product that has gotten me truly excited. Not because I smoke and am trying to quit, but because I can’t stand smokers and their environment-polluting smoke. Seems like the New-Smoke.com has provided me with the solution with an innovative new gadget, the e cigarette. This e cigarette reproduces the exact smoking experience (complete with water vapor ‘smoke’) but without all the bad stuff (secondhand smoke, tar, carbon monoxide and all the other harmful chemicals).

Video demonstration

Watch a video demonstration of the product. I love it that they make it seem so easy – just pick up the e cigarette and start puffing away.

How it works

The electronic cigarette is powered by a rechargeable battery (front part of the cigarette), an atomizer, connected to a cartridge that contains different levels of nicotine (depending on the smoker’s needs, can opt for 0mg).

Weaning the nicotine addiction, yet preserving the physical habit

The e cigarette can be used by smokers to wean the nicotine addiction and seems like a rather attractive alternative compared to nicotine plasters, inhalers and chewing gums. A big part of the difficulty in quitting smoking lies in the physical habit of fingering a cigarette and ‘having something to do with your hands’. With that in mind, I think the electronic cigarette helps fulfill the need for a social lubricant yet need not be as damaging as the original (a normal cigarette contains over 400 poisonous and 40 cancer-causing chemicals).

Encourage non-smokers instead?

On the other hand, will non-smokers try a puff of the e cigarette and thereafter, be tempted to try the ‘real thing’?

Singapore’s anti-smoking attempts

Singapore has seen nation-wide attempts to encourage people to quit smoking. There was a campaign targeted at Malay smokers (15% success rate), another at female smokers, anti-smoking campaigns with gory and graphic TV ads, and not to forget, the graphic ads plastered on cigarette boxes.

Yet, despite these efforts and with each pack of cigarette costing more, Singapore still lit up 16 million more cigarettes per month last year.

Smokers in Singapore