Psst, wanna drag of my e-ciggy?

In my weekly attempt to learn long technical words, I was browsing New Scientist when I came across a concept that made me cough to a splutter.

E-cigarettes.

Powered by batteries, they look vaguely like a cigarette, the end furthest from your lips glows red, they emit smoke, and they give you something of a nicotine hit with every drag.

However, because they don't burn, they are not classified as, well, cigarettes. And because they don't make a health claim, they're not classified as, you know, medicine. Which means that you can sit at a bar and e-puff.

Here's the strange thing. They are being marketed as devices that will help you quit smoking. Just as the condom was marketed as a device to quit sex, you might think. But the theory is that you get a similar amount of nicotine as you do from a patch.

Don't you just adore the word 'health' in the brand name?

(Credit: CC Uduokkamah)

The World Health Organization believes any therapeutic claims by e-cigarette manufacturers are mere smoke and mirrors.

Researchers at a company called Health New Zealand are not so sure. Apparently, each drag only gives you a third of the nicotine of a suck on your American Spirit. And the potential for passive inhalation is minimal.

Murray Laugesen, a public health researcher from New Zealand, told New Scientist: "All pointers so far show the device is safe. Whether it will be a successful smoking cessation device in the future depends on whether governments wrap it in cotton-wool regulations or allow smokers to buy it with a modicum of reasonable safety checks."

So might any of you be prepared to try the e-fag, as they call it in the UK? Or might some of you be holding out for the researchers to create another "healthy" product: John E-Walker?

[mongolikecandy]

I have 2 friends who have quit smoking while using the e-cig, so it appears to work for them. they're both shocked at things that are coming back...like the ability to smell and taste!

[annemarieee]

I love how the bottom of the boxes say "Smoking is harmful for health. E-Cigarette is good for health."

Since when is the world claiming that nicotine (in any form) is truly GOOD for health? It may help you quit (which is good for health), but if you were a non-smoker 'trying it out', it wouldn't be GOOD for your health.

[JugglesXP]

I actually use one!

I own one form a firm called gamucci, and it is a godsend when "locked" in smoke free zones. Unlike the one shown above it only emits water vapour, and the smoke is a bit "thin" but it has helped me cut down. Important is you only get the "kick" and not the tar!