Archive for March, 2009

The Problem of Comparing E-cigarettes with Conventional Cigarettes

With every technological invention comes new vocabulary. E-cigarette and electronic cigar are examples of words borne on the winds of science; the words have proper place in the English vocabulary. But now we have two main kinds of cigarettes—e-cigarette and what?

We can’t refer to e-cigarettes and the cigarettes invented before them with the same name because they are two different things. I’m offering a number of solutions to this problem, starting with the most suitable term.

How to Talk about Conventional Cigarettes

A conventional cigarette is a cigarette made of finely cut tobacco leaves and wrapped into paper. Conventional smoking is the activity of smoking conventional cigarettes. Use the following expressions to refer to conventional cigarettes when you have to compare them with e-cigarettes:

• conventional cigarette / conventional smoking

• regular cigarette / regular smoking

• traditional cigarette / traditional smoking

• ordinary cigarette / ordinary smoking

How Did I Come Up with These Expressions

The old-fashioned way: by looking into the Roget’s Thesaurus, Merriam Webster’s Dictionary and Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.

What Is a Typical E-cigarette Kit

An e-cigarette starter kit is the basic equipment for your new e-cigarette device. All e-cigarette sellers offer starter kits that usually include:

• 1 atomizer

• 2 batteries

• 1 charger

• 5 cartridges filled with e-liquid.

With their starter kits, some sellers may offer bottles with e-liquid, additional cartridges, or an additional atomizer.

Tip: What to Buy with Your First E-cigarette Kit

Bottle of e-liquid: you should buy at least one bottle of e-liquid. This is important because the cartridges that come with the starter kit will not last long enough—you risk going back to your old smoking habits.

Cartridges: try cartridges with different tastes and nicotine doses (some sellers include this in their starter kits). Ask sellers if they have starter kits with all their flavors and doses—even if they don’t offer the package you’d like.

Before I ordered my first e-cigarette kit, I asked the seller to include all flavors, and he did without charging extra.

Tip: Defective E-cigarettes and Seller Return Policy

E-cigarettes often come defective, my first did. I decided it’s the atomizer and the seller sent me a new one, a defective one. So, I had to purchase another starter kit from a different seller. Here’s what I learned from my mistake:

• Check seller return and exchange policy–-many e-cigarettes come with one year warranty.

• If you e-cigarette is defective (you’ll find out in the first two weeks), don’t try to figure out if it’s the batteries or atomizer. Just return or exchange the kit.

E-cigarettes are a new invention that created a unique culture with a language of its own. I did some research and found information that I think will be helpful to anyone interested in e-cigarettes. Now let’s look at the language of e-cigarettes and e-smoking, starting with the most common words and expressions:

e-cigarette (also electronic cigarette or e-cig) noun: an electronic device converts special liquid (e-liquid) into water vapor that looks like a conventional cigarette

e-smoking noun: the activity of smoking e-cigarettes or other similar devices like the electronic cigar

e-smoker noun: someone who smokes e-cigarettes or electronic cigar

conventional cigarette (also regular cigarette or traditional cigarette) noun: is a cigarette made of finely cut tobacco leaves and wrapped into paper

conventional smoking noun: the activity of smoking conventional cigarettes

e-liquid (also e-juice or smoke juice) noun: the special liquid mixture that is converted into vapor and used with e-cigarettes or electronic cigars

mouthpiece noun: the part of the e-cigarette that you put in your mouth to smoke;  most people consider this part the cartridge but the word is necessary because the actual cartridge (polyester batting stuffed in a mini tube)  is inside the mouthpiece

e-cigarette starter kit noun:  the basic equipment that comes with a new e-cigarette device, which usually includes 1 atomizer, 2 batteries, 1 charger, and 5 cartridges filled with e-liquid

throat hit noun: the sensation an e-smoker feels at the back of the throat-usually the stronger this sensation, the better because the experience becomes closer to conventional smoking

vape (synonym: to smoke) verb: to smoke e-cigarettes or electronic cigars

vaping (synonym: e-smoking) noun: the activity of smoking e-cigarettes or electronic cigars

fogger noun: an e-cigarette or electronic cigar

hot cigarette (synonym: conventional cigarette) noun: cigarettes made of finely cut tobacco leaves and wrapped into paper

hot smoking (synonym: conventional smoking) noun: the activity of smoking hot cigarettes

analog (or analogue) noun: a conventional cigarette made of paper and tobacco leaves.

This is the current vocabulary of e-cigarettes, which will change with time. I don’t think that word e-cig will survive–I just can’t see people using it in a face-to-face conversation.

The color and style of your e-cigarette are important. I’m not talking about personal taste—I’ll leave that to you. I’m talking about convenience.

E-cigarette that Looks like Hot Cigarette: Good for You, Bad for Others

My first e-cigarette was the super mini electronic cigarette, a model that came on to the market after the longer pen-style. I chose the mini because it looked and felt like a regular hot cigarette; it had similar size and color, and a gray tip that lit up in red as if burning. The mini seemed the obvious choice: I wanted my new way of smoking to be as close to the real smoking as possible.

But I never thought that smoking an e-cigarette that resembled a real cigarette will affect me socially. After all, supporters of e-smoking, including me, believe that e-cigarettes are safe, don’t cause second-hand smoking, and can be used in public places. Unfortunately, it will take time for e-cigarettes to become known to the public. I was asked to put away my mini e-cigarette on many occasions.

Once, while I was strolling around an open mall, two security guards asked me to put out my e-cigarette. The first time I explained it was an e-cigarette, but when the other guard approached me, I put the mini in my pocket. After my city—Pasadena, CA—banned smoking on public places including my favorite Coffee Bean patio, I felt uncomfortable smoking my mini e-cigarette. The mini looked so real that I could get in trouble.

What Style to Choose

Buy an e-cigarette that doesn’t look like regular cigarette to use at public places. I bought a new mini e-cigarette that was black and had an indicator light that lit up in bright blue. I stopped making a nuisance of myself in front of non-smokers—most of them think I’m using a gadget of some sort and don’t pay attention to the water vapor that comes out from my mouth.

e-cigarttes vs hot (regular cigarettes)

Asking a heavy smoker to reduce smoking is like asking a person with a sweet tooth to reduce desserts.   The good news for heavy smokers is that, for the first time, reducing hot smoking is possible thanks to e-cigarettes.

Before my experience with e-cigarettes, I thought it was impossible for  a heavy smoker to switch from one pack of cigarettes a day to, say, two cigarettes or a cigar a day.  I quit smoking cigarettes altogether because I switched to smoking e-cigarettes. Now, once in a while I have a cigar before bed.  Smoking a cigar occasionally is a great reduction in hot smoking; compare it with the pack, pack and a half,  a day  that I used to have before switching to e-cigarettes.

Conventional cigarettes ( regular cigarettes) are the fast food of smoking: you can have one and you forget you had it until you reach for another automatically. It’s so easy to slip and start chain-smoking. I’m happy I’m no longer addicted to them.

Smoking is addiction. Don’t start smoking e-cigarettes if you shouldn’t. I use e-cigarettes because they helped me quit smoking regular cigarettes, which are more harmful. I’ve tried everything else—patches, gums, regular gums. Within weeks, I was back to my old nicotine friend. And although with my e-cigarette I’m still addicted to the habit of smoking, I’m not polluting my lungs with tar, at least

Quitting Smoking Cold Turkey

“Quitting cold turkey is the best way to do it….If you hang on to anything you will always risk going back. Just stop period. You have to tough through the addiction to beat it,” commented one of my readers on my hubpages.com article. Do it his way if you can. Many people did.

Kick Habit or Slip

Consider e-cigarettes as a healthier way to quit smoking. You might be better off quitting cold turkey. It’s easy to let things slip if you didn’t kick the habit, and here’s why: the hot tobacco will always taste better.

Here’s a tip for new users of e-cigarettes: buy cartridges or e-liquid with lower doses of nicotine—as precaution against chain-smoking. Gradually increase the doze until you find the amount of nicotine you are used to.

Chain smoking is a problem often discussed on e-cigarette forums. Many e-cigarette users are apt to continuously smoke their e-cigarettes until the battery dies. One reason for this could be the feeling of closure associated with putting out regular cigarette into an ashtray. Every long-time smoker knows this feeling. E-cigarettes don’t burn out, so putting out a cigarette, an important part of the smoking experience, is out.

And e-cigarettes are more available than regular cigarettes: you can smoke your e-cig at places where you have never though of smoking before—the living room, the bedroom, the mall. You don’t have to go outside anymore.

I often chain-smoked myself. Once in my hand, I couldn’t let go of my mini e-cigarette, until the cartridge was dry. That’s why I started counting my drags—now I stop after 20 drags. Though I was an e-cigarette chain smoker, I rarely felt any of the discomforts of regular smoking. On one occasion, after a night of continuous e-smoking, I remember I had difficulty breathing.

Difficulty breathing, as I learned, was a nicotine overdose symptom. In forums, I found many e-cig smokers who have experienced nicotine overdose. Nausea, diarrhea, weakness, sweating, pallor, stomach pain, and seizures are other common symptoms of nicotine overdose.

Smoking e-cigarettes, or e-smoking, is the closest thing to conventional smoking. Smokers  know that nicotine gums and patches are not very effective, especially the nicotine patches because they have nothing to do with the sacred act of smoking. Chewing gums at least keep your mouth busy, but still, it’s not the same.

Smoking e-cigarettes has a great advantage over other ways to quit conventional smoking. The reason is that both experiences, e-smoking and conventional smoking, are very similar—you’re taking time alone doing something, you’re holding a cigarette between your fingers, and you’re smoking, and the most important is the act of smoking.

When you smoke an e-cigarette you feel many of the same pleasant and unpleasant sensations of real smoking. And although you inhale water vapor instead of smoke, the taste of good smoke juice is like that of cigarette smoke and, sometimes, even better.

The great similarity between smoking and e-smoking is why I never went back to smoking real cigarettes, even after I accepted a cigarette by a friend at Starbucks when I hadn’t smoked a real cigarette for three months. The real cigarette didn’t taste as good as my e-cigarette. It was too bitter.