A Real Cigarette....Not!
March 23rd 2010 08:34
New Zealand has banned smoking pretty much everywhere except outside on the street these days - that includes your own home, and inside cars. So it's rather amusing to read the following piece of advertising material:
Over past few years regular cigarettes have been banned from restaurants, bars, casinos and other public places. It seems like every month a new state announces a smoking ban of some sort. There are talks amongst law-makers, that soon smoking will be prohibited in our cars and homes!
Plainly it comes from a US context. However, to give this writer his due, he then goes on to talk about the fact that smoking does leave an unpleasant smell which lingers on clothes and around the house - and, of course, it's addictive!
Therefore the writer introduces the.....electronic cigarette! Yes, you read that right. This innovation looks, tastes and feels like a cigarette, but is in fact, nothing like a cigarette. It doesn't contain any of the unhealthy aspects of a real cigarette, such as tar, nicoteine or carcinogens.
This techno-cigarette has everything but the reality of a cigarette.
A microprocessor detects the air flowing through the device, and activiates an atomised cartridge which injects tiny droplets of liquid into that air. A mist is produced and this is inhaled by the 'smoker.' So far it all sounds like a cold smoke rather than a hot one.
Propylene glycol is added to the vapour to make it look like cigarette smoke, and the microprocessor causes the tip of the cigarette to glow orange.
There is nicotine in the electronic cigarette and a scent that simulates a cigarette flavour. However the nicotine level is low, and can be helpful to people trying to give up smoking. (Though in my experience, if you're going to give up something, giving it up gradually isn't the best approach.)
Somehow, I think that if I was a smoker, I wouldn't be greatly convinced by the electronic cigarette. Nevertheless, it's available, and obviously there's a market for it. And if you want a really detailed explanation of its workings, have a look at the Wikipedia article on it. (Yes, of course there's a Wikipedia article!)
Photo by Hamoud Masoumi
Over past few years regular cigarettes have been banned from restaurants, bars, casinos and other public places. It seems like every month a new state announces a smoking ban of some sort. There are talks amongst law-makers, that soon smoking will be prohibited in our cars and homes!
Plainly it comes from a US context. However, to give this writer his due, he then goes on to talk about the fact that smoking does leave an unpleasant smell which lingers on clothes and around the house - and, of course, it's addictive!
Therefore the writer introduces the.....electronic cigarette! Yes, you read that right. This innovation looks, tastes and feels like a cigarette, but is in fact, nothing like a cigarette. It doesn't contain any of the unhealthy aspects of a real cigarette, such as tar, nicoteine or carcinogens.
This techno-cigarette has everything but the reality of a cigarette.
A microprocessor detects the air flowing through the device, and activiates an atomised cartridge which injects tiny droplets of liquid into that air. A mist is produced and this is inhaled by the 'smoker.' So far it all sounds like a cold smoke rather than a hot one.
Propylene glycol is added to the vapour to make it look like cigarette smoke, and the microprocessor causes the tip of the cigarette to glow orange.
There is nicotine in the electronic cigarette and a scent that simulates a cigarette flavour. However the nicotine level is low, and can be helpful to people trying to give up smoking. (Though in my experience, if you're going to give up something, giving it up gradually isn't the best approach.)
Somehow, I think that if I was a smoker, I wouldn't be greatly convinced by the electronic cigarette. Nevertheless, it's available, and obviously there's a market for it. And if you want a really detailed explanation of its workings, have a look at the Wikipedia article on it. (Yes, of course there's a Wikipedia article!)
Photo by Hamoud Masoumi
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