Electronic Cigarette Nicotine Content

Posted on August 30th, 2009 by Jack Stone

Most electronic cigarettes are available with cartridges with differing amounts of nicotine. When first starting on electronic cigarettes, many users wonder what level of nicotine they should opt for with their cartridges. The answer to that question varies depending on how much you currently smoke tobacco cigarettes. Also, it should be noted that electronic cigarettes cartridges are designed to last the equivalent of multiple cigarettes and are not meant to be smoked completely in one sitting.

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Are Electronic Cigarettes a Safe Cigarette Smoking Alternative?

Posted on August 30th, 2009 by Jack Stone

There’s been a lot of debate as to whether there can be a safe smoking alternative. Tobacco cigarettes contain literally thousands of toxic chemicals and a number of known carcinogens, so realistically, practically anything must be better than smoking real cigarettes, right? Well, not exactly, read on to find out why inhaling any sort of smoke is bad for you.

One of the most common misunderstandings about cigarettes is that it’s the chemicals the tobacco companies add to the cigarettes, filter, and paper wrapping that are the most harmful. Unfortunately, this causes some people to take up smoking cigars or “all-natural” cigarettes as a safer alternative to real cigarettes.

What people don’t realize is that it’s the inhalation of by-products of combustion that is so dangerous and harmful, not necessarily the chemicals in the cigarette itself. In other words, anytime you inhale smoke from something burning, you are doing serious damage to your lungs, and cigarettes are no exception to this.

So, why can’t people just switch to smoking cigars or all-natural cigarettes and be safer? Because both of those things burn tobacco as a means to get the nicotine into your lungs, and like I mentioned earlier, it’s those by-products of burning something that is actually what does you so much harm, so cigars and all-natural cigarettes are not much better than your traditional Marlboro Lights or Parliaments.

Are there any safe smoking alternatives?

Based on what we’ve covered so far, it seems that if we can smoke something that does not actual burn anything, we could dramatically reduce the health risks. Enter electronic cigarettes. Also known as E-Cigs, electronic cigarettes create an odorless water vapor that carries the nicotine, along with flavoring into your lungs when you take a drag. Unlike traditional cigarettes, there is no combustion happening; in other words, nothing is being burned to produce the “smoke.” This is why the smoke produced by electronic cigarettes is actually referred to as “vapor” because it really is just water vapor mixed with nicotine and flavorings.

Are electronic cigarettes really safe?

Electronic cigarettes certainly haven’t gone through rigorous testing to determine their safety, however, just knowing that they do not contain any by-products of combustion, the most harmful part of real cigarette smoke, is enough to assume they’re significantly safer than traditional smokes. In fact, Dr. Brad Rodu, Endowed Chair of the Tobacco Harm Reduction Research University of Louisville states that “[electronic cigarettes] are probably 99.9% safer than [real] cigarettes.”

In addition to Dr. Rodu, numerous other tobacco researchers and prominent physicians have come out to say that electronic cigarettes may be significantly safer than real cigarettes.

Although there hasn’t been any thorough studies done regarding the safety of electronic cigarettes, one has to ask, they have to be better than smoking real cigarettes, right? I’ll leave the answer to that question up to you.


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Are Electronic Cigarettes Cheaper than Real Cigarettes?

Posted on August 29th, 2009 by Jack Stone

In most cases, yes, an electronic cigarette will be less expensive than the equivalent amount of tobacco cigarette smoking. One of my own personal favorite brands are BluCigs, mostly because they come with a carry case that looks like a cigarette pack and functions as a mobile battery charger. I’ll use BluCigs for this example because they only offer prefilled cartridges, which will generally be slightly more expensive than manually refilling your own cartridges, but is also a bit easier; so manual refilling will be a bit cheaper than this example [BluCigs Review].

A Short Term Price Comparison

BluCigs charges, at most, about $1 each for prefilled replacement cartridges. BluCigs FAQ claims their cartridges last about the equivalent of 6 cigarettes and I found that to be pretty accurate. So, first we need to buy the BluCigs starter kit at $59.95, which comes with 2 batteries, the charging pack carrying case, 1 atomizer, a USB charger, a wall charger, and 25 cartridges.

If each cartridge lasts about 6 cigarettes, 25 will last 150 cigarettes for a cost so far of $59.95.

By comparison, 150 real cigarettes is 7.5 packs. At a cost of $5 per pack, that would set you back $37.50. This is assuming you buy individual packs and not cartons. So, the real cigarettes come out ahead when compared to the starter kit price of BluCigs electronic cigarettes.

That’s to be expected…the savings on electronic cigarettes really comes when you’ve already purchased a starter kit and it’s time to refill, so let’s take a look at that situation.

If you’re a pack a day smoker, you’ll go through 150 cigarettes in 7.5 days, so now we need to buy more BluCigs cartridges or more packs of traditional smokes. Let’s take a look at the price for that.

BluCigs sells 25 cartridges for $25, 50 cartridges for $45, and 100 cartridges for $80. Let’s stick with the 25 cartridges for $25 for this example, but keep in mind, the savings will be more if you buy more cartridges at a time.

So, the 25 cartridges for our BluCigs electronic cigarettes sets us back $25, while another 7.5 packs of traditional cigarettes sets us back another $37.50. So, the electronic cigarette comes out cheaper by $12.50 every week in this case. It should be obvious by now that the savings will multiply as you continue to buy replacement cartridges over time for your e-cig.

A Long Term Price Comparison

We compared prices already when purchasing 25 cartridges at a time vs. single packs at a time with traditional smokes. Now, let’s assume we know we’re going to be smoking something, either the electronic cigarette or traditional smokes, for the next year; and since we’re smart shoppers, we’re going to purchase our supplies in bulk to save some money.

In the case of BluCigs, we’ll purchase a year’s supply of cartridges in addition to the starter kit in bulk packs of 100 cartridges each. For traditional smokes, we’ll purchase cartons, 20 packs per carton, to save a bit over buying packs individually.

First, let’s look at BluCigs cost over a full year. The starter kit costs us $59.95 and comes with 25 cartridges, which we’ve already established will last 7.5 days for a pack a day smoker. Then we’ll go ahead and add a 100-cartridge box to our order for $80, which will last us 30 days (we’ll assume each month has 30 days). So now we need to buy 11 more 100-cartridge packs to get us through the rest of the year, which will add $880 to our order.

So our total cost for one year plus an extra 7.5 days with BluCigs is $59.95 (starter kit) + $960 (12 100-cartridge boxes) = $1019.95.

One thing we didn’t include yet are replacement atomizers and batteries. Although they tend to be pretty reliable, you’ll probably have to purchase replacements for both a few times each year. I’ve found atomizers tend to last about 3 – 4 months each on average, so we’ll need to purchase about 4 atomizers over the coming year at a total cost of $39.80 ($9.95 each). Although all of my batteries have lasted at least a full year, they have been known to crap out occasionally, so let’s just assume we’ll need to buy 2 extra batteries over our 1-year experiment at a total cost of $19.90 ($9.95 each).

Now we add the cost of replacement batteries and atomizers to our total e-cig price of $1019.95 from above and we get a total cost over 1 year of $1079.65 for the BluCigs electronic cigarettes.

Now, on to traditional smokes. A carton of traditional cigarettes contains 10 packs, so as pack a day smokers, we’ll need 36 cartons to get us through a full year (again, we’re assuming each month has 30 days for the purpose of this article). Last time I bought a carton of smokes, I think I paid about $45 or around that; 36 cartons multiplied by $45 per carton and our total cost for the year of smoking traditional cigarettes is $1620.

So, BluCigs will cost us $1019.95 over 1 year, and traditional cigarettes will cost us $1620 over that same year. BluCigs offers a savings of $600.05 in our 1-year example here. Obviously, as time goes on, the savings increase dramatically. Who can’t use an extra $600 in their pocket each year?

The cost savings is one of the main reasons I switched to smoking electronic cigarettes instead of tobacco cigarettes, not to mention the health benefits – can you say no more smoker’s cough?


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Manually Refilling Electronic Cigarette Cartridges

Posted on August 28th, 2009 by Jack Stone

After you’ve had some experience with electronic cicgarettes, you may be ready to purchase some nicotine solution separately in order to try manually refilling your own cartridges. If you’re not interested in doing this, most brands have prefilled cartridges you can purchase that are still significantly cheaper than traditional cigarettes, so it’s really up to you. If you don’t mind doing it manually, here’s a little how-to that will walk you through the process.

First you have to remove the existing cartridge from your electronic cigarette. You probably assembled the thing when you first got it, so just slide the cartridge off the device just the same as you slid it on.

Inside the cartridge you’ll notice some sort of fabric filler, this stuff acts like a sponge to keep the liquid inside the cartridge as well as a bit of a wick to deliver the liquid to the atomizer. When you remove the cartridge, make sure you don’t lose that little filler material as it sometimes has a tendency to fall out.

Once you’ve removed the cartridge, take your e-liquid dropper and drop four to five drops inside of the open end of the cartridge and onto the fabric filler. I’ve found four to five drops to work best, any more than that and the filler tends to get over saturated and you end up sucking liquid through on your next drag. Not a pleasant taste, but it won’t hurt you.

If you don’t have any e-liquid to refill the cartridges with, you can purchase the stuff from any number of different retailers. Some reputable companies I’ve purchased from that offer excellent liquids are PureSmoker, TrueVapor, and LiteCigUSA. I’m partial to the menthol liquid from LiteCigUSA; in fact, although I never smoked menthol cigarettes, I found menthol to be the best flavor from just about any retailer, so I highly recommend giving it a try.

After you’ve filled the cartridge, just slide the thing back onto the e-cig and take a drag. You should get pretty good vapor production quickly, however it sometimes takes a few drags to get the liquid pulled into the atomizer properly.

If you take a drag and end up with some of the liquid in your mouth, it’s not the end of the world, although it tastes pretty bad. If that happens, just pull the cartridge off and stick a piece of paper towel down in there to sop up some of the excess liquid. Then replace the cartridge and try it again.

A few tips that I’ve learned from experience:

First, only drop four to five drops into the cartridge when refilling; if you still can’t get decent vapor production, then, and only then, should you add another drop or two. Repeat that process until you’re getting good vapor production. Once you’ve done this enough you’ll know how much liquid you can drop into the cartridges on your particular model electronic cigarette without overfilling.

Second, when you take the first hit after refilling, hold the cigarette vertically, facing down, so gravity helps you not to suck in a bunch of liquid. If you overfilled the cartridge, this will help you from getting too much of it on your lips/in your mouth.

Third, take a relatively light first few hits; again this will help avoid a bunch of liquid in your mouth if you overfilled the cartridge.

Fourth, if you overfill the cartridge and get some in your mouth, just pull the cartridge apart and stick a piece of paper towel into the end to soak up the excess liquid and try again.

That should do it. Manually refilling cartridges can save you a bit of money over purchasing prefilled cartridges and will also give you a bit more freedom when it comes to what type of liquid to use.


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How to refill electronic cigarette cartridges

Posted on August 28th, 2009 by Jack Stone

If you’ve had the pleasure of experiencing electronic cigarettes as a smoking alternative, you may be to the point where you want to experiment with different flavor nicotine solutions. Some brands’ cartridges are specifically meant to be refilled manually, while other brands’ cartridges, like those from BluCigs, are meant to be ordered prefilled. Although you can refill BluCigs cartridges manually, I’ve been told that it voids the product warranty, although, to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure how anyone would ever know you manually refilled cartridges should you need to get the product replaced under warranty. Anyway, here’s a little how to for those looking to save a little extra cash by manually refilling their electronic cigarette cartridges.

Buy Some Nicotine Liquid

The first thing you’ll need to do is purchase some nicotine solution, also known as “e-liquid,” from any number of different retailers online. If you’re looking for something with the strongest “throat hit” – that bite you feel in your throat when you hit a real cigarette – look at Totally Wicked. They ship from the UK, but are a very reputable retailer with a high quality liquid with a strong throat hit.

Some other brands you may want to look at purchasing, all of which I’ve sampled and all are reputable retailers of e-liquid, are PureSmoker, TrueVapor, and LiteCigUSA. My own personal favorite is the Menthol flavor from LiteCigUSA.

E-Liquid is most commonly sold in small eye-dropper bottles of 10ml each, but you can also buy bottles of 50ml or more if you really want to. Stick with the 10ml until you find something  you like, each 10ml bottle seems to last the equivalent of around a couple cartons-worth of smoking, so it’s plenty to start with.

Remove the old cartridge

Once you have a liquid, it’s time to remove the cartridge from the electronic cigarette. Most brands are pretty easy, and you probably assembled it when you first got the e-cig, so just slide the cartridge off the device, making sure not to lose the filler material inside the cartridge (usually a cotton swab looking material). That little fabric filler is what holds the e-liquid in the cartridge in contact with the atomizer wick.

Once you’ve removed the cartridge, simply drop four to five drops of e-liquid inside of the large opening of the cartridge so that it falls onto the fabric inside. Anymore than four to five drops and you may suck some liquid into your mouth the next time to hit the cigarette. If you find that four or five drops isn’t enough, repeat this process, adding one or two drops more each time until you get solid vapor production when taking a drag.

If you happen to drop too much liquid into the cartridge and end up sucking some through when taking a drag, just pull the cartridge off and stick a piece of paper towel down into the cartridge to suck up some of the excess liquid.

Replace the newly filled cartridge

Now go ahead and replace the cartridge the same way you took it off, make sure your battery is charged, and take a drag. Start with a really light drag at first to make sure you don’t suck any liquid through as a result of overfilling. Once you’re comfortable that you didn’t overfill the cartridge, enjoy your newly-refreshed electronic cigarette cartridge like normal.

I’ve found manually refilling cartridges to be fairly simple and a bit cheaper than purchasing prefilled cartridges, however, prefilled is the easiest way to go if you don’t want to mess with the manual refill process. The one thing you need to watch out for is dropping too much liquid into the cartridge, as this will end up being sucked through the tip the next time to take a drag. It’s not the end of the world if this happens, it just tastes bad. That’s all there is to manually refilling electronic cigarette cartridges.


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Are Electronic Cigarettes Cheaper Than Real Cigarettes?

Posted on August 27th, 2009 by Jack Stone

In most cases, yes, an electronic cigarette will be less expensive than the equivalent amount of tobacco cigarette smoking. One of my own personal favorite brands are BluCigs, mostly because they come with a carry case that looks like a cigarette pack and functions as a mobile battery charger. I’ll use BluCigs for this example because they only offer prefilled cartridges, which will generally be slightly more expensive than manually refilling your own cartridges, but is also a bit easier; so manual refilling will be a bit cheaper than this example.

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Electronic Cigarette Health Issues

Posted on August 26th, 2009 by Jack Stone

Various companies have been marketing electronic cigarettes in different ways since they first came to market several years ago. Some of them make claims that electronic cigarettes are healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes and others have claimed that electronic cigarettes are the ultimate stop smoking devices.

Recently, the US FDA released a statement regarding a test they did on the contents of electronic cigarette cartridges from two different vendors. The FDA found traces of diethylene glycol as well as tobacco-related nitrosamines (TSNA’s) in some of the cartridges tested. The FDA was also concerned about varying levels of nicotine delivered with each hit from the devices studied. In July, the FDA issued a press release discouraging the use of electronic cigarettes as a result of this limited study.

A number of people, including prominent doctors and tobacco researchers, have spoken out against the FDA’s recommendation, claiming the FDA is misleading the public by making recommendations that are not supported by such a limited study. Critics also claim that the FDA is completely ignoring the fact that electronic cigarettes are clearly more healthy than regular cigarettes.

Critics also argue that the trace amounts of chemicals found in the tested brands of electronic cigarettes were not compared to other, FDA-approved smoking cessation devices. Specifically, similar amounts of nitrosamines are found in FDA-approved smoking cessation devices such as nicotine gum and patches.

A study completed in October of 2008 by Health New Zealand concluded that, while trace amounts of TSNA’s are present in electronic cigarettes, as well as various other chemicals noted in the FDA study, those chemicals are only present below harmful levels and overall, Health New Zealand concluded electronic cigarettes were a “safe alternative to smoking.”

Additionally, the US National Institutes of Health published a report recently that found that participants in an electronic cigarette study did not develop dependence on the device as was the case with participants smoking real cigarettes.

Many critics claim that the FDA’s overall dismissal of electronic cigarettes without any sort of complete study to back up their findings suggests the FDA has ulterior motives regarding the products.

Electronic cigarettes have not been around long enough to see what long-term effects they have on users, although the general consensus among scientific and medical professionals with knowledge of the products is that they’re indeed safer than traditional smokes and many suggest they may be very effective stop-smoking devices. Nonetheless, few complete studies have been done on the devices and so the exact extent to which they are safer than real cigarettes is not totally clear. However, according to Dr. Brad Rodu, Endowed Chair of the Tobacco Harm Reduction Research University of Louisville, electronic cigarettes “are probably 99.9% safer than [tobacco] cigarettes.”


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Are electronic cigarettes safe?

Posted on August 26th, 2009 by Jack Stone

I get a lot of questions about electronic cigarettes and whether or not they are safe, especially considering the recent memo released by the FDA stating that they may not be totally safe. I think the real question is whether or not they are safer than real cigarettes, not whether they are safer by themselves.

Of course inhaling anything is probably not can be very safe for you, but electronic cigarettes are not designed to be used by non-smokers, only smokers should switch to electronic cigarettes and, in that light, there’s no question that they are safer than real cigarettes.

We’ve all heard about how many dangerous chemicals are inside real cigarettes, so think about it, electronic cigarettes contain nicotine, propylene glycol, and maybe a couple other ingredients, and real cigarettes contain literally thousands of dangerous, poisonous, and cancer-causing chemicals… I think it’s pretty obvious which one is safer, which is the main reason I switched to electronic cigarettes myself.

In doing research on electronic cigarettes, one interesting fact I discovered is that one of the most dangerous aspects of smoking real cigarettes is the “inhalation of byproducts of combustion.” I wasn’t aware of this, I had always assumed that the chemicals that cigarette companies put in the cigarettes is the bad part, and while both chemical certainly are dangerous, poisonous, and have been known to cause cancer, inhaling byproducts of combustion is actually the most dangerous part of smoking.

So, with that in mind, and the fact that electronic cigarettes contain little or none of the cancer-causing chemicals found in regular cigarettes, I was even more interested in trying out e-cigs because the method by which they operate has nothing to do with burning anything… so no combustion involved at all. Instead, a liquid mixture is heated to the point of evaporation, which is then inhaled, delivering the nicotine to the bloodstream.

I’m no doctor, but it sounds to me that if “inhalation of byproducts of combustion” is the most dangerous aspect of smoking real cigarettes, and electronic cigarettes have no byproducts of combustion and, in fact, don’t even utilize combustion at all, then electronic cigarettes must be dramatically safer than real cigarettes.

In my research I discovered this was definitely true and confirmed by a number of prominent doctors and tobacco researchers. In fact, when the FDA released a bit of information suggesting electronic cigarettes were not safe, many of these prominent doctors and tobacco researchers spoke out against the statement because, as one researcher put it, “there’s no doubt that electronic cigarettes are 99.9% safer than real cigarettes.”

The bottom line for somebody looking at electronic cigarettes as an alternative to real cigarettes is whether or not they are safer than real cigarettes. There seems to be no question that e-cigs are in fact safer than real cigarettes, so while I may not yet be some kind of marathon running, vegetarian as far as health and fitness goes, switching to electronic cigs is definitely a step in the right direction.


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Electronic Cigarette Components

Posted on August 26th, 2009 by Jack Stone

Electronic cigarettes are fastly becoming a popular alternative to traditional smokes; more and more people are beginning to use them as a smoking cessation tool, even though they were specifically designed for that purpose. Electronic cigarettes, although close to real cigarettes in appearance these days, function in a dramatically different way. As the name suggests, they operate electronically with the use of a battery as opposed to burning tobacco.

The battery

All electronic cigarettes utilize a battery to power the vaporization of the nicotine liquid. The battery is located where the and tobacco would be on a traditional cigarette and is usually a rechargeable lithium-ion type. Most brands use a small LED at the tip of the battery to stimulate the glowing embers of a traditional smoke when taking a drag.

Battery life varies by brand anywhere from a couple hours to a full day, depending on frequency of use. When I was a regular smoker I smoked about half pack a day and that to our to a full day range is pretty accurate for me. If you are really heavy smoker, like over a pack a day, you may run for batteries a little faster and it may benefit you to either buy extra batteries or to buy a brand that comes with a charging carrying case like BluCigs.

Most brands are available in starter kits that include two batteries as well as a battery charger. Some brands also include a USB charger for those people around the computer a lot of the time.

The LED tip light comes in different colors depending on the brand. The electronic cigarette I’m holding in my hand right now is the m402 model from LiteCig USA, which utilizes a blue LED. Some brands market the blue LED as a way to distinguish the electronic cigarette from a real smoke, for those who may want to try smoking in areas where smoking bans are in place such as bars or restaurants. While this can be useful when you attempt to explain to your server at the restaurant that you’re not actually smoking real cigarette, some people prefer an orange or red LED in order to more closely simulate a real cigarette.

Whatever your preference and needs as far as batteries go you can probably find something that works for you.

The atomizer

The atomizer is a small device, about a half-inch long, which screws into the mouthpiece end of the battery and serves two vaporized the nicotine liquid into a water vapor/nicotine mix. When assembled, the atomizer is hidden from view by the nicotine cartridge, which slides over the top of the atomizer.

Atomizer’s are powered by the battery and do not last forever. Depending on frequency of use you’ll probably have to replace the atomizer every few months or so at a cost of anywhere from $5-$30.

I’m not sure about the inner workings of the atomizer so that something you’ll have to look up on your own if you’re really interested in that sort of thing, but for most people what happens inside the atomizer is pretty much irrelevant as long as it works.

The nicotine cartridge

the nicotine cartridge contains a nicotine liquid with added flavorings that is drawn into and vaporized by the atomizer when you take a drag on the electronic cigarette. It’s located where the filter would be on a traditional smoke and has a small hole at the mouth and where you inhale the vapor. Most cartridges function in essentially the same way. Inside the cartridge is a small, nonflammable fabric sponge that is soaked with the nicotine solution. When completely assembled, the cartridge slides over the atomizer and a middleweight inside the atomizer makes contact with the sponge in order to draw the solution into the atomizer.

You can refill the cartridges yourself if you purchase separate nicotine solutions in whatever flavor you want. There are literally thousands of flavors out there soaking you can pretty much find whatever your little heart desires. Some brands are not designed to allow you to refill the cartridges yourself and, instead, self refilled cartridges for around a dollar a piece that you can purchase separately. This may be the preferred method by some simply because manually refilling cartridges has a bit of a learning curve to it in can be a little messy if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Cartridge life varies dramatically by brand and some of the problems with electronic cigarettes that people had have to do with the way the atomizer and cartridge link up. The life of manual refill cartridges only depends on how much fluid you drip into the cartridge when refilling it and the size of the sponge to hold the fluid inside the cartridge. Prefilled cartridges, however, very too much by brand to really say how long they’ll last; in my experience, I’ve found cartridges to last anywhere from the rough equivalent of four or five cigarettes to almost a full pack.

The assembled electronic cigarette

When fully assembled, most electronic cigarettes these days are about the size of a real smoke. To use the electronic cigarette, first make sure the battery is fully charged, the device is completely assembled, and a fresh or full cartridge is added, then simply take a drag just like you would a regular smoke.

Depending on the brand you may have to hit the electronic cigarette a little harder or a little lighter than a regular smoke. I found that, when manually refilling cartridges, it’s easy to overfill them and if you hit the smoke too hard some of the fluid can leak out of the cartridge into your mouth; that sounds unpleasant but it’s not really that bad, although I’d prefer to avoid it altogether.


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What are electronic cigarettes?

Posted on August 26th, 2009 by Jack Stone

Electronic cigarettes have been known in the past as personal vaporizers because that’s basically what they are. They consist of a nicotine liquid with added flavorings that is vaporized with the help of a battery and a little component called an atomizer.

Most electronic cigarettes are basically set up the same nowadays; the battery component is located where you find the tobacco on a traditional cigarette and most batteries have a small light at the tip that glows when you take a drag. The battery screws into the atomizer, which is the piece that vaporizes the liquid. The liquid is held in a small container located where the filter is our real cigarette that slides over the tip of the atomizer. When completely assembled they look just like a real cigarette, except plastic.

Some of the brands I’ve tried are white with a tan cartridge, which looks exactly like a regular cigarette from a distance, and some brands are a little behind the trend and maybe solid black, stainless steel, or some other color combination. Like I’ve mentioned before I always felt like a bit of a douche smoking the older models of electronic cigarettes that were long and black so I really like the recent trend toward miniaturization and the attempt to look like a real cigarette.

Electronic cigarettes have been around for several years now, but are only now becoming popular; in my opinion, the main reason for their increasing popularity is that they are finally beginning to look like real cigarettes. Additionally, prices are dropping dramatically; where you use have to shell out $150 or more for the e-cig experience, you can now find the most popular brands for around $50 for a starter kit and a fraction of that for cartridge refills.

That’s something I haven’t mentioned, that most companies sell starter kits for those first-time users. Most starter kits include a couple of batteries, a few cartridges and various flavors to get you started, an atomizer, and a battery charger. Some of the more popular brands, like BluCigs, include a few more accessories like a carrying case designed to look like a pack of cigarettes that also charges the batteries on the go. For the casual e-cig user, battery life may not be super important, but for any real smoker, getting caught out of the house with a dead battery is like running out of a pack of smokes and a world with no gas stations. So, needless to say, my favorite accessory of all the brands is the charge on the go carrying case from BluCigs. With this little carrying case that doubles as a battery charger I have yet to be caught out of the house with a dead battery, which means I never have to resort to smoking real cigarettes because a dead battery.

In this blog I’ll detail a little bit more about electronic cigarettes and explain all the ins and outs so you understand what they’re like and what to expect and hopefully I can give a little buying advice that will help you spend your money in the right place if you are someone who is looking to try out electronic cigarettes for the first time.


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