E-Cigarette (electronic cigarette) – a review

OK so, I know it’s bad.. I have been a heave smoker (a small pack a day) for over 15 years.. I have tried to quit on several occasions, tried the gun, patches, cold turkey, and it hasn’t worked to bad. I think my issue is more psychological than the addition to them (i think of smoking as a way to relax and take a break to think out a problem in my head when I a programming..

My smoking habit comes from my past D.J days working in the bars and clubs in the 90’s and early 2000’s. I would smoke a lot then while spinning the tunes. I would throw on a tune, (12″ mixes back in those days) then i have anywhere from 5-10 min. to wait until it’s time to mix in the next track, so i would often have a beer, light up and enjoy.

Anyways a few weeks ago, a friend of mine had one of those electronic cigarettes (or e-smokes, e-cigarettes) as they are often called. He had been using it for just over a month, and was very happy about it. They claim to be a healthier alternative to smoking, as they have no tar, no carcinogens, or the other 2000+ other bad things related to lighting up a tobacco cigarette.

Anyways, I asked him where to get one, and he passed on a few places they can be found here in Canada. (there are a lot of U.S and over seas places that sell them, but i would  rather buy domestic, as it could be problems with customs).. There are a few places that do sell them here in Canada, although their stock of them is rather limited at times, due to high demand, combined with the fact that they can only be imported right now in small quantities from over seas where they are manufactured.

Anyways so I ended up buying a “starter kit” from a site called http://www.e-cigarettescanada.com. It cost me about 95 bucks with shipping for my electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) kit. I got it about 6 days later via post. The unit i bought is called the “Super Cigarette” and it’s supposed to be one of the newest models on the market. It claims to have advanced atomizer technology and higher quality batteries that last longer (the unit recharges). The kit came with 2 of the “battery” parts, 5 sample “cartridges” , a charger and a manual, all packaged in a nice blue case with a magnetic flap to keep it closed. (a nice touch).

One nice thing was the batteries already had a partial charge in them, so I could try the unit right away. (probably from factory testing of the units). Anyways I gave the instructions a quick read  (gotta love “chinglish” hehehe) screwed in one of the provided cartridges (used one of the high nicotine ones) and gave it a try.

I was actually presently surprised. The taste, although a little “sweeter” did have a “tobacco” taste to it. It did give me a little of the “nicotine burn” like you get like when using the nicotine  gum.. but the medium and low strength ones were not as noticeable for that. The smoke from the unit was thick and very white. It had no real smell to it, just a slight “sweet smell”. I was actually pretty impressed with this unit. (not that I  have had other ones to compare it to mind you). The electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) itself was just a touch longer and thicker then my normal ones, and just a touch heavier, but i got used to that fairly quickly.

My plan is to get some of the medium and light, then non nicotine refills (the refills screw onto the battery part, and are colored brown to look like the filter of a normal cigarette). What i will do is use the medium, then low, then non nicotine versions of the e-cigarettes refills to gradually wean myself from the nicotine (much like i would with the different strengths of a patch).. until eventually I’m using the non nicotine version. Then i can decide if i want to quit all together, or keep using the electronic cigarettes to keep my “psychological” cravings in check.

Anyways as of writing this, i have been using my new electronic cigarette for about 5 days now, and have not had a real smoke in that time, so far im pretty happy… and time will tell how it goes from here. I will post a new update maybe in a month for those who want to know how it’s coming. If anyone is interested in one, I got mine from http://www.e-cigarettescanada.com located in Toronto.