Cigarettes Substitute Can Help Smokers to Avoid Ban

Scientists have found a way to smoke in public places without hiding. Thanks to electronic cigarettes smokers can smoke where they want without paying a fine. Electronic cigarette was made by an Arizona company. It contains nicotine, but no tobacco.

During smoking of such kind of cigarettes, users exhale water vapor that looks like smoke. Consumers and manufactures said that they are odorless and contain no secondhand effects.

Jack Leadbeater, the president and chief executive officer of Sottera Inc., based in Scottsdale, Ariz, said: "Our business is booming right now. Obviously, people now are beginning to realize they can get their nicotine in a manner that doesn't necessarily have to include 3,000 to 4,000 other chemicals that cause cancer."

Several companies sell the devices, which contain a cartridge and rechargeable batteries, with an initial cost of $80 to $110. Each replacement cartridge costs about $5 and equals two packs of cigarettes, or roughly half the cost of real smokes.

The cartridges contain water, nicotine, tobacco flavor and propylene glycol, an organic compound commonly used in food coloring.

The electronic cigarettes are not sold to help people quit, but some smokers said that it's slowly helped wean them from the real thing.

"It's fantastic. I haven't even craved a cigarette since I got it," said Mark Gerst, 23, of Burlington. Gerst said he had smoked since he was 16. Earlier this month, he tried the electronic brand.

Another smoker which is content by using electronic cigarettes is Kate Johnston of De Witt. She has smoked for roughly three decades. Her father, who quit smoking about a decade before was diagnosed with throat cancer, died in 1988 after a five-year battle that included the removal of his vocal cords.

"I ought to know more than anyone and yet, yes, I still choose to smoke even though I sat through five years of watching that. It is a habit and it's an addiction," Johnson added.

Johnston, upset with the state's smoking ban, ordered her electronic cigarettes about a month ago and says people are fascinated when she uses the product. Her device even has a light at the tip to simulate a light cigarette. Johnston has ordered cartridges that have less concentration of nicotine and believes she might ultimately kick the habit altogether.

Health researchers found that electronic cigarettes are safer than ordinary cigarettes, because they contain no tar, carcinogenic substances or other harmful ingredients. There’s also no flame required so they are safe to use in areas where smoking is prohibited because of any potential fire risk. They’re also completely harmless to people around smokers, with none of the risks associated with second-hand smoke.