Electronic cigarette is a device designed as a better smoking alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes. Using advanced technology, the electronic cigarette allows one the freedom to smoke everywhere, without the flame, ash, tar, or carbon monoxide found in traditional tobacco cigarettes. With no second-hand smoke, this smokeless product offers a cleaner and greener environment for both the user and the non-smoking community.

An electronic cigarette user Pamela Jones from Los Angeles, CA says: “I smoked a pack plus for over 15 years. I never thought I’d quit. Those little white devils had such a grip on me – it didn’t matter that I couldn’t take a deep breath without wheezing, or that I had to cough up a lung every morning when waking up, or having to go out in the cold to light up or huddling away from everyone to smoke without worrying about bothering other people, or missing out on life for a quick cigarette.”
She continues: “No more, thanks to the electronic cigarette. I’ve been tobacco free for over a month now. I noticed I can do more things health wise like going on long walks and running without any breathing issues. I used to have bronchial asthma but since I’ve been using the e-cigarette, I haven’t had any problems.”

To raise awareness about electronic cigarettes, the National Vapers Club who support e-cigarette vaping has provided an ad that appeared on the CBS SuperScreen in Times Square. With an accompanying website, the said ad promotes the smoking devices telling smokers they have a choice. The measure was taken amidst the on-going proposal to ban product carried out in many jurisdictions across the country.

The National Vapers Club is composed of members who are former smokers. According to club president, Spike Babaian, many of the club’s advocates may return to smoking cigarettes if access to e-cigarettes is limited.
While legislators try to ban these products, many doctors and public health experts feel that e-cigarettes are safer alternative. Vapers maintain that no evidence of public health hazards has been proved to have a link with using the devices.
Josh Gregory of E-liquid Planet, an electronic cigarette distributor in New York, questioned the banning of the product. He said that there was no valid concern over the safety of the product. He added that it would be ridiculous to put electronic cigarette companies in New York out of business.
In a Federal lawsuit against the FDA, four judges have agreed that the product posed no immediate health hazards to the public.
Judge Leon, in the original lawsuit, found that FDA cites no evidence that those electronic cigarettes have placed anyone in danger. FDA hasn’t also cited any evidence that associate electronic cigarettes to public health and safety.
“Now, smokers have a choice”, is the message the National Vapers Club is sending to the smoking public if they are unable to lacking the will to give up nicotine.

Best help is definitely the health aspect. We wished we could actually easy to quit smoking from the minute every one of us smokers realized that we were addicted to cigarettes. But the uncomplicated reality is that we LOVE to smoke. Except for the truth that it is slowly killing us, it is a set part in our daily routine and we are comfortable with it,

By smoking cigarette, we can get our normal nicotine intake, in the same way we are exhausted to! But, we can now smoke and not feel guilty about damaging our respiration and putting ourselves and our loved ones at possibility of lung cancer. The Electronic Cigarette is free of tar and all of the disastrous chemicals and carcinogens in expected tobacco cigarettes. It is a fully healthy way to get your nicotine intake. We also no longer have to worry about staining our teeth or smelling want an ashtray or staining our clothes or cigarette burns in furniture or clothes or car or smoking in bed and burning the residence down, with the electronic cigarette ! It is amazing all of the benefits of the new smokeless cigarette. By having an easy stop smoking real cigarettes, you could feel in the end of the day you had not harmed any of your friends or relatives.

So here is the new smokeless Easy 1,2,3 which is that is an alternative product without quitting smoking but actually it easily stops you smoking of damaging your health. New Easy 1,2,3 are the best product to be introduced to smokers as of rolling your own tobacco! I am incredibly delighted to say to all smokers of this impressive new product. If you are attempting to easy stop smoking, quit smoking or are having a hard time affording them or just feel want you can’t go anywhere to smoke these days.

Studies pointed out that the users were “highly motivated and passionate e-cigarette users who may have different experiences than average e-cigarette users or smokers.”

However, it also suggested that “very few e-cigarette users are not using them to replace cigarettes and there are many switchers and current who could have the reported experience.”

New study suggests both that electronic cigarettes can both help smokers replace cigarettes, and improve health in the short term as easy as to stop smoking.

Although the FDA is really trying to crack down on the distribution of these items, a recent study conducted by them concluded that there were only a few trace elements of carcinogens in a few brands. Compare that to the hundreds of larger amounts of deadly chemicals found in every single major brand of tobacco cigarettes. The FDA isn’t concluding that they are a safer alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes, but leaving that up to the consumer.

Aside from the possible health benefits, electronic cigarettes can also save users hundreds of dollars per year. E-cigarettes cost about 75 percent less to operate because the equivalent amount of puffs from a regular cigarette would cost a lot more. There are many other reasons why smokeless cigarettes are catching on in the smoking community too. Consumers are able to get their nicotine fix in places where tobacco cigarettes are prohibited. People have been routinely using these smokeless cigarettes in places like bars, nightclubs, and even airplanes.

Electronic cigarettes are available all over the place these days. Malls, gas stations, and most commonly the internet are the most common places to find them. Some companies are even giving away free trial offers of their products. If you have never heard of an electronic cigarette than in the near future, they are likely to be everywhere you look.

Easy as quitting smoking with Easy 1,2,3. Try it now since it is not too late! Grab your phone now and dial 1-877-288-4847 to place the order. Great deals coming your way! You can use this voucher code OW10 for your 10% discount and let me remind you that FREE SHIPPING is also available. And one thing more on top of this you will get this amazing EBOOKS and AUDIOS absolutely free for all orders.

From officialwire.com, July 7, 2010

Washington — “Electronic cigarettes” that vaporize nicotine juice to inhale instead of smoke from burning tobacco do not deliver as promised, according to research at Virginia Commonwealth University.

“They are as effective at nicotine delivery as puffing on an unlit cigarette,” said Dr. Thomas Eissenberg, at the school’s Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies.

His study, funded by the federal National Cancer Institute, is the first by American doctors to check the function of so-called “no-smoke tobacco” devices, which are unregulated in the United States for sale or use.

The units are shaped like a cigarette and contain a battery that heats a filament to vaporize liquid nicotine in a refillable cartridge. Smokers buy the devices to get around no-smoking restrictions and to attempt to quit conventional cigarettes.

Some users nickname what they’re doing as “vaping” instead of smoking, to reflect the vapor produced by the heating element. The devices are marketed as an alternative to smoking, but retailers avoid making claims about health or safety.

Fans have established a Web site, www.e-cigarette-forum.com. Founder Oliver Kershaw said the site “is the largest e-smokers community online with some 26,000 members, most of whom are in the U.S.”

Jimi Jackson, a former tobacco smoker in Richmond, Virginia, who sells electronic cigarettes, is convinced there are immediate health advantages in avoiding the known cancer-causing substances in the smoke of a burning cigarette.

“I smoked 37 years, and when I found them, I was, like, ‘Thank, you Jesus,’ ” Jackson said with a laugh, as a reporter visited his shop, No Smoke Virginia, coincidentally just a few blocks from where the research was conducted at Virginia Commonwealth.

In March, the Food and Drug Administration imposed a ban on continued imports of the devices, pending regulatory review for any health risks.

The latest clinical evidence suggests users are not getting the addictive substance they get from smoking tobacco. “These e-cigs do not deliver nicotine,” Eissenberg said of the findings he expects to publish in an upcoming issue of the British Medical Journal.

This past summer, Eissenberg recruited smokers without prior experience using e-cigarettes to volunteer to use two popular brands of the devices for a set period. The 16 subjects were regularly measured in a clinical setting for the presence of nicotine in their bodies, their reported craving for conventional cigarettes, and certain physiological effects such as a change in heart rate.

“Ten puffs from either of these electronic cigarettes with a 16 mg nicotine cartridge delivered little to no nicotine,” the study found.

But the units may deliver hazardous chemicals, according to preliminary checks by federal regulators. In a notice to importers, the FDA blocked continued shipments after finding diethylene glycol, a chemical used in antifreeze that is toxic to humans.

The government’s statement noted there are no health warnings on the products, and that “the FDA analyses detected carcinogens, including nitrosamines.”

The notice of the import ban says “the product appears to be a combination drug-device,” that “requires pre-approval, registration and listing with the FDA” in order to be marketed in the United States.

A company challenging the import ban claims in federal court documents to have sold 600,000 of the devices in a year’s time through a network of 120 distributors in the United States.

“We are on the verge of going out of business, which is why we are suing the FDA in U.S. District Court,” said Washington, attorney Kip Schwartz, representing a company called “Smoking Everywhere,” a U.S. wholesaler that was importing the devices from China.

The lawsuit questions the FDA’s authority to block shipments of a non-tobacco product, and says the agency has violated its statutory process for product review. Liquid nicotine is available on the open market through pharmaceutical houses and vendors who sell e-cigarettes.

A judge has yet to rule on the company’s request for an injunction that would allow imports to resume. “There has been no change,” said FDA spokesman Siobhan DeLancey. She said “a decision in the case is still pending, with no timeline.”

President Obama, who has described himself as an occasional smoker, has been offered one of the devices by Florida Rep. Cliff Stearns. The Republican lawmaker’s office said the president did not respond.

An administration spokesman last year said the White House was not aware of the offer.

In a copy of a letter to the chief executive dated March 26, Stearns wrote, “I have recently given out e-cigarettes to a few members of Congress and they have become quite a hit.”

Sales of the devices continue at shopping mall kiosks and small storefront retailers, apparently drawing from stock imported before the FDA began to block shipments from overseas suppliers.

By Paul Courson, CNN

An Oregon Senate committee tomorrow will hear public testimony on a bill that would give local governments authority to tax tobacco and cigarettes.

Multnomah County officials are seeking that authority to raise money for county health and human services, discourage teenagers from smoking and reduce smoking-related health costs, said Deborah Kafoury, member of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners.

The House narrowly passed a similar bill in the last session, but the Legislature adjourned before the bill reached the Senate floor.

The proposal, Senate Bill 1042, would lift a ban against local governments taxing cigarettes and tobacco. If the 2010 Legislature passes it, Multnomah County will begin having public hearings on a county tobacco tax, Kafoury said. County leaders want to settle on a tax that is high enough to have impact without being so high it sends smokers across county lines in search of cheaper cigarettes, she said.

One figure that’s come up has been a tax of 25 cents per pack of cigarettes, which would raise between $7 million and $9 million a year, she said. Commissioners are confident Multnomah County residents would support the tax, Kafoury said, because they voted in favor of a 2007 measure to increase the state’s cigarette tax by 85 cents a pack to pay for children’s health insurance.

That initiative, Measure 50, failed statewide by a 3-to-2 vote after cigarette companies spent $12 million on a campaign to defeat it. They will try to defeat efforts by Multnomah County to tax tobacco, too, Kafoury predicted.

“The only opposition to this bill is the tobacco companies,” said Kafoury, who plans to testify at the 1 p.m. hearing Friday before the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee.

By Bill Graves, The Oregonian
February 04, 2010

FARMINGTON — Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, is a bulldog when it comes to cracking down on tobacco or for that matter, any nicotine-laced product.

A bill he introduced in the house to restrict “e-cigarettes,” and flavored smokeless tobacco, moved through a House committee Tuesday.

And Davis health officials are rallying behind his efforts.

“We are happy the issue is on the radar of legislators,” said Isa Kaluhikaua, a health educator with the Davis Health Department, whose expertise is in tobacco education. “We are concerned about the promotion of these products.”

The products that Ray and health officials are most concerned about are alternatives to smoking, which health officials fear may encourage young people and even children to try them out.

There’s Snus, a no-spit tobacco pouch meant to be placed under the upper lip, and Orbs, dissolvable breath-mint sized tobacco, with a camel imprinted on each. Strips are dissolvable, like breath freshening strips, containing tobacco, and dissolvable Sticks.

They’re each packaged in bright, attractive colors, which often look like candy packages.

Kaluhikaua is concerned products like these “could fall under the radar” and into the hands of children, “and that even the (store) clerks may not know what they are.”

She did some checking, and found the products are age-restricted. and when they are rung up at the register, the clerk should receive a notice to check for ID proving the buyer is 19.

Kaluhikaua said that she hasn’t done a check of which products are available at local retailers; she has seen some of them.

At a board of health meeting last month, Kaluhikaua told board members that if a child were to ingest three of the Orbs, they would get ill, and 10 would result in serious illness. Yet, she compared them to Tic-Tacs in appearance, and said they come in a variety of flavors children could mistake for candy.

“Some are designed to fit into creative packaging, and are marketed as a safe alternative to smoking,” Kaluhikaua told board members. She warned that the tobacco industry is creating new products all the time to keep the products in the public’s mind.

However, she warned, “There’s no such thing as a safe tobacco product.”

On Tuesday, House committee members heard from the public, some of whom defended the new electronic cigarette, “e-cigarette” which they say has helped them quit smoking.

The e-cigarette is a battery-powered device that looks like a cigarette and allows smokers to stop inhaling tar and other compounds found in cigarette smoke.

All the products contain some level of nicotine, which is of special concern to Ray, who told committee members that if he had his way, he would ban tobacco altogether. Countries worldwide are calling for additional studies of the e-cigarette and possible effects to the user’s health, especially if used for an extended period.

Most of the products still don’t have Federal Drug Administration approval, Kaluhikaua said.

by Melinda Williams, Clippertoday
Feb 04, 2010

Multnomah County Commissioner Deborah Kafoury, once the top Democrat in the state House of Representatives, was buttonholing her buddies in Salem this week, trying to persuade lawmakers at February’s special session to end the ban on city and county tobacco taxes.

“One of the reasons I ran for office was to get Multnomah County on sound financial footing,” Kafoury says. “We are still in financial trouble despite the recent passage of the tax measures.”

Kafoury and other county commissioners say they lack the same money-raising avenues the city of Portland has, so they’re turning to the Legislature to allow more local taxes.

County commissioners figure they could raise $8 million a year by levying a local 25-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes, Kafoury says. That would dissuade more teens from buying cigarettes, she says, and help the county meet surging demand for health care and other social services during the recession.

A similar proposal passed the House in 2009, and she’s confident it could pass again this month. But the vote in the Senate “is going to be close,” Kafoury says.
By Steve Law
The Gresham Outlook, Feb 2, 2010

Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, introduced the proposal, Senate Bill 1042, at Multnomah County’s behest. Rep. Nick Kahl, D-Gresham, also sponsored the bill.

Considering the poor economy and last week’s approval of two state-wide tax measures, “This may be difficult to pass,” Monnes Anderson said.

But her interest in preventing teens from smoking drove her to back the bill. “It has been proven that when you increase the cost of cigarettes, the young people are the ones that don’t buy them,” she said.

Kahl said the bill also gives governments a chance to create new ways to pay the “significant” price of social services and health care, all while preserving local control.

“In Rockwood, where I grew up, these dollars are desperately needed,” he said, adding that the bill would allow Gresham – in fact any city or county – to enact its own cigarette tax if the city wanted to. “Local governments should have local control to deal with their own issues. This gives them an opportunity to do that.”

Convenience stores, such as Plaid Pantry, oppose the bill, fearing it will cause customers to shop in another county for their cigarettes and other products.

“You’re penalizing retailers because they’re located in one jurisdiction,” says Richard Kosesan, a Salem lobbyist for the convenience-store trade group.

He also warns that state cigarette taxes, which help pay for health care for the poor, could drop as they did after the Legislature banned indoor smoking at bars.

Sen. Rick Metsger, D-Welches, concurs, and opposes the bill.

The cigarette tax is “maxed out” as a source of revenue, Metsger says, after Congress added a 62-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes last year to pay for children’s health coverage. That made the federal cigarette tax $1.01 per pack, on top of Oregon’s state tax of $1.18 a pack.

“You tax it more, you’re just going to get less,” Metsger says. “New Jersey is the prime example of that.”

Metsger also predicts money-raising measures are a non-starter during the February session, coming on the heels of two major tax increases ratified by voters.

“Anything that has three letters that start with a ‘t’ and end with an ‘x’ is not going to be on the table this February,” he says. “I think everybody’s ready for a hiatus on this topic.”

But Portland Democrats are fairly influential in the Legislature these days, and the party has a comfortable majority in both chambers. SB 1042 doesn’t raise a dime; it allows cities and counties to charge their own cigarette taxes. As a result, the bill only needs a simple majority, not the three-fifths majority required for tax increases.

Rep. Phil Barnhart, D-Eugene, who leads the House revenue committee, says there are disadvantages to having different cigarette taxes in different communities of the state because it distorts sales.

But he says schools and local governments have been short of funds since voters sharply reduced property taxes in 1990 and then capped the growth of property values for tax-assessment purposes in 1996.

Many Oregon counties also face a crippling loss of federal funds allocated to timber-dependent communities.

SB 1042 has the support of the Oregon League of Cities and the Association of Oregon Counties.

There are plenty of precedents around the country. Kafoury says about 450 other cities and counties outside Oregon have their own cigarette taxes.

Voters opposed to measures 66 and 67 are likely to fume if Multnomah County enacts a local cigarette tax on top of those sizable state tax increases.

Kafoury fears the opposite reaction if the county makes more cuts this year, right after more than 70 percent of county voters approved both tax increases.

“Multnomah County voters are going to be confused,” she says.

Smoking taxes

Oregon: $1.18 (22nd-highest among the states)

Washington: $2.025 (5th-highest)

California: 87 cents

Idaho: 57 cents

Those come on top of the federal tax of $1.01

New York City, at $5.26 a pack, has the nation’s highest cigarette taxes, combining city, state and national taxes.

Legislature will look at other bills during session

In addition to backing a bill that would end a ban on city and county tobacco taxes, Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson and Rep. Nick Kahl, both Gresham-based Democrats, also are introducing other bills during the February special session.

• SB 1003 – Sponsored by Monnes Anderson, this bill would help small businesses maintain health insurance benefits for employees. In order to get better rates, some companies pool together to create association health plans. Such plans require that 95 percent of employees stay in the plan, but as more companies reduce positions to part-time, fewer employees can afford to take part. The bill would allow companies to apply for a waiver to the 95-percent retention rate.

• HB 3615 – Sponsored by Kahl, this bill would apply the Unfair Trade Practices Act to banks and insurance companies, which are now exempt in Oregon. The bill provides consumer protection against banks and insurance companies that misrepresent themselves, resulting in damages to consumers, and allows the state attorney general to sue banks and insurance companies that don’t adhere to the law.

Legislators are also expected to focus on extending unemployment benefits for thousands of out-of-work Oregonians, as well as creating a constitutional amendment that would change how often the Legislature meets.

It now meets in general session every other year but often meets in special sessions during the interim. Some legislators want to meet annually as most states do.

Oregon’s business energy tax credit, also known as BETC or Besty, also could be changed. Critics say the credits cost taxpayers too much.

This issue could have repercussion for Gresham, which is trying to woo solar companies and other green industries to the area, said Rep. Greg Matthews, D-Gresham.

By Mara Stine

CAIRO: Khaled Mounir laughs at the notion Egypt could ban smoking. It is absurd, he says, as he takes a long drag on his water-pipe, commonly known as shisha. The 74-year-old retired accountant has been coming to the same café in the posh Zamalek neighborhood of Cairo for decades.

“Since before the revolution, this has been my spot,” he tells in near perfect English, a sign of his decade living in San Francisco. “They talk about banning smoking every six months or so these days, but we know it won’t happen because it would cost the government too much.”

His friend, Amir, shakes his head in agreement.

“It is just another rash decision taken that will hurt the average person and the government is overreacting like they have done on many occasions,” says Amir. “I think they need to educate people and teach local cafes about hygiene and that stuff instead of just going in and shutting it down.”

This is exactly what has happened. In downtown Cairo last month, police came into the Borsa area – Stock Market – and shut down a number of cafes serving shisha. The health ministry cited concerns over the manner in which the pipes and hoses were cleaned. But, only days later, all the cafes that lined the streets – it is a popular hangout spot for the younger generation of Egyptians and foreigners – were back at work, serving shisha to its loyal patrons.

The closing of shisha cafes has not been limited to only Cairo. In Mansoura, reports of prohibitions on the Egyptian pastime have been flowing in telling of closures of the city’s cafes ability to serve shisha.

“People here in Mansoura say Shisha is completely prohibited,” Mohamed el-Gohary wrote on his IRCPresident Twitter account last month.

The government has been quick in their attempts to curtail the spread of the H1N1 influenza, commonly known as swine flu, although world health officials have repeatedly stated the virus does not pass from pigs to humans. Here in Egypt, after the initial report of the outbreak in Mexico and the United States, all pigs were culled, sparking massive criticism both domestically and globally over what World Health Organization officials called “rash.”

Then, in September, the government closed down all schools and universities, fearing that by allowing students to return would allow for a possible outbreak among students. Schools were reopened in early October after the delay.

The health ministry has repeatedly stated it is doing everything in its power to ensure that Egyptians remain safe and the H1N1 virus does spread across the country in large numbers like it has in other countries.

“The reason shisha is being cut back is because of the poor conditions that often come with the local cafes that people go to. Swine flu can spread quite easily in the pipes if they are not cleaned properly, so we decided that in order to keep people safe from getting sick that these places be shut down, but at this time we have no intention of closing the places where they clean the pipes and use the medical hoses,” the official added.

Other reasons the government has given for ending smoking is the easy manner tuberculosis can spread through the hoses from one puffer to another. In 2007, Parliament banned smoking in public places. But, a quick walk through any government building and the dozens of ashtrays with the spent butts of cigarettes reveal the ban didn’t stick.

The health ministry says they are determined to get onto the global calls for banning smoking, saying that in Egypt, at minimum, smoking indoors should be curtailed. But tell that to the millions of Egyptians who daily puff away at their flavored water-pipe.

For the elderly men in Zamalek, at one level they agree with the ministry’s decision to close down the ahwa, saying that they agree with the government’s assessment.

“These places are not clean and have not been for years, which is why we have been coming here,” adds Mounir. Their frustration is with how these things are carried out by the government.

“Just like when they all-of-a-sudden decided to kill all the pigs, there was no warning and people didn’t have a say. It will hurt Egyptians livelihoods greatly and I am certain that it will cause more pain than what the government knows or cares about,” believes Amin.

For now, at least, if Egyptians and foreigners want to puff away on their water-pipe, the place to do it is the upscale, clean cafes in the more affluent areas of Cairo and the rest of the country. Or just wait a few days, and all will be fine for those who enjoy the very Egyptian tradition.

Joseph Mayton
17 November 2009

A man from Cumbria has admitted selling counterfeit cigarettes to a child from his ice cream van.

Anthony Wharton, 61, of Marsden Street, Barrow was caught by trading standards officers who found him selling cigarettes to a 16-year-old.

He pleaded guilty at Furness and District Magistrates Court to three charges of selling counterfeit cigarettes.

He also admitted one count of selling cigarettes to a minor.

Wharton admitted he would often sell cigarettes to children whom he thought looked old enough, but he failed to ask for proof of age.

After a raid at his home on 14 October 1,360 counterfeit cigarettes were found.

Wharton must pay court costs of £350 and surrender all counterfeit cigarettes.

He was also ordered to complete 60 hours unpaid community work.

30 October 2009, Bbc