Electronic Cigarettes: Nicotine without Smoke

ROCKFORD, Ill. —

Jim Spencer has smoked for 35 years — about three packs a day for the past 20.

He has vaped — the term for using a personal vaporizer also known as an e-cigarette — for about two months. He’s a definite fan of the pen-shaped device, gladly demonstrates its workings to anyone interested and has been making converts for what some people in the business and health officials think may become the next debate in the use of nicotine.

Spencer, a driver for Ferrellgas, said having to step outside to smoke in cold weather was his main motivation for trying the e-cigarette, which he prefers to call a vaporizer.

“I don’t use my vaporizer to get around the smoking ban,” he said. “I just like to have my nicotine fix when I drink coffee and after a meal.”

E-cigarettes use a rechargeable battery to activate a heating coil that quickly heats nicotine suspended in a propylene glycol solution, which in some models is soaked into a soft fabric cartridge, until it vaporizes. The user inhales the vapor just as if he were smoking a cigarette and exhales a white mist that resembles smoke or steam.

Prices range from about $60 to $240 when extra cartridges and flavoring options such as mint or fruit flavors are included.

The device comes in several styles — some, like Spencer’s, resemble an ink pen with a mouthpiece while others look like a pipe or a regular cigarette. Some light up orange or green at the tip when in use.

None of them burn tobacco or, Spencer said, any illegal substance.

Read more here: Electronic Cigarettes: Nicotine without Smoke