So I've now been using an e-cigarette (e-cig) for two months and thought I'd talk a bit about how I see the upcoming battle between Health Canada and e-cigs going.
First though, let's do a quick overview of what exactly an e-cig is. Basically an e-cig vaporizes liquid that contains nicotine. The vapor is then inhaled. People who use e-cigs are called vapers (not smokers). Because the liquid is atomized (ie. vaporized), not burned the way tobacco is, vapers do not consider themselves 'smokers' in anyway.
An e-cig is comprised of basically three components:
The tank - this is the component that holds the juice (sometimes referred to as e-juice or e-liquid).
The atomizer - this a coil and wick unit that atomizes the juice. When the coil is heated (from the battery) it atomizes the juice that has soaked into the wick.
The battery - batteries for e-cigs come in various capacities (some last 8 hours, others 40+ hours, depending on their size). The batteries are rechargeable.
When you connect the tank, the atomizer and the battery you have an 'e-cigarette' which looks like this:
The additional component to the e-cig is obviously the juice.
E-juice is basically a combination of four ingredients, which include:
Both PG and VG are substances found in many medical devices (PG is used in asthma inhalers for instance) or food products and both are considered safe for consumption by the FDA (note: safe for consumption though is for ingestion, not inhalation... but we know that they are not carcinogenic). Both PG and VG are water soluble.
The liquid nicotine is, well, nicotine in liquid form. It's the same nicotine that you get in nicotine gum or patches, but in liquid form.
Lastly the flavoring is actually the same flavoring that is used in baking goods. However, only water soluble flavor concentrates are used in e-juice (or at least that's all anyone should be using). Oil based flavoring is a no-no. The body can easily metabolize water soluble substances, but not oil based ones.
Most e-cig users buy their e-juice. The cost ranges between $10-30 per 30ml (which for many users will last them between one and two weeks of vaping).
I make my own e-juice instead of buying it from the vendor. I like making lots of different flavors and that would get pretty expensive buying them from the vendor, but making the juice myself is pretty easy and cost effective.
My Experience with the E-cig
I've tried every nicotine cessation product out there and none of them even came close to working. E-cigarettes are a different story though.
I've been vaping now for two months and can say that I'll be a vaper for life (or until I wean myself off nicotine completely).
Having said that, I haven't fully quit cigarettes. I still smoke four cigarettes in the morning. After that though, I don't smoke cigarettes at all. So my cigarette consumption has gone from 20-25 a day to four (that's a reduction of over 80 per cent!).
So what's the big difference with an ecigarette over a real cigarette? The big difference is that you aren't consuming 5,000+ chemicals and 40 known carcinogens like you are with cigarettes.
While it's only been two months I can already notice my body healing from 20 years of smoking cigarettes.
In addition, the health benefits e-cig users report experiencing are almost universal. Everyone reports feeling better, no longer coughing, increased circulation, etc.
Having said that though, I do think there is a very valid argument Health Canada could be making here. The reality is that when vendors make their juices the consumer has no clue how sterile the environment is in which they are made.
I make my own e-juice, so I know that I've washed my hands. But who knows, perhaps some guy making e-juice is going to the washroom, not washing their hands, and then mixing juice for customers.
I personally would LOVE to see Health Canada regulate e-juices with spot checks on vendor mixing operations and the juices themselves.
There is definitely the possibility for a consumer health issue here and with modest regulations it could easily be avoided.
But let's be clear, we do know what is in e-cigs and we do know that no one has died from using an e-cig or reported getting ill from doing so either. Where potential problems could arise in the future would be in unsterile mixing environments resulting in bacteria getting into the e-juice (although ironically, propylene glycol has anti-bacterial properties, so the actual ingredients of e-juice actually help to limit the presence of bacteria).
E-juice should be treated like a food product.
But that's not what Health Canada will fight against (even though it's what they should be going after). I suspect they will play the 'e-cigs are dangerous' card, which will be a big mistake because the evidence at this point is that they are far less dangerous than cigarettes themselves.
On a side note, e-cigarettes were actually created by a Japanese doctor (kind of ironic that Health Canada is fighting against a product that came out of the medical community).
3. E-cigarettes are still smoking and smoking is bad.
In the end I think Health Canada and others will really push to equate vaping with smoking. Unfortunately the only thing the two share in common is that they both contain nicotine. Other than that, they are entirely different things.
They use different substances (one contains 5,000+ chemicals the other contains 4 main ingredients), the method of nicotine inhalation is different (one is from vaporizing liquid the other is through combustion), and lastly they have drastically different effects on the body (one coats the lungs with tar and 40+ chemicals known to cause cancer, the other uses ingredients deemed safe for consumption by the FDA).
In The End
In the end I think Health Canada has a very tough PR battle on its hands. It's almost inconceivable how they will be able to ban e-cigs while still allowing for the sale of cigarettes. The facts on e-cigs are simply too straight forward: they work and they are far less harmful to you than cigarettes. So how can a government department tasked with protecting/promoting public health ban e-cigarettes while allowing for the sale of cigarettes?
It's a very hard position to have to push because it simply makes no sense.
What's It Really All About?
After vaping now for two months and realizing just how amazing this is as a smoking reduction / quitting tool (and yes, I do plan on quitting those four morning smokes in the near future), I'm coming to the (cynical) conclusion that the only reason to stand in the way of e-cigarettes is because of lost revenue associated with tobacco sales.
In Canada, 70 per cent of the cost of a pack of cigarettes is taxes.
Which when you think about it, the organization who profits the most from cigarette smoking in Canada is not the tobacco companies, or the gas station selling cigarettes... it's actually the government itself!
I can understand Health Canada being cautious regarding e-cigarettes, but their stance of actively attacking e-cigarettes just doesn't make sense. The only scenario in which it does make sense though is if they are trying to protect the tax revenue they get from cigarettes (which is in the billions).
And this is the issue that I think Health Canada has to really be concerned with in a PR battle over e-cigarettes.
The fact is that e-cigarettes work (or at least have for myself and many others), people start getting healthier when they quit cigarettes and take up vaping, and everyone is in favor of ensuring that selling e-cigarettes to youth should not be allowed.
So how are governments not promoting e-cigs rather than trying to ban them? The only answer that makes any sense is that they don't want to lose the revenues they make off the sale of cigarettes.
Anyway, it's still early days, so hopefully we see Health Canada pull back on its attack on e-cigarettes. Although I'd like to see them get more involved in the e-cig industry in the form of health-orientated common-sense regulations.
Ultimately this whole debate should be about people's health. As someone who has smoked for 20 years and tried quitting many times, this is the first time in 20 years that I've felt healthy and for the most part smoke free! To me it would actually be a public health disaster if they banned e-cigarettes and forced people to go back to smoking regular cigarettes.
Here's hoping Health Canada comes around to my way of thinking.
First though, let's do a quick overview of what exactly an e-cig is. Basically an e-cig vaporizes liquid that contains nicotine. The vapor is then inhaled. People who use e-cigs are called vapers (not smokers). Because the liquid is atomized (ie. vaporized), not burned the way tobacco is, vapers do not consider themselves 'smokers' in anyway.
An e-cig is comprised of basically three components:
The tank - this is the component that holds the juice (sometimes referred to as e-juice or e-liquid).
The atomizer - this a coil and wick unit that atomizes the juice. When the coil is heated (from the battery) it atomizes the juice that has soaked into the wick.
The battery - batteries for e-cigs come in various capacities (some last 8 hours, others 40+ hours, depending on their size). The batteries are rechargeable.
When you connect the tank, the atomizer and the battery you have an 'e-cigarette' which looks like this:
The additional component to the e-cig is obviously the juice.
E-juice is basically a combination of four ingredients, which include:
- Propylene Glycol (PG)
- Vegetable Glycerine (VG)
- Liquid Nicotine
- Flavoring
Both PG and VG are substances found in many medical devices (PG is used in asthma inhalers for instance) or food products and both are considered safe for consumption by the FDA (note: safe for consumption though is for ingestion, not inhalation... but we know that they are not carcinogenic). Both PG and VG are water soluble.
The liquid nicotine is, well, nicotine in liquid form. It's the same nicotine that you get in nicotine gum or patches, but in liquid form.
Lastly the flavoring is actually the same flavoring that is used in baking goods. However, only water soluble flavor concentrates are used in e-juice (or at least that's all anyone should be using). Oil based flavoring is a no-no. The body can easily metabolize water soluble substances, but not oil based ones.
Most e-cig users buy their e-juice. The cost ranges between $10-30 per 30ml (which for many users will last them between one and two weeks of vaping).
I make my own e-juice instead of buying it from the vendor. I like making lots of different flavors and that would get pretty expensive buying them from the vendor, but making the juice myself is pretty easy and cost effective.
My Experience with the E-cig
I've tried every nicotine cessation product out there and none of them even came close to working. E-cigarettes are a different story though.
I've been vaping now for two months and can say that I'll be a vaper for life (or until I wean myself off nicotine completely).
Having said that, I haven't fully quit cigarettes. I still smoke four cigarettes in the morning. After that though, I don't smoke cigarettes at all. So my cigarette consumption has gone from 20-25 a day to four (that's a reduction of over 80 per cent!).
So what's the big difference with an ecigarette over a real cigarette? The big difference is that you aren't consuming 5,000+ chemicals and 40 known carcinogens like you are with cigarettes.
While it's only been two months I can already notice my body healing from 20 years of smoking cigarettes.
- My hands and feet no longer get cold like they use to.
- My skin is more 'pinkish'.
- My smokers cough is gone
- My lungs feel like they can inhale more air than they use to be able to.
- My teeth are cleaner (I've always had clean teeth, but they stay cleaner more easily now).
My experience so far as been nothing short of miraculous and I can't recommend e-cigarettes enough to those looking to quit smoking or at the very least substantially reduce their smoking.
The PR Battle Is Coming
Governments everywhere are currently struggling with how to handle e-cigs. In Europe they ruled to leave them unregulated, but many are still pushing for an outright ban.
In the USA the FDA hasn't ruled yet, but are looking to regulate the industry.
Health Canada has said they don't want people using e-cigs and have tried to intimidate e-cig vendors. But as yet, there is no law specifcally making it illegal to sell e-cigarettes in Canada.
So what is the PR battle coming? The crux of the matter will rest on the following: the government clearly does not want people using e-cigarettes and yet those who are using them rave about them as a tool for quitting smoking.
Having said that, let's look at the messaging I suspect Health Canada will use and I'll give you my view (based on vaping for the past two months) on whether or not they will be successful.
1. E-juice flavors are meant to attract youth to vaping
The biggest aspects in this battle with ultimately be whether or not e-cigarettes are marketed towards the youth.
Health advocates say that because e-juices come in flavors like bubble gum and cheesecake and a thousand other flavors, that this will attract youth.
Before becoming a vaper I could see the logic in this. Now that I've been vaping for a couple months though, I now understand how important all the different flavors are.
E-cigarettes are not like cigarettes. They don't carry the 'kick' that you get when you drag on a cigarette. Instead, what you get is a 'flavor kick' when you take a drag on your e-cigarette.
The variety of flavors is what keeps the e-cigarette experience appealing. Because you don't get the same nicotine rush that you get from smoking, e-cigarettes without flavor would be a very bland experience.
While I understand how flavoring alcohol can be seen as a method of drawing youth into the product, with e-cigarettes that's not the reason the flavoring is used.
The best way I can analogize this is to think of rice cakes. By themselves they are bland. But when they come in different flavors, they are a tasty treat.
So Health Canada will have to tread carefully with this line of attack because the flavorings are not there to attract youth, they are there specifically to make the e-cig experience satisfying.
So Health Canada will have to tread carefully with this line of attack because the flavorings are not there to attract youth, they are there specifically to make the e-cig experience satisfying.
Right now I'm vaping five different flavors: white chocolate cheese cake, juicy fruit gum, creme de la menthe, a butter rum english toffee blend and an apple and raspberry blend.
If Health Canada tries to position the industry as using flavors for the purpose of attracing youth I think the will look somewhat ignorant as vapers explain that the flavors are essential to the vaping experience.
2. E-cigs are dangerous because we don't know what is in them
This is an argument that will be used and will fail horribly. We know what is in them. We also know that they emit far less particulate matter than cigarettes. I encourage you to watch the following lecture to get a sense of how less toxic e-cigs are to cigarettes.
In addition, the health benefits e-cig users report experiencing are almost universal. Everyone reports feeling better, no longer coughing, increased circulation, etc.
Having said that though, I do think there is a very valid argument Health Canada could be making here. The reality is that when vendors make their juices the consumer has no clue how sterile the environment is in which they are made.
I make my own e-juice, so I know that I've washed my hands. But who knows, perhaps some guy making e-juice is going to the washroom, not washing their hands, and then mixing juice for customers.
I personally would LOVE to see Health Canada regulate e-juices with spot checks on vendor mixing operations and the juices themselves.
There is definitely the possibility for a consumer health issue here and with modest regulations it could easily be avoided.
But let's be clear, we do know what is in e-cigs and we do know that no one has died from using an e-cig or reported getting ill from doing so either. Where potential problems could arise in the future would be in unsterile mixing environments resulting in bacteria getting into the e-juice (although ironically, propylene glycol has anti-bacterial properties, so the actual ingredients of e-juice actually help to limit the presence of bacteria).
E-juice should be treated like a food product.
But that's not what Health Canada will fight against (even though it's what they should be going after). I suspect they will play the 'e-cigs are dangerous' card, which will be a big mistake because the evidence at this point is that they are far less dangerous than cigarettes themselves.
On a side note, e-cigarettes were actually created by a Japanese doctor (kind of ironic that Health Canada is fighting against a product that came out of the medical community).
3. E-cigarettes are still smoking and smoking is bad.
In the end I think Health Canada and others will really push to equate vaping with smoking. Unfortunately the only thing the two share in common is that they both contain nicotine. Other than that, they are entirely different things.
They use different substances (one contains 5,000+ chemicals the other contains 4 main ingredients), the method of nicotine inhalation is different (one is from vaporizing liquid the other is through combustion), and lastly they have drastically different effects on the body (one coats the lungs with tar and 40+ chemicals known to cause cancer, the other uses ingredients deemed safe for consumption by the FDA).
In The End
In the end I think Health Canada has a very tough PR battle on its hands. It's almost inconceivable how they will be able to ban e-cigs while still allowing for the sale of cigarettes. The facts on e-cigs are simply too straight forward: they work and they are far less harmful to you than cigarettes. So how can a government department tasked with protecting/promoting public health ban e-cigarettes while allowing for the sale of cigarettes?
It's a very hard position to have to push because it simply makes no sense.
What's It Really All About?
After vaping now for two months and realizing just how amazing this is as a smoking reduction / quitting tool (and yes, I do plan on quitting those four morning smokes in the near future), I'm coming to the (cynical) conclusion that the only reason to stand in the way of e-cigarettes is because of lost revenue associated with tobacco sales.
In Canada, 70 per cent of the cost of a pack of cigarettes is taxes.
Which when you think about it, the organization who profits the most from cigarette smoking in Canada is not the tobacco companies, or the gas station selling cigarettes... it's actually the government itself!
I can understand Health Canada being cautious regarding e-cigarettes, but their stance of actively attacking e-cigarettes just doesn't make sense. The only scenario in which it does make sense though is if they are trying to protect the tax revenue they get from cigarettes (which is in the billions).
And this is the issue that I think Health Canada has to really be concerned with in a PR battle over e-cigarettes.
The fact is that e-cigarettes work (or at least have for myself and many others), people start getting healthier when they quit cigarettes and take up vaping, and everyone is in favor of ensuring that selling e-cigarettes to youth should not be allowed.
So how are governments not promoting e-cigs rather than trying to ban them? The only answer that makes any sense is that they don't want to lose the revenues they make off the sale of cigarettes.
Anyway, it's still early days, so hopefully we see Health Canada pull back on its attack on e-cigarettes. Although I'd like to see them get more involved in the e-cig industry in the form of health-orientated common-sense regulations.
Ultimately this whole debate should be about people's health. As someone who has smoked for 20 years and tried quitting many times, this is the first time in 20 years that I've felt healthy and for the most part smoke free! To me it would actually be a public health disaster if they banned e-cigarettes and forced people to go back to smoking regular cigarettes.
Here's hoping Health Canada comes around to my way of thinking.
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