E-Cigarettes: I See What You Did There, Matt Richtel

In the New York Times:

A dangerous new form of a powerful stimulant is hitting markets nationwide, for sale by the vial, the gallon and even the barrel.

The drug is nicotine, in its potent, liquid form -- extracted from tobacco and tinctured with a cocktail of flavorings, colorings and assorted chemicals to feed the fast-growing electronic cigarette industry.

The math in the article isn't very clear, but I did some quick and dirty calculations based on the density of e-juice (1.04 grams per milliliter if it's propylene glycol based, 1.26 grams per milliliter if it's vegetable glycerine based), the typical concentration of nicotine in "e-juice" (18mg per gram, although it can be bought lower or higher), the purported LD-50 for nicotine (there are competing theories, ranging low as 30-60mg or as high 500-1000mg for an adult human), etc.

The bad news for "it's just a scare tactic" skeptics, assuming my math is right:

At a typical 18mg per gram concentration, a typical personal use vial of "e-juice" would contain somewhere between 187mg and 227mg of nicotine. That's lower than those high-end estimates for LD-50, but much higher than the low-end estimates. So yes, anyone drinking a vial of "e-juice" like a shot of whiskey is almost certainly going to get sick, and might die.

On the other hand, most people keep lots of potentially dangerous stuff -- everything from bleach to aspirin to ammunition -- in their homes. Responsible people keep that dangerous stuff out of the reach of children and/or teach their children to stay away from it, and life goes on with no need for Matt Rachtel to write a scary story about it.

There's a reason for articles like this.

The "big tobacco" version of the e-cigarette is a disposable battery with the "e-juice" (available in two flavors, "tobacco" and "menthol") pre-packed into it. Right now, one of those batteries is somewhat less expensive than the equivalent number (in puffs) of "real cigarettes." Once the regulators get their way and the taxers start taking their rake-off, the price difference will probably be negligible at best.

The rigs that more adventurous "vapers" use come in multiple pieces. My eGo rig, for example, consists of separate battery and "clearomizer." The "clearomizer" is a tank, complete with the wiring that heats up the juice and makes it into breathable vapor.  I can put any flavor or concentration of "e-juice" into the tank, and it's a LOT cheaper than buying "real cigarettes."

The purpose of articles like this, in other words, is to justify driving Big Tobacco's competitors out of business by banning their cheaper, more consumer-friendly products in the name of "public health."

Watch. You'll see.

Review: Logic Power Series Electronic Cigarette

Electronic cigarettes have come a long way in the past couple of years (Morey Straus introduced me to vaping back in 2010). Various models are available at most convenience stores these days, instead of it being a "look online or find a local club" thing.

I tend to fall of the vaping wagon and go back to regular cigarettes when I run out of "juice" or whatever and have forgotten to order more. One of my New Year resolutions was to get back on the vapor, and I did so concurrently with the move to Florida (a first step was a "no smoking in the new house" rule -- it's vape or go outside).

Because all my e-cigarette stuff was packed in storage totes that took a couple of weeks to get here, I went out and bought the Logic Power Series starter kit. My review is up at Epinions.

In other vaping news, I ordered e-juice from a company I hadn't used before -- Charlotte, North Carolina's MadVapes. No problem with the other companies I've done business with, but:

1. Those other companies are out west, so I figured I'd get my juice more quickly by ordering closer to "locally;"
2. The price was right; and
3. I just happened to notice that MadVapes had started following me on Twitter, right about the time I was thinking about ordering some juice. You pay attention to me, I pay attention to you ;-)

No complaints. Like I said, the prices are right. I ordered on Thursday evening before a holiday weekend, the order shipped Friday by regular US Snail, and it arrived today (Wednesday). The juice is an 80% vegetable glycerine / 20% propylene glycol mix. It works. I'm not as happy with the flavor as I expected to be, but that's just a selection thing on my part (I should have read the reviews of the flavor I chose; next time I'll go with "Minthol" instead of "Menthol Tobacco").

Who Says Size Doesn't Matter?

The electronic cigarette battery on the far right is my new KR808D-1 auto "Mega." The one in the middle is the standard size (both batteries w/cartomizers attached for size comparison to cigarette). The "real" cigarette on the left is a "100." Sorry about the poor photo, I used my phone and had trouble getting the light right and keeping shadow off of it.

So anyway, the new one can do double duty as a baton if I ever get promoted to field marshal or drum major. Comfortable to hold, though, and longer-lasting (380 milli-ampere hours versus 280mAh).

Got it from Vapor Kings. Great price and fantastic service as always -- I ordered on the evening of the 12th, it arrived the morning of the 15th even at their cheapest shipping rate (US Snail 1st Class, $1.64). Highly recommended!

I'm not completely back off tobacco yet (I needed the new battery because one of my old ones finally died and the other has to charge for quite awhile after a few hours of use), but close and already feeling noticeably better. By the end of the weekend, I expect.

Mini-Review: Cignot

I continue to enjoy "vaping" -- sucking nicotine-laced vapor out of an "electronic cigarette" instead of lighting up a tobacco-filled paper tube. I've placed additional orders with VaporKings.Com, which I review elsewhere, and continue to be happy with the quality and price of their products and the speed of service.

However, VaporKings doesn't carry one thing I wanted to try, so I had to look elsewhere.

Specifically, I wanted "e-juice" made from a base of vegetable glycerine rather than propylene glycol. Some reading on the web indicated that "VG" liquids produce more vapor than "PG," and that the flavor is more pristine ("PG" apparently lends a slight additional sweetness to any flavor of "e-juice").

After looking at various vendors' web sites, I settled on Cignot for my test purchase of VG liquid.

PROS: The prices are eminently reasonable, in line with or cheaper than other vendors of similar products. I paid $9.00 for a 20ml bottle of menthol "e-juice" with 26mg of nicotine (I meant to order the 16mg dosage -- I don't know if the mistake was mine or if there's a bug at Cignot's site, but I'll take the blame until I know for sure). I was paying $8.95 for 10ml or $21.95 for 30ml of 16mg "juice" at Vapor Kings. I placed my order on the 5th; it arrived today (the 7th).

So, decent prices, fast shipping. The VG "juice" does, in fact, produce more vapor. So far, I like it. I'll probably switch to it entirely once I've run out my supply of PG "juice." I can't say whether or not Cignot's product is better than others of its type, since I haven't tried any other VG "juices."

They're also friendly, with a personal touch (the packing slip had a hand-written "thanks, Tamara" (the stuff was ordered on my significant other's card) and a flowery doodle. Not to read too much into that, but it indicates to me that the people at Cignot think of their customers as people, not just account numbers on invoices. I'm guessing they've got good customer service at the "my order was wrong" complaint end and so forth, too.

CONS: VaporKings has cheap shipping -- I've run $1.xx to $2.xx per order for US Snail "First Class" delivery. Cignot's lowest rate is $5 "flat," meaning that my $9.00 order actually came to $14.00. That makes Cignot less competitive on price than it looks at first, at least for small orders. Unfortunately, other VG "juice" vendors seem to have similarly high shipping rates.

That's a fairly small "con" in my view. Now that I'm fully equipped for "vaping" (three portable "e-cigarette" batteries and a charger, a USB "pass-thru" that I can use when I'm sitting at my computer, a stock of "e-juice" and quite a few "cartomizers" to hold/heat the liquid and discharge vapor), I'll probably place less frequent, but larger, orders in the future, meaning that my shipping costs will come down as a percentage of total costs.

Conclusion: Recommended!

Review: VaporKings.Com

My transition from smoking to "vaping" continues, and so far I'm very pleased with the results.

As of two weeks ago, I smoked 1 1/2 to 2 packs of cigarettes a day. When I took up "vaping," that amount rapidly trended downward; earlier this week I ran out of cigarettes, and I'm not planning to buy more. Within a couple of days of beginning with electronic cigarettes, I noticed that I was breathing more easily, coughing less and just generally feeling better.

Not quite two weeks later, I'm completely sold. If you smoke (or used to smoke) you're familiar with that "wake up coughing until you get your first cigarette going" feeling. It's gone, baby.

At the moment, I'm spending only a little less on "vaping" stuff than I did on cigarettes, but I'm in the middle of an equipment buildup. My costs will go down even more once I've got all the stuff I want to have on hand.

I've already purchased a USB "pass-thru" that lets me "vape" at my desk without running down a battery which then has to be recharged.

I've also ordered a third KR808D-1 battery to go with the two that Morey sent me to get me started (the ones he sent are push-button operated; the one I just ordered is "automatic" -- taking a "drag" on it activates it).

And I've ordered a few blank "cartomizers" so that I'll have extras on hand to refill and use. The non-equipment stuff I've purchased has been "e-juice," the nicotine-laced liquid that goes in the cartomizers and produces the inhaled vapor.

Total expenditure so far, about $45 including shipping ... the equivalent of two cartons of generic cigarettes, and I expect the "e-juice" to be at least a couple more weeks' worth (I've still got about 2/3 of the first bottle left).

Anyway, review time. So far I've only ordered from one place, VaporKings.Com. I just placed my second order with them. I will probably try out some other vendors soon, but so far VaporKings.Com has had the stuff I wanted at the best price.

Disclaimer: Neither VaporKings.Com nor anyone else is paying me, or giving me complimentary product or any other inducement, for this review.

If I had anything bad to say about VaporKings.Com, it would be that the site isn't as well-organized as I'd like. It's divided into handy sections, but there can still be a lot of scrolling involved to find particular products.

My first order was for the aforementioned "pass-through" ($12.95) and a bottle of "Nu-Port" menthol-flavored, propylene glycol-based "e-juice" at the medium nicotine level ($8.95).

I ordered late (after normal business hours) last Thursday. My order shipped Friday and arrived on Monday. Here's the good part: A lot of Internet sellers really rape the customer on "shipping and handling" charges. VaporKings.Com charged only $1.89 for USPS First Class mailing. I could have paid more for Priority Mail, but First Class got it to me about as fast.

I just placed a second order -- for that additional KR808D-1 battery and another bottle of the "e-juice" (I've still got plenty left, but I want to be stocked up). Shipping: $2.23. I ordered early enough that it may ship today, but even if it goes out tomorrow I once again expect to see it in my mailbox on Monday or Tuesday. Oh, and my first order came with a 10% discount code for this one, pretty much erasing that shipping charge.

As far as product quality goes, I'm more than satisfied. The "Nu-Port" flavor "e-juice" tastes pretty damn close to the menthol cigarette that shares a similar name. I initially thought they'd sent me a defective "pass-through," but it turned out that the problem was low power to my USB ports -- as soon as I hooked it up to a different machine, it went right to town for me.

I can't tell you that VaporKings.Com is the best place to get your e-cigarette stuff, because I haven't tried the others yet. I probably will, when they happen to have a good price on something I want. In particular, there's a local St. Louis startup -- face-to-face and cash only, although they're working on getting Intarwebbed and credit-cardy -- that I plan to check out. But so far I've had nothing but good service, fast shipping and superior product from VaporKings.Com. I recommend them.

Smoke'Em ... er, Vape'Em ... if You Got'Em

Got a package in the mail yesterday from Morey Straus in New Hampshire, containing "electronic cigarette" stuff. He's big on the idea and thought I might be too -- and he's right. I was planning to take a couple of weeks to produce a full review, but after only 24 hours I'm already sold and ready to talk about it.

The basic skinny on e-cigarettes is this:

Two soldiers of the Red Army have a break and smoke a cigarettes on the steps of the Reichstag in April 1945. Photo: Yevgeny Khaldeinull

Two soldiers of the Red Army have a break and smoke a cigarettes on the steps of the Reichstag in April 1945. Photo: Yevgeny Khaldeinull

An e-cigarette is composed of a rechargeable lithium-ion battery (usually, but not always, shaped and sized in reasonable facsimile of a "real" cigarette), an "atomizer" (a heating element) and a cartridge containing "e-juice" (a liquid which may, but does not necessarily, include nicotine among its ingredients).

When you "smoke" an e-cigarette, you're inhaling a vapor produced by the atomizer's heating of the "e-juice" in the cartridge instead of smoke produced by burning tobacco.

There are variations on the basic theme. For example, the model Morey sent me, the popular KR808D-1, combines the atomizer and the cartridge into one unit, the "cartomizer." Atomizers do burn out eventually but they apparently last a month or so in normal use, making the "cartomizer" reasonably cost-effective and the whole rig simpler (two pieces instead of three to mess with).

Why switch from tobacco to vapor? I can think of several reasons:

- I'm not a medical expert, but I doubt that "e-juice" (propylene glycol or vegetable glycerine, plus flavoring and nicotine) vapor is anywhere near as harmful to the lungs as inhaled tobacco smoke.

- Vapor is less problematic than tobacco smoke in other ways, too. It doesn't set off smoke detectors. It doesn't seem to linger in the air after being exhaled, or to create a lasting odor. There's no particular reason (although I'm sure the Nicotine Nazis will try to make some up) that you can't have a "vapor hit" at your desk at work or whatever instead of having to go find an outdoor "smoking area."

- The experience doesn't incentivize more, or more frequent, use. Light a cigarette, it burns until it's gone or until you put it out (which is an incentive for you to puff it continuously so as not to "waste" it). You can hit that electronic cigarette once a minute or once a day, then stick it back in your shirt pocket with no "waste" (and without setting yourself on fire). I think I'm "vaping" less than I smoked, simply because when it's an e-cigarette sitting there, I don't have smoke wafting up and reminding me to keep puffing.

- I haven't empirically verified this yet, but from prices and manufacturer claims it looks like "vaping" will be cheaper than smoking for me -- a 30-50% savings is my guess (and I'm a frugal smoker who buys the cheapest cigarettes available -- if you're a brand-name smoker, we're talking BIG savings here).

Some Q&A stuff:

Q: Can the e-cigarette be a pathway toward breaking the nicotine addiction?

A: I suspect it may be. There are two components to quitting cigarettes -- the physical nicotine withdrawal and the breaking of the habits involved.

With e-cigarettes, getting over those two humps can be broken into two smaller tasks instead of one big task. The "e-juice" can be ordered with more nicotine, less nicotine, or no nicotine at all. So the quitter can keep on "vaping" while reducing the amount of nicotine involved, then work on breaking the habit part once the physical withdrawal is accomplished.

Q: Does the "vaping" experience really replace smoking?

A: That was what I was skeptical of.

In the last 24 hours, since getting the e-cigarette, my "real" cigarette usage has gone down by about 75% (I'm already thinking that when I finish this carton, I won't be buying cigarettes any more).

The cartomizers Morey sent are a fairly mild tobacco-flavored blend ("555"), milder than I'm used to, but in terms of flavor, "throat hit" (part of the inhalation experience), etc., they strike me as a successful analog to "smoking" in pretty much every way.

Let me put it this way: I had to put my cigarette lighter away in a drawer today after twice absent-mindedly picking it up intending to light the e-cigarette. After a couple of hours of getting used to the KR808D-1, it feels familiar and comfortable in my hand, just like a "real" cigarette. It's a little longer, a little bigger around, a little heavier ... but I got used to it very quickly.

Do you recommend any particular models, vendors, etc.?

A: No. That's why I was planning to wait a couple of weeks before writing about this subject.

So far the only model I've used is the KR808D-1. I like it, but there are others, and every model seems to have plenty of advocates out there. What I like about the KR808D-1 is its simplicity (two pieces instead of three with the "cartomizers") and the fact that it's fairly close in size, shape and weight to a "real" cigarette. Your mileage may vary.

There are also quite a few vendors out there. I've ordered from one (Vapor Kings), but that was a few minutes before writing this post, so I can't yet review them for product quality, shipping time, etc. Others I've looked at include Vapor4Life and FreedomSmokeUSA.

I went with VaporKings because they had a good deal on something I wanted ($12.95 for a R808D-1 USB "passthrough" -- instead of recharging a battery, you just plug this into a USB port, screw in a cartomizer and "vape" to your heart's content -- you can't walk around with it, but I spend enough time at my computer that it makes sense; I'll save the portable KR808D-1 for when I'm out and about) and cheap shipping ($1.89 for USPS First Class).

While I was at it, I ordered some menthol "e-juice" (I've always liked menthol, but don't usually smoke menthol "real" cigarettes because they're allegedly even harder on the lungs than regulars).

I'll update or supplement this post with vendor experiences as time goes on.

Those who know me well often remark on how much I smoke -- Chris Carter probably based that character in X-Files on me circa 1993-95, when I was a three pack a day guy. I've been down to a pack and a half a day or so lately, but I've probably averaged two packs a day over the last 26 years. So this is a pretty big change for me. And I like it. Thanks, Morey!