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Chinese e-cigs gain ground amid safety concerns

By AUDRA ANG,
Associated Press Writer Audra Ang,
Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 19 mins ago

BEIJING – With its slim white body and glowing amber tip, it can easily pass as a regular cigarette. It even emits what look like curlicues of white smoke.

The Ruyan V8, which produces a nicotine-infused mist absorbed directly into the lungs, is just one of a rapidly growing array of electronic cigarettes attracting attention in China, the U.S. and elsewhere — and the scrutiny of world health officials.

Marketed as a healthier alternative to smoking and a potential way to kick the habit, the smokeless smokes have been distributed in swag bags at the British film awards and hawked at an international trade show.

Because no burning is involved, makers say there's no hazardous cocktail of cancer-causing chemicals and gases like those produced by a regular cigarette. There's no secondhand smoke, so they can be used in places where cigarettes are banned, the makers say.

Health authorities are questioning those claims.

The World Health Organization issued a statement in September warning there was no evidence to back up contentions that e-cigarettes are a safe substitute for smoking or a way to help smokers quit.

It also said companies should stop marketing them that way, especially since the product may undermine smoking prevention efforts because they look like the real thing and may lure nonsmokers, including children.

"There is not sufficient evidence that (they) are safe products for human consumption," Timothy O'Leary, a communications officer at the WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative in Geneva, said this week.

The laundry list of WHO's concerns includes the lack of conclusive studies and information about e-cigarette contents and their long-term health effects, he said.

Unlike other nicotine-replacement therapies such as patches for slow delivery through the skin and some inhalers and nasal sprays, e-cigarettes have not gone through rigorous testing, O'Leary said.

Nicotine is highly addictive and causes the release of the "feel good" chemical dopamine when it goes to the brain. It also increases heart rate and blood pressure and restricts blood to the heart muscle.

Ruyan — which means "like smoking" — introduced the world's first electronic cigarette in 2004. It has patented its ultrasonic atomizing technology, in which nicotine is dissolved in a cartridge containing propylene glycol, the liquid that is vaporized in smoke machines in nightclubs or theaters and is commonly used as a solvent in food.

When a person takes a drag on the battery-powered cigarette, the solution is pumped through the atomizer and comes out as an ultrafine spray that resembles smoke.

Hong Kong-based Ruyan contends the technology has been illegally copied by Chinese and foreign companies and is embroiled in several lawsuits. It's also battling questions about the safety of its products.

Most sales take place over the Internet, where hundreds of retailers tout their products. Their easy availability, O'Leary warns, "has elevated this to a pressing issue given its unknown safety and efficacy."

Prices range from about $60 to $240. Kits include battery chargers and cartridges that range in flavors (from fruit to menthol) and nicotine levels (from zero — basically a flavored mist — to 16 milligrams, higher than a regular cigarette.) The National Institutes of Health says regular cigarettes contain about 10 milligrams of nicotine.

On its Web site, Gamucci, a London-based manufacturer, features a woman provocatively displaying one of its e-cigs. "They look like, feel like and taste like traditional tobacco, yet they aren't," the blurb reads. "They are a truly healthier and satisfying alternative. Join the revolution today!"

Smoking Everywhere, a Florida-based company, proclaims it "a much better way to smoke!" while a clip on YouTube features an employee of the NJoy brand promoting its e-cigarettes at CES, the international consumer technology trade show.

Online sales make it even more difficult to regulate the industry, which still falls in a gray area in many countries.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration has "detained and refused" several brands of electronic cigarettes because they were considered unapproved new drugs and could not be legally marketed in the country, said press officer Christopher Kelly.

He did not give more details, but said the determination of whether an e-cig is a drug is made on a case-by-case basis after the agency considers its intended use, labeling and advertising.

In Australia, the sale of electronic cigarettes containing nicotine is banned. In Britain, the products appear to be unregulated and are sold in pubs.

Smoking is tightly woven into the fabric of daily life in Ruyan's home turf of China, the world's largest tobacco market where about 2 trillion cigarettes are sold every year.

Tobacco sales, the biggest source of government revenue, brought in $61 billion in the first 11 months of last year, up 18 percent from 2007, the Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper said.

In a country where the cheapest brands of cigarettes cost about 20 cents a pack, the e-cig is far pricier. Ruyan's V8 costs $240 and includes batteries and 20 cartridges of nicotine solution, roughly the same number of puffs as 20 packs of tobacco cigarettes. The line has expanded to include cigars and pipes crafted from agate and rosewood.

Ruyan is suing a Beijing newspaper for questioning its safety and for claiming in 2006 that its products have more nicotine than regular cigarettes.

Miu Nam, Ruyan's executive director, blames the newspaper for a hit in sales and profits but declined to give details.

"We have to restore consumers' confidence, we have to clean up people's doubts," Miu said.

An operator at the Beijing Times refused to transfer calls seeking comment Friday to managers at the newspaper. A reporter said she had heard of the case but would not give any details.

Some international experts back Ruyan's claims its product is safe.

David Sweanor, an adjunct law professor at Ottawa University and former legal counsel of the Non Smokers Rights Association in Canada, said e-cigs have the potential to save lives.

With smoking, "it's the delivery system that's killing people," Sweanor said. "Anytime you suck smoke into your lungs you're going to do yourself a great deal of damage. Nicotine has some slight risks but they are minor compared to the risk of smoke in cigarettes."

Dr. Murray Laugesen, a New Zealand physician involved in tobacco control for 25 years who was commissioned by Ruyan to test its e-cigs, said he found "very little wrong" with them.

"It looks more like a cigarette and feels more like a cigarette than any other device so far and yet it does not cause the harm," he said. "It's the best substitute so far invented for tobacco cigarettes."

In the U.S, both Philip Morris USA and RJ Reynolds have introduced cigarettes that did not burn tobacco, but the technologies were very different from the e-cigarette. Neither has been successful.

In 2006, Philip Morris USA, test-marketed the Accord, which used a heating unit activated by puffing. RJ Reynolds introduced its cigarette, the Premier, in 1987 and still sells the Eclipse, which heats the tobacco rather than burning it. Sales are "not great," said spokesman David Howard.

Li Honglei, a fast-talking 28-year-old public relations manager in Beijing, has been smoking since he was in his teens and desperately wants to quit. He thinks he may have found his answer in Ruyan.

"I was intrigued by this new technology," said the pudgy, bespectacled Li as he surveyed products displayed in glass cases at Ruyan's brightly-lit shop in the capital. "I heard acupuncture is effective as well, but this method sounds more painless."

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Associated Press writers Chi-Chi Zhang in Beijing, Vinnee Tong and Carley Petesch in New York and AP researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.

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Electronic Cigs---how kool.

Dumb idea.

Once I quit smoking, that will be it. I don't want to purposely inhale any type of smoke into my lungs, whether it is "claimed" to be safe or not.

As for non-smokers using these electronic cigs, I would have to ask why they would even start to begin with.

Saw a report on these watching the "Early Show" yesterday morning.

The doctor they interviewed said that they aren't a safe alternative and are in no way a tool to assist someone in smoking cessation.......he also said they haven't been studied enough as to what the vapor is that is being inhaled, and that they could potentially be more dangerous than real cigarettes.

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Dumb idea.

Once I quit smoking, that will be it.

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Good for you.. it's been since Novemember 7th, 2006 at 1:30 in the afternoon since I've had a cig. It's not the easiest habit to break but it can be done. if you decide to quit, I hope you succeed...

They are pretty cool though, I have one of them at work. It takes some practice though to get a believable puff of smoke out from them. They are great for theatres though because of the indoor smoking ban. It's hard to tell the difference with these though, the fire marshall thought he had us nailed last semester for smoking onstage.

BTW, they also make no nicotine cartridges...which is what we use.

I know two people who use them in a bar when they are drinking

Has anything come from China in the last few years that has been safe, why would these be any different?

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Once I quit smoking, that will be it. I don't want to purposely inhale any type of smoke into my lungs, whether it is "claimed" to be safe or not.

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its not smoke....its vapor.....

its the same method of giving a drug as an asthma treament....the drug goes thru a nebulizer....is vaporized...and you inhale it...

now as far as helping you quit, i don't see why it couldn't....it is the same level as patches...and you can get lower levels as you go....

now as far as china goes, i agree, who knows what they could put in there...but if its glycerin and nicotine, then i don't see how it wouldn't be...


i know someone who is selling these...and he sells alot....

i wanna buy one just to have for when i can't smoke...and i could easily use it to quit....but even if i choose to continue my nicotine habit, a safer way of getting it would be fine by me...

cost is probably the equivalent of 2 bucks a pack.....and you are not breathing smoke....

this will get fought tooth and nail by the smoke crusaders, and by the tobacco companies.

the former won't want those naughty polluters to get around their bans, and the latter don't want a substitute for their product.

it does look like a great way to smoke in non smoking bars. hard to imagine pendleton on the rocks without a smoke. im quitting so i can't have my whiskey for the time being

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its the same method of giving a drug as an asthma treament....the drug goes thru a nebulizer....is vaporized...and you inhale it...

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Interestingly, there used to be asthma cigarettes. I vaguely remember smoking them as a boy. Interesting delivery method, huh?

Now I smoke a pack a day of the real thing. I don't think I'll try Tyler's find though.

well i'll be quite honest...imo it's just another way to get nicotine into your system.....

just like caffeine....coffee, tea, pop, no-doze....

i'm hooked on cig's bad....smoking 2 packs a day at 4.70 a pack......i quit for 3 years, and now i feel like i never will....i just keep on buying them....

so nicotine is the big problem....plus its the habit of having something in your hand.....when i quit the first time i used toothpicks....worked well....

problem was i puffed a cigar...after that it was just a matter of time...i can't smoke period....

i also know i can't quit until i have the desire to quit.....so if i can use something like this until i do, it has to be better for me than continuing smoking....

Back in '03, I used to know a guy in 30 Rock who used a version of these...I'd always double take him walking past his office thinking he had lit one up.

Later we found a quiet stairwell to smoke in.

I used Chantix to quit smoking. I was a hardcore heavy duty chain smoker for years. I tried to quit with willpower like a million times and it never worked. So I got on the Chantix and I quit with that for like a month and then a bunch of bad crap happened to me and I started smoking again. Then I got on the Chantix again and didn't really want to quit, so I didn't. Then I got on it yet again early this year and quit super fast and quit the Chantix super fast too. I haven't smoked since and I think I'm probably not gonna again. I know better now.

If they could find a cure for cancer then I'd probably smoke again. That is really the only thing that made me quit. I loved smoking.

lol....

i used to tell a buddy of mine "i like to smoke", and he used to tell me, "you don't like withdrawing..."

my problem is i chain smoke like you said....friend of mine smokes a pack a week....


the best thing to do would be to quit....the second imo, is to switch to something like these e-cigs....the last....keep smoking....

Just wondering when taking chantix did you have any problems sleeping? I was thinking about taking it, but I have heard you have trouble sleeping while taking it. I also heard that it made some people crazy and commit suicide, but to be honest if that was true they probably already had mental problems before they starting taking it.

No problems sleeping with Chantix, it has a side effect of causing vivid dreams. Which can be a good thing or a bad thing lol I did have some vivid dreams on it. But slept fine.

Supposedly there is some link to suicide when taking that drug, but I can't say it ever made me think I needed to kill myself.

The worst problem I had with it was it would make my stomach hurt, but I am the lazy type and will not drink a full 8 oz glass of water when taking it. I would just take it and then the rest of my vitamins and my stomach would hurt really bad. So I only ever took half the presribed dose. Worked fine for me that way. *shrug*

The main purpose of that drug is to take away the physical addiction and it does a fine job of that, even at a lower dose than prescribed (for me).

It doesn't take away the psychological addiction though, so that part is up to you to figure out the best way to beat it.

But it does get you halfway there.

I agree, I quit 3 years ago, cold turkey, the hardest part for me was the mental addiction. Lighting up after you eat, lighting up in the car, lighting up at the bar etc... I still to do this day have urges sometimes when im in the car or at the bar.

Congrats on three years! Do you feel better since you quit?

Oh yeah, most definitely. I made a lot of changes with that too though, drinking a lot less, eating much better, working out more. So its been a combination of all that.

The difference with Chantix is.....yeah the physical addiction is gone (nicotene can't bind to yer brain cell receptors) ...but if you snap and break and smoke one...it isn't gonna ruin you....because it has no effect physically..... you get no buzz, no pleasure, no relaxation out of smoking, it's just a bunch of chemicals and then you're like...Ick why did I do that...and stop again. It buys you time to deal with psychological part of it.

If you quit cold turkey or whatever you don't have the built in safety net that Chantix has. You're hooked again if you snap and smoke one.

Those nicotine replacement things I have never tried. I never saw the point in those, it was just like shifting my addiction to a different entry point. I would be curious to know about others experiences with those are. Those systems sure are a lot less expensive than Chantix.

And that's another thing, that Chantix is so freakin expensive, over a hundred bucks just for the first month of it, and insurance does NOT cover it. These insurance companies completely peeve me, because quitting smoking will avoid so many health problems, I don't understand why they would not want to cover it and help people get out of the nicotine trap.

I don't think it's possible to quit smoking until every part of your being absolutely detest the addiction. I tried to quit a million times, and as long as some part of myself was willing to give in then I would always give in. I had to hate it's control over me to it's core.

But I was a hardcore smoker. For less addicted people it might take less.

Having said that, if they can find a cure to cancer I will go back to it in a heartbeat. Ha.

^ 100%
With ANYTHING if you are not comitted to it, you will fail.

I know this thread is almost a year old, but has anyone given these things a try?

The studies on them are beginning to come out...and they are a hell of a lot "better" for you than tobacco cigarettes. The FDA was putting up a pretty strong fight for a while but got told to shut up by a federal judge last week. Funny that they are okay with traditional cigarettes -- which contain something like 4000 carcinogens. I believe their fight is all about tax money for the government, though they supposedly aren't related.

I'm strongly considering trying them out. MANY people have given up "analog" cigarettes completely after using these because they so closely simulate smoking.

I used these for almost 6 months, I thought they were great, and i am 2 pack a day smoker. The only down fall was the battery life. At first the batteries lasted from anywhere between 8-10 hours, I had two batteries so keeping them changed was easy, but after a month they started to lose more life week after week, and if you have a dead battery you go back to the regular smoking, and the cost of the batteries equal the cost of a carton of cigatettes, but in the time the I actually used the product, I saved money verses the cost of a carton of cigarettes a week, If they would fix the battery problem, I would go back to them. By the way the 6 months I did use the product, my breathing got better , my taste came back and i felt alot better than I do when I smoke cigarettes.

i've been using them for about 4-5 months...

the first model i had was garbage. the batteries didn't last very long, and at around 15 bucks for a new one it just wasen't gonna work...that one was called the liberty stick. the replacement cartridges were expensive at like 5 bucks for 2 also...

started googling, and found the titan 510 iirc....this one worked well but had similar battery problems....some would last for 2 months, occasionally a battery would die sooner.....for this one i bought the manual batteries, you have to press a little button....much better than the auto batteries....

i also found out that you could buy the liquid and fill the carts yourself...thats what i do now...way cheaper..

since then i've bought another model, called the screw-driver...has a bigger batteriy that lasts me all day, the smaller batteries would last an hour or 2 tops...

i've also been buying a liquid from England that is pharmaceutical grade, as apposed to the chinese brand, that probably has less quality control....

since i've been using these i have smoked regular cigs...and they taste like crap...but i'm still just as addicted to nicotine as ever...


now these could be used to ween yourself off of nicotine just like the patches do, i just ain't ready to do it...all you do is dilute the liquid and you get a lower dose...

as far as how i feel...its amazing...within 2 weeks all my wheezing, hacking, coughing was gone...my breathing certainly improved...

i even started swimming again...way better for you just based on how i feel...

best part is, i probably 'vape' for about 50 bucks a month (after you have all the equipment)...thats apposed to 360 a month for regular smokes....

it takes some getting used to, and they don't taste like real cigs, and thats because real cigs taste like crap...

i think they are well worth the investment....


any negative press about these imo is for one reason..the pharm companies aren't making any money off of it...and the gov't isn't getting taxes....i can take a puff of one of these and exhale right by a non smoker and they don't even have a clue i did....and if you hold it for a second you exhale nothing

im me if you want the site i buy from...

Thanks, Jim. Some batteries can last up to five hours from what I hear...depends on how much you vape. Hopefully they get that worked out for you since that's what drove you away. You can also hook them up to your computer to charge via USB.

the second model i have was called the tek titan....one of the cool things they sold with this one (i'm sure other brands have it too) is a usb passthru....

its actually the battery part, but its powered by the usb on the computer....so basically you can have your batteries charging in the charger,and vape all day off usb power...

gage, my pms aren't working again, and i don't have time to figure it out....

maybe i can post the links, since i benefit in no way...if i'm wrong, sorry ref...

michelle...here is the liquid i'm buying...

http://www.totallywicked-eliquid.com/pro...ce-product.html

get the vegetable glyceryn based stuff....they now have a made in the USA brand coming out...will probably try that next...






http://www.totallywicked-eliquid.com/pro...it-product.html

this is a decent kit for starters....like i said in the post, the batteries arent really up to the task though....you have to buy at least 1 extra battery so one is charging while you use the other...that black case is a big battery that charges the smaller ones..

then you need some liquid...but it comes with like 10 carts i think...of all different strengths...get the stuff with vegetable glycerin...it vapes better.


this is the 3rd one i've tried....

http://www.totallywicked-eliquid.com/pro...it-product.html


i'm using this one all the time....a battery lasts all day....didn't like the lanyard, and the spring was way too weak on the button....took an old pen and stretched the diameter of the spring, and its much better now....vapes great...

Thanks, I'll check it all out!

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I don't think it's possible to quit smoking until every part of your being absolutely detest the addiction. I tried to quit a million times, and as long as some part of myself was willing to give in then I would always give in. I had to hate it's control over me to it's core.

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This is a point that I definitely agree with. You have to be ready to quit and know in your mind that this will be your last one EVER. In my book quitting means never smoking again, and it's a big deal. Taking a break or stopping for a little while, that's just something totally different.

I smoked for 9 years and quit July 12, 2009. It was something that I really worked toward and I'm very proud of myself for it.


Nothing about me wants to smoke anymore, my paddle tennis game has gotten a lot better because I can run all over the court without getting as tired, I don't get sick during the winter as much, and it's gotta make me better off with the ladies.

My way of quitting was working my way down to about 3 a day, having my best friend, who I shared my first cigarettes with, quit with me (we started it together and ended it together), and setting a date in my head where I knew that was going to be it. On July 11th at about 11:55 I had my last cigarette. And I'm absolutely confident that I will never smoke again.

Now I just think of it as an unhealthy habbit that takes people's lives for no reason at all. I couldn't allow myself to be 55-60 years old and dying on my loved ones. It's just selfish. I saw it happen to a couple of my friend's fathers, and I decided that I won't let it happen to me.

I still get high, but I can stop that (for drug tests) without smoking cigs. Cigarettes are way behind me, and I love it. I enjoy the smoke break, but I can hang outside with a smoker without smoking a bogie. It's just as good

Way to go, Petey! Congratulations!

My wife and I have been smoke free for a little over 5 months, she used Chantix and some other pill, I quit cold turkey. The money we have saved each month is great, didn't realize we spent that much on cigs each month. Now if I could just give up the beer, we would be rich, LOL.

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Once I quit smoking, that will be it.

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Whenever you decide to quit,, and for what ever reason,, I wish you all the luck in the world. it's been 3 years and almost 3 months for me. Honestly, I feel terrific.. The only issues is, I put on 40 lbs.. and it's a real hassle to take it off..

Ive put on 20 lbs in 5 months, not sure if it is the quitting or not.

well thats the main point imo....i'm not ready to quit.....so in the meanwhile i'll get my nicotine in a less harmful way...

thats kinda how i look at it...

I quit a million times over a 15 year stretch but the last time I did it can't say I was really anymore "ready" than I was any time prior. In fact some of the early failures I went in with much more resolve, planning and frothy emotion. I can't say why the last time it took except that I just kept trying different things and finally happened on the combination that worked for me. In fact the last time I quit I was unprepared and it was kind of spontaneous.

I had tried a lot of different approaches but for me one key the last times was loading up my life full of distractions for 3 months. I got compulsively into working out, with spread sheets and little goals and competitions for myself and I changed a bunch of my daily routines and hobbies. I actively sought out things I could obsess about and when the urge arrived, I turned my attention to my new obsessions. I didn't set foot in a bar and I avoided drinking at all for a few months. I really limited my hang out time with smokers for a while as well. Other smokers, no matter how much they say they support you, won't help you quit. Even the supportive ones on some level want to see you fail. And on some level every smoker wants another smoker to tell them it's ok to fail. I was lucky in that I have a wife who never smoked and hated it. It was hard but I learned to harness the true power of ADHD for good.

Also, the big difference between the last time I quit (9 years ago now) and all the times prior is that I ABSOLUTELY, WITHOUT ANY EXCEPTION did not let my self fall into those "I'll just have 1 this weekend" or "I'm only going to smoke at night" or "I need to ramp down" or any of the million other little compromises I had fallen into every other time I had tried to quit just so I could have "one". I had pretty much pegged that as the key to my failure every time. It's a 3 month contract. Absolutely zero ciggs for 3 months, no little excuses or breaks. I set it up so that at 3 months I could re-evaluate (which of course went in quiting's favor). That way I had a period of time and I wasn't staring in the face of "forever". The 2nd & 3rd weeks were the hardest but I knew that going in. After the 1st month every week that went by got a little easier. Since then the biggest key is to just not pick up the 1st one. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc are all ok once you've had the 1st. If I just never pick up that one, that 1st cigg then I magically never get to the 2nd. After 6 months I barely thought about it more than passingly every few days. Now, 9 years out the smell of smoker's breath makes me literally nauseous. Smoke itself doesn't bother me too much in small doses but smokers breath is just so vile I could never think of going back. I never really smelled "that" smell until I was quit for a few years. I think it's the Formaldehyde in the lung rot.

I really don't mean this to sound like I'm patting myself on the back or putting you down. It's really just to help if others if it they might take something from it. Quitting was horrible and I certainly sympathize.

I think you missed something...BrownieElf does NOT smoke.