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Forbes is reporting that Colorado has signed into law a minimum age limit for buying electronic cigarettes. The minimum age limit is 18 years old. According to the new law in Colorado, electronic cigarettes have been deemed as a tobacco product and therefore are off-limits to minors.

From Forbes:
Electronic cigarettes are now illegal for minors in Colorado.

Gov. John Hickenlooper signed the age restriction into law Friday, making e-cigarettes off-limits for people under 18. E-cigarettes are battery-operated nicotine inhalers advertised as cessation aids. Anti-smoking activists say the e-cigarettes appeal to youths with exotic flavors and shouldn’t be permitted for kids.

The new law lists e-cigarettes as a “tobacco product” off-limits to minors. E-cigarettes are available at mall kiosks and some gas stations. Manufacturers didn’t oppose the change because they say they already don’t sell to minors.

Colorado becomes the second state, after New Jersey, to limit e-cigarettes for minors. Arizona lawmakers are also considering an age limit this year.

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Researchers have discovered, in lab experiments, that long term use of nicotine causes all sorts  of problems to a person, specifically raising blood sugar levels. That means that using devices to quit smoking, if the devices contain nicotine, including electronic cigarettes, are almost as bad for some people as the tobacco cigarettes they are trying to quit using. Such devices should only be used with the intention for short-term use.

US News Health reports:
Smoking is damaging to everyone’s health, but the nicotine in cigarettes may be even more deadly for people who have diabetes.

In lab experiments, researchers discovered that nicotine raised blood sugar levels, and the more nicotine that was present, the higher the blood sugar levels were. Higher blood sugar levels are linked to an increased risk of complications from diabetes, such as eye and kidney disease.

“Smoking is really harmful for diabetics. It’s even more harmful to them than to a non-diabetic,” said study author Xiao-Chuan Liu, an associate professor in the department of chemistry at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. “This study should encourage diabetics to quit smoking completely, and to realize that it’s the nicotine that’s raising [blood sugar levels].”

For that reason, it’s also important to limit the use of nicotine replacement products, such as nicotine patches, Liu said.

“If you’re using them for a short period of time to quit smoking, that’s OK. But, if you still have this addiction to nicotine and are using this product long-term, it will do harm. Don’t use electronic cigarettes or nicotine gum for a long time. You need to stop nicotine intake,” he advised.

Liu is scheduled to present his findings Sunday at an American Chemical Society meeting in Anaheim, Calif.

It was already well-established that smoking increased the risk of problems in people with diabetes, Liu said. What hasn’t been clear, he said, is if there is a specfic component of cigarettes that increases the risk.

To test whether or not nicotine, an addictive substance found in cigarette smoke, contributed to higher blood sugar levels, Liu and his colleagues added equal amounts of glucose (sugar) to samples of human red blood cells. They also added varying levels of nicotine to each sample of red blood cells for either one day or two days.

They then tested the hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) levels of the samples. HbA1C is a measure of what percentage of red blood cells have glucose molecules attached to them. In diabetes management, the HbA1C — sometimes referred to just as A1C — test gives doctors an idea of average blood sugar levels for the past three months or so. Most people with diabetes strive for a level of 7 percent or less, based on American Diabetes Association guidelines.

The researchers found that nicotine raised HbA1C. The smallest dose increased HbA1C levels by 8.8 percent. The highest dose — after two days of nicotine treatment — increased blood sugar levels by 34.5 percent.

“Nicotine is a toxic substance, and our results show that nicotine caused an increase in HbA1C,” said Liu. “This is important for the public to know, and for smokers to know. It’s not just the cigarette smoke. If you think you can just use a nicotine replacement product indefinitely, there’s still a risk, and your chances of getting complications will be a lot higher,” he cautioned.

Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of the Clinical Diabetes Center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, said that the researchers showed that nicotine can significantly raise A1C levels in the lab, but it’s important to also know if it does so in the body.

But whether or not nicotine is the specific reason that blood sugar levels are higher in smokers, he said, “Everybody — whether they have diabetes or not — should stop smoking. Patients with diabetes already have a much higher risk of cardiovascular disease, and smoking adds to that.”

He said that using nicotine replacement products for a month or two is fine. “If nicotine replacement is used for a short period of time with smoking cessation as the goal, there’s no risk. But it’s not OK if someone plans to replace smoking with nicotine replacement products indefinitely,” said Zonszein.

Experts note that research presented at meetings is considered preliminary until it is published in a peer-reviewed journal.

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For some reason, Katherine Heigl makes headlines every time she is spotted smoking an electronic cigarette. And for some reason, she seems to be the most high profile celebrity that has been smoking electronic cigarettes regularly.

Mail Online and Huffington Post both have pictures of Katherine Heigl smoking electronic cigarettes while having lunch in Los Feliz, California.

Katherine Heigl puffing away

Heigl has been smoking electronic cigarettes as a way of helping herself quit smoking tobacco cigarettes. While I cannot tell you that electronic cigarettes is a cessation device, and they are not meant to help you quot smoking, there are people who use electronic cigarettes in that way.

Heigl has been very open with her use fo electronic cigarettes and her goal of quitting smoking tobacco cigarettes. She said “Now I use an electronic cigarette. I know it’s ridiculous, but it’s helping me not to actually smoke real cigarettes. You feel like you are smoking, and you get to exhale but it’s just water vapor and not nicotine. I’ve been doing it for six months. Smoking sucks!”, and more recently she said, “You start [smoking] once a week, maybe with a cocktail with friends at a bar, and then you buy your first pack during a really stressful break-up, and then it’s downhill from there. I’ve tried everything. I’ve tried the patch. I’ve tried the gym. I’ve done the Chantix, twice, which made me bananas (a prescription medicine used as a quit smoking aid).”

Way to go Katherine! I hope more follow your lead.

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Some actors and actresses, any type of celebrity really, make a show of what they do on the screen and around the screen. Much of it is for publicity, and does not necessarily have any connection to how they act in their own private life.

Katherine Heigl has been seen on-screen smoking electric cigarettes. Heigl could have made a big deal out of an increasingly popular trend while on-screen, yet in her private life continue to relax with the comfort of a good old traditional smoke.

She is smokin

Yet she did not. Heigl has been spotted, off-screen, smoking electric cigarettes. While on vacation. The ultimate opportunity to revert to good old comfort. She clearly believes in the benefits of switching to vapor smoking.

According to The Pop Eater, Heigl is very into the health scene and has been smoking electric cigarettes as part of her attempt to help herself kick the habit of smoking tobacco cigarettes. The rest of her vacation was also health themed, with the food being comprised of salads and other simple lifestyle changes.

Go to Smokey Vapor to buy your electronic cigarettes.
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Go to Smokey Vapor to buy your electronic cigarettes.
Go to Smokey Vapor Updates for news and ratings of electronic cigarette companies and products.
Go to Soda Stream for more information about SodaStream products.

For some reason there is suddenly an increase n the news items regarding electronic cigarettes. In low level media, such as local small town newspapers, as well as in high level media such as national newspapers and other media outlets.

Here is a sampling of recent news links about electronic cigarettes that you might find interesting:

1. Are E-Cigarettes Evil, from the Huffington Post
2. KXLY on the banning of ecig sales to minors
3. TIME Magazine’s Healthland about whether electronic cigarettes can help people quit
4. The Huffington Post on banning electronic cigarettes on airline flights
5. A FOX News local station on why New York State is considering banning electronic cigarettes

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The Examiner points to some new studies that show the success rate of electronic cigarettes as cessation devices, and suggests that banning electronic cigarettes, as some states are considering doing, would lead to increasing the public health risk. If people are quitting smoking, banning electronic cigarettes will drive all those people back to regular tobacco cigarettes, which is no doubt far worse than the under-tested electronic cigarettes could possibly be.

From The Examiner:

Two new studies published online yesterday by Boston University School of Public Health researcher Michael Siegel and doctoral candidate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health John Ayers suggest that the possible banning of Electronic Cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes, could further endanger public health.

Many states, including Ohio and New York, have been considering a ban on e-cigarettes since they have become popular over the past three years as a nicotine replacement. These new studies are the first unbiased material conducted on the use of electronic cigarettes. Previous studies have been distributed by opponents of tobacco harm reduction.
The Boston studies found that a 31% success rate of quitting smoking regular cigarettes compared to the average success rates of other traditional nicotine replacement methods such as nicotine gum and patches, which only have 12-18 percent success rate.
While it’s well accepted that nicotine plays a role in smoking addiction, little attention has been paid to the behavioral aspects of addiction, which the electronic cigarette addresses according to Siegel.
If you’re unfamiliar with e-cigarettes, they are battery powered devices that vaporize a liquid nicotine solution that is inhaled by the user and simulates the smoking experience without all of the harmful ingredients in a traditional cigarette such as tar and carbon monoxide.
The nicotine solution is mixed with propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin, both of which are found in many common food products as well as fog machines used by DJ’s or in concerts for a smoke effect. The is an ongoing debate as to whether or not these chemicals are harmful to one’s health if inhaled in vapor form, but they has been no conclusive evidence either way.
The FDA has not approved the electronic cigarette as a smoking cessation method. As well, many e-cigarette manufactures do no advertise it as such either, but rather as a supplement or replacement, since it does not help the user break the nicotine addiction.
Many opponents to the electronic cigarette want to ban them due to unknown health risks and that they can appeal to children and get them addicted to nicotine. E-cigarettes often come in colorful packages with various flavors including sweet candy or fruit flavors. However, it is possible to use a non-nicotine solution with the same smoking effect.
E-cigarettes can often be found in local mall kiosks or through online vendors. There are many different brands, styles, and flavors of nicotine “juice”. Locally, there is a vendor that sells the popular Joye 510 model and accessories at the Traders World Market in near Monroe, OH.
The studies do not examine the potential health risks or benefits of the actual e-cigarettes, only that the percentage of success is higher than other replacement options. It also claims that the ban could result in ex-smokers to revert back to regular cigarettes, which would be certainly worse for them than using electronic cigarettes.
Jay Meistrell, senior executive with V2Cigs, a brand of e-cigarettes, has submitted the studies to the NYS Assembly Health Committee to have them reconsider withdrawing the bill that would ban them in the state of New York.

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Studies continue to show, though not yet conclusively, that electronic cigarettes are being used fairly effectively as a cessation device. Whether or not they are officially meant to be used as a cessation device, or marketed as such, people are using them to help quit smoking. And so far, they are far more effective at successfully helping people quit smoking than other, official, cessation devices.

From the LA Times:

Two studies published online Tuesday by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine tell consumers more — a little bit more, anyway — about electronic cigarettes and their potential to help smokers cut back or quit the habit.

Electronic cigarettes are built to look like real cigarettes. They’re made of plastic, run on batteries and allow users to inhale nicotine in a vapor form. Unlike nicotine delivery products such as gum, lozenges or patches, or smoking cessation medications like Chantix, they allow users to hold something that feels like a cigarette and mimic the behavior of smoking.
Some think this might make them a more effective smoking cessation tool, but their effectiveness is not yet known.

For the first paper, Johns Hopkins public health doctoral candidate John Ayers and co-authors used a free and publicly available tool called Google Insights for Search to monitor English-language Web searches for e-cigarettes. The team noted how many times people searched for e-cigarettes in the U.S., Britain, Canada and Australia from January 2008 to September 2010, and also monitored online shopping searches.

They compared searches for e-cigarettes with searches for nicotine gum and other cessation products. Searches for e-cigarettes increased sharply between July 2008 and February 2010, the team reported. Online shopping searches followed a similar pattern. E-cigarettes “are by far the most popular smoking alternatives and cessation products on the market,” said Ayers in a press release.

The problem is, no one knows if they’re effective. In another study release by the journal, Boston University public health professor Michael Siegel and colleagues sent out online surveys to 5,000 people who had made a first-time purchase of Blu e-cigarettes during a two-week period in 2009.

They asked respondents about their smoking habits and nicotine use after buying the e-cigarettes. Most of the respondents were men. More than 80% had smoked for six or more years. Nearly two-thirds had tried to quit three or more times.

Sixty-seven percent said they had reduced the number of cigarettes they smoked six months after trying e-cigarettes; 49% said they had quit for an unspecified amount of time and 31% were not smoking at all at the six-month point.

The authors wrote that the results suggested that “if proven safe, e-cigarettes may be a potentially important tool for harm reduction” and that they’re “worthy of further investigation.”

But the findings weren’t definitive, they cautioned. All of the data were self-reported, and they had only a 4.5% response rate.

The Food and Drug Administration announced last September that it would regulate e-cigarettes as drugs.

Expect more studies to follow.

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It is looking like the US Department of Transportation is going to be banning the smoking of electronic cigarettes from airline flights.

While confusion about electronic cigarettes is understandable, as people seeing them used on flights might not be aware of the fact that they are not the same as tobacco cigarettes, that is not the reason for the ban. And it is a shame that they DoT is taking such an archaic stance on new technology. There is no secondhand smoke, there is no odor that would be disturbing to people and there is no risk to people in the area of an electric smoker.

From USA Today:

The U.S. Department of Transportation plans to issue an official ban of smokeless electronic cigarettes on airplanes this spring, according to the Associated Press, citing a letter from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

E-cigarettes are plastic and metal devices that heat a liquid nicotine solution in a disposable cartridge, creating vapor that the “smoker” inhales.

In the letter to Sen. Frank Lautenberg, LaHood said the department has been informing airlines and the public that regulations banning smoking include e-cigarettes, AP says. Lautenberg, who wrote the 1987 law that banned smoking on airplanes, had asked the department to clarify the rule because some air travelers are still confused over their use.

Many airlines already have begun informing passengers that the devices are not allowed on flights. But some e-cigarette distributors continue to claim that their product can be smoked anywhere traditional cigarettes are not allowed, AP says.

Jason Healy, president of e-cigarette maker Blu Cigs, told AP that the move was “somewhat disappointing.”

“I understand from an airline’s point of view the hassles it could create,” Healy said. “It’s not the actual product. It’s the disruption and explaining to everyone else that it’s not smoke.”

I think the electronic cigarette industry’s motto of “Smoke Anywhere” might need to be changed if this ban actually takes effect.

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The Chicago Sun Times is running an article in the Lifestyle section about people who buy electronic cigarettes and the legal limbo it remains in.

What exactly is an electronic cigarette?

We can tell you what it’s not. Legally, it is not a cigarette, nor is it a nicotine replacement therapy that can help you quit smoking.

An e-cigarette is a battery-powered tube that resembles a regular cigarette in look and shape. It does not contain tobacco leaves, but rather houses a battery-operated heating element that turns a refillable, liquid chemical into a vapor mist that is then inhaled into the lungs like a traditional cigarette. The liquid may or may not contain nicotine and trace amounts of tobacco essence, depending on the brand and flavor purchased.

Because the vapor is inhaled directly into the lungs, there is little second-hand vapor created. And according to USA Today, more than one million Americans claim to have used the device to quit smoking since it first became available in the United States in 2006.

Schaumburg resident Chris Ray, the owner of cigtechs.com, an Internet site that sells e-cigarettes and accessories, smoked from age 18 until he was 33 (when he discovered the e-cigarette). He’s been cigarette-free for two years and his personal success with e-cigarettes lead him to invest in his Internet start-up company to sell the devices.

Despite his own story of using the device and ending his habit, he stops short of saying the e-cigarette can help a person quit smoking regular cigarettes.

“If we say use these to stop smoking, that means it’s a nicotine replacement therapy and then the Food and Drug Administration wants to regulate us,” he says. “At this point, all I can say is they are an alternative to smoking.”

Ray isn’t merely parsing words. E-cigarettes find themselves in a sort of legal limbo. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration contends the device and its accompanying products should be listed a drug device, subject to FDA approval.

An FDA study looked at 19 devices and components from two popular brands, NJoy and Smoking Everywhere. While the study indicated the analysis shouldn’t be used to draw conclusion, the FDA’s small sample test of those two brands detected tobacco-specific, cancerous nitrosamines in half the samples tested. One cartridge by Smoking Everywhere even contained a trace amount of diethylene glycol (a toxic chemical found in antifreeze).

It was enough of a warning flag for the American Cancer Society to agree with the FDA’s plans to ban the devices until such a time they can be regulated and proven safe.

The e-cigarette industry disagrees and has turned to the legal system for support.

In December, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled in the e-cigarette industry’s favor, and in January the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected an FDA request to overturn the lower court’s ruling, setting the stage for a potential showdown before the Supreme Court on the issue of whether the devices should be regulated under existing tobacco legislation or be subject to a nationwide ban until such time they are approved by the FDA.

A bill to ban the devices in Illinois until the time at which they are approved by the FDA died in an Illinois House committee earlier this year after it passed in the state senate 49-4 last March. The bill’s original sponsor, state Sen. Terry Link (D-Vernon Hills), was contacted for this article, to see if he planned to reintroduce the bill in the new session, but did not return our phone calls by press time.

Cash-strapped states like Illinois are monitoring the situation closely. The Wall Street Journal recently estimated annual industry revenue to be around $100 million. In Illinois, e-cigarettes are exempt from the taxes levied on cigarettes.

Does the absence of a cigarette tax make them more affordable than smoking? Not exactly. A starter kit containing an e-cigarette, charger, liquid and a filter cartridge costs around $60. The liquid used by the device costs $7 to $10 for a 10-milliliter bottle, which yields 30 to 60 cigarettes. By comparison, a pack of cigarettes holds approximately 20 cigarettes and costs $8-$10.

The liquids come in flavors besides tobacco, including apple pie, double chocolate and waffle. It’s the flavors that have caught the ire of groups like the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago.

“You can’t tell me that these flavorings aren’t designed to attract kids,” says Joel Africk, RHAMC president and CEO.

And though online retailers like Ray have all agreed to prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes and accessories to minors, there is nothing legally preventing them from doing just that.

“I won’t sell to kids and every other supplier I know won’t either, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t somebody out there who will,” Rays says. “So, yeah. It’s a problem.”

Since e-cigarettes also don’t fall under the definition of a cigarette according to City of Chicago anti-smoking laws and do not produce any second-hand smoke, some bars and restaurants have started to allow smokers to “light up.”

Ray says as the result, the devices have gain popularity. “At this point, we are technically exempt from smoking laws and a lot of smokers are turning to e-cigarettes when they can’t smoke a traditional cigarette.”

Chicagoan Jeremy Paul Johnson, 30, has been smoking for nine years and has been using the e-cigarette for about a year and a half.

“For me, the biggest thing is I don’t smell like cigarettes when I use them,” he says. “My breath doesn’t smell like an ashtray, they don’t leave a disgusting taste in my mouth and I can use them in my apartment without having it smell like a smoker’s apartment.”

The e-cigarette kit was originally a gift from a friend who was trying to help Johnson quit. Johnson says while he is down to three cigarettes a day, he doesn’t think the device has done much to curb his nicotine addiction.

“It’s not like with the nicotine patch or gum. There’s no set of instructions on how to use the device to quit,” he says. “I know when I’ve smoked a whole pack of cigarettes, but there really isn’t a way to gauge how much nicotine I’ve taken in with the e-cigarette and I’m pretty sure I probably overdosed on nicotine when I first started using them. There’s a learning curve and you really have to self-monitor.”

“They are trendy, though,” he adds. “You can sit around the bar and smoke again with them.”

At least for now, anyway.

One thing I can say is that electronic cigarettes are getting more and more press, and every additional article about people who buy electronic cigarettes despite the legal issues gives additional credibility to the industry. The fact is, and it is the people who attest to it, that people like electronic cigarettes, whether they use it to help quit smoking, or just as a way to smoke indoors.

Go to Smokey Vapor to buy your electronic cigarettes.
Go to Smokey Vapor Updates for news and ratings of electronic cigarette companies and products.
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