Article Treasures | Waiting For A Train With Electronic Cigarettes

I was getting restless waiting for the train and without thinking pulled my electric cigarette out of my pocket and had taken a couple of long puffs at it before noticing the evil looks that I was getting from my fellow travellers. I held my e cig up for them to see while guiltily saying "It's an electronic cigarette, safe and legal to smoke in public places."

The evil looks quickly turned to interest and I heard comments like 'I've heard of them', 'they are supposed to be good' and was asked by an elderly lady who looked as if she thought it was a wind up 'What are they?"

I showed them my e cig as I replied "This is a battery, atomiser and a nicotine cartridge. Although the cartridges contain nicotine they do not contain the 4,000 plus harmful chemicals that cigarettes contain. The smoke that you see is just harmless vapour not second hand tobacco smoke".

An elderly couple were the most interested, they asked me if electronic cigarettes really were safe to smoke. My reply was "As far as I'm aware they are and without the tar and chemicals they have got to be much safer than the effects of smoking normal cigarettes".

"Aren't they just as addictive?" a young man asked.

"Yes" I replied, "but I am using them the same way that I would use nicotine patches to wean myself off tobacco".

I went on to explain that you can get nicotine cartridges in different strengths just like nicotine patches and that this way of quitting smoking was working for me. I told them that after several weeks of no cigarettes I felt fitter and healthier and that I was using the electronic cigarette less and less because I had mainly lost the habit while I was dealing with the addiction.

"Where can you buy them from?" Several of those around me wanted to know and when I told them the Internet lost some interest, but then I could hear them working a way round it with comments like "We can go on the computer at the library", "...mobile goes on the Internet".

The amount of interest was amazing and especially from the older end. I've seen that before when I've been out and about with my e-cigarette. What I think is that after smoking for many years they are getting more and more symptoms of just why tobacco cigarettes are bad for them and that's frightening. Like me they have probably tried to stop smoking and failed many times and the possibility of a new way that might help them is bound to be of interest to them.

However, no matter how much interest there is a sticking point. As always I was asked how much e-cigs are while I was waiting for the train.

Prices vary, but I paid GBP 50 for my starter pack and 25 extra cartridges - enough to last me for at least 6 weeks. After that there is only the much lower cost of cartridges or refill fluid. I'm personally saving over GBP 20 every week.

As I saw my train approaching and fellow travellers interest waining I asked myself "What price health?".