A UK e-cigarette company based in Peterborough is in the process of moving from units of 2,500 sq ft to premises of 10,000 sq ft.

When the business began it was only a part-time job for its founders, who also had full-time jobs.  It had an initial investment of only £1,000 and employed only one person.

However, as e-cigarettes became better known the business has moved twice and now employs 13 people, and has a turnover of around £2.5 million.

Surprisingly about 40% of their business comes from out of the UK, mainly to various destinations in Europe.

One interesting fact to come out of their success is that although most first time customers usually order the tobacco flavoured e-cig, they often come back requesting one of the 200 odd different flavours that are available.  This change is due in part to customers finding that when they switch to e-cigarettes they start to regain their lost taste buds, and the tobacco flavour becomes unpleasant.  Fruity flavours are very popular as their next choice.

In these difficult economic times it is great to hear that a business, that can do so much good for the health of its customers, is flourishing in this way.

E-cigarettes are a battery operated cigarette shaped device which vapourises a flavoured liquid in an atomiser.  This liquid is inhaled, just like a real cigarette, and exhaled as a harmless water vapour.  The liquid usually contains nicotine, which comes in different strengths depending on the customers needs, and can be reduced gradually as the need becomes less.  However, countries that do not allow nicotine to be included in the make-up of e-cigs, still find that customers enjoy the hand-to-mouth experience and this can lead to success in quitting smoking too.

The survey involved one thousand people, of which 25% were regular smokers, 12% smoked occasionally and the rest, 63%, were not smokers.  Asked what were the aspects of smoking that were the most unpleasant, the smell and bad breath surprisingly came out ahead of damage to health, suggesting that image was very important to the survey participants.

One of the main topics on this site has been the lack of research there has been on e-cigs and this was also apparent in the survey.  36% said they thought e-cigs should be more accessible and 43% felt they were a great innovation, whilst 47% said that they did not know enough about them to give a reasoned opinion.  This suports what we feel on this site, that e-cig companies, health authorities and anyone concerned with smoker’s health or e-cigs should engage in full research projects, both to inform the general public more, and to make sure that everyone is satisfied that e-cigs are a safe alternative to tobacco.

What many people did not appreciate was that e-cigs are a much cheaper alternative to tobacco.  Cigarettes are now incredibly highly taxed and e-cigs can work out at up to 75% cheaper than tobacco.

A quite large percentage of people were aware of e-cigs as an alternative to smoking, while only one in three people realised that they are a healthier option, with a similar number acknowledging that smoking bans do not include smoke free products like e-cigarettes.

What is obvious is that more work needs to be done to help people realize the potential of e-cigarettes as a safe and healthy way to stop smoking.

Electronic cigarettes are just one of this centuries ‘inventions’ and as its very name suggests a battery is needed to make it work.  When e-cigs first became available their quality was often poor, the batteries an inferior make and overall they could prove to be a disappointment.

However, things have changed dramatically in the last few years.  The quality of e-cigs has improved and now most brands use lithium ion polymer batteries.  These batteries are reputed to be the best and longest lasting products on the market.

Although electronic cigarettes are always much less expensive than tobacco, it is nevertheless a good idea to take good care of their batteries.  Lithium batteries are meant to be used daily, using them often allows more power to flow into the cell that in turn helps the battery to perform properly.

Another point is that batteries should always be looked after carefully.  Getting them wet or dropping them will not get the best out of them!  Stories of an e-cig exploding were circulating the internet recently.  If this in fact happened it is very likely that the e-cig was abused in some way,  it certainly seems to have been a one-off incident, something that had never before been reported by the millions of e-cig satisfied customers.

It is important not to let a battery become fully drained, in fact it is best to charge them when they are about 50% used, then there will be little chance of forgetting until it is too late.

One last point, although one that is likely to be forgotten more often than not, is by unscrewing the cartomizer from the battery when it is not being used, will also give the battery a longer life.

Using e-cigarettes instead of tobacco cigarettes will improve your health and your wealth.  You could end up saving thousands of pounds or dollars every year, looking after the battery is only a small part of the savings!

Many elderly people have smoked all their lives and can see no reason to stop at this stage of their life.  So, instead of frail people having to go outside to smoke, which must often be an impossibility, e-cigarettes may well be the answer.

E-cigarettes are so like the real thing in appearance and performance, that they can satisfy the user just as much as tobacco.  The e-cig uses heat, created by the battery, to vaporise a liquid solution, usually containing nictotine, this can be inhaled and exhaled in a fine mist which evaporates and quickly disappears.  There is no danger of the device causing a fire as there is no naked flame, and the exhaled mist has no smell or toxic content, so is safe for others to be around.

Care homes will all have different rules about e-cigarettes, with some, short-sightedly, not allowing them at all.  Others need the resident to be assessed by a doctor or nurse before allowing them to use e-cigs.  That tactic seems to be patronising in the extreme.

Most care homes will insist on keeping the charger away from the resident, so that the e-cig usage can be monitored, again somewhat patronising.

It may be that an elderly person may have to rely on family or friends to purchase e-cigs for them, failing that, would staff oblige one wonders?

The e-cig has been acknowledged by various influencial health bodies to have the potential for saving millions of lives world-wide, so it seems to be madness to keep the older generation, who find themselves unable to cope at home, from using a device that could dramatically improve their health and even keep their stress levels to the minimum, after finding themselves in a situation they would probably have avoided if they possibly could.

Many care homes will not have had to face the situation as yet, but e-cigarette use is increasing all the time and so they may need to decide on how they are going to deal with the question in the very near future.

Generally people are becoming more health conscious too.  The never ending warnings about the dangers of smoking have made people more aware that continued smoking will damage their health, may irreparably.  Smoking bans in public places, banning of cigarette vending machines, plain packaging of cigarettes and even the removal of cigarettes from view in large shops have all helped the anti-smoking cause.

News last year that one of the main tobacco manufacturers was developing a version of a non-tobacco cigarette showed that they were indeed becoming worried about the drop in sales of cigarettes in the developed world.  This does make them more active in less developed markets of course, but they are looking to increase their profits in their more traditional markets as well.

So, the news that the US’s third largest tobacco company, Lorillard, has aquired the electronic cigarette company, Blu Ecigs, should come as no surprise.  The e-cig market has been growing substantially in the past few years, as more and more smokers discover that switching to e-cigs is by far the best way to quit smoking.  The deal between Lorillard and Blu is reputed to be worth $135 million .  Lorrillard’s net income had fallen 10% in the first quarter of this year, so ways of recouping these drops had to be found.

The tobacco industry will have been keeping a close eye on the e-cigarette market growth, and this may be just the beginning of  similar aquisitions.  It is a strange situation really, and whether this is a moral way to go will be up to much debate.  Tobacco companies are only concerned about their profits, not about people’s health, and perhaps it is sad to see an e-cig company also looking out for profit before their ‘duty’ to their customers, that is helping them to quit smoking.  Do the two business models actually marry well together?  Only time will tell.

Will the tobacco companies now put pressure on US cities that have already banned the use of electronic cigarettes in the workplace, and fight against plans by some areas to ban them in all the places where tobacco products are banned.

What is needed more than anything else is for more research to be done on e-cigs so that once and for all they can be recognised for the great aid to stopping smoking that they have become.

The young woman was diagnosed with cancer and has undergone extensive treatment, but is now in remission.  Whilst in New York on honeymoon they discovered e-cigarettes and she was able to stop smoking straight away after using them.

Chris and Camilla were determined to pass their discovery on to other people, and Chris says, “I’m very passionate about this, it’s about much more than just making money – I want to help people and get them off smoking.”

E-cigs contain only water and nicotine (unless you live in a country that does not allow the nicotine content), but without all the thousands of chemicals found in tobacco products.  They have already helped thousands of people quit smoking and their popularity is on the increase.  Making people more aware of their potential is very important.

The shop in Shotton, UK, has even had the blessing of a local councillor who said, “Its’ good to see a new business opening in town and smoking is a terrible thing to be addicted to, so anything that helps people quit should be welcomed.”  This attitude is to be applauded, as there are so many detractors, even whole towns where local governments want to ban the sale and use of e-cigarettes altogether.

Eighty five male and female smokers took part.  E-cigs with  or without nicotine were handed out to the participants, but they did not know which they were given.  Some people were asked just to hold the e-cig, whilst others used them as they wished.  After 5 minutes and then again 20 minutes they were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding their mood and cravings.  Sixty of the group were also asked to do a memory task about 15 minutes after using the e-cigarette.

As a result it seems that nicotine e-cigs helped the men with their cravings, but for the women the placebo worked just as well.  As far as the memory task went , the e-cigs with the nicotine helped considerably more than those without nicotine.

As part of the presentation at the conference, Dr Dawkins said, after explaining that they were interested in how e-cigs reduced cravings the smokers were experiencing, “Perhaps more significantly, we found that e-cigarettes with nicotine help maintain working memory in smokers who have not smoked for an hour or two.  People who choose to stop smoking without using a nicotine substitute may therefore suffer a period during which their working memory levels dip until their bodies adjust to the reduced levels of nicotine.  E-cigarettes seem to be effective at reducing this problem for men and women.  However, in this study we did not look at the issue of whether people feel self-conscious about using the devices in public.”

Perhaps this is not the in-depth research we are looking for, but as things stand any research is better than none at all, and as we are always maintaining here,

We at Electronic Cigarette Advisor have felt happy with the safety of e-cigs for a long time now, but until this can be scientifically proved, we will always have people who are detractors of the product.  While e-cigs have the potential of saving millions of lives all this is worthless unless everyone is happy with their quality.

E-cigs were developed in China and in their early days this is where the majority of them came from, and although we have never had any major scare about e-cigs, everyone has heard stories about other Chinese products that have not met with the high standards we expect.

However, e-cigs have now been around for many years and the companies that sell e-cigs have developed good reputations which they are always anxious to uphold.  All the major e-cig companies do their own quality control and have absolute confidence in their products.

At the same time, as one Scottish distributor said, “We absolutely welcome tighter regulations on e-cigarette products.  It will help the industry grow to its potential by allowing the best products to be distributed.”  This statement is likely to be true of every e-cig business.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is looking into whether to regulate e-cigarettes and other products containing nicotine.  Hopefully this will be done sooner rather than later, and then everyone who wants to try e-cigs but may be apprehensive because of some of the negative publicity, will be happy to give them a go with absolute confidence.

At the same time hard pressed governments are finding ways of raising their revenue through higher taxes.  One of the usual targets for this is a raise in tax on tobacco, making smoking a very expensive luxury.  In the UK alone smoking just 20 cigarettes a day will amount to a spend of over £2700 a year.

Lots of smokers must think about what they could do with that sort of money if only they didn’t smoke.  Cigarette sales have taken a hit in these hard times, and some previously committed smokers are swapping their tobacco habit for the much more economical electronic cigarette.

One of the big growth in sales in these difficult financial times has been the increase in the online sales of e-cigs.  The e-cigarette costs only about one fifth of the cost of tobacco cigarettes, making them a really good choice for those trying to cut back on expenses and those trying to stop smoking.

Smoking addiction is a dependence on nicotine which satisfies  the smoker’s cravings.  The e-cig gives the nicotine fix, which can be bought with varying degrees of strength, but at a fraction of the cost.

The person switching to the e-cig must make an initial investment of the starter pack, and then the main component, the cartridge, can be refilled with e-liquid, or in some cases a new cartridge is required.  However, in each case the outlay is significantly smaller than buying packets of cigarettes, particularly in countries with very high taxation on tobacco, making the e-cig a very attractive alternative to smoking.

This is likely to have little effect on those who already smoke, but may, as time goes on, stop people from starting to smoke.  Certainly this is what the controversial Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, hopes.

On a morning television show he said, ” There’s more than a third of smokers who say they want to stop.  Each year we have nearly 800,000 smokers who try to quit, 50% succeed.  We want to increase that proportion, help more people to stop.”

Evidence suggests that cigarette displays could encourage young people to start smoking.  In England alone 300,000 children under 16 try smoking, with 5% of children between 11 and 15 being regular smokers.  The Health Secretary dismissed the argument that hiding the displays will only make cigarettes more attractive.

Now that smoking is banned in public places, there are no cigarette vending machines and now no displays in large shops, smoking is no longer part of normal life.

Those of you who regularly read this blog will know that we truly feel that e-cigarettes are the answer for those estimated 50% of people who annually try to quit smoking and fail.  We hope that sometime in the near future this is something that will be recognised by more people who are in a position to promote e-cigs as the most successful alternative to smoking there is.  However, we would never advocate that young people try e-cigs.  They contain nicotine and anyone who started using e-cigs when they were not a smoker is likely to move onto tobacco at some stage, and we all know how dangerous that is.  The nicotine in e-cigs is like the nicotine in other replacement therapies, a means of dealing with an addiction while gradually cutting down and eventually finding that it is not necessary any more.

It is to be hoped that the lack of displays in shops will encourage more people to stop smoking and that they will do this with the help of electronic cigarettes.