Is anyone familiar with e-cigs?

[JezebelinHell]

I just ordered one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160270927765
And I want to take it out to the Playa, but I'm a little worried about the Playa dust destroying it. Has anyone ever used one, and (more importantly) has anyone ever used one at Burning Man? I got two of them, so it's not a huge deal if one of them is kinda dusty and half-assed at the end of the week, but I'm wondering if I should bring back-up smokes just in case the dust demolishes the whole mechanism. These things are all the rage across the pond, but no one I know in the States has ever even heard of them.

[MarkM3]

Wow! Now all I need is e-vodka and I'll live forever!

[phil]

> but I'm wondering if I should bring back-up

It doesn't matter what, _always_ bring back up. :->

[BitterDan]

Never heard of them. I do know that it would have to draw exactly like a real cigarette or I wouldn't like it for the same reason I don't smoke tobacco out of a pipe; The plastic/wood tip.

[JezebelinHell]

Aye, back-up is nice, indeed. Even if my e-cig holds up fine I can always gift packs of smokes to nic-fitting burners who didn't bring enough supplies to last the week.

[phil]

Speaking of back ups:

http://www.triumphjapan.com/release/uni ... 80514.html

This is a solar-powered bra. Well, the bra isn't really solar powered, but you can keep your iPod charged with it. If eCigs are electric, you can keep them charged, too!

Comes with two water bags so you can sip and stay hydrated. You can see them in the photo adjoining the cups of the bra.

[gyre]

I just ordered one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160270927765
And I want to take it out to the Playa, but I'm a little worried about the Playa dust destroying it. Has anyone ever used one, and (more importantly) has anyone ever used one at Burning Man? I got two of them, so it's not a huge deal if one of them is kinda dusty and half-assed at the end of the week, but I'm wondering if I should bring back-up smokes just in case the dust demolishes the whole mechanism. These things are all the rage across the pond, but no one I know in the States has ever even heard of them.

So what is it?
Produce smoke?

[**burn**]

egads! what spelling!

"Quit the hazard and nocuousness smoking"

Well you know what they say, "One is none and two is one."

[joemomma]

Ok, now where can I find the e-bong?

[JezebelinHell]

Those are called vaporizers, and you can find them in head shops. The e-cigs actually work very much the same way that vaporizers do. They don't produce smoke, but rather vaporize the nicotine so that it can be inhaled without all the nasty side effects associated with smoking. From a health perspective, it's about as bad for you as nicotine gum.

[Intubater69]

Ok, now where can I find the e-bong?

Why, at the e-head shop of course

[misfit]

jez,,, do the e-cigs act as a justifiable replacement to cig cravings, or just a way to cut down like gum.?.

[JezebelinHell]

Well, I'm not sure because I don't have them yet, but I'm not getting them as a manner of quitting smoking. I just want a slightly less horrible for me way to smoke. Plus they don't actually produce smoke so I can use them anywhere, the cartridges are cheaper than cigarettes, and I won't smell like an ashtray. Most the international kids I talked to have replaced traditional cigarettes with e-cigs completely.

[BitterDan]

I am going to quit smoking after this year's burn. Of course, I said that last year too....

[Fried_Eagle_Mind]

Somehow importing things off a chinese ebay
site seems like it can be only so healthy.
Fo Yo Health!

[gyre]

Be careful at walmart then.

[JezebelinHell]

Exactly! I'm not worried. My main concern is that customs is gonna think it's some sort of wacky new drug they don't know about yet, and it's gonna get held up at the border forever.

[gyre]

It wasn't really an endorsement.
Turns out there are a lot of disguised drugs being sold in the us now that are really imported, but packaged as safe.
They better tighten that stuff up.
I would hesitate to ingest anything from china, especially unregulated.

I'm sure you know nicotine is very bad for your heart.

[JezebelinHell]

I know all the things nicotine is bad for, thanks. I hate when people feel the need to point that out, like there's any way in hell you could live in this country and NOT know all the bad things nicotine can do to you. I think I'm gonna stand in front of McDonalds and point out that Big Macs are terrible for you. Not to get snappy or anything (that probably sounded snappy) but I hear that shit so much that I get kind of worked up about it. I know it's bad for me. I choose to do it anyway. It's all part of that whole freedom thing we pretend we're fighting for in Iraq...

And I looked at much more expensive e-cigs in The States. They are ALL made in Hong Kong anyway, so I'm really just cutting out the middle man.

[gyre]

You'd be surprized how many people don't know and how much there is that few of us know.
One of my doctors has a free diet and blood chemistry class that gives you a chance to ask all these questions they never have time to answer.
It's a wonderful thing.
They taught us how to understand our blood chemistry report, read food labels and what is safe for us and what isn't, some risks being different for different people.

Many of the things we learned about nicotine and blood chemistry were very new to me and everyone else.
At times, one of the surgeons would come by to answer the more challenging questions and one of the people in the class asked about lung cancer for smokers, since it hadn't been mentioned.
The surgeon said lung cancer is low risk for smokers, as most don't survive heart problems long enough to develop lung issues.

The rapidity with which nicotine nullified all the measures we all try to take for our health was the shocking thing for me though.

I understand risk.
I don't understand the risk/reward ratio in this case though.

[JezebelinHell]

If you were a smoker you would fully understand the risk/reward ratio. I just think it's a little ridiculous how much smoking has been demonized in this country over the past decade or so. I'm not arguing that it's not bad for you or anything, but if people are that concerned over heart health they should maybe start by looking at the obesity epidemic America. The thing is, no one feels bad about telling a smoker they're killing themselves and they need to quit. It's considered bad form to say the same thing to a fat person.

On a side note, because I think it pisses me off the most, all those Truth ads are such bullshit that they make me unable to take the whole non-smoking campaign seriously. When they say blah blah number of people died from smoking related illnesses they're talking about any person who died of any illness that could be related to smoking in any way. That means if an 80-year-old non-smoker dies of a heart attack his death gets added to those numbers because heart attacks are a 'smoking related disease.' I despise the theory that it's okay to lie to people (or stretch the truth to the breaking point) because it's "For a good cause." Yes, I choose to smoke. I also choose to work out and eat right. I'm an ideal weight for my height (5'3", 118lbs) and I drink maybe once a month. I take my risks where I deem them worthy, and I happen to really love to smoke.

[gyre]

The ads that are shown to be most effective are the ones detailing how much conspiracy and lying tobacco has done to con people.
The "industry" fights tooth and nail to keep those off the air, and they have succeeded in most states.
They have been willing to pay more for other ads to keep those off the air.
Of course, they complained about the more dramatic "truth"ads too.
You may have noted that those are toned down now.

[JezebelinHell]

Hey, the tobacco companies are evil bastards too. I agree completely. That's precisely why it seems so stupid when anti-smoking groups feel like they need to lie to get their point across. Just report the truth. It's fairly compelling stuff.