eSmoking?
Grandad May 13th, 2009
I am contemplating giving up the pipe.
Well, maybe I won’t give it up altogether, but I was toying with the idea of switching to cigarettes.
There is a yoke on the market called the Electronic Cigarette, and I was thinking of getting one.
This cigarette has a little battery in it, and a little capsule of nicotine, and it is smoked exactly like a normal cigarette. Except that you don’t light it. When you draw on it, the tip even glows red.
Because there is no combustion, it falls outside the Nanny State Laws. It can be smoked anywhere. That alone is as appealing as the thought of Sharon Ní Bheoláin making me breakfast in bed.
When I get it, I am going to head up to one of those fancy trendy pubs in Dublin, and I’m going to light up. It produces vapour that looks exactly like smoke, but isn’t. The cigarette looks exactly like a normal cigarette, but isn’t.
My money is on the barman to be the first to tell me to leave. I won’t leave, of course because I am within my rights to stay. Next there will be the complaints from the non-smoking holy-Joes who will demand that I be thrown out. I’ll ignore them. With a bit of luck, a few smokers will have drawn the conclusion by now that smoking is OK, and they will light up too. It could be a fun night.
After that, of course I’ll have to raise my sights a bit.
Maybe I’ll get Herself one to double the effect.
Maybe we’ll go and visit someone in hospital, and happily puff away as we walk the corridors. Or maybe we should wander into a Garda station or two and casually lean on the counter and discuss the state of crime in the nation, while merrily blowing smoke/vapour all around the place?
We might even top off my expedition by taking a visit to the Department of Health and demanding to see Mad Cow Harney [just to tell her what a useless lump of lard she is]. We shall of course make a point of never removing the cigarette from our mouths.
If enough people take up this idea, we could cause enough confusion in the system that real smokers may start to slip through the net.
I might even upgrade?
- Smoking
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Genius, that thing. I gave up smoking twenty years ago but honestly I want this, just for the trouble-causing! LOL
Susan – They even come in zero-strength [though I can't quite see the point?] so there is nothing to stop you! Can you imagine the effect of a dozen people strategically arranged around a pub, all puffing away?
I wish they’d take the smokers off the streets and put them back in the pubs. They are a serious hazard on narrow pavements.
i looked them up awhile back and they sure aren’t cheap! besides part of the enjoyment i get from smoking is the initial packing of the tobacco before i open the pack. do you think if i packed that electronic one it would explode?
the e-pipe looks cool though. i can see you with that.
Now that is weird, I posted a thread on TM forum about this very subject this morning. I have been told by the doc to stop and after a side effect ridden dalliance with Champix I have decided to order one of these things. I read about it in the New Scientist a few weeks ago, and how the women who trialled it got into bother from the non-smoking brigade for using it in a bar. I will have it by Monday, and may spend next week using it in the office, on the train, in bars and anywhere I can spark (no pun intended) a reaction
Ian – I’ll drink to that!
Prin – They are not cheap, but once you have the equipment, it is drastically cheaper than cigarettes. I estimate it at around one eighth the price. Also you save on matches/lighters! I am actually quite tempted by the e-pipe. I may well investigate further.
Your Highness – I think the best thing about it is the fun you can have with it. It must be my latent anarchist tendencies?
What’s great is that it could make the laws untenable. Imagine if you have 20 smokers in a bar; half smoking real cigs and half smoking fake ones. How are they going to enforce the ban ?
I know someone who has one of these. It’s amazing – it really looks like he’s just lit up on the train / in the pub / in the middle of a shop (which he mostly does for the reaction!) And he’s very satisfied with the cigarette itself too.
TT – In all seriousness, I was thinking along the same lines. I would cause such chaos that they would either have to ban e-cigarettes [and that could easily be contested in the courts] or would have to allow the lot back in.
JA – I have a confession to make…… Herself received hers through the post yesterday and is very happy with it. It is uncannily real. The only thing that gives it away is the lack of ash and the way it stays the same length!
The perfect cigarette, you could say!
About $100 ??
Completely off the subject, but why am I having to click multiple times and wait about a minute to get to the comments? Is it just me? Never happened before.
JA – Could be?
TT – Think of it as a downpayment on an investment. The initial outlay is high[ish] but the running costs will cover the investment within weeks or less.
Paulo – I have no idea. You should try my admin area. That has always been a nightmare.
Love it! Just do it! Not available here yet because the government probably has to work out a way to tax it! Costs over $300 US for 350 drags – that’s about 30 ciggies. Ebay in Australia have been asked to take them off because they’re nicotine products but apparently you can buy them on international sites.
Cost £34.50 from site in UK for starter set which comes with the gubbins plus some cartridges. It works out about 60% cheaper for someone smoking 20 a day.