TV tells the world

[TropicalBob]

A local television station is teasing an upcoming report on e-smoking.

The woman reporter is seen (closeup) inhaling and exhaling from a mini cig. She turns to the camera and says she has long reported on the dangers of smoking but now there's a new way to QUIT. Arrrrgh. It's an electronic cigarette, she says, and it doesn't use tobacco to produce the visible vapor.

I'll watch Monday and see what she tells the world.

[markab]

Hi TB,
Sounds interesting. Perhaps I can watch the feed here in Canada. Do you know the name of the program is and what time and channel it comes on? Thanks

Originally Posted by TropicalBob

A local television station is teasing an upcoming report on e-smoking.

The woman reporter is seen (closeup) inhaling and exhaling from a mini cig. She turns to the camera and says she has long reported on the dangers of smoking but now there's a new way to QUIT. Arrrrgh. It's an electronic cigarette, she says, and it doesn't use tobacco to produce the visible vapor.

I'll watch Monday and see what she tells the world.

[TropicalBob]

This is local TV, so I'm not sure how someone outside our area of Florida could view this. My hope is the station will post it on the Internet. It's WINK-TV, Channel 11, in Fort Myers, Florida. This e-smoking feature is being teased for the 5 p.m. newscast, but will likely repeat at 6 and 7, possibly at 11.

[markab]

Hi TB,
Thanks anyway for the info. Please let us know what you think of the report.

Mark

[TropicalBob]

Here's the link to text of the e-smoking story on local TV.

http://www.winknews.com/features/health/16761421.html

[markab]

Hi TB,
Thanks for the link. I see they also have the video of the report available. Interesting.

Mark

Originally Posted by TropicalBob

Here's the link to text of the e-smoking story on local TV.

http://www.winknews.com/features/health/16761421.html

[SmokeyJoe]

Nice article, shame that the website it links to claims in bold type "Quit smoking in 3 weeks!"

Grrr, the guy's heart is in the right place having lost his wife, but that is a pretty bad claim.

[TropicalBob]

She did a nice job of reporting, but ...

I visited the home page of the e-cigarette seller. I'm greeted with the unsupported statement that e-cigarettes have helped more people quit smoking than any other method. What is that all about? Then, worst of all, this guy only sells no-nicotine e-cigarettes. His site says nicotine is the devil behind addiction and ruins hearts and arteries, so he won't sell it.

These are NOT the cigs we know and love. It's just a travesty that the station is now recruiting desperate smokers (read the comments beneath her story) who will fail miserably with these no-nicotine devices and give them a bad name in the process. The failed smokers will conclude nothing can help them.

When I get my wits about me, I'll try to send the reporter an email telling her what I think of this and pointing her to this forum for some decent information.

As for his good intentions ... he's going to give $10 for every e-cig purchased to the American Cancer Society. Well, bless his heart and pass the collection plate. He's selling $18 Health cigarettes for $200. Nice guy. Mr. Charity in my book.

[SmokeyJoe]

Yep, you're right TB, this is a disaster of a story. Have you emailed them yet?

I tried commenting on the board but it didn't make it past the moderators. Anyone else fancy giving it a go? I think they may have thought it was spam since I mentioned this place as a place to get better info.

[TropicalBob]

I did email her. Haven't heard back .. and might not. It's a bit wordy, but I needed to explain a lot of basics. Here 'tis:

Jennifer,

Please permit me to expand comments about e-smoking, because I feel the "test' being set up will result in large failure rates and stamp a promising technology as useless.

I've been an e-smoker since the first of this year. I own an e-pipe, e-cigar and mini e-cigarette. I use all of them daily, along with Swedish snus and Stonewall dissolvable tobacco bits, all to stay off cigarettes that I smoked for 50 years. Last month, I completed a 2,800-word article for Cigar Aficianado magazine on e-smoking cigars. I've corresponded with the world's top researchers in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. I'm thoroughly "backgrounded" on this topic (I recently retired as a reporter for the Sun newspapers, after years at the St. Petersburg Times and The Tampa Tribune).

The man selling these makes some outrageous claims on his Web site. These products are really not about quitting, although that can be done. They are a sustainable nicotine delivery system without the 4,000 carcinogenic chemicals found in tobacco smoke. A smoker can switch to an electronic device and stay with it for a lifetime.

To date, NO studies have been completed on the efficacy of using these to quit smoking. The claim on this man's Web site that it has helped more smokers quit than any other method is simply unsupported. That's exactly the kind of claim that will quickly involve the Federal Trade Commission. The FCC will rightly say, "Prove it." There is no proof. There won't be until at least later this year, when the first studies in New Zealand are completed.

But the worst problem here is that our friendly Cape Coral seller will use no-nicotine cartridges. FYI: Cartridges from China are available at multiple nicotine levels. Most buyers opt for the "extra high" 24mg nicotine cartridges. Sales of "no nicotine" cartridges are almost zero. Inhaling water vapor will do absolutely nothing for a smoker, except drive him/her back to cigarettes. High nicotine is essential to keeping a smoker from cigarette use. Thus, the "test" will result in a failure rate equal to or worse than patches, gum and lozenges (very high failure).

Here's the medical fact on nicotine: It has never been shown to be either carcinogenic or mutagenic. In low doses, such as these provide, it has medical benefits. In high does, of course, it can kill. It's used as an insecticide. But these e-smoking devices do not provide such high doses, and smokers have become addicted to constant blood levels of nicotine. Deprive them, and they experience cravings and mood shifts.

E-smoking will get smokers to forego cigarettes ONLY if they deliver a smoker's addicted nicotine quantity. That can be done with high-nicotine cartridges. It won't be done with "water vapor" cartridges.

Please visit http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com for information on e-smoking. Visit http://www.e-cig.com for a look at the world's top seller's offerings.

Perhaps you'll pay this no attention, but if you'd like to chat over lunch, I'm retired and can easily drive to my home town of Fort Myers from my present home in Port Charlotte. I could bring my e-pipe and e-cigar, in case you haven't seen them.

Thanks for your time,
Robert Bowden

P.S. The seller's e-cig looks like a Health brand that wholesales for $9.99. He's selling it for $200. And he'll give $10 to charity. What a nice guy.