Hi,
I have recently purchased the Gamucci brand, I'm in Spain and they are starting to advertise in the UK. I've just arrived back from Chicago, flying Delta to Spain. On the way to Chicago I smoked the e-cig in the airplane bathroom, as it was daylight the entire flight and I wasn't interested in having a US airmarshall in my face. I also carry snuff and mint snus in case I really just need a quick pep but as we know it's not quite the same as a cigarette. The first time I tried this I was waiting for the smoke alarm to go off.. but, of course, nothing happened and I did this a few times during the flight very happily. I think this was the first time I got off a plane and didn't have the feeling to rush outside after getting my luggage to light up. Very liberating.
On the return, it was a night flight and after dinner I really just wanted to smoke with my glass of wine. The lights were turned out shortly, and I brought out the gamucci and asked my neighbour if it would bother him if I smoked an electronic cigarette (another spainard so I assumed he really wouldn't mind). He just turned over and went back to sleep. So I sat up for a while, quite low in the chair as I didn't want to make too much notice for myself with the vapour, and really enjoyed smoking after dinner. Maybe five minutes later, the steward came striding over and looked at me and what I was holding, and asked me (with a little fear in his voice) if I was smoking. I laughed and said No! of course not! Are you kidding? In a plane in this day and age? He looked very, very relieved and looked over his shoulder - whoever was sitting behind me thought I was actually having a cigarette (I'm not sure why they didn't ask me directly, I guess it scared them). I told the steward that it was a smoking cessation device from my doctor, and as soon as he heard that he breathed again and said, no problem, and left me to it.
During my two weeks in Chicago everyone who saw me smoking in a bar or at an office I was visiting wanted one, and fortunately cigar stores there are starting to sell various brands, mostly NJoy so far though I do prefer brands with built-in chargers rather than external batteries, so I'm very happy to see this starting to catch on. Here in Spain, we can still smoke tobacco in bars/clubs/restaurants so it will be a while before the e-cig will be a wanted commodity, but elsewhere in Europe I'm getting a lot of interest from everyone. I'm a young business woman, so I hang out in a lot of popular bars and clubs, ad agencies etc, and it's wonderful to see that this e-cig is seen as a cool tech device. My scene of people are generally very tech-oriented and the pick-up rate is phenomenal once they've tried it. Their non-smoking boy/girlfriends are also very happy!
Feel free to ask me questions about my airline smoking experiences. I travel a lot, so I'll keep in touch about using the device. I also feel that the airlines need to be aware of the device and should have an official policy, however until then if you feel that you can get away with it, maybe first go ahead and ask the steward/ess or at least your neighbour, or just go to the privacy of the bathroom.
I'm going to Australia in a few months, which is about 24 hours straight in a non-smoking environment, I'll definitely be asking the steward first this time as I don't want it taken away from me.
