Not sure if anyone has asked this question before but the basic technology that goes into an ecig (batteries, atomizers etc) has surely been around for decades. And if so, why didn't anyone come up with the idea decades ago instead of just in recent years? Or am I missing something fundamental in the technology/chemistry? Anyway, just a thought. If it's been covered elsewhere perhaps someone can point me to a thread.
Why didn't ecigs come about 30 years ago?
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The earliest electronic cigarette can be traced to Herbert A. Gilbert,[41] who in 1963 patented a device described as "a smokeless non-tobacco cigarette" that involved "replacing burning tobacco and paper with heated, moist, flavored air." This device heated the nicotine solution and produced steam. In 1967, Gilbert was approached by several companies interested in manufacturing it, but it was never commercialized and disappeared from the public record after 1967.[42][43][44][45][46][47]
Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist, is widely credited[48][49][50] with the invention of the first generation electronic cigarette. In 2003,[51] he came up with the idea of using a piezoelectric ultrasound-emitting element to vaporise a pressurized jet of liquid containing nicotine diluted in a propylene glycol solution.[52] This design produces a smoke-like vapour that can be inhaled and provides a vehicle for nicotine delivery into the bloodstream via the lungs. He also proposed using propylene glycol to dilute nicotine and placing it in a disposable plastic cartridge which serves as a liquid reservoir and mouthpiece.
The device was first introduced to the Chinese domestic market in May 2004 as an aid for smoking cessation and replacement. The company that Hon Lik worked for, Golden Dragon Holdings, changed its name to Ruyan (如烟, literally "Resembling smoking"), and started exporting its products in 2005–2006[53] before receiving its first international patent in 2007.[54]
Several e-cigarette models marketed by tobacco companies were launched or are set to launch in 2013, including the Vuse, MarkTen, and Vype. Blu, a prominent e-cigarette producer, was also acquired by Lorillard Inc., a tobacco industry leader, in 2012.[55]
Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist, is widely credited[48][49][50] with the invention of the first generation electronic cigarette. In 2003,[51] he came up with the idea of using a piezoelectric ultrasound-emitting element to vaporise a pressurized jet of liquid containing nicotine diluted in a propylene glycol solution.[52] This design produces a smoke-like vapour that can be inhaled and provides a vehicle for nicotine delivery into the bloodstream via the lungs. He also proposed using propylene glycol to dilute nicotine and placing it in a disposable plastic cartridge which serves as a liquid reservoir and mouthpiece.
The device was first introduced to the Chinese domestic market in May 2004 as an aid for smoking cessation and replacement. The company that Hon Lik worked for, Golden Dragon Holdings, changed its name to Ruyan (如烟, literally "Resembling smoking"), and started exporting its products in 2005–2006[53] before receiving its first international patent in 2007.[54]
Several e-cigarette models marketed by tobacco companies were launched or are set to launch in 2013, including the Vuse, MarkTen, and Vype. Blu, a prominent e-cigarette producer, was also acquired by Lorillard Inc., a tobacco industry leader, in 2012.[55]
Cool. Interesting that you will never see them in china unless it is a foreigner vaping. I ran out of supplies while I was in china and I ended up visiting a couple of the 60+ factories in Shenzhen and topping up. Almost all of their market is export.
Not sure why it took so long to come around but I, for one, am glad it did. It's saved my life.
To answer your question more directly, the one primary obstacle 30 years ago was battery technology. Nothing was small enough to allow for a practical device to be made.
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30 years ago smoking was more acceptable, you could still smoke indoors, in restaurants smoking sections, in bars & clubs. Also the taxes were much less, as the current punitive "sin taxes" hadn't fully taken hold. E-cigs are more complicated than just lighting up, and a more complicated way to accomplish a simple task won't be taken seriously.
Once a market developed for an alternative to smoking, (and/or patches - gum - lozenges) there was enough interest to drive the development. The changes in the e-cig technology in just the last few years is amazing, it just took a large enough market demand, if there's money to be made, the development follows.
Early electric cars were built by Henry Ford, but with gas at 29.9, a dollars worth of gas was over 1/4 tank, development stalled for decades, no demand, and too complicated.
Once a market developed for an alternative to smoking, (and/or patches - gum - lozenges) there was enough interest to drive the development. The changes in the e-cig technology in just the last few years is amazing, it just took a large enough market demand, if there's money to be made, the development follows.
Early electric cars were built by Henry Ford, but with gas at 29.9, a dollars worth of gas was over 1/4 tank, development stalled for decades, no demand, and too complicated.
The same people who want to see it banned now. At least in the EU.
the same thing with flight. in the 800's AD, a monk strapped some wings to his arms and took off like a glider. he had the right curvature and wing span...but still came crashing down at the bottom of the tower and broke both his legs. He instantly realized that he needed a tail. But fearing for his safety, the church forbid him from attempting the flight again. Fast forward 1100 years later, and a pair of brothers in N. Carolina "fix the glitch".
early products sometimes spend years or decades or longer due to small issues that seem impossible to overcome. rechargeable battery technology, while available in the 60's, was hardly on par with today's tech. those early gelled electrolyte batteries, while safe, we're extremely inefficient, overly large, and costly. It wasn't until advents in Nickel usage (and modern day Lithium) that costs and portability plummeted for consumer use.
From my understanding when they started in the 60s it was the tobacco companies that had it shut down.
It just goes to show that if you tax anything to much we will find another way lol
Why didn't they exist 30 years ago? Beacause everyone was too busy playing the top of the line Coleco video game system, and there was no place on a Commodore 64 or Apple IIe to plug in a pass through......
Low prices on tobacco products - just look at the market. Vaping takes hold where analogs are costly ( i.e. high taxes ) and disposable income is high. There are lots of countries were analogs are cheap and average income is low. 30, 40, 50 bucks - that's a months pay in some countries. And of course battery oomph. Look at the cellphones a decade ago - bricks with a few minutes talking power and a few hours standby. Definitely unsexy, having an e-cig and a 50lbs backpack to power it 
--- powering a heat generating device drains a lot power. Batteries nowadays are good enough to give lasting mobility to a lot of things - communication, computing and - of course - vaping
--- powering a heat generating device drains a lot power. Batteries nowadays are good enough to give lasting mobility to a lot of things - communication, computing and - of course - vaping 
Philip Morris researched ways to vaporize tobacco back in the 60's. None of them were very practical.
RJ Reynolds experimented with Premier and Eclipse, the researchers started with the idea of taking a tube of glass filled with glycerine, heating it up, and they discovered it resembled smoking and could deliver nicotine. They used a charcoal tip as the heating element. But the products were never popular, probably because they were more expensive and didn't taste good. I remember smoking Eclipse, when the vapor ran out it sometimes had a horrible taste, like licking a dirty charcoal grill.
RJ Reynolds experimented with Premier and Eclipse, the researchers started with the idea of taking a tube of glass filled with glycerine, heating it up, and they discovered it resembled smoking and could deliver nicotine. They used a charcoal tip as the heating element. But the products were never popular, probably because they were more expensive and didn't taste good. I remember smoking Eclipse, when the vapor ran out it sometimes had a horrible taste, like licking a dirty charcoal grill.
I think the recent jump in battery technology is why they have come so far.
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That. The original 1960's patent was more conceptual/theoretical than anything else. It called for either an incandescent bulb or a miniature vacuum tube (anyone younger than 40 go google both of those) to produce heat to generate vapor. The guy had the theory down, but had no practical technology applied to it. Patent US3200819 - Smokeless non-tobacco cigarette - Google Patents
Health issues, taxation pressure.
It's definitley not a very scientific approach, but when you correlate B&M density around the globe with prices/taxes for traditional tobacco products, it's doesn't really need a Ph.D. to spot the obvious...
Been in Kenya recently - $1.50ish gets you a pack of cigs, a fraction of what we used to fork stateside or in Europe. Only e-cigs I saw were on other foreigners. Judging from the strange looks you're getting when puffing away, vaping is almost unknown in these parts.
Take the average pay scale and the relative scarcity of decent paying jobs - I think the budget of the average Kenyan is needed for more important things. Hundred shillings for a pack of fags or fifty bucks for a starter kit when fifty bucks is two weeks pay - I think the answer is clear... Seen some online though and ads in smokers lounge at Nairobi airport... And I think it's like that in many other countries..cheap fags, low average wages are ecenomic obstacles
Been like that in Europe and USA too 20 or 3 years ago. Cigs were fairly cheap and then gubmints started to hike taxes - big time.
Before that, there wasn't just enough incentive ( saving $$$ while shafting the gubmint simultaneously is one heck of an incentive - know guys who vape just outta spite , like me ) .
Then, the basic technology was there alright - but t wasn't very durable nor very portable to be of real practical use.
Remember the cell phones 20, 30 years ago ? Show off pieces, basically. Cost an arm and a leg, size and weight of a brick, battery endurance pathetic - 10 minutes jabbering away to show the fols surrounding you that you're the oh so important mover and shaker and you had do dash for the payphone just like the plebs...Mobile internet - a pipedream... inter--what?
The electronic oomph you slip in your shirt pocket today would have filled a large building a few decades ago...
Same with e-cigs ... the 'old hands' the vaper pioneers so to speak may have a few tales to tell about early models and early batteries...
It's only in the last cople of years that industry has become of age, so to speak ...
Wide range of make and models to suit almost every taste, a certain degree of reliability and performance at an affordable price...
The age of e-cig is just dawning....
It's definitley not a very scientific approach, but when you correlate B&M density around the globe with prices/taxes for traditional tobacco products, it's doesn't really need a Ph.D. to spot the obvious...
Been in Kenya recently - $1.50ish gets you a pack of cigs, a fraction of what we used to fork stateside or in Europe. Only e-cigs I saw were on other foreigners. Judging from the strange looks you're getting when puffing away, vaping is almost unknown in these parts.
Take the average pay scale and the relative scarcity of decent paying jobs - I think the budget of the average Kenyan is needed for more important things. Hundred shillings for a pack of fags or fifty bucks for a starter kit when fifty bucks is two weeks pay - I think the answer is clear... Seen some online though and ads in smokers lounge at Nairobi airport... And I think it's like that in many other countries..cheap fags, low average wages are ecenomic obstacles
Been like that in Europe and USA too 20 or 3 years ago. Cigs were fairly cheap and then gubmints started to hike taxes - big time.
Before that, there wasn't just enough incentive ( saving $$$ while shafting the gubmint simultaneously is one heck of an incentive - know guys who vape just outta spite , like me
) .Then, the basic technology was there alright - but t wasn't very durable nor very portable to be of real practical use.
Remember the cell phones 20, 30 years ago ? Show off pieces, basically. Cost an arm and a leg, size and weight of a brick, battery endurance pathetic - 10 minutes jabbering away to show the fols surrounding you that you're the oh so important mover and shaker and you had do dash for the payphone just like the plebs...Mobile internet - a pipedream... inter--what?
The electronic oomph you slip in your shirt pocket today would have filled a large building a few decades ago...
Same with e-cigs ... the 'old hands' the vaper pioneers so to speak may have a few tales to tell about early models and early batteries...
It's only in the last cople of years that industry has become of age, so to speak ...
Wide range of make and models to suit almost every taste, a certain degree of reliability and performance at an affordable price...
The age of e-cig is just dawning....
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