Ashtray Blog: An Electronic Cigarette Blog

According to an email I was sent last night, one of the biggest UK e-cigarette companies is shutting down.

Speculation about The Electronic Cigarette Company has been rife after 50% sales recently, and that speculation proved correct when owner Jason Cropper announced his company was going into liquidation.

The owner denied that the closure was due to the MHRA, blaming the departure of a director. With Jason owning other companies involved with e-cigarettes and with interests in America, there appear to  be other reasons for the closure, with some suggesting tax reasons. No doubt the forums will be abuzz with the latest gossip and lots more speculation as to why the company is shutting down!

White Super Replacement

Update: I have just spoken with our engineer, who tells me that NJOY cartridges and batteries are compatible with the White Super. Our atomizers are also compatible, but when used with a different e-cigarette do not enjoy our usual one year warranty. But with a built in atomiser in our new DUO cartridges, there’s no need to buy a separate atomiser!

Lab study spun to show alarming results, but study of 63,000 women suggests no risk

I noticed a rather alarming article the other day suggesting that nicotine can cause breast cancer.

We already know that in labatory conditions nicotine can accelerate the growth of cancer. (As we saw in our recent article on nicotine on the smokers’ angel, it can also accelerate the recovery of muscles after an accident and of the brain after brain damage.)

However, there is a big difference between accelerating the growth of cancerous cells in a labatory and actually causing cells to become cancerous. In addition, the data we have on snus suggests that when nicotine is obtained without combustion the danger of developing cancer drops to almost nil. According to Dr Nitzkin:

the literature on snus, which is evaluated on our website, basically shows that in the best of the epidemiological studies available today snus do not increase any cause of death. In other words, if there is a health hazard from snus it is smaller than can be measured with these studies.

It is something that worried me, and I immediately contacted TheTobaccoHarmReduction website to get a scientist’s take on it.

I don’t think I was the only one worried, because Professor Carl Phillips has published an analysis on the harm reduction blog entitled Hyping of a Non-Result about Nicotine, writing:

It is also possible that nicotine promotes actual cancer growth in people, but it is clear from decades of research on smoke-free nicotine users that if it does, it is sufficiently rare that it is impossible to detect.  Indeed, the link between smoking and breast cancer is among the weakest for any cancer among older adults.

In essence, the study did not find anything new, and the dramatic headlines are the results of editors spinning the results of the study to creat maximum impact.

Those still worried should be reassured by the results of an additional study (mentioned in the comments section of Carl Phillip’s blog post).

The study, according to Reuters article Smoking not tied to risk of early breast tumour, followed 63,000 post menepausal women.

The conclusion?

That smokers and ex-smokers were no more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than non-smokers.

(If you wish to switch to e-cigarettes and are still worried about nicotine, remember you can always switch to the zero nicotine electronic cigarette!)

Smoking a cigar? Can't have that now, can we?

Anyone who reads Professor Siegel’s blog knows that the anti-smoking lobby lie almost daily.

But for those who don’t, Harry Phibb’s latest article in the Daily Mail is a shocker.

In it he points out how our very history is being changed, doctored and manipulated to provide a politically correct past that we never had.

Incredibly, we are so now ashamed of one of the greatest heroes of our time that we have to doctor his pictures.

Winston Churchill may have saved us from defeat against a fascist enemy that sought to take away our freedom and our way of life, he may have lead us to a historic victory against all odds – but he’s not good enough for 21st Century Britain.

Because he smoked.

Pictures of him and other historical figures have been doctored to remove evidence of their smoking habit.

In the second world war we fought for liberty, choice and freedom.

We fought against a man who twisted and perverted truth, who sought to control the way people lived, who sought to remove the freedom of choice.

If Churchill was alive now, he would be shocked at the way society is treating smokers.

Banning smokers from hospital waiting rooms. Refusing smokers jobs. Inventing statistics to justify discrimination.

And rewriting our country’s history.

[For the original Phibbs article see: I’d like fewer smokers, but not at the cost of living in a society which has sacrificed truth and freedom.)

(continued from Positive News from the New Zealand for E-Cigarettes )

Murray Laugesen, a New Zealand doctor, dismisses health concerns about the electronic cigarette with contempt according to an article in the New Zealand Herald.

“Dr Laugesen says his research of both the nicotine liquid and the vapour shows there is little to worry about.

“He concludes that “inhaling mist from the e-cigarette is rated several orders of magnitude (100 to 1000 times) less dangerous than smoking tobacco cigarettes”.”

His arguments are based on the following:

• the electronic cigarette works at a far lower temperature than cigarettes
• that there are far fewer chemicals in an electronic cigarette

Read the full story on the New Zealand Herald, or see our interview with Murray Laugesen here.

(But not for smoker’s rights groups!)

New Zealand appears to be edging closer to legalising electronic cigarettes.

“We are not there yet, but I am fairly optimistic that Ministry of Health will soon agree these things can be sold as tobacco products. Only the USA and NZ appear to have tobacco product definitions in law that permit this,” Dr Murray Laugesen of Health New Zealand told us.

His statement is accompanied by two positive news stories.

The New Zealand Herald reports the story of one e-cigarette user, who imports the devices for his personal use from China:

‘Heavily addicted to nicotine, he considers the device an alternative to smoking tobacco – one which has greatly reduced the harm of his habit.

‘”Within three or four days of using it I noticed a huge improvement in my overall health. I woke up in the morning and I could breathe. It’s absolutely fantastic.”

‘His smoker’s cough is gone and, although he has not done the sums, he expects he is saving a lot of money.’

Meanwhile an article on Newswire, called “Health Campaigner: E-Ciggies a Step Forward“, suggests a vision of a country where electronic cigarettes  completely replace traditional cigarettes.

Murray knows that the anti-smoking groups are calling for a complete prohibition of cigarettes. He’s arguing that this is going to be impossible unless there is an acceptable alternative. And that acceptable alternative, according to Dr Laugeson, is electronic cigarettes.

Which is perhaps why ASH (Action on Smoking and Health New Zealand), unlike ASH America, support the legalisation of the electronic cigarette.

(On a side note, I’d like to say that from a libertarian point of view we do not support a ban on cigarettes. People should have the right to make their own choices about how they live the life. We believe in educating people about the truth about cigarettes and electronic cigarettes, and then allowing them to make their own minds up.)

Bill Godshall of SmokeFree Pensylvania has sent an email  describing how he attended a vapers’ festival – and tried out an electronic cigarette! We’ve published, with his permission, the whole report on our website – See Bill Godshall reports on VapeFest. Below we have included extracts from the report:

“This past Saturday morning I drove to Vapefest 2010 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Fredricksburg, VA to attend the world’s largest gathering (so far) of electronic cigarette consumers (who prefer being called “vapers”) organized by the National Vapers’ Club…

“Considering that the fundamental tenet of all toxicology is “the dose makes the poison” (e.g. consuming two gallons of water can kill a person) and that I experience severe headaches when exposed to even low levels of secondhand tobacco smoke, pesticides, glues and perfumes, I decided to expose myself to massive levels of e-cigarette vapor.”

Vaping for the first time

Deciding passive vaping wasn’t enough, Bill decided to try out vaping himself.

• every vaper had been a cigarette smoker until they discovered vaping during the past year or two,
• nearly all vapers had been heavy smokers who had previously consumed one to three cigarette packs per day,
• the vast majority of vapers exclusively switched from smoking to vaping, while 10%-20% still smoked cigarettes occassionally,
• nearly all vapers I spoke to indicated that their breathing, taste and smell had significantly improved,
• many vapers had unsuccessfully tried to quit smoking using nicotine gums, lozenges, patches and/or other Rx drugs,
• all attendees distrust and have a seething hatred for the FDA and others that are trying to ban vaporizers and/or vaping,- most attendees had considered themselves either apolitical or liberal, but nearly all now dislike Obama and Democrats for trying to ban e-cigarettes.

• - lie and scare people about the health risks/benefits of vaping compared to cigarette smoking?
• - have no respect for my right to decide what I put in my own body?
• - want to ban these products that are the only thing that got me off cigarettes?
• - want to force me to go back to smoking cigarettes now that I’ve finally quit?
• - hate smokers and vapers, and/or want to harm/kill us?”

In an advert Jason Cropper of the electronic cigarette company has called for tobacco products to be banned during the MHRA’s consultation.

Will the RT Hon Andy Burnham ban all Tobacco products on 21st June 2010?

The MHRA, the Nation’s Health Regulators, have created for Mr Burnham a golden opportunity to ban ALL tobacco products for good on the 21st June.

This would save 1 life every 6 minutes in the UK.

The MHRA’s consultation paper MLX 364 claims that every product containing nicotine should be classed as a medicine, and therefore should fall under their regulatory framework. In essence they want to regulate for only one reason, to ban electronic cigarettes.

The Electronic Cigarette’s increasing popularity as an alternative recreational delivery system seems to offend the MHRA’s pay-masters, the Large Pharmaceutical Companies.

The public is unaware that the revolutionary electronic cigarette, a fantastic recreational nicotine delivery system, is to be banned on the 21st June.

As an act of appeasement, they have cobbled together a seriously flawed consultation document MLX 364. This document attempts to class all nicotine containing products – whether recreationally or medicinally used – as medicines. And ban the lot on the 21st June.

Tobacco Cigarettes do contain nicotine. Andy Burnham should ban them while he has the chance.

Banning Cigarettes?

I am not sure whether Jason seriously thinks cigarettes should be banned.

Our position on the Ashtray Blog  is that in a free country people should have the right to do what they choose, even though what they choose is harmful to themselves. That’s individual liberty. If we start banning things based on the fact they are dangerous we’d have to ban fast food, skiing, crossing the road and so on. Life’s dangerous and the risks we take should be decided by ourselves and not by our government.

Problems with the MHRA Consultation Document

However, Jason makes one very good point. If the MHRA is able to regulate products as medicine based on the fact they contain nicotine, they will also be able to regulate cigarettes. Cigarettes, of course, would not achieve medicinal status as they are too dangerous, and would hence be banned.

Interestingly, the same move would see some vegetables classed as medicine. A 100 grammes of aubergine, for example, contains the same amount of nicotine as you would get in three hours of passive smoking!

The potential regulatory implications on cigarettes, of course, was one of the reasons that Judge Leon struck down the FDA’s attempt to regulate the electronic cigarette in the US.

(When I pointed this out to the MHRA in a telephone conversation, they said but of course what happens in America has no effect here. However, they had no problem in using the FDA’s flawed press release as evidence for the need for regulation as a medicine in their consultation document!)

It’s a proud week for E Cigarette Direct as the Welsh National Opera uses our electronic cigarettes to beat the Welsh smoking ban.

Unlike the English ban, the Welsh smoking ban even forbids smoking on stage – which can make things tricky when you are performing an opera about a cigarette factory!

Below is a picture of the gorgeous opera singer, Fiona Harrison, during dress rehearsals.

Opera singer Fiona Harrison smoking an e-cigarette on stage.

Fiona usually has to use talcom filled powder sticks, but non-smoker Fiona told us the electronic cigarette was a vast improvement.

Below is a picture of our MD, Jean, with her partner Mike on stage with Fiona.

The E Cigarette Direct Team on the stage of Carmen.

According to Jean, Mike just couldn’t stop himself from flirting with Fiona…

Mike flirting on the stage of Carmen.

Earlier today we posted about the Ryanair electronic cigarette.

We felt it was a good move forward that an airline was going beyond allowing an electronic cigarette and actually selling one.

Not everyone agrees – Paul Bergen from the Tobacco Harm Reduction Center was not impressed with the device.

In an email to us he commented:

there is no sensory feedback of any kind…no feeling of anything coming out
of the tube you are sucking on, no exhalation after, no change in the device…even a
color change would help…no way to differentiate it from sucking on a plain empty cardboard tube. It seems just like a pacifier.

He went on to wonder whether it could even have a negative effect on e-smoking:

It is such a sad little device, if it is working at all, that if I was a smoker I would not
even bother. There is absolutely no sensation of anything going in…you suck on something that looks like a cigarette but with no effect that you can tell.

It could actually undermine ecigs in that if this was your idea of one, you would just
keep smoking cigarettes.

Ultimately, RyanAir was both brave and forward thinking in making this move. However, I think they chose this particular version of the electronic cigarette so that no one could complain about any vapour in the air.

They had good motives, but its one of those cases where trying to please everyone ends up pleasing no one at all.

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Ready to switch? Visit the Electronic Cigarette Store.

Electronic cigarette trial at Auckland uni looking for volunteers
5:00AM Thursday Jan 10, 2008

An article in the New Zealand Herald advises that smokers are being sought for another trial of the electronic cigarette at the Clinical Trials Unit at Auckland University. The e-cigarette delivers nicotine without the tobacco’s harmful effects, and is presently legal to smoke indoors and out. This is the second trial that the university is undertaking of this revolutionary new product.

The investigator leading the trial is Dr. Hayden Mcrobbie, who hopes that research will show if the e-cigarette will provide nicotine on demand faster than available options.

The e-cigarette is smoked like a normal cigarette, and even glows at the tip when inhaled. It delivers a measured dose of nicotine similar to other products such as patches and gum.

Dr. Mcrobbie advises:

“On the whole nicotine is not the dangerous element in tobacco smoke.

“However, smokers miss the nicotine when they stop and they often experience nicotine withdrawal symptoms such as cravings.

“By using a product like the e-cigarette nicotine is still delivered and so cravings and withdrawal symptoms are reduced.

“The e-cigarette might be a good way to help people stop smoking as it addresses the habit of smoking while still providing nicotine but without the harmful substances in tobacco such as carbon monoxide and tar.”

Dr McRobbie said the trial was for the benefit of smokers.

“We’ve had enough of the finger-wagging.

“At the moment the message is quit or die and we’ve got to give people other ways of stopping smoking and other options.”

It was not yet available in New Zealand, but the Hong Kong or China -made e-cigarettes could be bought on the internet for about $200, he said. However in the UK and Europe it is significantly less expensive – ecigarettedirect.co.uk sell for £39.99 for a starter pack, with a small additional postage charge for recorded delivery if dispatched to a non UK address.

The research team is looking for 50 Aucklanders over the age of 18, who smoke mainly factory-made cigarettes, to participate in the study which starts at the end of this month.

“Smoking kills around 4500 New Zealanders every year and causes damage to many parts of the body.”