Choosing the Most Suitable Electronic Cigarette
Electronic Cigarettes have been available since 2004 in China, where they were invented, but it took the consumer markets of America to really ignite the market and where there’s a buck to be made you can guarantee a number of companies will spring up to grab a slice of the action. Electronic cigarettes were only properly introduced to America in 2009 but that hasn’t stopped dozens of companies coming up with their own products in a very short amount of time.
With so many brands to choose from now it can be a bit daunting to know which one to choose. Just like real cigarettes, each brand will have it’s own unique style, quality, flavor and taste.
The first factor you need to consider is the quality of the electronic cigarette. Every brand has its own unique selling points, whether it’s a long lasting battery, long lasting nicotine cartridges, lighter body, better tasting cartridges, thicker vapor etc. However, the bigger brands like Green Smoke have been reviewed as having the best all round performance. Conversely, a number of cheaper electronic cigarettes have been labelled novelty items for non-smokers because the vapor they produce is weak and has little taste. Also, a number of the better electronic cigarette companies will tell you about independent tests of their products, although it should be noted that at the time of writing there have been no FSA clinical trials involving electronic cigarettes so no legitimate company will make any health claims on their site.
The second factor to consider is why exactly are you looking to use an electronic cigarette. If you are looking to quit smoking then electronic cigarettes are not the right aid. However, they do offer nicotine cartridges with a low amount of nicotine so you can try and wean yourself off the addiction, although this is not recommended. Similarly, electronic cigarettes have not been proven to have no health risks. Nicotine is known to cause a number of diseases, so if you are scared about the health impacts of smoking, electronic cigarettes only reduces the risk, it doesn’t negate it altogether. If you are looking for a way to get your nicotine fix in places where you can’t light up then you need to choose a brand which focuses on the water vapor producing as little odor as possible.
Thirdly, you need to look at the ongoing cost of using an electronic cigarette. On a like for like basis, electronic cigarettes are proven to be more cost effective than tobacco cigarettes, but the danger is that since you can’t see that you’ve smoked the equivalent of one real cigarette people tend to use it more. It’s important that you check how much it costs for new cartridges. Generally it costs around $25 for a pack of five, which is the equivalent of about 200 real cigarettes. Alternatively, some brands allow you to refill the cartridges yourself which can lower your costs further.
Finally, since most electronic cigarettes are purchased online, a number of fraudulent stores have popped up that look just like a real store but either take your money and never send any product or are simply there to collect your credit card numbers. You can usually identify these stores because they have branded smokeless cigarettes at very cheap prices to tempt you in. Try to stick with the big brand names like Green Smoke, V2, Cigarti and Blu Smoke.