On college campuses across America, students can be seen outside of their dorms, or school buildings holding a cigarette. It’s said that anywhere from 30-40 percent on college student’s smoke. Even on the coldest winter day, students would rather shiver outside, just as long as they are getting the nicotine fix. Not only do I find smoking cigarettes one of most unattractive qualities a person could have, but I also gross and annoying that I have to inhale smoke just to walk into any school building. If smoking isn’t about looking “cool” and really just about calming the addiction, its made me wonder about the smokeless cigarettes that they sell in the mall.
These smokeless cigarettes are called e-cigarettes or electronic cigarettes. They look and feel exactly like a real cigarette, but don’t have any of the harmful toxins like tar, tobacco, carbon monoxide and other dangerous chemicals. They even come in the same packages as real cigarettes. The only thing that they have in them, like a real cigarette, though is nicotine. They can even be smoked in a public places, just like when you see them in the mall and they don’t bother anyone else.
These cigarettes don’t really seem like they are geared for college students, marketing how they can help to eliminate a smoking habit someone has had for many years, but why couldn’t they? Yes, at first the start up cost of these look alike cigarettes could be a little pricy ($25-$60), but if you think about it, curing the addiction to them will end up saving students so much money in the long run. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard my friends say how poor they were, because they were constantly buying cigarettes, or have seen people walking up to someone else asking for a free one.
A start up kit of an e-cig typically comes with one steel atomizer, one rechargeable battery, one USB charger, one wall charger and about a months supply of nicotine cartridges, along with a lifetime warranty. However, there are many different versions of this start up package, and when thinking about buying one, make sure to compare different makers with each other, so you can get the version that you want the most.
Some well known makers are The Safe Cig, Green Smoke, N Joy, Luci, and Smokeless Delite. The Safe Cig, which is the most well known of the five and comes with six different levels of nicotine: 24mg, 18mg, 14mg, 11mg, 6mg and zero mg. The nicotine levels vary, so that people can gradually wean themselves off of the nicotine. The makers of the Safe Cig are the only company selling these products that actually have done research before selling them.
After a one-time hook-up with a smoker, I would suggest this product to anyone who wants to find an alternative from the patch or gum, to quite smoking. It could also make the perfect gift for the holidays.
