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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsE-Cigarettes, by Other Names, Lure Young and Worry Experts
SAN FRANCISCO Olivia Zacks, 17, recently took a drag of peach-flavored vapor from a device that most people would call an e-cigarette.
But Ms. Zacks, a high school senior, does not call it that. In fact, she insists she has never even tried an e-cigarette. Like many teenagers, Ms. Zacks calls such products hookah pens or e-hookahs or vape pipes.
These devices are part of a subgenre of the fast-growing e-cigarette market and are being shrewdly marketed to avoid the stigma associated with cigarettes of any kind. The products, which are exploding in popularity, come in a rainbow of colors and candy-sweet flavors but, beneath the surface, they are often virtually identical to e-cigarettes, right down to their addictive nicotine and unregulated swirl of other chemicals.
The emergence of e-hookahs and their ilk is frustrating public health officials who are already struggling to measure the spread of e-cigarettes, particularly among young people. The new products and new names have health authorities wondering if they are significantly underestimating use because they are asking the wrong questions when they survey people about e-cigarettes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/05/business/e-cigarettes-under-aliases-elude-the-authorities.html
'Hook 'em while they're young' says the new big tobacco.
And here come the army of paid e-cigarette commenters...
Tikki
(14,539 posts)If you are using these things to quit. QUIT ALREADY.
Tikki
snooper2
(30,151 posts)Um, I think this was written by big tobacco...
big tobacco wants e-cigs to be eliminated from existence FYI-
onehandle
(51,122 posts)The others are shopping for companies and working on their own brands.
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
Logical
(22,457 posts)beevul
(12,194 posts)They - that is the big tobacco sorts - want things regulated in such a way, that only their products and flavors are allowed.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)What's Francis say about them?
Warpy
(110,913 posts)Yes, teenagers are getting hooked on nicotine and they'll have to quit later in life like most smokers who develop health issues from it.
However, these things are not nearly as bad for their health as the cigarettes they buy as illegal "loosies" or have friends buy for them by the pack.
In fact, I would love to be a fly on the wall when a teenager, out of juice, tries the "real thing" to get over nicotine withdrawal. The facial expressions would be priceless as they realize they'd have to repeat a thoroughly nasty process every half hour to feed the addiction.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Not so good as a nicotine delivery device for teenagers.
Like many things, a two-edged sword.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Charming.
whistler162
(11,155 posts)Dihydrogen Monoxide kills more than cigarettes ever will!
Kurska
(5,739 posts)Dihydrogen monoxide:
is called "hydroxyl acid", the substance is the major component of acid rain.
contributes to the "greenhouse effect".
may cause severe burns.
is fatal if inhaled.
contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape.
accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals.
may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes.
has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients.
Despite the danger, dihydrogen monoxide is often used:
as an industrial solvent and coolant.
in nuclear power plants.
in the production of Styrofoam.
as a fire retardant.
in many forms of cruel animal research.
in the distribution of pesticides. Even after washing, product remains contaminated by this chemical.
as an additive in certain "junk-foods" and other food products.
moriah
(8,311 posts)On the serious, while dihydrogen monoxide probably kills more children than smoking does, and therefore should be very carefully regulated (heh) for adults I think if even half of the lung cancer deaths are attributable... at least according to the stats I can find on Google (3500 ish unintentional drownings, 150k deaths from lung cancer).
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)DirkGently
(12,151 posts)Whether something is good for children or the underaged is not the measure of the thing. Nor are things coming in flavors therefore a lure to kindergardeners.
These things are helping adults quit smoking. No more carcinogenic goo or free-floating toxins. Something like 1400 times fewer hazardous ingredients. I was outside at a fire drill at work the other day, and the old "smoker crew" stood around quietly sucking on their pocket vaporizers, bothering no one and probably reducing our group insurance costs. We need to put a stop to that because it's something children shouldn't do?
No one thinks a nicotine product is something that should be sold to kids, but no one honestly thinks we were better off with no alternative for millions of addicted tobacco users either.
The premise of this piece -- that lots more kids than has been shown might somehow be using e-cigarettes because they call them something else -- smells like specious logic. I recall the previous alarmist report about use among the young carefully neglected to mention that just about every responding "kid" who used e-cigs was already a smoker.
bunnies
(15,859 posts)Well said.
cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)Liberal Veteran
(22,239 posts)That is a tactic used by those who obviously cannot support their opinion without invoking the logical fallacy of "ad hominem".
I am disappointed in you.
Dr Hobbitstein
(6,568 posts)Now, time to go collect my big bucks from the e-cig lobby...
By the way, THIS is a vape pipe:
This is an e-cig:
And so is this (which is what's called a pen, as it looks like a pen):
And here's your e-hookah (called such because the tip is like the tip from a hookah):
They are all, essentially the same delivery system, with a different style to suit the user. None of which produce smoke, or any sort of second hand issues. None of them are geared/marketed towards children. But keep up your daily outrage!