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Currently the FDA has imposed a ban on the import of electronic cigarettes. However, those retailers who were able to procure electronic cigarettes (sometimes shortened to “e-cigarettes” or even “e-cigs”) before the ban took effect are still selling them, so some are still available.
Whether or not an electronic cigarette company is helping or hurting stop smoking efforts, however, depends on whether or not the electronic cigarette being manufactured delivers nicotine through a water vapor filter or whether the filter contains no nicotine. If nicotine has been added to the filter, when the smoker inhales, just as if smoking a regular cigarette, some nicotine liquid is going to be taken in with the water vapor.
There are electronic cigarettes that do not contain nicotine. Rather, they contain menthol or other flavorings that are inhaled through a filter along with the water vapor. The “illusion” of smoking is given, as the e-cigarette is puffed just like a regular cigarette, “smoke” is expelled, and the user is holding a device just as he would a cigarette. For some people, it is these actions that they say help them to keep from smoking regular cigarettes.
Many people say that even if an electronic cigarette does deliver nicotine, it is still safer than smoking a regular cigarette because none of the other tars or chemicals produced when ordinary tobacco is burned are present. Others say that so little, if any, nicotine is delivered that smoking an e-cigarette actually helps them quit.
If an electronic cigarette does contain nicotine, it cannot be sold to minors, just as regular tobacco products cannot. If you have a child who is in possession of an e-cigarette device, you should check to see if it does contain nicotine. Even a little may have the propensity to lead to a lifelong “regular” smoking habit.
