On the Electro Cigaretes blog we have already reported problems with certain drugs that are designed to help the aid of quitting cigarettes completely. With this in mind the electronic cigarette industry would certianly be watching as the law suit against the Chantix company has progressed.

Individual users have been filing complaints that the smoking cessation drug has caused certain users to commit suicide or suffer some serious injuries that have been caused by psychological effects. We have of course mentioned how the electronic cigarette is in fact far better! All of the laqwsuits against the drug have now been consolidated in order for them to be coordinated into proceedings which will be conducted by a District Judge.

The complaints that have been put forward have noted in nearly all cases that the medication which is sold by Pfizer has increased the risk of serious injury or even suicidal thoughts with other unusual behaviour and aggressive behaviour mixed in. When drugs are used for cessation there is really no control over what is happening internally, with an electronic cigarette you are simply replacing one form of nicotine inhaling device with another, making the electronic cigarette much safer in comparison.

The drug Chantix was initially approved by the FDA in the United States in 2006 as perscription medication to help aid people in completely quitting cigarettes. The way in whcih the drug works is that it stops the good feeling that smokers get when they inhale a cigarette, it also progresses to block the receptors in the brain that are hungry for nicotine. The results of the drug however have given users a feeling of sudden anger and suicidal thoughts. The electronic cigarette on the otherhand again does not do anything but replace the nicotine inhaled in a safer way.

By June 2009 people could already tell that this new miracle drug could in fact be more dangerous than first thought when the famous ‘black box’ warning was placed onto the medication.  This ‘black box’ is in fact the strongest type of warning that can be placed onto a medication in the United States, a major part of the lawsuit against Pfizer is that they in fact didn;t warn users enough about these potential problems when the drug was first launched in 2006. It has to be noted that at product launch the electronic cigarette was not available to many people as electronic cigarette companies such as Electro Cigarettes were in fact not around. The electronic cigarette technology was very young and not yet out of China.

Another new problem the drug company has faced is that the drug may also cause heart problems to those who suffer from heart deffects and a number of potential lawsuits are now being put together to fight the company in this way too.

Electronic Cigarette company Electro Cigarettes did put a warning out to users a few months ago warning to be very catious about using a tablet to quit smoking, there are many other ways to quit and this we felt wad never a good way.

Although Electro Cigarettes cannot promote the electronic cigarette as a cessation device we can tell people to start using an electronic cigarette instead of cigarettes and then cut the level of nicotine in the electronic cigarette down over a period of time so that the ‘addiction’ to the chemical is reduced over time. Using this method with an electronic cigarette to us seems like one of the best ways to alternate and not cessate traditional cigarettes.

Electronic cigarettes and their regulation is a topic we have been asked at Electro Cigarettes quite often recently.  People have been asking what regulations are actually in place for the industry currently…

Currently there is no official legislation or regulation for electronic cigarettes and the only movements of a negative nature have been the ban on electronic cigarettes on Google Adsense, Ebay and most recently this month Amazon.  Currently there is an organization we have spoken about before called the ECITA.  The ECITA was formed in a way to represent good practice and to represent the industry by imputing guidelines in which the industry is marketed and sold. Since electronic cigarettes contain one of the worst toxics around in nicotine this really is important. There are on the whole six important factors which relate to the sale of electronic cigarettes:

The first which applies is the CHIP regulations, CHIP stands for Chemicals, Hazard information and packaging for supply these regulations date from 2009. The CHIP regulations ask that supliers of dangerous chemicals need to:

• Identify the hazards of the chemical. This is known as ‘classification’
• Give information about the hazards to their customers.  Suppliers usually provide this information on the packaging itself.
• Package the chemical safely

The second most important factor is the dosage levels of the nicotine. This side of things is covered by the Weights and Measures Regulations.  These regulations are designed to help customers understand how much they are buying and to actually receive exactly the amount that they have ordered, it is far too apparent that 2 products claiming to give 20 cigarettes worth of smoke in fact don’t and this is a problem with cheap manufactured electronic cigarettes companies products.

This is a warning to anyone looking to buy electronic cigarettes for the first time, if you pay cheap then expect a cheap product there will always be price wars but bottom line prices will never change, Electro Cigarettes will always put promotions on our starter kits so that everyone has the chance to try them but we will never go lower than the promotional price full stop.

As with any industry there will always be bad companies and good companies and the reason the ECITA started was to get a collection of companies to represent the electronic cigarettes industry in a good light and to show the industry it can self-regulate. In fact it probably has the best knowledge base and product knowledge than any other regulating body around.  It is of course the ECITA that is running the on-going discussions which are currently being held with the MHRA, the MHRA are looking at ways in which they feel will be best in regulating electronic cigarettes, currently it looks like they take the same stance as the FDA or in fact pass the regulation of electronic cigarettes to the ECITA.

Electronic cigarettes and they’re future are certainly an unknown currently, but with organisations striving to stop the any unneeded regulation, they could and should, be here for a very long time to come.

So Electro Cigarettes thought it would only be a year or two more until the major tobacco companies would try and jump on the electronic cigarette bandwagon…

whether they simply introduced their own brand of an electronic cigarette or simply invented a new one. Electronic cigarettes are cheaper and healthier, of course the smoking ban also does not relate to them, as such the major tobacco companies were always going to want to cash in on this, let’s face it they have the money after killing people with their products over the last 60 years! The British American Tobacco company have recently bought the rights to sell apparently the very first safe cigarette (no it’s not an electronic cigarette!), apparently independents such as Electro Cigarettes do not offer such a device!?

Apparently the new safe cigarette is not an electronic cigarette nor is it a traditional cigarette but a kind of fusion between the two. By all accounts it will be a healthier alternative to tobacco but will be more satisfying than an electronic cigarette! Unfortunately for them the electronic cigarette continues to be developed and lets be honest between us major electronic cigarette brands we have more experience and financial muscle than even the big players like them.  Reinventing wheel could not be insane.

David O’Reilly, a spokesman for BAT, said “There is political support for this. In our view, an electronic cigarette do not work. People should be able to use nicotine, but in the safest possible way.” Comments like this show that they are either scared of us or are trying to again use propaganda in an industry made up entirely of independents!

“People should be able to use nicotine, but in the safest possible way.”…. Again comments like this coming from a company responsible for selling cancer merged with one of the most addictive substances known to man! NOW they are selling we have a right to safe nicotine use, they really don’t seem to realise that EVERYONE knows that they are doing this because the electronic cigarette is something they could make a lot of money from!

These comments are purely a desperate attempt to make it look like they care, the real facts are that they do indeed want a piece of the pie and see that cigarettes are now a thing of the past and that the electronic cigarette is a thing of the future, they want to be part of the future by jumping onto an industry that has worked hard at development and customer awareness, this makes us sick at Electro Cigarettes and we’re sure you can understand why. None of the nicotine replacement therapies have ever worked and for the first time electronic cigarettes have in fact given people help as an industry the electronic cigarette one, it is a community a quick moveing industry and has alot of people involved. The electronic cigarette trade association is an example of this.

Apparently the new product they are hoping to release in the next 24 months is a product development of Kind Consumer and uses an aerosol to deliver nicotine to the consumer. There is of course major concerns that the combined forces of the tobacco companies and their financial influences on the government could lead to them being able to regulate such a product something us independents are currently in the process of with the MHRA.

With the developments planned in a couple of years it is highly unlikely they will compete with an industry as big as our electronic cigarette industry and one that is growing daily.

With our consumer base, popularity continual product development and fight for self-regulation we feel the mighty tobacco companies may finally have lost the battle that should have been ended 60 years ago!

Electronic Cigarette is criticized as hazardous nicotine delivery devices in NEJM…

Electro Cigarettes recently did an article based on the FDA’s decision to make the electronic cigarette be classed as a tobacco product and not regulate it as a medicinal product. With many different types of reactions to this decision many thought this was good for the electronic cigarette industry but others were left confused as they felt that the electronic cigarette does still deliver nicotine which contains a heating element to vaporize the nicotine solution. However the FDA’s decision to regulate the electronic cigarette as a tobacco product had been forced as the strength of the federal appeals court ruling was too strong, they had in the USA had put together a strong case that the electronic cigarette acted more like a tobacco product than that of a medicinal one. Electro Cigarettes stand by such decisions since we as electronic cigarette developers and manufacturers know more about our industry and products than those who are trying to classify the product.  The MHRA who are acting as the regulatory committee in the UK have as we reported recently accepted they need more time to research the product and will make a decision in the next 2 years, a very sensible decision as far as the electronic cigarette industry was concerned.

The decision that was made has in fact infuriated many in the medical community and Science Daily has told us about a “Perspective” column published in the New England Journal of Medicine attacking the decision and looking at the present regulatory climate that surrounds the electronic cigarette. It’s written by Nathan K. Cobb of Georgetown University Medical Centre and David B. Abrams, executive director of the Schroeder Institute.

“The court’s decision that electronic cigarettes should be regulated as tobacco products and not as drug-delivery devices has substantially delayed the FDA regulatory process that normally protects the public health. It has the practical effect of allowing manufacturers to sell potentially dangerous refined nicotine products directly to consumers,” Cobb says in a statement. “It is entirely possible that future modifications to the products will improve the efficiency of nicotine delivery and could dramatically increase the risks of addiction, abuse and serious overdose.”

They claim that the FDA and medical committee need to work together in order to provide a safe route to providing electronic cigarette devices to the customer marketplace.

This is a very good way forward for the electronic cigarette industry however big electronic cigarette companies have already gone through such processes and we do hold all the relevant certificates along with extensive scientific analysis and tests of our products to ensure such safety.  Electro Cigarettes will endeavour to work with other electronic cigarette providers and also the ECITA to help our industry self-regulate as we feel that with the medicinal committee’s help this will be the best route forward, they will have the power to make the electronic cigarette industry credible whilst we can look after the regulation and safety of our products with the ultimate aim being that our industry will stay around and help more and more smokers use our devices as a healthier alternative to smoking traditional products.

Tobacco leaves have anti-cancer properties

There has been research conducted  recently which has shown a that there may be anticancer compounds in the most unlikely of places – tobacco leaves.

Further Research is still needed there is a hope that these properties may lead to potential treatments and cures in the near future.

An associate professor of medicinal chemistry at the ULM colleague of pharmacy have received a patent for their discovery of anti-cancer compounds in fresh tobacco leaves earlier this week from the US patents and trademark office. Hopefully the patents will be accepted and these Compounds will be used in the near future.

After speaking to them very said “the leaf and flower of the tobacco plant contain high amounts of flavour ingredient called cembranoids, which shows promise as an anti-cancer agent, and was very accelerating to discover that and see the anti-cancer activities.”

but this doesn’t mean that people will benefit from the same use by using commercial tobacco this must be signalled to people as a warning this particular anti-cancer compound  will always lose because of the processing of the commercial tobacco product.

“ This compound is not commonly found in commercial tobacco because commercial tobacco is largely degraded into small compounds for about a year to give it flavour during the processing and fermentation”. He said.

The cembranoids themselves are usually found in the waxy substance on fresh tobacco leave and we have found that they do show potential controlling metastic  breast and prostate cancers. The plant produces these as a chemical defence in order to protect itself against all types of insects and harmful microbial infections it is completely devised as a defence mechanism.”

The idea that has come as a result of further studies originally originated after examining soft bodies as all of these also produce cembranoids in order to guard themselves against predators and potential risks.

“we were collecting softbodied corals and found that it was using something to deter predators away and the these marine cembranoids are known for their anti-cancer activity” he said “so then when we became interested in isolating the same compound in tobacco leaves.”

And as he has stated this is exactly what they did.

“This is an incredible discovery,” said Karen biski, the head of the department of basic pharmaceutical sciences. “It demonstrates that there is a helpful, healthy application for tobacco.”

Shah, who is a professor of pharmacology, said that the discovery has come as quite a shock. “I was very very surprised considering that everybody knows that tobacco is most popular for being a well-known carcinogen,” he said. “This does completely go against the current view.”

El Sayed said his team also is working with plenty of other people to research how to explore the compounds and how they can be used in order to protect neurological activity this is in addition to how they will be used to control tobacco addiction itself and therefore potentially creating a brand-new way of people quitting smoking.

Of course the great news that this shows is that although cigarettes themselves are being pushed further and further away from customers,  the actual growing of the tobacco leaf can still be used which is great and in economical terms is a great step forward, more news on this recent discovery will be updated on our blog at http://www.electrocigarettes.co.uk.

Maybe there will be life for tobacco afterall and electronic cigarettes and tobacco can work together in decreasing the risks of cancer.

Smoking ban is a term most smokers wish had never happened, however there are plus sides to this term too…

Most people now find it an odd feeling that it was once the case that you could smoke indoors as a new social scene now exists in smoking outdoors.

When the smoking ban first came into play many smokers found themselves being victimized for having a habit or addiction and felt they were being treated unfairly for essentially enjoying themselves. Those days it seems are now over and smoking outdoors has now become a part of a social event itself. Smokers now continue to have a mutual and social activity to share and going out for a quick cigarette is now all the range as a saying. Many thought that the smoking ban would have a positive effect on smokers and thought that many smokers would simply quit as it would become a hassle for them to have to go outside every time they needed a nicotine hit, however if going outside means meeting other fellow smokers to break the night up and chat with fellow smokers about the issues of the day it is in fact the none-smokers that are wanting to be outside as well!

Many none-smokers now feel that they are actually missing a part of the night and gossip if they do not join the smokers outdoors and in fact some none-smokers now take up ‘social’ smoking in order to be part of this newly formed part of a social night out of cours this is a result of the smoking ban.

There are of course other sides to this story, when the smoking ban was first introduced one of the main reasons for the action was in actual fact the passive smoking that occurred and the potential passive smoking related illnesses that could be passed by the smokers to the none-smokers.  Of course this was a major issue and was truly unfair on the none-smokers as they literally did not have a choice whether to breath in the smoke or not as it was in the air of their choice of social venue, and of course, the social venue of choice would be no different in any other venue as smoking was allowed everywhere apart from designated none smoking areas usually only found on trains and restaurants for example.

So on the front of this it would seem that everybody has made gains from the smoking ban, the none-smokers are no longer prone to breathing in smoke that they have no other choice but to in hale and the smokers have in actual fact been given something they now feel is a new part of a social night which they say actually breaks up the night nicely with interesting conversation with fellow smokers that they probably otherwise would not have spoken to all thanks to the smoking ban!

It has also recently been discussed by MP’s that the smoking ban which was imposed in 2007 may be changed. It is though that the smoking ban may be made felxible to pubs so smokers may smoke in a designated room without breaking the smoking ban rules.

In our next article Electro Cigarettes will look at the impact on trade that the smoking ban has had and what electronic cigarettes may do to help improve trade whilst keeping within the smoking ban rules.

Electronic cigarette scams tend to come to the surface every once in a while…

We have been informed that such a scam has again reappeared, it is called free ‘electronic cigarettes’ trial but what users don’t realise is that they will actually be signed up to a high priced monthly refills contract.

How the scam works

The way that a town centre version of this scam is such that a team of sellers will pick out a premium place to sell their electronic cigarette ideally in a busy town centre where thousands of potential customers will pass through during theday.  The staff will set up a free bannered stall to catch the eye of the customers and make sure they see the electronic cigarette they will also proceed to smoke the electornic cigarettes to again further catch the publics eye. Such sellers will use any tactics to make people buy electronic cigarettes including making false claims that they can be used a cessation devices. Of course they cannot be sold as such a device as huge financial input would be needed to make electronic cigarettes a medicinal device.

Basically the same in prinicipal the electronic cigarette websites are setup and last for a few weeks or months before closing down and reopening with a different identity.  Many of these so called electronic cigarette UK websites are run by people anywhere in the world and facilities to present a UK front are simply bought to back the front of the company and to make customers fee extra safe.

How does the scam actually work?

On the street stalls when you go to one of the selling agents they will try and tell you that they are unable to sell the electronic cigarette to you from the stall, they will usually tell you that the reason for this is because it is a promotion only stall. They will then tell you that you can actually sign up for a free electronic cigarette trial instead.  What the seller is unlikely to tell you is that there is a delivery charge for the electronic cigarette, and also that in the small print you are in fact agreeing to pay the full price for the electronic cigarette and that you will also pay for monthly refills via direct debit if you don’t cancel your trial and send back the trial kit. Usually first payments are a none-refundable postal charge. When trying to cancel your trial companies try to tell you that they have not received your cancellation request in time and as such you are started on your monthly subscription of electronic cigarette refills which you signed up for. The electronic cigarette starter kits in question are usually years old in technology and are just a few pounds from alibaba with no quality control and failing batteries happening within the first few weeks.

Some of the example costs we have found from such a scam are listed below:

• Admin charge and non-refundable delivery charge: £14.99
• Refills and first starter kit charge: £69.99
• Monthly refills charge: £30.00

As stated the old electronic cigarette technology sold by these scams are unreliable with the cartridges for the electronic cigarette lasting just 4-7 cigarettes and the batteries a few weeks.

We have seen at first hand such stalls operating before and can vouch for the lies told about the electronic cigarette being the latest quitting device and that they are soon to be sold by the government and taxed so it is better to buy now and stock up before this  happens! As you know Electro Cigarettes is at the forfront of such movements and no plans like this have even been discussed by the MHRA regulation ideas.

So to avoid the electronic cigarette scams we advice the following

• Never sign up to free offers if its too good to be true it probably is!
• Never sign up to a contract on monthly refills
• Leave as soon as quit smoking terms are used
• Check what Electro offers and see what they offer for inflated prices
• Never give card details away for billing
• Only buy from reputable companies
• Avoid websites with small information and thrown together websites

We always like to hear of any scams going around so we can send warnings out on our blog and current customers so if you have any stories please do let us know.

Electro Cigarettes will never offer such terms and simply sell our electronic cigarette starter kits and refills as is. You buy when you want to buy, please have a look at our electronic cigarette kits in our store.

Electronic Cigarette developments have always been at the forefront of the way Electro Cigarettes works, looking for new ways to improve on the way everybody vapes.

As such Electro Cigarettes is currently developing a new way to charge your electronic cigarettes and electronic cigarette portable charging cases.

Electro are currently developing a brand new wifi electronic cigarette charging device. The device will be charged by the mains or USB and will be able to charge any device by simply placing the device on top of the wifi charger.

This we feel will be a great new addition to the Electro range as you will now be able to simply place your wifi charger on your desk and place your electronic cigarettes individually or even your portable case to keep them charged up throughout the day, they are also a great way to charge your electronic cigarette at festivals or any other place where you do not have access to a wall or usb charging outlet.

With many new variations of the electronic cigarette appearing all the time, Electro CIgarettes has tried to think of ways to help the existing electronic cigarette instead and improving the useability and charging of them.  This we feel will give users an easy method of charging whilst providing to many a way of charging at work, we have had many feedback that our users are leaving the wall charger at work by accident, well now this won’t happen as you can leave your wifi adapter at work and your electronic cigarette charging cable at home!

Electro hopes to provide the new wifi electronic cigarette charger this year so keep checking back for new updates we expect the device to be released at the end of 2011 or the beginning of 2012!

Electronic cigarettes are planned to be regulated as tobacco products and won’t be regulated under stricter rules for drug-delivery devices the FDA has now annoinced.

This should in part be a help to the electronic cigarette industry in that we will now have regulation which will now stop what was starting to look like an industry saturated by bad quality products and bad quality companies silmply looking to resell products for a quick profit.  These companies have no interest in the devlopment or future of the electronic cigarette industry. We do believe however that as the electronic cigarettes market becomes more saturated over time that there will be a place for 5 top electronic cigarettes comapnies that will offer a variation of electronic cigarettes products and gear their product to different types of electronic cigarettes users. Electro Cigarettes of course plans to be one of these electronic cigarettes companies!

As a company actively involved with manufacturing with China Electro Cigarettes will of course face challenges in relation to sales in the States of electronic cigarettes. Before now there has been no regulation and as such anything could be sent there without further consultation.  It does raise the question will electronic cigarettes be able to be advertised as being legal to smoke anywhere or will this now not be the case?

Another factor we must now look at is will the FDA look to strengthen the e-liquid export management, and lastly, will there now be a taxation on the imported e-liquid which will of course create mass disadvantage to us the manufacturers and also the customers.

We have already started to explore many options in relation to the product launches we have planned for our specialist devices and all new e-liquid ranges, but we must now wait to see if the FDA will plan on regulating the strength of nicotine levels once regulation is put into place.

We will of course keep everyone up to date in regards to electronic cigarettes regulation. For now the UK is safe but it would be unwise to see if this might happen with the ongoing MHRA discussions. Although in this case a very strong case for non-regulation has been put forward by the electronic cigarettes association.

It has been reported that a number of patients taking Champiz (varenicline tartrate) have experienced a range of unusual feelings which have included agitation, hostility, changes in behavior, depressed mood, impulsive or disturbing thoughts, such as ideas of self-harm or of harming others, Health Canada said on Friday in an advisory.

Champix works by acting on sites in the brain which are affected by nicotine.  The medicine helps alleviate withdrawal symptoms and blocks the effects of nicotine if users continue smoking.

Pfizer Inc. is the maker of Champix which is its trading name when sold in the United States and United Kingdom, it has also been available in Canada since April 2007. In 2008 the drug was approved and 225 Canadian cases of neuropsychiatric adverse reactions were reported.  During this period over 708,500 prescriptions for the drug had been given across Canada.

Quitting smoking is possibly one of the hardest habits to break, many say it is down to two factors; one being the actual nicotine dependence and the other the habit and holding of a cigarette. Quitting smoking brings problems of mood swings, sweating and not being able to think about anything else having just stopped. When quitting unfortunately many people are wanting an instant solution and may resort to drugs as an easy option, this is never the case and side effects to taking drugs will always be part of the make up.

Although an electronic cigarette is not sold as cessation device it is another option to smoking and electronic cigarettes can be used as an alternative. They give you the same effect of holding, smoking and tasting a cigarette with different electronic cigarette strengths in nicotine levels. Though they do not have the 4000 chemicals found in traditional cigarettes.

Please take care when thinking about quick solutions, there is other ways and sometimes just going cold turkey is the best option.