More than 50,000 Irish smokers have swapped tobacco for electronic vapour. But is it really safe? By Chrissie Russell
Last week LA voted to follow New York's example and ban electronic cigarettes in all public spaces.
It's bad news for celebs in the showbiz city, such as Simon Cowell and Katherine Heigl who've all been snapped 'vaping'. Poor Leonardo DiCaprio, who has homes in LA and New York, will now be forced to stub out his smokeless cigarettes on both sides of the country.
But the craze for e-cigarettes hasn't just been taken up by the stars. New research shows that more than 50,000 Irish smokers are estimated to have made the switch from tobacco to e-cigarettes in a global industry worth in excess of €1.1 bn.
Galway businessman Declan Connolly set up his electronic cigarette company, ezSmoke (ezsmoke.ie), two years ago after swapping to vaping following 27 years as a smoker.
"I bought a device online and people started asking me where I'd got it – that's how the business started," he explains.
Although the first smokeless non-tobacco cigarette was patented as early as 1963, the modern device, which uses battery-generated cartridges to heat a liquid (usually infused with nicotine) and create a vapour, appeared around 2004 in China.
Declan Connolly reckons we're now into a third generation of electronic devices.
"The first generation was the disposable ones in the shops that look like cigarettes, now the more popular devices are those based around a rechargeable battery. But there's a third generation that's sprung up with enthusiasts creating coils and heating elements to make their own devices –there are a lot of hobbyists out there."
But aside from the techies, the biggest fans of e-cigarettes are former smokers. Although the devices aren't sold as quit-smoking aids, Connolly admits his main demographic of buyers are people who have smoked for 10-30 years and want to get away from tobacco.
"One of the big appeals for these buyers is that when you inhale an e-cigarette you feel a bit of a 'kick' in the back of your throat," he explains. "It also provides the hand-to-mouth ritual, and then there's the fact that most people starting off will try and find a flavour of e-liquid that replicates what they used to smoke."
But the close parallels between vapour cigarettes and the real thing has thrown up some problems with legislation.
In December, New York City banned e-cigarettes in all places where regular cigarettes are already prohibited.
Source: Chrissie Russell, Irish Independent, 12/03/14
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