Big Tobacco targets minority youth

According to a recent Stanford University Medical School study, described in Science Daily, the big tobacco companies are trying to lure minority youth into smoking menthol cigarettes. Even thought these companies know many of the these young people will eventually die from smoking their product, and they claim not to be targeting young people, the evidence uncovered by the Stanford report makes it clear these companies are out to make a profit by selling as much death and disease as they can to minority youth.

The Food and Drug Administration is on the verge of banning menthol in cigarettes. The report's lead researcher, Lisa Henriksen, PhD, says, "The tobacco companies went out of their way to argue to the Food and Drug Administration that they don't use racial targeting. This evidence is not consistent with those claims."

Menthol is used to makes cigarettes less harsh and is said in company ads to bring about a feeling of "freshness." The major users of these kinds of cigarettes are teenagers, minorities and the poor ("low-income populations"). The FDA tasked the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee to study the health hazards of menthol cigarettes, and the committee concluded, "Removal of menthol cigarettes from the marketplace would benefit public health in the United States."

This is not very startling, since removing all cigarettes would benefit public health. Naturally, we didn't need a special committee to know that banning menthol cigarettes would be beneficial. The recommendation is non-binding anyway. The committee is going to meet again in the middle of July to write up a final report. Let's hope it is more specific than the quote in Science Daily.

The FDA should ban menthol cigarettes just to stop the industry's predation against middle and high school students. The committee, which has the Stanford report, should really come down hard on the industry. It was charged. Dr, Henriksen said, "with considering a broad definition of harm to smokers and other populations, particularly youth. We think our study, which shows the predatory marketing in school neighborhoods with higher concentrations of youth and African-American students, fits a broad definition of harm."

The report reveals an increase in cigarette use by youth between 2004 and 2008, and that of people ages 12-17, 71.9 percent of African American youth prefer menthol brands (the figures for whites was 41 percent and Hispanics 47 percent). Comparing the actions of Newport (menthols made by Lorillard) with Marlboro Reds, the report shows that Newport offers special price reductions around schools that have a large African-American enrollment. Other brands were also studied.

The study found that ads for menthol cigarettes increased by almost 6 percent near schools for every increase in the proportion of African-American students of 10 percent, and Newport cut the price of a pack by 12 cents for each of those 10 percent increases.

In the surrounding neighborhoods, Newport seemingly checked out the proportion of youth ages 10-17 (!). For each 10 percent increase in their proportion, they increased ads by 11.6 percent, and the odds were 5.3 percent higher that Newports would sell at discounted prices. Marlboro Reds had no ads or price changes related to the presence of youth or African-American students.

We now know that despite the industry claims African-American teens are being especially targeted. Stephen Fortmann, MD, who also participated the study, said, "When kids are exposed to more cigarette advertising, they are more likely to start smoking, which will undoubtedly lead to dire health consequences. Our study finds that tobacco companies are trying to make smoking more attractive to teens, when we as a society should be doing just the opposite. Adding menthol to cigarettes makes it easier to smoke and harder to quit, so the public health community strongly supports an FDA ban on menthol flavoring."

My prediction: The FDA will vote for the ban, and the Supreme Court will overturn it as a violation of free speech. Libertarians and tea party folks will be against the ban as an infringement of personal liberty.

What 10 year old doesn't want a Newport to suck on while playing a slice 'em and dice 'em video game?

CDC Finds Higher Levels of Cancer-Causing Chemicals in U.S. Cigarettes

People who smoke certain U.S. cigarette brands are exposed to higher levels of cancer-causing tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), the major carcinogens and cancer-causing agents in tobacco products, than people who smoke some foreign cigarette brands. This was one of the findings from the first-ever study to compare TSNA exposures among smokers from different countries. CDC researchers compared mouth-level TSNA exposures and urine biomarkers among smokers from the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia. Results of this study are published in the June issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention.

“We know that cigarettes from around the world vary in their ingredients and the way they are produced,” said Dr. Jim Pirkle, deputy director for science at CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Laboratory Sciences. “All of these cigarettes contain harmful levels of carcinogens, but these findings show that amounts of tobacco-specific nitrosamines differ from country to country, and U.S. brands are the highest in the study.”

The types of tobacco in cigarettes vary by manufacturer and location of production. The U.S. cigarette brands studied contained “American blend” tobacco, a specific mixture of tobacco from the U.S. that contains higher TSNA levels. The Australian, Canadian, and U.K. cigarette brands were made from “bright” tobacco, which is lighter in color and flue cured. Changes in curing and blending practices could reduce U.S. smokers’ exposure to one type of cancer-causing compound, however, this would not necessarily result in a safer product.
Study collaborators enlisted 126 persons from Australia, Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. who smoke cigarettes daily to participate in the study. Cigarettes smoked by study participants represented popular brands in each country.

Scientists measured chemicals in cigarette butts collected by each smoker over a 24-hour period to determine how much of a certain TSNA entered the smokers’ mouths during that period. They also collected urine samples from study participants to find out how much breakdown product from this TSNA appeared in the urine. Comparing the results from these two types of sampling showed a correlation between the amount of one TSNA that enters the mouth and the amount of its breakdown product that appears in the urine. This is the first time this relationship has been documented.

Cigarette makers lose ruling in Louisiana

Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and other U.S. cigarette makers must pay part of a $591-million award to fund quit-smoking programs in Louisiana, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The New Orleans court upheld part of a 2004 jury verdict that said the companies must pay for a 10-year program including nicotine gum and patches, telephone lines and regional stop-smoking centers, said Russ Herman, a New Orleans lawyer representing the smokers.
The companies can appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court.
"On the whole, I'm very satisfied," Herman said. It wasn't immediately clear how much the companies will have to pay under the ruling, he said.
The decision upholds some aspects of the first jury verdict to require cigarette makers to pay to help smokers quit.
It comes after a federal judge in Washington ruled in August that the industry violated U.S. racketeering laws and must stop marketing cigarettes as "light" or "low-tar."
John Sorrells, a spokesman for Philip Morris parent Altria Group Inc., said the company hadn't seen the decision and declined to comment.
The Louisiana court reduced the amount the companies will have to pay and held that they would not have to pay at least $415 million in interest the smokers had claimed, Herman said.
A New Orleans jury of eight women and four men returned the underlying verdict in May 2004 after lawyers for a statewide class of smokers had asked the companies to finance smoking cessation programs for 25 years at a cost of more than $1 billion.

E-Cigarettes May Be The Answer To The Mental Addiction To Smoking

Despite the health warnings plastered all over tobacco products these days, about 1 in 3 of the population of the world smokes. The dangers of smoking have been made known for years and while many Americans have tried to quit with patches, gums, and prescription medications, some argue that the number one thing you need to do is to break the mental addiction to smoking.
The mental addiction to the act of holding something in your hand, puffing on it, and seeing the smoke is something that most people have a very difficult time getting over. The nicotine in cigarettes is cleared from the body only a few days after a person smokes their last cigarette, but the want of a smoke afterward (even 6 months afterward) can be unbearable. This is why most smoking cessation products like gums, patches, and pills do not work on a long term basis. Counseling is often needed to completely make the switch from being a smoker to being a non-smoker, but a new product may help break the mental habit by convenience alone.
The e-cigarette is comprised of an atomizer, a battery, a cartridge (sometimes with nicotine), and an LED light at the end to simulate burning. Cartridges are available in varying levels of nicotine strength, from high to zero, so an e-smoker can reduce the amount of nicotine they intake gradually. What makes the e-cigarette wonderful is the fact that it's not on fire, so it's very convenient to put down whenever you want to. An e-smoker is not obligated to smoking an entire cigarette even though they do not want to, so they actually end up smoking less than they normally would because having the e-cigarette out of their hand helps them forget about smoking.
In addition, e-cigarettes do not require an ashtray, since they are not on fire and do not produce ash. It is also less of a fire hazard, since e-smokers do not have to worry about waking up to themselves or their bed on fire just because they want to smoke in bed (often while watching TV).
Another reason to switch is due to the fact that e-cigarette cartridges are cheaper than a pack of tobacco cigarettes. One cartridge is the equivalent of a whole pack of tobacco cigarettes, depending on the smoking habit of the user. New users may not get as much use out of cartridges until they get used to them, because they treat them like a tobacco cigarette for a while until they realize they can actually set them down. Getting out of the mindset that it has to be held in the hand all the time is the most important thing to get away from, because the less you have it in your hand, the more likely you are to get occupied with other things (like life) and forget it's there at all.

Counterfeit cigarettes seized

Johannesburg - Mpumalanga police have seized a truck transporting counterfeit cigarettes worth about R4.1m after it entered South Africa from Mozambique.
Captain Leonard Hlathi said on Wednesday that police were told about the truck on Tuesday night. It was on its way to Limpopo.
They waited until the truck got onto the N4 freeway near Malelane before stopping it. They found about 590 boxes of counterfeit cigarettes.
The driver, a Mozambican national, had a South African passport in his possession. He is expected to appear in the Komatipoort Magistrate's Court on Friday on a charge of possession of illegal property.
Police are still investigating how he got hold of a South African passport.

Nine interesting facts about electronic cigarettes

1.An electronic cigarette doesn’t contain tobacco. Instead, it’s a plastic device which is activated by the user inhaling. The device then injects tiny drops of nicotine into the flowing air, causing them to vaporise. The device also adds propylene glycol, a moisturizer that’s often found in toothpastes and mouthwashes. This helps create a simulation of the smoke from a traditional cigarette, making it feel much more like real smoking.

2.Electronic cigarettes are not proven to help people give up smoking and aren’t marketed for this purpose. However, manufacturers can produce a range of electronic cigarettes with varying levels of nicotine. This means people trying to cut down on a nicotine addiction can gradually reduce the levels they consume without being held back by the habit of ‘lighting up’ a certain number of times each day.

3.single electronic cigarette can last practically forever as the nicotine solution comes in a disposable cartridge (which usually last for several hundred drags). The mechanism is powered by a rechargeable battery, which also powers an orange LED at the tip to simulate a real burning cigarette.

4.An electronic cigarette doesn’t produce any smell, and the ‘smoke’ it produces is harmless vapour (besides the nicotine the smoker inhales) and doesn’t irritate the eyes. This means a smoker using the device can take part in normal social activities without engendering or irritating other people. There’s also no unpleasant waste from cigarette butts.

5.Electronic cigarettes are available in traditional tobacco flavour, but also in menthol and apple versions.

6.Smokers in the United Kingdom have used the device to get round bans on smoking in enclosed public places. The famous Chinawhite nightclub in Soho allowed its guests to use an electronic cigarette rather than go out on to the street for a traditional smoke.

7.The Daily Mail tested the device in 2007 on bar-goers in Notting Hill. One woman said “I miss not being able to drink and smoke on a night out. This is a good solution. It's elegant and easy to hold and it doesn't make your hands smell like a cigarette does.” And her male companion added “I think it could become popular. Smokers would do anything to have a cigarette at a table rather than go outside.” The pair later shot to ‘fame’ as Big Brother contestants Rex Newmark & Nicole Cammack!

8.Using an electronic cigarette can be considerably cheaper than smoking the real thing. A single cartridge gives roughly the same amount of ‘smoking’ as a standard packet of cigarettes but can be as much as six times less expensive. That’s partly because you don’t have to pay for all the tar, tobacco and paper which you normally buy and then literally send up in smoke!

9.While containing fewer harmful substances, the nicotine content of electronic cigarettes means they are not sold to children. It’s also recommended that pregnant women do not use the device, and that anyone with health concerns checks with a doctor first.

Big Tobacco's Dollars Douse Push for Fire-Safe Cigarettes

Many people know that http://www.cigarettespub.net/marlboro/gold is considered the nation's leading preventable cause of death. But it is less widely known that cigarettes also are the leading cause of fatal fires, responsible for about a quarter of all U.S. fire deaths. Often, the 1,000 victims each year are not just smokers who drifted off to sleep, but children and other innocent bystanders.Yet many scientists and fire officials say these deaths could often be avoided because small design changes in cigarettes would make them less prone to start fires.
And indeed, during the last quarter-century, many bills have been introduced in state legislatures and Congress to require cigarettes to meet a fire-resistance standard.
But tobacco companies, claiming fire-safe cigarettes would not be commercially feasible, have repeatedly overpowered or outflanked such efforts. And the way they have done it, secret documents and interviews show, is a textbook example of a powerful industry using its wealth and ingenuity to stave off regulation.
They have done it through a sophisticated, two-pronged strategy that has included bankrolling in-house scientists and outside consultants to debunk the technical feasibility of safer cigarettes.
At the same time, they have attracted the strangest of bedfellows by doling out millions of dollars worth of grants, contracts and services to cement an ingenious alliance with fire-safety organizations. In the process they have won the favor, and in some cases the silence, of credible groups whose whole purpose is saving lives.
And they have shifted the fire-resistance burden to manufacturers of everything from mattresses and furniture to pajamas.
"Their answer [is] to fire-proof the world against our torches," said Rep. John Joseph Moakley (D-Mass.), who began pushing fire-safe-cigarette legislation in 1979 after a family of seven perished in a cigarette-caused fire in his district.
But some fire groups, grateful for tobacco's financial support, appear to have accepted the industry's argument that fire-safe cigarettes remain a pipe dream.
"I can't overemphasize the good that this money has done," said Fred Allinson, president of the National Volunteer Fire Council, which has received heavy support not only from cigarette manufacturers but from smokeless tobacco giant United States Tobacco.

Firms Deny Any Cynical Motives

Tobacco companies target girls

Tobacco marketing in South Korea has been deliberately aimed at girls and young women. Research published in the open access journal Globalization and Health has shown that transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) are using tactics long used with devastating effect in Western countries to snare new female smokers in Asia. Kelley Lee from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine led a team of researchers who studied internal documents from the tobacco industry that reveal the scheme to seduce a generation of girls. She said, "Since the opening of the South Korean tobacco market in the late 1980s, females have been targeted by TTCs as an important source of future market growth and profitability. The rise in smoking rates among females within certain age groups since the late 1980s suggests that these efforts have been successful".

The tactics used recall advertising campaigns carried out in the United States and Europe since the 1920s that link smoking with feminism and the liberation of women. According to Lee, "Product design associating smoking with body image and female emancipation, familiarly deployed elsewhere, have been extensively used in South Korea to appeal to female smokers. So-called "ultra light", "low tar" and "superslim" cigarettes have been particularly effective, falsely suggesting certain brands offer a healthier or safer option, as well as appealing to female concerns about weight gain. Tighter restrictions on the use of such descriptors, alongside public education on the fallacy of such claims, are badly needed in South Korea".

South Korea's cigarette market was opened to the world in 1988 under the threat of US trade sanctions. In 1989, the country passed laws banning tobacco advertising, marketing and sponsorship directly targeted at women and children. During the authors' literature search, they found evidence of the companies' efforts to circumvent this law by, for example, using images of couples in their adverts – something not covered by the country's guidelines, but known to appeal to the female market. One TTC wrote "Although obviously targeted to women, the campaign extension would also not be as overt in markets sensitive to female targeting".

Lee concludes, "The implementation of comprehensive tobacco control measures in South Korea, as set out under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, is urgently needed to protect and promote the health of Korean women and girls".

Forida Preventing Fires By Issuing Tickets For Tossing Cigarettes

That last pull on your Marlboro may deliver the desired hit to your lungs, but flicking it out the window of your car could put a hit on your wallet.
Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies are stepping up their enforcement of the littering law, since the area is in the throes of a seemingly never-ending drought. The parched vegetation along the roadsides is just looking for an excuse to flare up.
Getting a ticket for tossing lit cigarettes from the window isn't cheap.
Sheriff's Cpl. Donald Morris said that between Jan. 1 and Tuesday, 30 tickets for tossing butts out the window were issued, costing each guilty flicker $100.
Such an offense is a violation of the Florida litter law and the fine was hiked in October, Morris said. It is a nonmoving violation, so it doesn't go on a violator's driving record, and doesn't result in points on a license, he said.
"A $100 fine might appear to be steep, but look at the magnitude of the situation," said Morris, who supervises the traffic unit in northwest Hillsborough County. "If you throw a cigarette butt and it ignites a brush fire, you've got the cost of firefighters, the traffic slowdown and the potential harm to the firefighters.
"Most people," he said, "don't realize that little cigarette butt can cause that amount of damage and be a threat to people's lives."
With the state firmly in the grip of a drought, and with wildfires springing up virtually every day, sheriff's officials decided to step up enforcement, he said.
"We are averaging as many as 15 brush fires a week," said Hillsborough Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley. "We can't always determine the exact cause, but the biggest offender is people flicking cigarette butts out of their cars."
Conditions are dry now, and with no rain in the near future, they are going to get drier, he said. That means fires that start along the roads will spread and intensify much quicker.

Debunking the Glamour of Smoking

The anti-smoking lobby often make a crucial mistake in their campaigning. They lose sight of their target audience - children - and go after established smokers. Let me tell you right now that attempting to turn the screw on a smoker is the most counter-productive attitude you can adopt. As a former smoker, I can fully empathise with the average smoker's feeling towards their habit, and I can assure you that an aggressive, scare mongering, lecturing tone is entirely redundant. The smoker needs to be understood, to be accepted and to be humanised. 

I've always found it very curious that individuals, who have never smoked in their life, see themselves fit to take smokers to task on the habit. It's exactly the same problem we face when it comes to tackling obesity in the population, namely that we are better off empathising and understanding where the obesity problem stems from, rather than just telling an individual to get off their butt and exercise. The smoker has spent years developing a habit that extends far beyond a physical addiction - it is a powerful emotional and psychological addiction too. Yet despite this fact, the anti-smoking lobby only seem to focus from the non-smoker's viewpoint. 

Understand this - smokers started the habit for a reason. Some smokers wanted to look cool, to look edgy, to develop an attitude. Other smokers simply wanted to experiment. Others may just have had a fearless and carefree attitude towards life. Over time, the smoker glamorises the habit, and these strong neurological bonds will remain in place for years to come. When I smoked, I associated many wonderful times in my life with smoking: carousing on foreign holiday trips, sharing cigarettes with ex-girlfriends, smoking before and after important examinations etc. Smoking goes some way to claiming itself a role as part of the individual's identity. 

To this extent, the non-smoker has to understand that the tobacco habit is a strong emotional attachment. If you tell a smoker to give up the cigarettes for their health, then the smoker will ignore you. The smoker knows the scientific facts...the community is not a blind one. But to the smoker, it is like you are asking them to give up their right arm; it can be perceived as a massive sacrifice. The only way a smoker can comfortably stop the habit is if they re-wire their mindset to look at cigarettes in a different manner. Every smoker has deeply-rooted reasons as to why they continue smoking, and it is these reasons which must come to the surface and be addressed. 

I truly believe that we are on the cusp of seeing a massive downturn in the global smoking habit. The public smoking bans being established throughout the west have gone some way to removing the last real reason to smoke - the social factor. Even smokers are now conceding that cigarettes are no longer a sociable habit, and many feel sheepish and guilty even lighting up among a crowd. The persecution of smokers is as unjust as it is counter-productive, and we're doing smokers no favours at all by presenting them as second-rate human beings. 

In order to successfully help the smoker quit, we must make them feel relaxed. We must make them feel like we are listening and sympathetic to the emotional connection they hold with the habit. We should not, under any circumstances, be telling them what they should do or how they should feel. We must be open and seek to understand. Buy the smoker a couple of packets of cigarettes and invite them to light up without judgement. Then see if you can get the smoker to elucidate exactly why they must smoke. Once the smoker has been utterly candid and the true reasons are out there on the table, then they can be debunked one by one as you help wipe away the glamour of smoking. Remember, we had no need for smoking before we started, so we should have no need for it now.

Cheap cigarettes from little tobacco companies

Cheap cigarettesfrom little tobacco companies have fouled up the $246 billion deal that big tobacco companies made with taxpayers. 
Little companies grabbed eight percent of the market from 1997 to 2003, according to a March 27 report from the Brattle Group in San Francisco.
The report could trigger a reduction of annual payments from tobacco companies to the 46 states that signed the 25-year agreement.
Illinois is supposed to receive more than $9.1 billion -- or approximately $364 million annually -- from the Master Tobacco Settlement Agreement through the year 2025. llinois' payout is the fifth largest from MTSA, after California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, respectively. 
Companies have paid $41 billion so far, according to the March 28 Financial Times. 
The agreement calls for companies to pay $6.5 billion on April 17, but it also requires adjustment if states have failed to enforce laws that should cripple competition.
Under identical law in 46 states, companies that did not sign the agreement gain no financial advantage by staying out. Outsiders must pay into escrow accounts.
Outsiders get their escrow back in 25 years, if no state successfully sues them.
From an outsider's angle, the agreement looks like a state sponsored cartel. 
"The agreement made states directly interested in the profits of the big companies," said Everett Gee, general counsel of S & M Brands Inc. in Keysville, Va.
S & M Brands makes Baileycigarettes. Gee said the Bailey family has grown tobacco for five generations. He said they started making cigarettes in 1994.
Gee disputed the Brattle Group's finding that companies lost market share because of the agreement. He said they lost market share because of greed. 
He said they increased prices more than enough to pay the states. He said, "These prices shocked the consumer." 
He said signers of the agreement would have lost more than eight percent of the market if states had not protected them. 
"At those prices you would expect 60 to 70 percent," he said. 
In 1998, Gee said, the Baileys received a letter from a law firm giving five days to sign the master settlement agreement. 
"We would have had to pay in states where we never sold a cigarette," he said. 
The Baileys did not sign. They started making escrow payments. 
"We have paid our escrow always," Gee said. "We are under the largest scrutiny." 
He estimated the escrow at $4.35 per carton, but won't know until next year. 
For companies that signed the agreement, the Brattle Group report gave owners three weeks to decide whether to adjust payments. 
R.J. Reynolds in Winston-Salem, N.C., had not decided as of April 5. 
He said states would have to prove to arbitrators that they diligently enforced the laws. 
States and companies that signed the agreement jointly hired the Brattle Group. States do not permit taxpayers to read the report. 
States and companies that signed the agreement jointly employ Price Waterhouse to calculate market shares. States do not permit taxpayers to read the report.

Police fear new drinking and smoking laws have fuelled rise in crime

Sussex, England: Relaxed licensing laws and the smoking ban have led to a rise in violence on the streets.Police say drink-fuelled crime is on the rise because pub-goers are being forced outside to smoke. Extra patrols are already being sent to areas such as New Road, Brighton, where al fresco smoking has led to problems.Fears about the impact of the smoking ban comes on top of rising public place violent crime sparked by new 24-hour drinking legislation.Since the legislation came into force two years ago, there has been an extra 100 venues where customers can buy alcohol.
Sussex, England: Relaxed licensing laws and the smoking ban have led to a rise in violence on the streets.Police say drink-fuelled crime is on the rise because pub-goers are being forced outside to smoke.Extra patrols are already being sent to areas such as New Road, Brighton, where al fresco smoking has led to problems.Fears about the impact of the smoking ban comes on top of rising public place violent crime sparked by new 24-hour drinking legislation.Since the legislation came into force two years ago, there has been an extra 100 venues where customers can buy alcohol. Police warn that with growing pressure on the budget, overtime spending must be reduced and other means of controlling alcohol-related violence found. The information has emerged in a Sussex Police report arguing for the introduction of tougher measures to restrict new pubs and clubs opening in Brighton and Hove. Police are pushing for the introduction of one of the country's largest "cumulative impact zones" to stop new premises opening in areas already considered to be saturated with bars. Developments within the proposed area include the recently opened Oceana nightclub in West Street, with a capacity of 2,500, and the Hippodrome, Middle Street, which will also have a capacity of approximately 2,500 when completed. Violent crime in the city centre increased by five per cent in 2006, the first full year of the new licensing laws, compared with 2005. The trend for public place violent crime has been upward since the implementation of the Licensing Act 2003 in November 2005 and is expected to continue its upward trend, with a contributory factor being the introduction of the smokingban in July 2007. Police have said the increase is partly explained by the growing number of £80 fines handed out to binge drinkers early in the evening which often prevent more serious crimes being committed in the early hours. With the arrival of warmer weather, police are concerned the smoking ban will also spark violent crime.

Nine interesting facts about electronic cigarettes

An electronic cigarette doesn’t contain tobacco. Instead, it’s a plastic device which is activated by the user inhaling. The device then injects tiny drops of nicotine into the flowing air, causing them to vaporise. The device also adds propylene glycol, a moisturizer that’s often found in toothpastes and mouthwashes. This helps create a simulation of the smoke from a traditional cigarette, making it feel much more like real smoking.

Electronic cigarettes are not proven to help people give up smoking and aren’t marketed for this purpose. However, manufacturers can produce a range of electronic cigarettes with varying levels of nicotine. This means people trying to cut down on a nicotine addiction can gradually reduce the levels they consume without being held back by the habit of ‘lighting up’ a certain number of times each day.

A single electronic cigarette can last practically forever as the nicotine solution comes in a disposable cartridge (which usually last for several hundred drags). The mechanism is powered by a rechargeable battery, which also powers an orange LED at the tip to simulate a real burning cigarette.

An electronic cigarette doesn’t produce any smell, and the ‘smoke’ it produces is harmless vapour (besides the nicotine the smoker inhales) and doesn’t irritate the eyes. This means a smoker using the device can take part in normal social activities without engendering or irritating other people. There’s also no unpleasant waste from cigarette butts.

Electronic cigarettes are available in traditional tobacco flavour, but also in menthol and apple versions.

Smokers in the United Kingdom have used the device to get round bans on smoking in enclosed public places. The famous Chinawhite nightclub in Soho allowed its guests to use an electronic cigarette rather than go out on to the street for a traditional smoke.

The Daily Mail tested the device in 2007 on bar-goers in Notting Hill. One woman said “I miss not being able to drink and smoke on a night out. This is a good solution. It's elegant and easy to hold and it doesn't make your hands smell like a cigarette does.” And her male companion added “I think it could become popular. Smokers would do anything to have a cigarette at a table rather than go outside.” The pair later shot to ‘fame’ as Big Brother contestants Rex Newmark & Nicole Cammack!

Using an electronic cigarette can be considerably cheaper than smoking the real thing. A single cartridge gives roughly the same amount of ‘smoking’ as a standard packet of cigarettes but can be as much as six times less expensive. That’s partly because you don’t have to pay for all the tar, tobacco and paper which you normally buy and then literally send up in smoke!

While containing fewer harmful substances, the nicotine content of electronic cigarettes means they are not sold to children. It’s also recommended that pregnant women do not use the device, and that anyone with health concerns checks with a doctor first.

Electronic Cigarette

Electronic cigarettes offer smokers a good alternative to traditional smoking for many reasons. First of all, there is no tar and no second hand smoke, only a vapor. New users of these devices may have some questions regarding the use, and there are a couple things that can lead to confusion. Most of these devices use what is called an atomizer to heat the solution to create the fog like effect. It is important that users take good care of their atomizer in order to maintain good use.

Using cartridges, or refill juice on their electronic cigarette, users should always make sure that the atomizer has fluid on it before use. This prevents the atomizer from overheating and possibly burning out.A good technique is called "dripping". To drip, simply take the cartridge out and drop two to three drops of nicotine solution directly on the atomizer bridge, reinsert the cartridge, and take a few small puffs to prime the device. When taking your primer puffs, make them quick and light so the battery doesn't activate the heating element.

After your primer puffs, you will be ready to use your electronic cigarette and it should produce a good amount of vapor.

The atomizer may get clogged up from time to time, you will recognize this when it becomes harder to draw on your e-cigarette. Users have found a few simple tricks that may help. First of all, you can try blowing it out by unscrewing it and placing it to your lips. If this doesn't have the desired effect, you can try boiling it for ten minutes or so. Be careful if your atomizer has plastic parts on the outside, as you would not want to melt it. After boiling, place the atomizer on a paper towel, standing up, and let it dry for a couple hours. Usually this removes any particulates that would have been causing problems. In the worst case, just replace it. You can buy them for less than fifteen dollars.

Always be sure to leave a battery on at night to ensure that you will have it fully charged the next day. It is recommended that most people carry at least two batteries with them throughout the day so they never get stuck without a charge.

Davidoff Prestige 100th Anniversary Lighter

This lighter is number 84 out of 400 made for the 100th anniversary of Zino Davidoff's birth. The Lighter is Black Lacquer and Platinum.

The Davidoff Prestige lighters are crafted from a single billet of refined brass. This process ensures that each lighter has a unique feel and "ping" when the cover is flipped open to light a cigar.

Each Prestige lighter features a dual flame burner which provides for a wider flame perfect for lighting cigars.

Each finish was designed to match other accessories in the Davidoff assortment such as cutters and fine writing instruments. All Prestige lighters are made in France exclusively for Davidoff of Geneva.

West Virginia lawmakers want candy cigarettes out.

After 40 attorneys general across the country reached an agreement with tobacco manufacturer R.J. Reynolds concerning the sale of candy-flavored cigarettes, a group of West Virginia lawmakers hopes to take it a step further with a bill to permanently ban the selling of the products. With flavors like Cherry Cheesecake and Mandarin Mint, the West Virginia lawmakers believe that the products make real cigarettes an attractive option to young people. According to the bill, companies who sell the candy-flavored cigarettes can be fined up to $500, with further offenses bringing $5,000 penalties and jail sentences. The established agreement with the attorneys general includes a domestic ban on the products, but allows R.J. Reynolds to manufacture flavored brands in the future if officials believe they are not targeted to young people.

Indian Chief Heads Fight to Keep Selling Cigarettes

Harry Wallace, chief of the Unkechaug Nation, and several other owners of shops that sell cigarettes on the tiny Poospatuck Indian reservation on the South Shore of Long Island have been sued by the City of New York. The city claims that this Indian enclave — the closest Indian reservation to New York City — has become a “tax evasion haven” and a drain on the city’s coffers.

The Bloomberg administration says the city and the state lose more than $1 billion a year in tax revenue because of what it calls bootleg cigarettes distributed on Indian Indian reservations in New York. Of that amount, the administration contends, $195 million represents the city’s share, and officials blame the Unkechaug Nation Indian reservation for most of that.

New York City officials say millions of cartons of tax free cigarettes are sold every year by Poospatuck retailers to bootleggers who smuggle them into the city to resell for about $5 a pack, not the $8 or $9 charged by New York retailers who pay the state and city taxes of $4.25 a pack.

As part of their legal challenge, city attorneys have asked a federal judge to block the smoke shops from selling untaxed cigarettes to non-Indians without collecting state and city taxes from them.

Answering these claims is the Unkechaug chief, Mr. Wallace, 55, who was born in Queens, went to Dartmouth and was a lawyer in private practice in Manhattan before moving to the Indian reservation and opening the Poospatuck smoke shop.

But he has been outspoken in defending his tribe, arguing that cigarette sales are the only viable economic engine on the 55 acres of sovereign territory. He calls the city’s lawsuit an attack on legitimate Indian livelihood, and the result of elected officials feeling the economic pinch and blaming budget woes on the smallest Indian reservation in the state.

“They’re picking on us because they think we’re this little tribe with no means to defend ourselves,” he stated. “Bloomberg needs a scapegoat, so he places the fault with us for the city’s deficit, instead of criticizing the financial markets.”

Attorneys for the smoke shop owners have requested a dismissal of the lawsuit, arguing that the court does not have jurisdiction in sovereign territory, Mr. Wallace stated. He is not a defendant in the lawsuit, though he was named in a similar lawsuit that was filed in 2006 by the owner of the Gristedes supermarket chain.

Though Mr. Wallace was brought up in the Bayside and Little Neck sections of Queens, his family nurtured his Indian identity, taking him often to visit his uncles on the Indian reservation. He chose Dartmouth, he stated, because it had as its founding mission the education of Indians, and he helped establish a group on campus called Native Americans at Dartmouth.

Later, at New York Law School in Manhattan, he helped found the Indian Law Committee and wrote a thesis on Indian land claims. In the 1980s, he worked as a lawyer concentrating on cases involving landlord-tenant disputes, real estate, personal injury and American Indian discrimination matters.

Mr. Wallace stated he grew more interested in Indian matters after marrying Margo Thunderbird, a daughter of Chief Thunderbird of the Southampton-based Shinnecock Nation. The couple have two daughters. In 1991, he moved to a plot of land belonging to his mother on the Poospatuck Indian reservation, nestled on the banks of the Mastic River. “It changed my life because I knew I was going to get into matters affecting the Indian reservation,” he stated.

Mr. Wallace opened the Indian reservation’s first full-service smoke shop, to “show the community that we could develop an economy separate and distinct from the state and that it could be done the right way.”

Smoking 'to blame' for greatest number of home fire deaths

Smoking causes the greatest number of accidental fire deaths in the home, the Government said tonight.

Work on setting a European standard for fire-safe cigarettes would take about two years to complete, said junior communities and local government minister Baroness Andrews.

She was speaking during a Lords debate on the co-ordination of fire safety and emergency services across the EU.

"The number of deaths caused by smoking is a very acute example of personal responsibility. In 2006, there were 3,168 accidental dwelling fires in the UK started by smoking. It is an extraordinary figure...96 people were killed and 1,146 injured," she said.

"The Government has been instrumental in encouraging the European Commission to look into the case for creating a European standard for fire-safer cigarettes, designed to self-extinguish if left unattended, rather than smoulder down and set things alight.

"We have watched with interest developments of this kind in other countries, particularly in the USA and Canada. In October 2005 Canada became the first country to implement a cigarette fire safety standard.

"Since then, assessments suggest that on the basis of their methodology, we would have had 2,116 fewer fires, so these fire-safe cigarettes work.

"The EU has voted overwhelmingly to create such a standard. By establishing a European standard for fire-safe cigarettes, manufacturers will have to produce cigarettes which meet the EU standard compelled by law.

"We continue to be at the forefront of pushing this forward and expect our work on developing this standard to commence later this year. It will probably take about two years to complete," Lady Andrews said.