They’re everywhere now – stands or whole shops dedicated to the sale of electronic or e-cigarettes.

Even non-smokers can’t help casting a glance in the direction of this new phenomenon taking root in our towns – the gadget factor, the new product attraction, the variety, the colour, the which-one-does-what conversations.

Throw in the blackboard menu of “juice” flavours, ranging from cherry to mint, and a shopper might initially mistake the shops for juice bars. But these shops are the new electronic cigarette sales outlets – the new retail babies on the block.

But if you’re desperate to give up smoking, are e-cigarettes the way to go?

Many people have tried them, judging by the 478% growth in sales in Ireland in 2013 – growth that generated €7.3 million for the economy. However, are they a lifesaving medical device or a money-spinning gimmick? And, more importantly, are they safe? What are they exactly and what are the health professionals saying about them? We take a look:

What are they?

Electronic cigarettes are designed to look and feel like cigarettes. They are also known as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) or e-cigarettes.

Who invented them?

An American man named Herbert A Gilbert patented the “smokeless non-tobacco cigarette” in 1963. He smoked 40 cigarettes a day and wanted to give them up as the health risks became known. He approached manufacturers with his new invention but no one wanted to invest.

50 years later in 2005, a Chinese company began exporting its version of the e-cigarette. With smoking in the workplace bans being implemented and serious knowledge about the dangers of cigarette smoking now foremost in people’s minds, sales potential became more obvious. Sales began to increase, growing online in particular.

By 2013, e-cigarettes had topped a list of products that “turn their markets upside down”.

Shops exclusively selling e-cigarettes have now opened and it’s a growth employment and business area. Prices of e-cigarettes range from €10 to €120 depending on size and voltage. E-juice costs extra.

How do they work?

  • • A typical e-cigarette consists of three main components: a (rechargeable) battery, an atomiser and a replaceable cartridge.
  • • The cartridge contains the e-juice (the liquid mixture of nicotine, flavourings and dilutants that the devices vapourise).
  • • Some have an indicator light that glows when the user draws on the device, making it look like a real cigarette.
  • • When a person sucks on the device, a sensor detects air flow and heats the liquid in the cartridge so that it evaporates.
  • • Some of the vapour is inhaled.
  • • Some vapour is released into the air as the smoker exhales.
  • • E-juice is available in three nicotine strengths.
  • • More expensive e-cigarettes let users adjust the voltage to vary the “hit” they get.

    • Note: There is no regulation on the sale of e-cigarettes at present.

    How are they being marketed?

    A look at several websites selling e-cigarettes made the selling angle obvious. The word “satisfying” came up in all the blurbs. “The satisfying alternative.” None pushed the angle that e-cigarettes were to help you stop smoking. Some mentioned the “guilt-free” attraction of the product. Several pushed the “cheaper alternative” angle.

    Are e-cigarettes good or bad?

    The Irish Cancer Society had this to say: “E-cigarettes are sold as superior alternatives to cigarettes, not as smoking cessation aids or as a form of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). E-cigarettes claim to satisfy nicotine addiction and deliver a ‘hit’ of nicotine. Therefore, the user is still left with their nicotine addiction.

    “Because e-cigarettes don’t generate the smoke that is associated with smoking tobacco, smokers commonly believe that they’re safer than tobacco. This illusion of ‘safety’ can be enticing to smokers.

    “However, the chemicals used in electronic cigarettes have not been fully disclosed and there is no adequate data on their emissions. We are monitoring the research and are requesting regulation as either a medical product or a medical device.

    “We are also pleased that legislation is now being put in place to ban their sale to under-18s.”

    Ash Ireland, the anti-tobacco advocacy organisation, said: “We would like more definitive research on electronic cigarettes. We would also welcome regulation of this product in regard to manufacture, content, sale and marketing.

    “We are keeping the issue of e-cigarettes constantly under review. Despite an initial hope that these products could be of assistance in regard to cessation, we are now forming a view that this product, which is being marketed forcefully by the tobacco industry, may become another addictive product with few benefits and little impact on smoking cessation possibilities. The lack of regulation is an ongoing concern.

    “E-cigarettes, despite their current presentation as an attractive item on the one hand, and less harmful than tobacco on the other, carry nicotine which is highly addictive and can be dangerous if not consumed in appropriate and recommended doses.

    “We’ve spent a lot of time and effort trying to de-normalise the act of smoking and now this device could be used to re-normalise it. As the tobacco industry has invested heavily in this product, it will be more difficult to see any agenda other than profit being pursued by the manufacturers.”

    The statistics T

  • • 37% of Irish people think e-cigarettes are harmful. That’s according to a 2014 British Medical Journal survey, part of an EU-wide investigation into attitudes towards e-cigarettes.

  • In all countries, e-cigarette users were more likely to be:

  • • Aged between 15-24.
  • • Current smokers of up to 20 cigarettes a day who have made at least one attempt to quit in the past year.
  • • Those under 25 were three times as likely to have tried e-cigarettes as those aged 55 and above.

    • What do smokers think?

    For a straw poll, Irish Country Living asked five farming sector smokers for their opinions on e-cigarettes.

  • • Four had tried them, all with the intention of either cutting down on what they smoked or attempting to give up real cigarettes.
  • • One woman smoked them at night in the house in order to cut down on cost and quantity of cigarettes smoked.
  • • One had bought an e-cigarette with the intention of stopping smoking, but “it’s in my bag most of the time”, she said, because she felt too stressed at the moment to stop smoking real cigarettes.
  • • One man used it “for a good while”, and keeps it in the jeep but meant to buy a refill.
  • • The fourth, Helen, said they had helped her give up cigarettes: “In September 2012, I tried to give up smoking for the hundredth time. Going cold turkey didn’t seem to work for me. I would last two weeks and then I would always start smoking again. When I received an email advertising e-cigarettes one day, I thought maybe this will help me get over those first few weeks. I bought a menthol flavour vapour one and, for me, it worked. It got me through those difficult first few months. It’s now nearly two years on. I plug it in an odd time if I get a craving, but I’m not even sure where in the house it is at the moment as it’s so long since I’ve used it.”
  • • The fifth person hadn’t tried them and thought they were just a craze that would die out.

    • Facts

    • The National Smokers’ Quitline is 1800-201-203. Nicotine replacement products and support are stated to be the most effective way to give up tobacco at present by the Irish Cancer Society.

    • The HSE has banned the use of e-cigarettes in hospitals. The Irish Medicines Board said e-cigarettes are not currently regulated under medicines or medical devices legislation. If products make medicinal claims, they come under its remit.

    • Smoking prevalence in Ireland has dropped significantly. 19% of adults are smokers now, compared with 29% in 2007.