I haven't smoke regular cigarettes since last Friday, it's been a week, the amazing thing is I don't even want to, my new e-cig is more fun :)

I'm continuing my first post in this blog, I received my e-cig today "the company likes to call their cigarettes "El-Cig".

Here's my review, it hasn't been 24 hours yet, so I can't say much about battery and other things, up till now I puffed the equivalent of 5 regular cigarettes, it's great, so far, I don't feel that I need to light a regular cigarette, the throat hit is pretty much similar to regular, the smoke is great too, I purchased an El-Cig with a manual battery, the mini kit, it's one battery, three different cartomizers, loaded and ready to use, the heavy one "20mg" is blueberry flavored, the medium is apple and the low is coffee flavored, the kit also has a usb charging cable, this is as I mentioned the mini starter kit, I didn't want to pay more, and be sorry later. Well, I'm not, up till now at least, the experience is pretty pleasant, whenever I hit the button, it works.

-I started with the low "coffee" cartomizer, it tastes great, I feel exactly like smoking a regular "flavored" cigarette, then I tried the heavy one "blueberries", the thing I noticed, is that there's no difference in what it feels like, I mean the throat hit, the inhale, it's the same, even though the nicotine level is different. I don't know why I thought that the low nicotine liquid, would taste less, like the difference between smoking a heavy regular cigarette and a light one, but it doesn't. So I think it would be much easier for me to change to low nicotine, or no nicotine later. Still I noticed that my body really feels the difference,  I'm puffing more than usual with the lower nicotine level, so for now, I think I'll stick with the heavy and medium liquids.

-The thing I love about it too, is that it was ready to smoke, I didn't need to charge it first, I just picked it up, from it's neat packaging (I'll write about how it looks next), I opened the cartomizer's cover, screwed it in the battery and started puffing :) still haven't charged it "it's the equivalent of 6 cigarettes up till now".

-It's heavier than usual cigarette of course, it has a big battery, I purchased the supreme (follow link), but I don't mind, the weight is quite convenient in my opinion.

-they wrote a warning, the user should monitor the number of his puffs "read my previous post", and try not to exceed the usual amount that he puffs daily in regular cigarettes. Well they're right, the thing is, the "Rituals" are quite different, you don't light it, and you don't use an ash tray, so since a regular smoker is used to the fact that each cigarette starts with the lighter, and ends in the ashtray, so.. you see the point, the e cig's life span, is between battery charges and changing or refilling cartomizers. On the other hand, I noticed I puff less! since it's there, it's not ending soon, I don't need to stick to it's timing, I puff whenever I feel like it, so the period between the puffs is longer, yet I'm taking less time to start my new session, if there is such a thing. I think in time I'll get used to it, I only smoked the equivalent of "8" cigarettes up till now since I purchased it. I know, I'm smoking too much, when I'm writing or working, I usually keep my regular cigarettes on, they rarely go off, regularly, I would've been smoked 4 cigs at least up till now, so I think I'm smoking less, yet, I still need to watch it, I agree with them "the company" about this point. It's still nicotine, it has both good and bad effects, still too much is not good, yet, when I think about it, I'm not having any tar or the other chemicals I'm usually having with regulars, nor Carbon mono-dioxide, since nothing's burning, so it's much better, and surely my wallet is smiling, I don't feel it poking me to watch it, which takes us to..

Money

I paid 74.59 Euros, I purchased the mini starter kit for 44.99, two e-liquid refills, 5.99 each, and I paid 17.62 for Express delivery. They have free shipping, but since I made my decision and wanted to try, I didn't want to wait for ages in order to get it, I'll be paying more for regular cigarettes, while I'm waiting for it. They sent it 4 days ago, so I think it's good enough (the company is in Latvia, I'm in Cyprus). Any way I'm saving big deal, if you want to calculate it, (follow the link) to their website, under "savings" tab, they have a calculator to calculate how much it'll be saving, for me, I'm saving 1225.9 Euros a year, I can live with that :).

Also there's always the possibility of purchasing the e-liquids from another provider, the only thing I regret now, is that I should've ordered extra cartomizers and e-liquids, since I already paid for the shipping, still, since they have free shipping, and I'm not in a hurry now, since I have enough, that's not a problem.

Cartomizers

I still couldn't figure out, how many refills can the cartomizer handle "if the words cartomizer and atomizer look like foreign language to you, read my previous post, or go to the end of this post, I'll re explain it" so according to their calculator, I think they are mentioning that the cartomizor can be refilled for 5 times. Well they have built in atomizers "they call them vaporizers", each cartomizer has a fresh atomizer, and when you purchase a pack of them, it's 5 cartomizers already filled, for the price of 9.99 Euros, which is the price of two packs of cigarettes over here, each cartomizer is equal to 15 regular cigs, and the e-liquid for 5.99 Euros is 10 ml, I still didn't figure out what is the capacity of the cartomizer, they're saying on the website that you refill about 8 drops of liquid each time, so.. Anyways, let's say I don't refill, 5 cartomizers for 10 Euros "don't let the dot fools you 9.99 is really 10 ;)" so it's 2 Euros each, and it's for 15 cigs, so I'm still saving big deal, my family's happy, I'm satisfied, I'm keeping the pleasure of smoking, just dropping most of the bad side effects and some of the expenses of smoking, still I need to mention one thing, the e-cig companies are not allowed to promote their products as a way to quit smoking, I didn't quit smoking, I only changed to Electric, and it's really my first day, up till now, I'm quite happy and satisfied and looks to me like it's a win win deal for me and for my family.

The looks

In one word, NEAT! I purchased the black Supreme, it's mat with spot gloss curvy lines, a chromium metal ring, which contains the button, and the base is also a chromium disc, it looks great, I'd like to congratulate the designer. I won't have a problem smoking it in public, the thing is, I saw some e-smokers, before, puffing with the e-cig completely hidden in hand "as much as possible", bending their heads, inhaling, and putting the e-cig back in pocket or a drawer, I didn't know why by then, but later, while reviewing e-cigs online, I saw some really ugly e-cigs, some of them really look like an injection, and I mentioned in my previous post, that I already tried the e-cig that looks like a regular one, and I'm not intending to do it again "I just didn't like it, and most of them are overpriced". Actually, mine looks better than the regular cigarette, I love it.

So at last, I think I'll have to smoke it for a week and two, and after that I'll write about it. Before I end my review, I'll include some explanation about the words used in electronic cigarettes:

E-cig, El-cig, means.. Electronic Cigarette of course :)
Cartomizer: it's the part that contains the e-liquid.
Atomizer, Vaporizer: it's the metal piece that turns the liquid into smoke, under 60 degrees Celsius "I read this somewhere" so there's no burning, just heating.
 Manual e cig: is an e cig with a button, you have to push the button in order to inhale, I really prefer this kind.
Automatic e cig: is an ecig that works on inhale, when you inhale the battery works and heats the atomizer, which in turn heats the liquid.

You might also hear the word "Tank" in some reviews, well the tank usually is the container that holds the liquid, yet it's usually big, and clear "most of the times" so you get to see the liquid level inside, but my personal opinion, is that it's ugly, it looks like an injection, or something illegal :)

Some kinds of e-cigs, like mine, has the atomizer "the vaporizer" built into the cartomizer, so you get to change them together, while other kinds, they are separate.

Electronic Cigarette, Is it the future? +18

This blog is +18, if you are less than 18 years old, please don't read this blog.

I've been reviewing e-cigs, the new shortcut name for electronic cigarettes, for the last 4 days, trying to get to the bottom of it. I'm a heavy smoker, I consume more than 1 pack a day, this year, the government here in Cyprus, gave smokers a new gift, more stories in the already skyrocketing tax on cigarettes, smoking nowadays costs a small fortune each month, of course beside the tons of annoying things about smoking areas, health problems... well every smoker knows what I'm talking about.

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 Alternatives???

I switched to roll your own, since the taxes on cigarettes started to hit the sky, it was a nice alternative since it used to be affordable compared to cigarette packs, now that's old news, even roll your own, isn't affordable anymore, so where to go from here? I really enjoy smoking, all smokers do, I've been smoking for the last 16 years, and I enjoyed almost every cigarette, cigar and pipe I ever smoked, I already tried the electronic cigarette, I had a kit as a gift, two batteries, 8 cartridges, I don't remember what brand, I used it for two or three days, and then, back to cigarettes, so what seems to be the problem? as far as I remember, it was great, when it worked!.. The kind I had looked like a cigarette, and the smoke was great, but really for a small period of time, two or three puffs, and it's dead, I had to wait for another 15 minutes in order to have my next treat, and after that, I needed to change the battery!.. I have better things to do in my life, rather than changing batteries and waiting for the next treat all day, it was more annoying than anything else I have tried ever.

Recently I noticed some people in non-smoking areas using electronic cigarettes, it looks different than the one I had, it's bigger, doesn't look like a cigarette, some of them have clear tank " I believe they call it cartomizer" so you can see the amount of juice inside, some of them have buttons, that you push in order to inhale "mine was automatic". I decided to review this stuff.. I was shocked, I mean the more research I make, the more confused I get, many brands with different features, all the new names of stuff I haven't heard about before, and no one to explain what's the meaning of an atomizer or a cartomizer, or whatever.. and why is a separate atomizer better than a built-in one!.. why some of them cost 20 Euros, and others cost 120 Euros!? what kinds are refillable? As far as I remember, mine was not refillable, you have to purchase the cartridges "I didn't use it long enough in order to purchase any :-)".

After watching many reviews, about many issues:

- The different kinds.
- The health issue.
- The prices.

What's the Difference?

I came to some sort of a conclusion, I'm giving it another chance, but for sure, not the same kind I tried, or anything like it "looks like a real cigarette", because the battery life always reminded me how short life is, and that's the conclusion I found watching some videos about this issue, many people said the same thing, small e-cigs are not satisfactory, on the other hand, some reviews and videos about larger sizes, they said that the battery works for a day, sometimes for days, you can puff whenever you like, recharge when you go to sleep, and next day, it'll work for the whole day, the smoke were great, remember what I wrote earlier? It was great when it worked, the taste was great, and for these large sizes, I can refill, I can choose from different nicotine levels, I was surprised to see that some companies advised users to control their inhalations in order to keep it equal to the inhalations using regular cigarettes, or less, "which means that the e-cig's battery wont force me to do that :-P" see for yourself "I copy-pasted the advisory of a company's website in the bottom of the blog". Which takes us to the next issue "Health".

Is it safer than smoking?

Went to Youtube.com in order to watch some videos concerning e-cigs, the first result at the top were of the famous "The Doctors" program discussing this issue, at the end of the video, the four doctors were smoking electronic cigarettes, cigars and pipes!.. in few words, it's illegal for under 18 years old, if you don't smoke already, don't use e-cigs, if you're a smoker, it is advised to switch to e cigarettes at once, it is free of more than 40 components that do exist in the regular cigarettes, and that can cause cancer and many other serious health illnesses, the only component that it contains in common is nicotine, which has ups and downs, refills vary between 24mg and 0mg nicotine.

What do my wallet think?

Well, I started thinking about switching to electronic cigarettes in the first place because of the price of the regular cigarettes, which is really dependable, first of all, I didn't care about any of the e-cigs that look like real cigarettes, or have the same size, I thought those would be cheaper than the other, bigger sizes, but that wasn't the case, some of these cigarette like e-cigs are really over priced, I'm talking here about little less than 100$ for the standard kit, but still, I didn't care for those, I'm interested in the kinds that have bigger batteries, so how about those? The 10 ml e-liquid bottle equals 10 packs of cigarettes, the average cost for it is about 6 Euros, of course there's the cost of the kit for the first time, and the cost of replacement parts, most of the batteries are described as 650 mAh which was a complete mystery for me to understand what that means, but afterwards I found a descent company website that was considering enough to explain, but this company has two kinds of batteries a 190 mAh and a 900 mAh, so I'll give this issue some space in order to explain it better, hence understand it better :-)

- The 190 mAh Battery, needs recharge after 250 puffs (equals to 15 cigarettes) so for me it's a little bit less than 1 day, yet with two available batteries, it's not a big deal, the battery's life is 300 recharges, which equals 250 packs of regular cigarettes! after that, I'll need to purchase a new one, it's 16 Euro, so after doing the math, it's about 0.064 Euros per pack!

-The 900 mAh Battery, needs to recharge after 1000 puffs (equals to 60 cigarettes) so I suppose it'll take me about 2 to 3 days, until I need to change the battery, the battery's life is 300 recharges, which equals 1000 packs of reg. cigs. (according to the companies website) and it costs 27 Euros, so doing the math again, it's about 0.027 Euros per pack !!! which is almost 3 times cheaper than the smaller battery.

let's say that I need to change the atomizers from time to time, the cost of the pack (5 filled cartomizers with new built-in atomizers) is 10 Euros, each cartomizer (which is the tank that holds the liquid and the atomizer is the device that turns the liquid into smoke) already has liquid that equals 15 cigarettes, so it's about 4 packs of cigarettes, and with the e-liquid available in order to refill, which is 6 Euros for an amount that equals 10 packs, so it's 60 cents per pack, let's say that I need to change the cartomizer after 4 times of refilling, that will make the cost or the liquid and the replacement parts "except for the batteries" about 1 Euro and 22 cents per pack.

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Price conclusion, the cost of e-smoking, compared to one pack of traditional cigarettes will be about,  1.23 Euros, OMG!!! I'm already paying 4.5 Euros per pack!!!

Anyways, if you are a smoker here's a link to calculate how much you're spending on cigarettes, compared to the e-cigs http://www.airsmoke.eu/en/savings

Of course there's the cost of the starter kit "the device including the batteries, the cartomizers, the chargers and the box" which vary according to what am I going to purchase, some of kits include two batteries. I could find a packet that costs 45 Euros including one battery 3 cartomizers already filled, and a charger, I already purchased of this brand  Air Smoke the big one "with the bigger battery", with a couple of e-liquids, I can't wait to put my hands on it and give it a puff, and quit paying 4.5 Euros a day for a pack of cigarettes. Also to post my experience about it :-).

And here's the link from the company's site I wrote about earlier:

E-Smoking Recommendations

AirSmoke recommends limiting the frequency of using an electronic cigarette. In using ONLY EL-CIG, do not take more than 300 to 400 inhalations, which is equal to 20 to 30 tobacco cigarettes, regardless the type of cartridge, nicotine level and flavour.

When combining AirSmoke with tobacco cigarettes, total amount of smoking should not be more than amount of cigarettes smoked before. We recommend using an electronic cigarette with the same or less frequency as traditional cigarettes. When smoking an electronic cigarette, inhale no more than 12 to 20 times and take a break for at least 30 minutes.

Control the nicotine level and intensity of using your e-cigarette. EL-CIG is designed exclusively for elgaring.
* The duration of an inhalation is 1-2 sec., in average 12 to 15 inhalations are equal to one traditional cigarette.