Another e-cigarette..

July 25, 2009 - A new business in the Anderson Mall, Anderson, South Carolina is selling an “electronic cigarette” that the company says includes no carcinogens from tobacco and produces no secondhand smoke.

Green Smoke, which operates in front of the Belk and Belk Home stores, has been in business for nearly a year with independent salespeople, but the location in the mall on Clemson Boulevard is its first store. Cathy Pettyjohn, owner of the location, has been working as an independent sales representative with the company.

Green Smoke’s electronic cigarette has a two-part design. One end is a battery containing a computer chip. The other end, where a cigarette filter would normally be, holds nicotine and water. When the two parts are screwed together and a person puffs on the device, it blows out water vapor. As soon as the person stops puffing, the cigarette turns off automatically.

Federal health officials said they have found cancer-causing ingredients in electronic cigarettes, despite manufacturers' claims the products are safer than tobacco cigarettes.

“The person that’s smoking is smoking a lot healthier, because all they’re getting is water vapor and no carcinogens from tobacco,” Pettyjohn said. “Nicotine doesn’t create cancer. It’s a highly addictive drug. It’s the other things in cigarettes that cause cancer.”

Green Smoke’s cigarettes are available in four nicotine levels: 8 mg, 6 mg, 4 mg and 0 mg. The water vapor also is available in five flavors: tobacco, mint, chocolate, vanilla and coffee.

Besides removing harmful carcinogens, Pettyjohn said, the Green Smoke cigarette makes it possible for people to stop smoking.

“The actual motion of smoking … the oral contact, is as addictive and habit-forming as nicotine is addictive,” she said. “A lot of people have a struggle with stopping smoking because they miss the oral hand-to-mouth. They’ve tried the patch, they’ve tried the gum, they’ve tried other methods of (quitting) smoking, but they miss the actual blowing of smoke.”

Green Smoke lets them have the hand-to-mouth contact and smoke, she said. Since she began using Green Smoke, she said, she, her husband and her mother have stopped smoking cigarettes. The electronic product also can be used in more places than typical cigarettes, Pettyjohn said. “You can smoke anywhere that you can’t smoke a typical cigarette,” she said. “The biggest thing about this is there’s no secondhand smoke, so people around you aren’t affected.”

The Green Smoke starter kit costs $149. It contains six cigarette cartridges, which Pettyjohn said is equal is two packs of cigarettes, and two rechargeable lithium batteries. Replacement cartons cost $14.95 each. A 10 percent off coupon will be featured in the new issue of Coffee News.

Reference: Anderson store now selling "electronic cigarette" by Nicole Smith, IndependentMail.com, 7/23/2009.

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