Thursday, November 17, 2011

Too Good To Be True?

One of the perks of Candy's Daily Dandy is that occasionally someone will ask me to try their product for FREE and then tell you guys what I think. Sometime I bite at the offer and sometimes I don't. But when the people over at Vapor4Life asked me to try their e-cigarette, I practically jumped at the chance.

An ex-smoker for years, and even more recently, I had seen these electronic cigarettes and had wondered what these things were all about. Smoking safely? Sounds like an oxymoron to say the least. After a brief email exchange, I was told to go to the website and choose my "Nicotine Strength" and my desired"Flavor".

Hmmm, this posed a interesting conundrum for me. Because I have successfully kicked the habit, I am no longer addicted to nicotine and I have no desire to become addicted to nicotine again. When I logged on to the website, I was overjoyed to learn that I could choose zero nicotine strength and I then went on to choose apple cinnamon for my flavor. As promised, the little package arrived on my desk in a few days.



So what is it exactly? V4L.com describes their product as such:




"An e-cigarette is a battery powered device that vaporizes a liquid solution to create an alternative to smoking. The V4L e-cigarette is a two piece system consisting of a re-chargeable battery and cartomizer. The cartomizer is a cartridge with a coil built in that heats up a solution, which contains nicotine and flavoring. "




My battery is a chic, black, longish, cigarette looking thing with a fab gem stone at the end that illuminates purple when you inhale the vapor. My cartomizer is a pinkish red, short "filter" looking piece that screws onto the top of my black battery. I couldn't wait to try this sucker out. My battery needed to be charged before usage, and when you attach the battery to the charger and plug it into the outlet, a small light illuminates red until your battery is fully charged. I then attached the cartomizer and took my first inhale from the device.




It wasn't what I had expected at all, and at first I was disappointed. I think I half expected it to taste like a apple cinnamon-y Marlboro Light. Maybe, I thought, I might have made a mistake by not getting some nicotine. But I continued to play with my e-cigarette. Soon I was pulling good "vapor hits" and even blowing smoke rings! All of a sudden, it became somewhat soothing and satisfying and I felt like I had found my groove with this device. Who needs nicotine?


The research on e-cigarettes is all positive, as found in an article by the United Health Organization who concluded “In the short time that electronic cigarettes have become popular, the number of people who have been able to quit smoking and stay cigarette free have risen by an estimated 300%. No other methodology has proven so successful in such a short period of time.” There are also studies that claim that nicotine can be as harmful to your health as caffeine.



I have to say that owning this little device is quite advantageous for someone like me who is orally fixated, (Heff and Bama insert joke here). It quite possibly keeps me from reaching for a sugary treat, and satisfies that occasional urge to smoke that seemingly never goes away. It's cool and fun and I'm thinking it will make a great gift for that person you want to help kick the habit. I think the initial $70 to $100 dollars for a starter kit are well worth it for your health.


Thanks V4L! I highly recommend this product!

5 comments:

Wil said...

Fine report Candy, I've wondered what the deal was with these my own damn self.

sybil law said...

Well, not all the research is positive (my husband bought one a while ago), but it might be better than not smoking!

Heff said...

Now, as much as I would LOVE to watch you smoke, as a constant inhaler of nicotine, Heff's got to tell ya - I've tried those things, and THEY SUCK.

I can see how you might have enjoyed them since you're a "re-virginated non smoker", But they're not a replacement AT ALL for REAL Marlboro awesomeness, and if you ALREADY don't smoke, why pick 'em up ?

Anonymous said...

I got one of those a while back, but I could never figure out how to get the weed in the damn thing.

RW said...

You'd think after all my work and all these years of blogging I could at least get a free bottle of booze once in a while. Somehow the free stuff train keeps passing by my tent...