Can Flavoring In Electronic Cigarettes Lead To Kids Smoking?

There is a lot talk about this subject as there seems to be a lot people that are bringing this to the FDA as a complaint to electronic cigarettes.  This is actually a really difficult question and issue to tackle.  We know that there is flavoring in cigarettes and that some of those flavors could be appealing to children.  Flavorings such as the following:

1. Chocolate
2. Mint
3. Carmel
4. Fruits

But as we see it children will not be picking up electronic cigarettes solely because they have a craving for chocolate or mints.  More likely they will pick up a candy bar instead, which is some cases can be just as addictive and bad for someone.  With the high sugar counts in some candy this can be extremely damaging to insulin levels in children and adults for that matter.

I honestly think that we are getting away from the real matter at hand.  We are so worried that our children will start smoking electronic cigarettes because they taste like other things, when we are not focusing on the fact that we need our children not to smoke at all.  It is true that a lot of current smokers became addicted before they were of legal age to start smoking and have stuck with it now into adulthood and regret the decisions that they made.  They didn’t know at the time that smoking cigarettes was something that they would continue doing in time, they were probably doing it at the time because it was cool.

Don’t believe me?  Well if you have ever seen the movie Grease, think back to what makes  Olivia Newton John (Sandy Olsson) become so cool?  Well it was when she dressed up all Greaser like and had a big cigarette hanging out of her mouth.  I remember that clearly and even at the time I knew what was going on.  It was sending the message that if you are a dork, light up a cigarette and then people will think you are cool.

But as we get back to our current date and time – 2011, things have drastically changed and you can’t do that anymore.  Which is a good thing.

Bottomline:

Kids will start smoking if their environment has smoking in it.  For example, if parents smoke or if they start hanging around a crowd of kids that smoke.  But honestly I know a lot of kids from the neighborhood and I ask them often what they think of cigarettes.  The response is usually the same, that cigarettes are nasty.  The people at work trying to make people to stop smoking is working.  The levels of new cigarette smokers is going down drastically and that is good thing.  But this of course is not a global phenomenon.  This is something that is happening in America.

The thing is years ago we didn’t know the consequences to smoking cigarettes, now we do and we are making it very clear as to they do to you.

Now with the electronic cigarette, there hasn’t been enough evaluation and research to see the full consequences of smoking them.  But give it 5 years and you will see a lot of changes in this industry as well.

Best Time To Switch Brands

A lot of people on the web are pretty particular to their current cigarette brand. We know as we have been smoking the same brand for years now. However when we want to ask, “when is it a good idea to switch brands of cigarettes“?

We know that some people will never switch the flavor of cigarette and that makes sense. You don’t see a lot of menthol smokers switching over to smoking regular flavored cigarettes. However if your brand is getting to a price that is too expensive then maybe it might be time to switch your brand.

For example a lot of Newport cigarette smokers are looking at other options nowadays because of the price of a pack or carton on this brand has increased a lot over the years. For those people we would suggest trying to get a brand like Kool. Which has also increased in price over the years but not as much as Newports.

With all the taxes that are now being added to cigarettes it is now a good time to start looking at other options. That is why we say if you are smoking the most popular brands then it might be time to give a lesser known brand a chance.

The ironic thing about this is that a lot of the same brands are made of the same tobacco and by the same company. A lot of it is a branding issue and the marketing costs that are worked into the price of that pack of cigarettes.

Do you really think that Marlboros are that different than say Basics? Now I know some are saying, YES. I agree that there are differences. The burn time might be one thing, but think of how fast some brands of cigarettes burn compared to others.

Is the burn time what is really making you smoke that certain brand of cigarette?

The best way to consider if this is even an option for you and your cigarette brand is to try doing a blind cigarette test. Have a friend of yours that smokes go and get 2 brands of cigarettes and then you blind smoke test them. See if you can tell the difference in the following things.

1. Taste
2. Harshness or Strength
3. Burn Time

If you are unable to tell the difference between the two then what you are smoking is just brand name, now that is good marketing.

In conclusion:

We are not telling you to quit your favorite brand, but just suggesting that you try to save some money and try another lesser known brand. It might save you money in the long run.