We think it’s kind of obvious, but apparently it needs to be stated: Electronic Cigarettes are different than tobacco cigarettes. Seems simple, yet many cities and towns across the country are treating e-cigs the same as tobacco cigarettes. In most places they’re succeeding. The city of Chicago, IL added e-cigarettes to their Indoor Air Act, Gainesville, FL has banned e-cigarettes anywhere tobacco is banned and in San Diego, CA, e-cigarette sales now require a police permit.
Now, many of us who use e-cigarettes are forced to be figuratively and physically lumped in with tobacco smokers, which is just wrong. If we wanted to smell like tobacco smoke, we’d still be smoking, not vaping. (Duh.)
Reasons Why Vaping is NOT Smoking
Many otherwise intelligent folks easily believe media fear mongering about e-cigarettes. The e-cigarette, after all, has “cigarette” in its name. It also delivers nicotine. Therefore, an e-cigarette is just like a tobacco cigarette, right? (Then let’s regulate it and tax it to heck!).
Due to effective stop-smoking campaigns and climbing cigarette prices, we’ve become so used to not seeing people smoke tobacco that some folks seem to freak out at the sight of anyone inhaling anything. The mere sight of an e-cigarette really bothers a lot of people for no good reason. Cooler heads need to prevail.
Top 5 Ways E-Cigarettes are not Tobacco
Tired of being exiled outside to stinky tobacco-smoking sections when you want to use your e-cigarette? Yeah, so are we. It’s now up to us vapers to educate our villages, one misinformed person at a time, and we’re here to help you to spell it out as simply as possible with our top 5 ways e-cigarettes do not have tobacco. Everything on this list is completely self-evident, yet many people seem to just not get it.
- No tobacco. This sounds silly, we know, but evidently it has to be shouted loud and proud. E-cigarettes do not contain tobacco. At all. No tobacco. Not a bit. Not even a little. Just e-liquid.
- No filter. Since there’s no tobacco in an e-cigarette, there’s no need for the environmental nightmare that is the cigarette filter to make tobacco easier to smoke. (Aren’t our landfills full enough?)
- No paper. Since there’s no tobacco in e-cigarettes, there is also no need for specially formulated and treated paper to wrap it in. Our e-cigarettes consist of batteries and e-tanks – no paper necessary.
- No fire. Since there’s no tobacco or filter and therefore no paper in e-cigarettes, then there is no fire. Since there is no fire, e-cig users don’t contribute to the 1.5 billion plastic lighters that hit landfills every year.
- No smoke. I bet you can see where this is going. Since there is no tobacco, no filter, no paper and no fire…there’s no smoke with e-cigarettes. Seriously. It’s vapor. There’s no second-hand smoke or stench.
E-Cigs vs. Tobacco: The Common Ground
Despite the facts listed above, misinformed people continue to ask, “Do e-cigs have tobacco?” The answer, of course, is no. So, why all the confusion? Aside from the word “cigarette” being used to describe both, along with state and local governments across the U.S. lumping them into the same category as tobacco products, the confusion lies within the fact that e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes do have one thing in common: nicotine.
However, nicotine in an e-cig comes without the tar and chemicals that come from setting tobacco on fire and inhaling it. Not to mention that there is an entire population of vapers who use zero-nicotine e-liquid. So what are the other benefits of e-cigarettes? As if you don’t already know, it’s more than just no smoke or fire. For many, it also means shorter smoke breaks at work, more time with the family and more money in the bank.
