Smokes in the plane

It’s resolution season once again and it’s not unusual to see the heavyweights are hitting the gym again, the shopaholics are opening bank accounts and the alcoholics are making pinky promises. For most of these familiar faces, unchanging promises of an improved life are reiterated year after year. But this year might be the shining moment for the heavy smokers, because their resolution of quitting may finally be achieved.

I’m having vegetarian lunch with Ian, your typical college frat boy whose smoking habit used to be about image; now it’s a serious addiction. His smoking average is two packs a day since that experimental stage in high school and has no plans of quitting anytime soon, except maybe when his body starts to show telltale signs. He’s heard of that electronic cigarette (e-cig) thing years ago, but it didn’t help kick the habit. It was expensive, unavailable in the country and didn’t really give that authentic feeling of smoking a cigarette.

Cut to present day Manila, and there is suddenly a community and network of e-cig smokers growing fast. Technology has finally created a better e-cig that is, well, more like a cig. It has that authentic, rough, itchy feeling of inhaling carbon monoxide that millions of teenagers are hooked on, except you are inhaling vapor, not smoke. Ian is telling me how he finally found an e-cig he likes, and he hasn’t smoked a real stick in two days. I’m bewildered mostly and quite amused. For the first time, he doesn’t reek of even a hint of smoke. In fact, he smells a little sweet.

Today we can find the electronic cigarettes almost anywhere. For picky smokers though, you just need to find that right stick with the right hit. I’ve been told Divisoria already has imitations of e-cigs costing around P800. Cigar specialty stores also sell the generic electronic cigarette for around P1,000 to P1,500. These are the ones that look like a toy cigarette stick and have disposable cartridges you have to change after every use. Another brand I have come across is the Green Puff e-cigarette from a display stall in the Greenhills Theater Mall food court. Their e-cigs are of better quality and their big-sized e-cig kit costs P2,800 for two sticks with a charger. The Green Puff e-cigs are refillable, which means you only need to buy the additional bottle of flavored liquid for only P250. But perhaps for the seriously heavy smokers to be convinced, they need an e-cig that will last more than eight hours, and one that will really make you heave. Ian’s choice of e-cig is Janty, because it’s just the type that really crawls across your throat.

E-cig goes to the big screen: Johnny Depp’s character in the Hollywood movie The Tourist shows Depp puffing on an e-cigarette in various scenes.

Martin Veeharay of Vape! Company distributes the European brand Janty, which is now available at the fifth floor in Podium. Its top-class quality also comes with a price, as one kit costs more than P4,000. Martin was also a heavy smoker, until he started “vaping” or smoking e-cigs in April 2010 and he hasn’t picked up a cigarette since. In fact, he claims even the smell now disgusts him. He explains to me, the noob, how e-cigarettes work.

The “smoke” comes from the vapor of a liquid solution made of propylene glycol, water, flavoring and nicotine. That’s right: e-cigs are not actually nicotine free. But nicotine may have been quite misjudged before. It is true that nicotine is what makes cigarettes addictive (like maybe caffeine, Facebook, or shopping), but it’s important to note that a cigarette’s harmfulness also comes from tar and thousands of other toxic chemicals, which the e-cigs do not have. The nicotine comes in levels of your choice (low, medium, high and none) and is available in a variety of flavors (strawberry, cappuccino, and even smoke flavored).

Martin adds there’s nothing negative to report about the electronic cigarette even though governments in the west are working hard to ban it. Why ban a product that seems to be doing good for humanity? Martin has had his share of clients’ stories about how it saved a relationship, or even saved a life. Could it be somewhat related to the beneficial amount of money coming in from tobacco taxes?

The e-cig practically solves everything your trusty old cigarette did: the oral fixation, awkward moments, stressed nights — it’s all there. Now if only we could get those characters of Mad Men to make it look just as cool to smoke electronic cigarettes as they did in the ‘60s.

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Vape! can be found in the 5th Level of Podium Mall, Ortigas. Contact 0917-890-VAPE(8273) or visit http://thevapecompany.sulit.com.ph/ for more information.