Smokeless Cigarette

The term “smokeless cigarette” is really a misnomer. Cigarettes defined in the dictionary are, “a cylindrical roll of shredded tobacco leaves for smoking, with an outer covering of thin, usually white, paper,” so the phrase, included in the definition - ’for smoking’ – indicates the cigarette is lit by fire (or electricity) and smoke results from that process. So a true cigarette cannot be smokeless.

What To Call Smokeless Cigarettes?

A more suitable name or term for a device that looks and feels like a cigarette but does not “smoke” is a “cigarette substitute.” An example of such a product is called Light-Free. This product emits no smoke what-so-ever, but does look and feel – in the hands and in the mouth – like a real cigarette. It is a completely safe product, as it contains no nicotine, chemicals or flavorings and is not lit, so nothing is ingested into the body and no second-hand smoke is emitted. It is, by definition, not a real cigarette and not classified or regulated as one by The United States Food and Drug Administration.

E-Cigarettes

This brings up the topic of E-Cigarettes. As of April 2011, the Food and Drug Administration has decided not to classify these electronic, nicotine vapor inhaled devices as drugs to be regulated, but to put them in the same category as cigarettes themselves. What does this mean to the consumer? It means that they are at least as harmful as tobacco cigarettes because they are still nicotine delivery systems. Nicotine is still delivered into the body and into the air. It is known, for sure – at the slightest – that nicotine is an addictive drug, but it is not really known what effect nicotine itself has on one’s body internally apart from its addictive nature. Thinking logically, as it is a very powerful drug – there must be other consequences from its use. And even without the nicotine, what chemicals are being introduced to the smoker’s body from liquid or material of any kind being heated through cheap metal or plastic from foreign countries that is being manufactured in unregulated factories to produce a “vapor?” And can someone (adults/children) be accidently burned by these electronic heating devices? Will smoking an e-cigarette while filling up your car with gas be permitted? Of course the answers to these questions and others are at the very minimum troubling and will surely have to be addressed by some regulatory agency.

Since E-Cigarettes are now, according to the FDA, to be classified in the same category as tobacco cigarettes, it is presumed that their use will be banned from the same places as tobacco cigarettes. All told, the tobacco cigarette smoker who wants to quit will not be helping themselves in any fashion by switching to E-Cigarettes. They will still be facing the same dangers and even more hassles as with tobacco cigarettes. There is no such thing as a safe “smokeless cigarette.”