Thursday, November 15, 2012

How Do Smokeless Cigarettes Work

Cigarette smoking is one of those addictive habits that can be harmful to health. It is the nicotine content in cigarettes that makes people addictive to this product. Once you get used to nicotine, you will develop a craving for the same. Apart from the craving, discontinuation of smoking will also make the person anxious, depressed and irritable. Puffing a cigarette provides an immediate fix for these problems. This cycle continues and the user may find it difficult to overcome the addiction of smoking cigarettes. It is under such circumstances that smokers seek help to quit smoking.

Efforts of the user to quit smoking is aided with smoking cessation tools, like nicotine patches, nicotine chewing gum and smokeless cigarettes. These products aim at tapering off the habit by providing small doses of nicotine. This article deals with the various aspects of smokeless cigarettes.

What are Smokeless Cigarettes
As the name rightly suggests, smokeless cigarettes do not produce smoke, like the conventional cigarettes. Otherwise known as electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes, these products are devices that help the users to derive the pleasure of smoking, without using a conventional cigarette. A smokeless cigarette is a device that uses heat to vaporize nicotine solution and this vapor is inhaled by the user, who derives the same pleasurable feeling as in case of cigarette smoking.

As compared to conventional cigarettes, no smoke is produced by electronic cigarettes. This is the reason why this product is being promoted as a smoking cessation tool. Cigarette smoke is said to contain around 4000 chemicals, including carcinogens. Apart from being harmful to the user, other people too may get affected with passive smoking. So, smokeless cigarettes are comparatively less risky to the user and there is no chance of passive smoking too. In case of smoking cessation, the dose of nicotine (that is administered through smokeless cigarette) is gradually reduced to zero, thereby helping the person to get rid of smoking.

More About Smokeless Cigarettes
Though, smokeless cigarettes are being increasingly used as a smoking cessation tool, now it is one of the widely used products with millions of genuine users across the globe. Invented in 2003, by a Chinese scientist Hon Lik, smokeless cigarettes are now available in many different models. While, most of these electronic devices are designed like conventional cigarettes, you may find them in other shapes like pens, and screwdrivers. While the earlier models used to generate heat to vaporize the nicotine solution, there are some latest ones that use ultrasound waves for this purpose.

A smokeless cigarette may contain flavoring with or without nicotine. While, some of these flavors are like that of regular cigarettes, with tobacco and menthol, there are others like chocolate and vanilla. Most of these devices are reusable as they can be recharged and refilled. There are disposable ones too. As there are many different models, it will be better to go through some smokeless cigarette reviews, before choosing the best one.

How Do Smokeless Cigarettes Work
Before starting with the working of a smokeless cigarette, let us take a look at the parts of this device. The main parts of an electronic cigarette include a mouthpiece (otherwise known as cartridge), a battery unit and a heating element. Apart from the above said parts, there will a colored LED light to mimic the glowing tip of a conventional cigarette and the container inside which these parts are fixed.

The mouthpiece or cartridge is a small cylindrical container with openings at both ends. This container is used to house an absorbent material that is saturated with the liquid solution (with or without nicotine) to be vaporized. The heating element, which is called an atomizer is used to generate heat that vaporizes the solution inside the mouthpiece. The battery provides the energy to heat up the heating element. Mostly, rechargeable lithium ion batteries are used in electronic smokeless cigarettes. You may also use those types with replaceable batteries. Even the heating element and mouthpiece may be required to be replaced at regular intervals.

As far as battery unit of a smokeless cigarette is concerned, there are some models with electronic airflow sensor that works automatically. In others, a button will be provided for manual operation. Some models may also provide an automatic cut off switch that prevents overheating of the atomizer. So, as the user inhales a smokeless cigarette, the battery will release a charge that will activate the atomizer. The heat generated by the activator vaporizes the solution inside the cartridge. These vapors are inhaled by the user, who will get the feeling of smoking a cigarette. This is a simple explanation on how smokeless cigarettes work.

You may find slight variations in some models that make use of advanced technology. But, the basic method is almost same in all models. Even though smokeless cigarettes are considered to be comparatively safer to the conventional ones, there are speculations with regard to regular use of nicotine through smokeless cigarettes. Even the use of propylene glycol in the solution is being studied for its so-called harmful effects on the body. So, if you are using smokeless cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool, make sure to taper off its usage gradually. Otherwise too, reduce its use, especially those who use nicotine solution. In fact, various countries have banned the use of smokeless cigarettes with nicotine.

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