{"id":1954,"date":"2014-02-23T19:38:02","date_gmt":"2014-02-23T19:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=1954"},"modified":"2014-02-23T19:59:47","modified_gmt":"2014-02-23T19:59:47","slug":"are-e-cigs-controversial-because-they-look-like-cigarettes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=1954","title":{"rendered":"Are e-cigs controversial because they look like cigarettes?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ecig2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That’s the question raised by National Public Radio columnist Alva Noe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s an interesting point he makes. If e-cigarettes looked like a medical inhaler, would anyone care about them being used in public?<\/p>\n

The controversy surrounding these devices is fueled by these facts about look and feel. If they looked like medicinal inhalers, or if the vapor exhaled were not designed to resemble smoke (as I assume that it is), there would be little to fight about. For there would be no link to cigarettes and smoking. No one argues that smoking bans should be extended to nicotine gum.<\/p>\n

But the fact is, on both sides, symbolic benefits and symbolic dangers govern the discussion.<\/p>\n

Anti-smoking activists have long worked hard to tarnish the appeal and glamor of the smoke. They’ve been trying to tear-down smoking’s image<\/em>. From their point of view, pretend smoking is dangerous if it does anything to make smoking seem appealing. In the trenches of the smoking propaganda wars, a smoking simulacrum is a dangerous weapon, not because it’s dangerous itself or poses dangers to others, but precisely because it may not.<\/p>\n

And on the other side, manufacturers and their shills are quick to insist that that e-cigarettes are a tool for quitting. Why? Not because they are a safer cigarette, but because they are not a cigarette at all, but rather a nicotine-delivery system that has the appearance of a cigarette. Again, the value in a simulacrum.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Again, being one of the anti-smoking activists that Noe refers to, I’m personally on the fence on e-cigs. They are safer than cigarettes, but not completely safe, and keep a person addicted to nicotine addicted. However, they are not annoying, don’t irritate the nose and eyes, and if they genuinely help some people quit smoking, more power to ’em. I reserve judgement.<\/p>\n

\"stephen-dorff-blu-e-cigs\"<\/a>
Blu is trying to make e-cigs LOOK cool like cigarettes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He definitely brings up some salient points about perhaps part of the reason there is so much controversy surrounding e-cigs. They simply do look like cigarettes and in fact, in the Blu E-cig ads, they are \u00a0marketed the same way as cigarettes back in the day — to appear cool and sleek. If e-cigs are controversial because they look like cigarettes, well, the e-cig industry has definitely tried to market them as somehow being a “different kind of cigarette,” which is perhaps why there continues to be so much confusion about what exactly they are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That’s the question raised by National Public Radio columnist Alva Noe. It’s an interesting point he makes. If e-cigarettes looked like a medical inhaler, would anyone care about them being used in public? The controversy surrounding these devices is fueled by these facts about look and feel. If they looked like medicinal inhalers, or if … Continue reading Are e-cigs controversial because they look like cigarettes?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,22],"tags":[591,592],"class_list":["post-1954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-cigarettes","category-e-cigs","tag-e-cigarettes","tag-e-cigs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/ecig2.jpg?fit=1120%2C745&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-vw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3272,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3272","url_meta":{"origin":1954,"position":0},"title":"UK study: E-cigarettes not effective in the longterm in helping smokers quit","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"May 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This study is going to go against a lot of anecdotal stories that I see repeatedly on the Internet. A study done in the UK has shown that E-cigarettes are not very effective for helping smokers quit and that most smokers who use E-cigs as a smoking cessation tool are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "E-cig advertising"","block_context":{"text":"E-cig advertising","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=240"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/e-cig3.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/e-cig3.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/e-cig3.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/e-cig3.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/e-cig3.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3350,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3350","url_meta":{"origin":1954,"position":1},"title":"Poll: E-cigarette use is up, but e-cigs are not necessarily replacing cigarettes","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"June 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A very interesting poll this week put out by Reuters kind of confirms what a lot of us have been saying now a few months -- that a small percentage of people using e-cigarettes are using them to quit smoking. According to this poll of 5,679 people, 75 percent of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "e-cigarettes"","block_context":{"text":"e-cigarettes","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"e-cig3","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/e-cig3-500x281.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3121,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3121","url_meta":{"origin":1954,"position":2},"title":"More bad news about teens and e-cigs — e-cig use among kids tripled from 2013 to 2014","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"April 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Man, this is frustrating news. Teen smoking down, of course, but down for the wrong reason -- because a LOT more kids than ever are now \"vaping\" instead. A recent Centers for Disease Control survey shows that the use of e-cigs has tripled in just one year among teens (from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blu"","block_context":{"text":"Blu","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=95"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/am_140826_electronic_cigarette_woman_800x600.jpg?fit=800%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/am_140826_electronic_cigarette_woman_800x600.jpg?fit=800%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/am_140826_electronic_cigarette_woman_800x600.jpg?fit=800%2C600&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/am_140826_electronic_cigarette_woman_800x600.jpg?fit=800%2C600&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3495,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3495","url_meta":{"origin":1954,"position":3},"title":"New study: No, e-cigs aren’t harmless, they give off high levels of formaldehyde","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"September 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In the most recent case of dueling studies on e-cigarettes, the latest -- from the Center for Environmental Health -- strongly suggests that e-cigs give off a high dose of carcinogenic\u00a0formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. A dose so high, it violates California law. This isn't the first study to raise alarms about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Center for Environmental Health"","block_context":{"text":"Center for Environmental Health","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=710"},"img":{"alt_text":"2666","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/2666.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3781,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3781","url_meta":{"origin":1954,"position":4},"title":"A spirited defence of e-cigarettes","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"March 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Lately, I've been posting a lot of negative stories about e-cigarettes and recent studies showing the vapour in e-cigs may not be as benign as c-cig companies would have you believe. 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Or at least much better than cigarettes","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"August 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A glowing study about e-cigs out just came out of England this week that in some ways 180 degrees contradicts another study done at the University of Southern California. Public Health England came out with an absolutely glowing report on e-cigs .... so glowing that I'm immediately left a little\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "e-cigarettes"","block_context":{"text":"e-cigarettes","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/e-cig-graphic.jpg?fit=964%2C601&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/e-cig-graphic.jpg?fit=964%2C601&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/e-cig-graphic.jpg?fit=964%2C601&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/e-cig-graphic.jpg?fit=964%2C601&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1954"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1960,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954\/revisions\/1960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}