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• Cyber-Smoke: The Emergence of the E-Cigarette as an Alternative 

This week's cover story addresses the skyrocketing price of cigarettes in New York and some of the ways people are coping. The hideous and disturbing anti-smoking commercials and billboards, together with the indoor smoking ban has sent smokers running for a variety of smoking alternatives, both to side-step legislation and make somewhat healthier choices.

Necessity, as the saying goes, is the mother of invention, and once again technology now offers options that were unthinkable as recently as a decade ago. Mechatronics, the combination of mechanical, electronic and software engineering has produced an advanced hybrid system: the electronic cigarette, aka the e-cig. An international subculture has emerged around e-cigs, though patents are still pending worldwide for the products, are produced and distributed primarily from China. Sidestepping cigarettes by pursuing international loopholes through the Internet, most e-cigs are bought online, breeding wealth of online forums where users compare products and share tips on cleaning, tricks and troubleshooting. . . .

The e-cig can be smoked inside, technically, as it is not a tobacco cigarette and the emitted smoke is harmless and odorless. However, its ambiguous status forces users to have to maneuver carefully. A handful of EU nations have stipulations about their legality, Austria deeming it a medical device, the UK allowing them inside and sold at a celebrity nightclub, Chinawhite, and the Netherlands allowing their use but forbidding advertising until the EU makes a legal stand. They have been accepted in the US, several e-cig smokers reporting that after explaining to their bosses and HR, they have enjoyed smoking at their desks at work. All e-cigs seem to be imported, but the US seems not to have taken a legal stand as yet.

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