Jump to full article: Lincoln (NE) Journal Star, 2009-04-18
Author: MICAH MERTES / Lincoln Journal Star
Intro: Adam Braithwaite of Omaha was putting his 3-year-old in the car seat when he realized that his car and his kid smelled like cigarette smoke.
"I just thought, 'What am I doing to my kids, here? I've got to stop smoking,'" he said.
. . .
E-cigs don't emit that harsh odor of tobacco smoke, and the exhaled mist dissipates instead of lingering, making secondhand smoke a non-issue.
Advocates of e-cigs say it's a great way to quit smoking because the nicotine mist contains no tar or any carcinogens of tobacco smoke.
After Braithwaite went from smoking to "vaping," as it's called, he decided to start selling e-cigs. He's opened a new business in Omaha called Vapor Options, which is now selling e-cigs to customers in 18 states.
The biggest boon for e-cigs in places like Lincoln and Omaha is that they don't violate local (or soon-to-be statewide) smoking bans.
That's why Braithwaite is meeting with as many bar owners and managers as possible, letting them know about e-cigs and trying to get the establishments to put up stickers that say "e-cigs allowed." . . .
The potential reintroduction of “smoking culture” into bars and nightclubs has anti-smoking groups nervous.
“I understand why people use the nicotine replacement aids,” said Serena Chen, regional tobacco policy director of the American Lung Association in California. “But I don’t understand why people want to pretend that they’re smoking.”
Chen believes that many ex-smokers will conclude that the e-cigarette is harmless and be lured back into the smoking trap.
“If you had a serial killer who liked to stab people, would you give him a rubber knife?” Chen asked. “This just boggles the mind.”
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