Tobacco.org

LEE: Smoke Signals  

Intrigued by debates over the unregulated electronic cigarette, City Room decided to take an e-cigarette out for a spin in Bloomberg's anti-smoking New York City.

An e-cigarette was put into action, releasing some pretty realistic-looking smoke, on a subway car waiting at the end of the V line at Second Avenue in Manhattan. Four blond women, presumably European tourists by the sound of their accents, glared and moved to the next subway car. Another person stepped into the car, saw the puffing, and turned right back out.

Such hostility.

Smokers, not surprisingly, received the e-cigarette much more warmly; apparently, the sight of an e-cigarette is an open invitation to start a conversation. "Are you trying to quit smoking?" a man at the West 4th Street station asked. He was a pack-a-day smoker and someone had tried to sell him one of the devices, so he said he recognized it immediately. . . . It turns out that a bar is actually the most discreet place to smoke a fake cigarette because it's dark. You can barely see the cigarette except when you are inhaling. The smoke, which has no smell, quickly and discreetly dissipates.

Jump to full article »