Jump to full article: Tampa Bay (FL) Online (TBO.com), 2009-07-02
Author: RICHARD MULLINS * The Tampa Tribune
Intro: Although the battery-powered cigs don't produce tobacco smoke, should users be banned from "vaping" in restaurants and airplanes? Just where can you vape, as the lingo calls vapor inhaling?
That's a sticky point, and the etiquette is far from settled.
For anyone buying e-cigs, consider yourself a bit illicit. E-cigarettes inhabit a legal gray area. The Food and Drug Administration recently blocked some e-cig imports, and officials want to halt sales. At least three makers sell them online, and one maker sells in Tampa malls. . . .
Jason Healy, president of the e-cigarette company Blu, said he regularly uses his product on airlines, including Quantas, American Airlines and Southwest.
"I just show it to the flight attendants, explain it, and they're usually fine," Healy said.
Since launching online sales in April, Blu, based in Charlotte, N.C., has sold more than 22,000 starter kits.
That kind of success bothers anti-smoking advocates.
"They're just another way the tobacco industry has found to target addicts for a profit," said Gary Stein, tobacco programs coordinator for the Hillsborough County Health Department. . . .
Southwest Airlines officials toyed with allowing e-cigarettes on planes and listened to presentations two years ago by at least one e-cigarette maker hoping the airline would allow them.
Southwest decided on a policy against them, said spokeswoman Marlee McInnis.
"We have made it clear we do not accept them," she said. "We definitely don't want people concerned about them."
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