This has taken me quite a while to write for some reason, but I realised that not everyone visiting the site will know that these great device are, so I hope it helps to some degree. If you have any questions please leave a comment.

What Is A Smokeless Cigarette?

Basically smokeless cigarettes are the best alternative to tobacco to be created to date. They have been made possible thanks to many recent advances in technology, one of the main ones being small, yet powerful batteries like those Apple produced to power their iPods and other devices. We are also able to “smoke” them anywhere we want, unlike tobacco which is banned almost everywhere these days. Not only has tobacco smoking been banned inside many public places but in New York, for example, you can’t even smoke outside in parks and other public spaces these days. This is great for non smokers, but if you need your nicotine hit, you need to get it from somewhere, this is where these electronic cigarettes come in, you can use them anywhere. The reason for this is that they don’t create any harmful smoke, the only thing they give off is an odorless water vapor. Even though they don’t give off smoke you still use them in a similar way to tobacco cigarettes, they feel like you are smoking tobacco and in most cases they look like tobacco cigarettes as well. This is the product that smokers have been waiting for for years, not only because of smoking bans, but because of ever increasing tobacco prices.

Smokeless Electronic Cigarette Benefits

No bad breath – The vapor given off by the E cigarette wont leave your breath smelling like a dirty ashtray, though you will still be able to taste the tobacco flavor in your mouth for a while after you have finished “vaping”.

No mess – Because nothing is burned there is no ash created, if you smoke in your home or in your car then you know how horrible the dusty film that lies on everything is. With smokeless cigarettes you need not worry about this and your home and car will smell fresh all the time, no matter how much you “smoke”.

No restrictions – As mentioned above, there are almost no restrictions on using smokeless cigarettes in enclosed or open public places, so you can use it at work, at the cinema, in restaurants and so on.

Save money – In some parts of the USA a pack of tobacco cigarettes costs between $8 and $10, with smokeless cigarettes, depending on the brand, you can pay as little as $1.75 for the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes. You can make huge savings.

How Do Smokeless Cigarettes Work?

The idea behind smokeless cigarettes is pretty simple really, they are generally made up of two basic parts –

• The Cartridge
• The Battery

But of course within these two parts there is quite a lot going on.

Breakdown of the South Beach Smoke.

The Cartridge

The cartridge is the part of the cigarette that looks like the filter section off of a tobacco ciggie. Inside this section is where a liquid form of nicotine is stored. The main ingredients of the nicotine liquid are, nicotine (of course), flavorings and propylene glycol (PG). PG is a bone of contention with many anti E cigarette campaigners, they claim it is harmful to human health, but the truth of the matter is that PG is non-toxic and FDA approved, you will find it in a number of foods, cosmetics and other products which are safe for human use and consumption.

The cartridge is also where the atomizer is located. The atomizer is the little device that heats up the nicotine liquid and turns it into a vapor which we are able to inhale. When ever you take a drag from the mouthpiece, the atomizer kicks into life and as soon as you stop inhaling it cuts out. In most cases this will happen automatically, but there are some devices that require you to push a button to activate the atomizer, these are “manual” devices. Personally these manual cigarettes are my preferred choice, they allow you greater control over the amount of vapor produced and the size of the hit you get. Not all companies offer these manual devices, but V2 Cigs are one company that does.

3-piece and 2-piece E cigs

3-Piece Devices

There are some devices available, such as the Vapor King, where the atomizer and the nicotine cartridge come separate, these are known as “3-piece” E cigarettes (the 3 pieces being the nicotine cartridge, separate atomizer and battery), and in my opinion these are not as good as the “2-piece” devices.

Another name for the 2-piece cigarette cartridge is “cartomizer” because the cartridge and atomizer are one unit.

The advantage to using a cartomizer design is that any time you change nicotine cartridge you automatically have a brand new atomizer too, this gives you the best possible smoking experience all of the time. With a 3 piece cigarette you re-use the atomizer a number of times, this can lead to lower quality vapor and taste, and of course it could stop working at a time where you don’t have a replacement close to hand. That’s not something I’d be impressed with.

The Battery

The two obvious parts of the battery section are the body of the battery itself, which looks like a cigarette paper) and the LED light at the tip of the device which lights up when you take a drag. This may lead you to think that the battery is just that, a battery, but it is in fact a lot more complicated than that. To be honest it’s more complicated than I know about, but I’ll try and explain it the best I can.

In most cases, if not all, the battery is a lithium-ion unit, very similar to those you find in your smart phone, MP3 player and many other pieces of modern electrical equipment. This means that it is relatively light and you get more use out of your battery between charges, it is still a very small battery so don’t expect it to last forever, normally one of these batteries will give you enough time to “smoke” about 30 cigarettes worth of cartridges.

There is also some kind of flow sensor in the battery, this is what detects the user taking a drag from the device and activates the battery, atomizer and the LED light, it does this by sensing air movement through the device.

In the best electronic cigarettes such as the Safe Cig, V2 Cigs and so on (and maybe even in the cheaper devices too, I’m not totally sure) there is a “brain”, a control unit that oversees how everything is working, it looks at the amount of nicotine liquid in the cartridge, how much battery power is available and usage to provide the best quality hit and flavor every time the user takes a drag.

Charging

When your battery finally does run out of power then of course you will need to recharge it. This is a simple process, just screw the battery into a charger and plug it in. But there are a number of different chargers to choose from, the most common one is the USB charger, plug it into your computer while at work and it’ll charge away. Of course you can get A/C wall chargers too, as well as in-car chargers powered by the 12v supply in there.

There is one final option that has become much more popular over the last year or so, that is the Portable Charging Case (PCC), from the outside this case looks much like a smaller version of a regular cigarette case, but once you open it up you see its not that simple, there is a connector to screw your E cigarette battery into. This lets you charge your battery while on the move, you don’t need another power supply, the cases internal battery should be able to charge your E cigarette battery about 5 times before it will need to be recharged itself. Very handy for people who don’t work in a fixed place or who work outdoors.

The technology is changing all the time, so no doubt within a month or two this is all going to need to be changed again, but it is still an over view of how these devices work. Hopefully you get the idea. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments section before or send me an email via the contact page.