iPloom - New Electronic Cigarette with Antioxidants

iPloom Granted Provisional Patent for Electronic Cigarette with Antioxidants

BOSTON, Oct. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ — iPloom, LLC a Massachusetts based manufacturer of electronic cigarettes has been granted a Provisional Patent for their new Electronic Cigarette with Antioxidants. The pending patent covers the method and system for preparing a liquid tobacco extract solution enriched with Polyphenols and Epigallocatechins Gallate (EGCG), potent antioxidants that provide health benefits to people who use an electronic smoking device as an alternative to traditional tobacco products.

Studies have demonstrated the cancer-fighting properties of EGCG, a natural compound found in green tea. These potent antioxidants may help to repair lung damage caused by smoking cigarettes.

iPloom is a Massachusett based limited liability corporation. The company manufactures E-Cigarettes in China and manufactures E-Liquids in the United States that are used in electronic smoking devices. iPloom is a pioneer in extracting tobacco flavor and nicotene from “All Natural” Whole Leaf tobacco.

www.iploom.com

For additional information:

Anthony Marino

800-570-8980

Media Contact: Anthony Marino, iPloom LLC, 800-570-8980, acmarino@iploom.com

News distributed by PR Newswire iReach: https://ireach.prnewswire.com

iPloom - New Electronic Cigarette with Antioxidants

Big Tobacco Invests in E-Cigarettes. Should You?

U.S. sales of electronic cigarettes are expected to jump past $1 billion this year, and where there’s growth like that you can bet someone is making money – whether it’ll be new companies or Big Tobacco remains to be seen.

While still a tiny fraction of total tobacco sales, the market is already a lucrative one for some fledgling e-cigarette firms, though companies that promote and advertise the products are receiving much of the benefits, not manufacturers themselves. Longer term, the burning question is: Who is best positioned when government regulators take control of a market that’s so unfettered it can legally target adolescents with candy-flavored smokes.

Nationwide, e-cigarettes are sold with little restrictions except for one big one – they cannot claim to be a cure for habitual smoking or they risk U.S. Food and Drug Administration sanctions (several states also restrict sales to minors). Instead, sales have grown slowly in a curious niche – a hybrid of traditional smokers and those trying to quit. The battery-operated smokes heat nicotine-infused vapors that can be inhaled like a regular cigarette, making them safer than carcinogenic tobacco, but not necessarily risk-free, according to the FDA. Studies about their safety or effectiveness in quitting tobacco are not conclusive, and health officials say more research is needed.

 

In economic terms, e-cigarettes hit a classic inflection point last year when, after years of gradual sales growth, they became too big for the $100 billion tobacco business to ignore. Suddenly, celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio are puffing on black-tube, blue-tipped e-cigarettes and touting them on commercials on MTV. E-cigarettes are becoming cool, and marketers have taken notice.

E-cigarette maker NJOY, with about 40 percent of the market, isn’t selling itself based on its hipness factor. It’s positioning itself as the choice of Main Street smokers who just want to quit tobacco, says S&P Capital IQ equity analyst Esther Kwon, who covers the tobacco industry. Targeting “smoke-quitters” makes business sense, she says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 70 percent of smokers want to quit. To reach that group, Kwon says NJOY tries to duplicate the look and feel of a real cigarette.

Still, if its mainstream focus lacks downtown hipness, NJOY has generated buzz with its high-profile investors and anti-smoking “cred.” NJOY’s roster of supporters include billionaire Sean Parker, of Facebook and Napster fame, and former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, who will head a NJOY research committee that will study the e-cigarettes. The company is positioned for a possible takeover by one of the major tobacco players or a possible initial public offering, analysts say, though that could be some time into the future.

“Some smaller players will be taken over by Big Tobacco, and NJOY could eventually go public,” says Adriana de Lozada, an analyst for private company research firm PrivCo. “NJOY has done a great job of positioning itself, but it’s not ready to do an IPO, not yet. Growth is important, but so is size to be able to go public and to compete in this market.”

[Read: What You Don't Know About Dividend Reinvestment Can Hurt.]

Lorillard, the scrappy No. 3 cigarette maker behind giants Altria and Reynolds American, has moved aggressively with its blu brand, says Kwon, adding that the company has “always been an innovator.” It’s trying to bring a touch of Mad Men-style glamour to cigarettes, and bringing smokes back to the tube for the first time in four decades with ads featuring television celebrity Jenny McCarthy puffing up the benefits of e-cigarettes by saying “it’s not sexy” to smell like an ashtray and pointing out she doesn’t have to freeze outside to smoke a cigarette.

Lorillard trades at about the same relative price-to-earnings as the other tobacco makers. Its market cap of $17 billion is far less than Altria’s $70 billion. A successful IPO or acquisition of its startup competitor, NJOY, could boost its valuation further, according to Kwon. “They could get rewarded by the publicity of NJOY’s IPO,” she says. “It might get their value noticed more.”

Lastly, Vapor is the pure play, the lone publicly traded e-cigarette company. Its performances suggest that the economics of e-cigarettes are difficult, as it trades at 85 cents a share and has lost money on flat earnings the past year. But others, like Swisher, have succeeded in building market share with savvy marketing, de Lozada says.

“There is a window with a bit of an opening now, but if they have to compete with big brands that are already established, their profit margins will be squeezed,” Kwon says. “And Big Tobacco has the advantage of huge distribution no one can match.”

More broadly, media firms could be a big winner regardless of which e-cigarettes prevail, because they’re being advertised on television – a venue where traditional cigarettes have been banned for years. It’s a new front for the tobacco industry, which still spends billions of dollars on other media, including magazine ads, promotions and sponsorships. That trend will probably accelerate in an all-out marketing e-cigarette war as Altria and Reynolds enter the market this year. And e-cigarettes already have outspent traditional cigarette makers advertising in major media this year, according to data by Kantar Media.

New frontiers in advertising and social media may win some of that spending. The Internet advertising industry could benefit from e-cigarettes supported by people online via the likes of Google’s recently launched “shared endorsement” service, which sells information about users’ endorsements. (It’s not a coincidence that digital entrepreneurs like Parker have entered the space.)

And what about Big Tobacco’s role? Altria and Reynolds need to compete, but the cost of a massive new marketing push in a sector where regulatory issues are still being sorted out might not make perfect sense, at least for now, analysts say, especially if such new costs mean any trade-off for tobacco company shareholders who purchase the stocks in part for their high dividend yields. “They are in a business that is highly profitable that does not require a whole lot of investment,” says Kwon, while noting a changing market could upend such reluctance. “This could be much different in the future, and this is something they will have to invest in. It’s in its very early stages, but it has potential to become something big, and it could have an impact.”

[Read: 6 Companies You Did Not Know Were High Tech.]

Analyst Bonnie Herzog of Wells Fargo Securities sparked media attention with a report earlier this year that e-cigarette growth will continue for the next decade and overtake traditional smoking sales for U.S. tobacco companies. A number of analysts declined to comment, citing a pending earnings period for tobacco companies, and Herzog was not available for comment. However, big brokers have generally been recommending the stocks for their dividends and steady earnings, and analysts have expressed skepticism that e-cigarettes, with less than 1 percent of the total market, will make much impact anytime soon.

Meanwhile, the regulatory and legal issues surrounding their marketing has been slowed by Washington’s budget stalemate that led to government shutdown. A number of decisions are due soon that could bring clarity and more regulation.

“All of these big gains [for e-cigarettes] are coming at a time of zero regulation, no taxes and a lot of hype,” says one analyst who requested U.S. News to not use his name. “The bottom line is that only a limited number of people will switch once the playing field is leveled. Our research shows that it won’t happen because e-cigarettes are just not as satisfying.”

Big Tobacco Invests in E-Cigarettes. Should You?

E-Cigarette Marketing Seen Threatened by FDA Scrutiny

By Anna Edney - Oct 15, 2013 9:00 PM MT  The Bloomberg Washington Newsletter

The $1.5 billion U.S. electronic-cigarette industry has tripled sales this year with the help of TV ads, Nascar sponsorships and product giveaways. Government regulation may now threaten those marketing tactics.

The Food and Drug Administration is set to decide this month whether to lump e-cigarettes in with conventional smokes as part of its oversight of the $90 billion U.S. tobacco market. Such a step would set the stage for greater restrictions on production, advertising, flavorings and online sales.

With at least 40 U.S. states seeking stricter rules and federal health officials raising the alarm about e-cigarette use by children, manufacturers of the smokeless devices are preparing for a FDA crackdown. Photographer: Mike Kane/Bloomberg

June 26 (Bloomberg) — Thilo Wrede, an analyst at Jefferies & Co., talks about the development of smokeless alternatives to cigarettes by Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris International unit. He talks with Adam Johnson and Trish Regan on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart.” Christopher Verrone, head of technical analysis at Strategas Research Partners, also speaks. (Source: Bloomberg)

With at least 40 U.S. states seeking stricter rules and federal health officials raising the alarm about e-cigarette use by children, manufacturers of the smokeless devices are preparing for a FDA crackdown.

“We do anticipate becoming a regulated industry, so it is very possible the way in which we advertise will change,” said Andries Verleur, co-founder of e-cigarette maker VMR Products.

E-cigarettes heat liquid nicotine into an inhaled vapor without the tar of normal cigarettes. For the moment, marketers operate with few, if any, of the regulatory limits that apply totobacco companies such as Philip Morris USA and Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) TV advertisements by tobacco companies were banned in 1971, and in 2010 the FDA eliminated cigarette sampling. Sporting leagues such as Nascar also have severed ties.

With the FDA seeking to expand its regulatory authority beyond conventional cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, some e-cigarette companies are opening up the marketing spigot while they still have a chance.

Nightclub Push

Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corp. (ECIG), run by the same marketing executive who helped build InBev NV into a dominant brewer, is handing out 1 million e-cigarettes starting this month at events in 50 U.S. cities. There will be a traveling van and tents at Nascar races, said Chief Executive Officer Brent Willis, who was once the president of InBev’s Asia-Pacific operations and helped introduce the Kraft brand to China.

Logic Technology Inc., which makes up 17 percent of industry sales, plans a push in Manhattan bars and nightclubs this year or early 2014.

“You go where adult smokers are,” said Miguel Martin, president of Livingston, New Jersey-based Logic, in an interview.

The industry says e-cigarettes are a healthier, cleaner alternative to traditional smoking. Many disagree. At least 40 U.S. state attorneys general on Sept. 24 urged the FDA to immediately regulate the sale and advertising of electronic cigarettes in a letter that said the products are appealing to youth and no one is “ensuring the safety of the ingredients.”

Child Addicts

That followed a Sept. 5 report in which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised an alarm about children getting hooked on nicotine. The CDC found the share of U.S. students in middle school and high school who used e-cigarettes doubled to 10 percent in 2012 from 4.7 percent a year earlier.

By comparison, adolescents who reported smoking regular cigarettes daily or more casually, declined to 8.3 percent in 2010, from 11.9 percent in 2004, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said earlier this year.

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and 11 other Democrats, seized on the report to call for immediate FDA regulation and to demand that e-cigarette companies provide documents related to sales, labeling and marketing of their products to children.

“Despite claims from some e-cigarette makers that they do not market their products to youth and that kids should not have access to their products, e-cigarette manufacturers appear to be applying marketing tactics similar to those used by the tobacco industry to hook a new generation of children,” the senators wrote in a Sept. 26 letter to e-cigarette companies.

FDA Agenda

The FDA has oversight over the cigarette market under a 2009 law that gives it sway over manufacturing, marketing and other tobacco industry practices. The law permits the FDA to determine whether it will extend its reach to related products.

In a government catalog of upcoming federal regulatory actions, called the Unified Agenda, the FDA lists October 2013 as the deadline for issuing a notice for proposing such rules.

The FDA has sent a proposal to the White House Office of Management and Budget, seeking to expand its regulatory authority beyond cigarettes, Steven Immergut, a spokesman for the agency said in an e-mail yesterday. “Their review will begin when the government shutdown ends,” he said.

Industry Standard

Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said everyone is watching to see precisely what the FDA has proposed.

“Sometimes OMB takes weeks and sometimes OMB sits on things for a very long time,” he said in an interview. “I don’t think this is something the OMB plans to sit on.”

E-cigarette companies are on board with manufacturing standards and age restrictions while saying advertising limits shouldn’t be on the table. VMR’s Verleur said his company, which makes the V2 Cigs brand, and his competitors have asked the FDA for meetings to give their side of the argument.

“One thing that would be very bad is to lump us in with traditional cigarettes and apply some of the same standards,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Edney in Washington at aedney@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net

E-Cigarette Marketing Seen Threatened by FDA Scrutiny

Why Is The FDA Shielding Smokers From The Good News About E-Cigarettes?

By Gilbert Ross, M.D. -

Any clear-thinking health professional would agree that cigarette smoking is without question the most devastating and preventable public health risk that we need to address in this country. And now, four-plus years after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was given legal authority over tobacco products, the regulatory agency faces arguably its most important public health decision in its history. The time has come to confront their responsibility to smokers trying to quit and their families.

The worldwide death-toll of cigarette smoking is reliably predicted to hit one billion this century. Despite this depressing fact, the measures implemented by the FDA thus far, ostensibly to reduce the toll of smoking, have been almost entirely lip service, without making any real impact. A relatively new method of helping addicted smokers quit has been adopted by millions of smokers – many of whom are now ex-smokers — over the past few years. I refer of course to electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). Concurrent with the dramatic spike in sales of this device comes word of historic declines in the sale of real cigarettes.

E-cigarettes work by delivering a potent “hit” of nicotine in water vapor, with flavorings and propellants of no significant health concerns — neither to the “vaper” (as they call themselves), nor to bystanders. Most of them resemble cigarettes — which is both their blessing, and their curse.

Astoundingly, this nascent public-health miracle has been met with something between derision and hysteria by anti-tobacco groups worldwide: globally, the WHO, health-oriented NGOs, the British regulator MHRA, and many nations are sparing no effort to discourage smokers from trying them, employing misleading (even false) alerts and dire website warnings, phony surveys, and exaggerated concerns about youth being led astray. Unfortunately, and embarrassingly for science-based public health policy, our FDA and CDC have been willingly complicit in this widespread disinformation campaign. Meanwhile they purposely ignore studies that indicate the benefit of e-cigarettes for helping smokers quit. I ask, “How could this be?”

The possible explanations are not pretty: willful ignorance, dogma based on experiences garnered in the 20^th century, or greed.

I accuse those responsible for impeding truthful communication about the real risks of e-cigarettes of collaborating in a “cigarette-protection campaign,” whose effects will be to discourage smokers from quitting, leading to more dead smokers. Consider this: those who stand in the way of acceptance of e-cigarettes are acting from motivations that are far removed from public health. The nonprofit groups in the forefront of anti-e-cigarette activism are also heavily funded by pharmaceutical companies in the business of selling near-useless cessation drugs — a fact which they conveniently neglect to disclose. If tobacco companies carried on the same way, they would be hauled into court by the FDA in a heartbeat. Meanwhile, the net result of the official campaigns: cigarette markets protected, worthless cessation aids promoted. Who profits? Not addicted smokers.

Despite the pervasive anti-smoking campaigns, a handful of marginally successful cessation drugs and the “denormalization” measures, the addictive drumbeat goes on.  In our country alone, cigarettes exact an annual sacrifice of about 450,000 prematurely dead. Another 8 1/2 million people and their families suffer lingering ills thanks to smoking. And still, near twenty percent of our population continues to smoke, with little change over the century’s first decade.

While smoking rates did come down after the Surgeon General’s report in 1964, the sick and the dead pile up anyway: nothing can be done about this, since the damage was done decades ago, thanks to the nefarious, deceptive manipulation by the cigarette companies — experts in selling their deadly product to credulous, impressionable youngsters. But something must be done now to save future generations from the loss of life and health that continues to ravage those who were addicted last century.

Quitting cigarettes is extraordinarily difficult — most smokers want to quit, but of the millions who try each year, less than one in ten succeed for long. This abysmal result is improved only minimally by the currently available FDA-approved therapies.  Despite these undeniable facts, the officials at our CDC and the FDA continue to tell smokers to stick with the “approved” products, and warn them against e-cigarettes — based on hypothetical fears, while perversely ignoring the body count.

The recently-appointed head of the FDA’s tobacco center, Mitch Zeller, has indicated that this is the month that the FDA will issue its ruling as to whether or not it will “deem” e-cigarettes to be tobacco products, in the same regulatory framework as cigarettes. If that is the decision, dire consequences will inevitably follow. The time has come, indeed well past time now, to deal with the problem of smoking-related disease with an eye toward the future, not the past.

Time is running out for the FDA. The law requires them to decide how to regulate novel tobacco products (a 2011 Federal court ruled that e-cigarettes are tobacco products, thanks to the nicotine they deliver). If the regulators flout all the science and squeeze e-cigarettes into the same framework as cigarettes, millions of ex-smokers will revert to toxic deadly cigarettes, or they’ll find them on the Internet (the black market) — and many more will die with a cigarette in hand. One thing is certain: this genie will not go gently back into the bottle.

But if the FDA’s Zeller decides to interpret the law flexibly — there are provisions in the law to allow it — and exempt e-cigarettes from such stringent regulation, while enforcing sound manufacturing practices, valid product labeling and a ban on sales to minors, a revolution in public health may transpire. Listen, to everyone’s surprise, the European parliament did just that! Those of us devoted to public health now have reason to hope that our FDA will hear the lesson from the EU, and flout the hysterics and rent-seekers whose messages would lead to more needless smoking-related death.

Gilbert Ross, M.D., is the executive and medical director of The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH.org) in New York.

Why Is The FDA Shielding Smokers From The Good News About E-Cigarettes?

E-cigarettes: all you need to know

By Cherrill Hicks

6:31PM BST 13 Oct 2013 The Telegraph

Kate Moss is a fan, as is Leonardo DiCaprio. With an estimated seven million users in Europe alone, electronic cigarettes are definitely on-trend. They are also proving controversial: last week, a Mothercare worker was suspended after “vaping” in front of customers. Michelle Capewell, 41, was told to leave the store by her manager after taking a drag of her e‑cigarette.

That is not the only row the gadgets have sparked. Public health experts are sharply divided about e‑cigarettes, with some arguing they could substantially cut deaths from tobacco – of which there are 100,000 annually in the UK – while others warn they will only glamorise smoking, especially among the young.

Euro MPs added to the confusion last week by throwing out a European Commission proposal, supported by the UK’s regulatory authority, to treat e-cigarettes as medicines.

E-cigarettes comprise a battery, atomiser and a cartridge containing nicotine, suspended in a solution of propylene glycol (the stuff from which theatrical smoke is made). When the user inhales, the solution is vaporised (hence “vaping”), delivering a nicotine hit to the lungs without the tar and toxins that would come from conventional cigarettes.

Some e-cigarettes have an indicator light at the end which glows when the user inhales, to give an added touch of realism. And, unlike standard nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) such as gums, patches and sprays, they offer “the cigarette experience”, notes Jeremy Mean, from the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority (MHRA). “Rituals such as having something to hold are very important in addiction,” he says. “E-cigarettes may help some people more than standard NRT.”

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One study of 657 smokers, published in The Lancet last month, found that e‑cigarettes worked as well as nicotine patches in helping people stop smoking within six months. With an average quitting rate of about 6 per cent, neither method worked brilliantly, but e-cigarettes were also better at reducing conventional cigarette use among those who did not give up totally.

“We cannot say they are 100 per cent safe because there isn’t enough evidence,” says Amanda Sandford, research manager at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). “But in comparison to tobacco products they are safer by several orders of magnitude.” Unlike with passive smoking from conventional cigarettes, the effect on others from the vapour exhaled is thought to be negligible.

However, there is a problem with quality control – which is why the MHRA wants to see e-cigarettes regulated as medicine. This should come into effect in 2016, although without a Europe-wide initiative the UK may act unilaterally. “Our tests show that different products vary in how much nicotine they deliver” says Jeremy Mean. “So some products may not help people regulate their nicotine cravings.”

There are also fears that e‑cigarettes could “renormalise” smoking and promote nicotine addiction. “This is precisely why they need regulating as medicines, so that they are not sold to under-18s or targeted at non-smokers,” says Mean. He advises that for now, would-be quitters should use conventional NRT products – patches, gums and sprays – rather than e‑cigarettes.

Amanda Sandford agrees that the potential of e‑cigarettes to reduce tobacco-related damage outweighs the risks, but “they are not a panacea”. “Our research shows that two thirds of people who try e‑cigarettes give them up – although we don’t know why.”

E-cigarettes: all you need to know

Univ. of Iowa discusses electronic cigarette ban

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Faculty and administrators at the University of Iowa have begun discussing whether to ban electronic cigarettes on the campus.

The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports (http://icp-c.com/19gYWe0 ) that members of the university’s Faculty Council discussed Tuesday whether the increasingly popular battery-powered cigarettes should be included in a campus-wide smoking ban.

The university president’s office has assigned Human Resources Services director Joan Troester to gather comments about the matter. She notes that e-cigarettes aren’t included in a campus-wide ban on smoking, which was instituted in conjunction with the state’s Smoke Free Air Act in 2008.

“E-cigarettes weren’t really on the market at that time, and were not really as popular as they are today,” Troester said.

The devices deliver nicotine through water vapor, rather than through tobacco smoke. Users can buy different flavorings for the cigarettes and can vary the amount of nicotine delivered in each puff.

Faculty Senate president Erika Lawrence said so far, e-cigarette use hasn’t spawned complaints on campus and that discussions about the matter were intended to be proactive.

Some council members said the university should discourage all kinds of cigarettes, but others said the ban was aimed at secondhand smoke, which isn’t an issue with e-cigarettes.

Professor Paul Muhly said he and students would find it distracting if someone used an e-cigarette in the classroom.

“Independent of the health consequences, I think that’s reason enough to ban them,” Muhly said.

Dr. Francois Abboud, who specializes in cardiology, cautioned about instituting a ban when there have been few studies examining the health effects of e-cigarettes. He noted e-cigarettes could be compared to nicotine patches.

“From a medical standpoint, we don’t know enough to say we shouldn’t use this,” Abboud said.

___

Information from: Iowa City Press-Citizen, http://www.press-citizen.com/

Univ. of Iowa discusses electronic cigarette ban

Are Electronic Cigarettes a Cheaper Way to Smoke?

By Michael Sweet, Cheapism.com

Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigs, are an increasingly popular alternative to regular cigarettes, and for several good reasons. Perhaps most importantly for smokers who watch their budget, e-cigarettes are far cheaper than the standard variety. Moreover, they don’t contain tobacco, so there’s no second-hand smoke and nothing to stink up the air, your clothes, or your breath. The jury’s still out on the health implications, but at least electronic cigarette liquids don’t contain the many toxic chemicals found in regular cigarettes. Cheap e-cigarettes also tend to taste better thanks to the raft of available flavors. And while they may be less offensive than regular cigarettes, that’s not to say they’re OK for kids. Most e-cigs contain nicotine, and none of the e-cig e-retailers we’ve come across will sell to anyone younger than 18.

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Ecigs don’t have to be expensive.

Types of Cheap Electronic Cigarettes. E-cigarettes come in two varieties: disposable and reusable. Disposable e-cigs, such as Blu, Fin, and Njoy, resemble real cigarettes in size and often in looks. One disposable e-cig typically provides at least 40 cigarettes’ worth of smokes, notes the chief executive of e-cigarette maker E-Luminate, although the exact number of puffs you get depends on how deeply you draw on it. You know it’s time to throw away your cheap e-cigarette when no more vapor appears.

 Reusable e-cigs have a refillable tank or cartridge and a rechargeable battery. Users buy the e-liquid separately, fill the tank or cartridge, then puff away. Reusable e-cigs vary in size and shape — some are as small as a normal e-cigarette and others have very large batteries and tanks. SmokTech, for example, makes components in different sizes and colors, which gives users a chance to mix and match to suit their preferences. Cheap reusable electronic cigarettes last as long as the battery accepts a recharge; figure at least a year.

Cost of E-cigarettes vs. Cigarettes. One of the first questions potential e-cigarette smokers ask is: are they cheap compared with the cost of tobacco cigarettes? Puff for puff, e-cigs are cheaper — often costing half as much as the standard version.

Related: Can you live off the Dollar Store for under $50 a week?

Consider a 5-pack of Njoy King disposable e-cigarettes, which fetches $30 online. Because each disposable e-cig is the equivalent of about two packs of regular cigarettes, $3 buys you 20 cigarettes worth of electronic smoking. You’d be hard pressed to find even a bargain-basement brand of tobacco cigarettes for that price, and big-name cigarettes easily cost twice as much. Moving up the reusable e-cigarette price ladder is still a deal; the unit price for disposable brands such as Fin and Blu is $10-$11, which translates to about half the price of a full tobacco-based pack in places like New York.

 E-liquid for reusable e-cigs is quite cheap, making it the most cost-effective option for e-cig users. Even a small bottle of e-liquid (say, 7 to 10 milliliters) typically lasts several days, sometimes as long as a week. Halo E-cigs charges $5.99 for a 7 milliliter bottle; a 10 milliliter bottle from online e-cigarette store Madvapes costs as little as $3.

Prices vary considerably for ecigs.

 Reusable e-cigarettes are most often sold in kits that usually include at least one rechargeable battery, a tank or cartridge, a USB-based charger for the battery, and a case to store everything. Most kits contain at least two batteries and two or more tanks or cartridges. Prices vary considerably, depending on the specific kit and where you buy it, but the cheap e-cigarette kits cost from $40 to $60. Some kits sell for up to $100 depending on the accessories included. Many e-cigarette retailers offer “build your own” kits that let you choose the preferred contents. Well-known names in the reusable e-cig market include Joyetech and SmokTech.

How E-cigs Work. E-cigarettes are surprisingly simple devices. Both cheap disposable and reusable e-cigarettes consist of a battery, a reservoir that contains e-liquid (either a tank or a prefilled cartridge), and an atomizer that converts the e-liquid into vapor when the e-cigarette is activated.

There are two ways to activate the atomizer: automatically by taking a drag, and manually by pressing and holding a button the side of the battery. Disposable e-cigarettes are usually automatic and reusable e-cigarettes are automatic or manual but usually the latter.

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E-liquid Flavors. Reusable e-cigarette smokers have more flavor options than those who stick to disposable e-cigarettes. There are hundreds of e-liquid flavors available for tank refills, ranging from different types of tobaccos to fruits, candies, and desserts, but just a handful of disposable e-cig flavors.

E-liquids contain some nicotine to satisfy smoker cravings. Most manufacturers offer flavors with several nicotine levels so users can get the amount they need, and some flavors are available with zero nicotine content. Halo Cigs, for example, infuses flavors with 0 milligrams, 6 mg, 12 mg, 18 mg, or 24 mg of nicotine per milliliter of e-liquid; 6 mg is equivalent to a light cigarette, 12 mg is medium, and 18 mg is a strong, full-flavored cigarette. E-Luminate offers e-cigs and flavors in three strengths: silver (ultra-light), gold (light), and red (regular).

Are Electronic Cigarettes a Cheaper Way to Smoke?