Have any of the smokers on here tried electronic cigarettes? a close friend is a heavy smoker and I am thinking of getting one of these for her. is there a brand you like or hate? how do they compare to real cigarettes?  Never having smoked I am a bit in the dark as to whether these would be good or a waste of time.

It is very kind of you to be concerned about your friends dangerous habit but does she want to give up?  All the available support items are only any use when used in conjunction with will power so a waste of money to buy them for someone who has not already determined for themselves that they wish to give.

If she does you might also point her in the direction of her GP as 40% more people succeed in giving up when they utilise stop smoking schemes run by health professionals.

Has she asked for one???? Or spoken to you about them????
Lea :)

My sister tried several of them and many other aids but nothing seemed to work and then after years of trying she managed to give up just two weeks before she was diagnosed with lung cancer. So no matter what aid you try you have to be ready to succeed and I think it too personal for someone else to decide. However if she is interested in one but can't afford it then a gift would no doubt be helpful.

No Nooo Nooo. One of my customer partners is in a wheel chair and was using this to help her give up...The thing blew a fuse (whilst charging)  scared the poor lady, entangling her in her knitting, wool all around her electric wheel chair, plunging her into darkness. She was petrified. Get patches, go to see your doc, hypno thereapy

If she wants something to help in giving up smoking, the one and only thing which has worked for me is the Nicorette inhalators, those electric things don't give you anything, these at least give you something from inhaling on them..

some are supposed to give you nicotine and also make a type of smoke. and yes she has discussed it with me and would like to try one. I kn ow there is no point getting one unless she wanted one. Just really wanted peoples opinions as obviously the websites selling them say they are the best thing since sliced bread

Thats good then Lilyowen, :) :) Aparently for every electronic one, it lasts as long as 3 packetts of fags, So if you get her one, and she copes withit, it should save her money. But only if she wants to.
Lea :L) :) :)

A chap I work with has one, the tip glows red when he inhales, he gets a small 'hit' of nicotine and it seems to puff smoke too, you have to buy the special filters which I think must have the nicotine in.

To be honest though he doesn't use it a lot, he did when he first got it and went 2 weeks without a real ciggie, now he's back on the real one's and I haven't seen the 'fake fag' in weeks  :(

My son is using one with great sucess...He has not had a fag not even on guard duty!

I bought one for my husband a few years ago. They feel like real cigarettes, give you a nicotine hit, 'smoke' like real ones...and you get them in different flavours and strengths. The idea being, you start on the higher dose and work down to lower dose, but still enjoy the holding, inhaling and blowing out as usual. The downside is, the heavier a smoker you are, the quicker you will go through the cartridges, so more expensive. I bought it from The Electronic Cigarette Company.

It's been sitting who knows where for the longest time! ;-)

I have a a smokers angel halo.  Very good.  They do contain Nicotine and they do satisfy that urge for another cigarette.  A friend recommended them as after six months on them he has completely given up - he stopped smoking real cigarettes straight away and slowly weaned his way off the e-cigarette and is now a non smoker.  I find one cartridge lasts me about three days - equivalent to about 30 cigarettes so definitely more cost effective as the cartridges are a tenner for five.  Passing someone in the street puffing on one and you'd probably not notice - the tip glows read and when you exhale there is a small cloud of steam and it looks very similar to a cigarette but is larger, but stood around having one and it is obvious it's not a real cigarette and as such I felt a little self conscious at first but that soon subsides.  As a plus you can smoke them inside in pubs, clubs and at work - they are not covered by the smoking ban and they don't make your clothes/hair/breath/home stink of smoke. 

They don't seem to be designed to be smoked like cigarettes in that you have 10-15 puffs and then nothing for a couple of hours, they seem to work better with a couple of puffs now and again as the cartridge can get quite warm (not dangerous but definitely warm) after 5-6 drags.  Also it will take a little getting used to but because of the battery they are A LOT heavier than a normal cigarette, I know this seems obvious when you think about it but it still caught me a little by surprise.

The major downside is that most smokers that try them find them a bit harsh to start with as the smoke does feel & taste a little different to normal cigarettes but if she keeps going for a few days she will get past this and there are different flavours to choose from.  I prefer the chocolate flavour to the normal cigarette flavour, it doesn't taste like chocolate but if you imagine the smell of warm chocolate - thats how the choc ones taste if that makes sense. 

It is definitely worth considering how much your friend smokes as to which cartridges to buy - the high nicotine were far to harsh for me - I am on the medium and find that just right, I used to smoke 10-12 a day.  If she likes them it is definitely worth getting the little travel charger that looks like a cigarette case - really handy for keeping refils and spare batteries in on the move.  The only problem with it is you cannot keep a made up e-cig in there as the battery and cartridge are too long for the case.  This then leads me on to my other problem with them; I keep loosing the in use e-cig down the side of the sofa! 

My friend has one and he really likes it, he doesn't use it for cutting down on real cigarettes though, he has it so he can have his nicotine hit indoors at work. Some people used to raise an eyebrow when they saw him using it because for a microsecond it would look like he was smoking a cigarette indoors so he changed from a white one with a red end to black with a blue end. He still gets grief sometimes though

I was talking about them with my son in law yesterday and he says his firm won't let people "smoke" electronic ciggies inside they  have to go outside with the real smokers, as do the people using inhalators. This seems a bit odd to me. Surely they would be better allowing people to stay at their desks and pretend to smoke rather than losing the productivity. And just suppose a smoker decided to pretend by using a pen as a ciggie? should they be sent out side too? very odd if you want my opinion. Which you probably don't

Lol, I think it depends, my friend who uses his in the workplace is in a little company where there are only 3 or 4 of them at the office most of the time and the public don't go in there so the boss doesn't mind.
There was also a small hoo hah at a local pub/restraunt (can't spell today!) when they first came out because some of the waiting staff starting using them indoors, in that case I think it was right the manager put a stop to it, even though I'm a smoker it would kind of ruin my dining experience (lol) and make the place feel a bit seedy if the waiters were puffing away on e-fags within sight.

If anyone is interested they are selling these on Groupon for £8.99 - I don't know if that's a good deal, but presumably it's cheaper than a habit!!