Posted By GALEN EAGLE, SUN MEDIA
Posted 2 hours ago

James Rogers said he got a lot of stares when he recently took out a cigarette and started puffing away inside a Peterborough bar.

There was shock, amazement then a lot of strong interest,” the 40-year-old forestry consultant said.

Rogers was smoking an electronic cigarette, the latest in nicotine delivery technology.

The former pack-a-day smoker came across the Smoke Stik brand of e-cigarettes about two months ago and has since curbed a 25-year habit.

He liked the product so much, he is now selling it locally for $90 a kit.

It has all the sensation of smoking, so you don’t feel like you’re giving anything up,” Rogers said.

The technology, developed in China about five years ago, delivers nicotine in a cigarette-like package without the tobacco and chemical additives that are linked to cancer and other health problems, sellers say.

While the e-cigs are gaining popularity around the world, they have not been approved by Health Canada and they cannot be marketed as smoking-cessation aids such as nicotine gums or patches.

The World Health Organization issued a warning about the products in September.

Smoke Stik president Bill Marangos said his company scored a coup when actor Leonardo DiCaprio was photographed smoking the product while riding a bicycle.

Marangos’ said his company has only been marketing the product in Canada for about one month, and his number of dealers is growing.

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It’s really an alternative to smoking in general,” he said. Somebody might want to use it to quit. We’re not technically

allowed to say that yet, even though we have a lot of anecdotal evidence you can’t really say that it’s used as a smoking cessation product . . . but it does work like that.”

E-cigarettes typically mimic the look of real cigarettes.

It contains liquid nicotine that is heated and vaporized when a user inhales, activating a glowing red tip and a propylene glycol mist containing nicotine.

Propylene glycol is the same chemical used in stage smoke inside nightclubs or at rock concerts, Marangos said, adding the mist is relatively odourless and dissipates within seconds.

The Smoke Stik nicotine cartridges come in different strengths and flavours catering to a smoker’s particular taste.

Public health nurse Sarah Burke said the Peterborough County-City Health Unit has its own concerns about the devices.

We are concerned because it is a form of dispensing nicotine and nicotine is addictive,” Burke said.

The electronic cigarette reinforces the addictive behaviours.”

But there’s nothing preventing people from puffing on ecigs in bars, restaurants or in the workplace, she said.

It’s not covered under the Smoke Free Ontario Act . . . there is no tobacco in the product,” Burke said. It’s not something our enforcement officer would even be looking at to enforce.”

North Bay Nugget