A group of men sitting around a table outside a restaurant in Barga Vecchia discussing with a good deal of animation something or other.
Could it be politics that has so enthused them ?
Are they gesticulating and raising voices because of the latest football results ?
Could it be that the first wild mushrooms of the year have been found on the mountainside ?
Fat chance of that, the weather is still too cold to even consider that possibility …… believe it or not, the topic of conversation is none other that the arrival of electronic cigarettes, also known as an e-cigarettes in Barga.
A crash course on how to load up the tiny black inhalers, where to buy the liquid at the best price, how to flush out the filters and the best way to add drops to the liquid so that the vapour tastes of rum or whiskey.
There is even the first public showing of what could only be described as the hyper or uber vapouriser, looking more like some kind of sex toy that an instrument to smoke.
The jury is still out on whether these new gadgets are a move in a positive direction as far as health is concerned but one thing is for sure, only 12 months ago it would have been impossible to imagine that a discussion like this taking place at all.
The world is changing fast, can we keep up ?
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An electronic cigarette, also known as an e-cigarette, personal vapouriser or PV, is an electronic inhaler that vapourises a liquid solution into an aerosol mist, simulating the act of tobacco smoking. Electronic cigarettes are no longer marketed as smoking cessation aids or tobacco replacement in most countries. There may be similarities between conventional and some electronic cigarettes in the physical design and the nicotine release, which may approximate the same amount of nicotine as a conventional cigarette. There are many electronic cigarettes which do not resemble conventional cigarettes at all. The amount of nicotine contained can be chosen by the user, with some choosing no nicotine at all.
The benefits and risks of electronic cigarette use are uncertain among health organizations and researchers. Limited controlled studies are available due to its recent invention. Laws vary widely concerning the use and sale of electronic cigarettes and accompanying liquid solutions, with pending legislation and ongoing debate.
The earliest electronic cigarette can be traced to Herbert A. Gilbert, who in 1963 patented a device described as “a smokeless non-tobacco cigarette” that involved “replacing burning tobacco and paper with heated, moist, flavored air.” This device heated the nicotine solution and produced steam. In 1967, Gilbert was approached by several companies interested in manufacturing it, but it was never commercialized and disappeared from the public record after 1967.
Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist, is widely credited with the invention of the first generation electronic cigarette. In 2000, he came up with the idea of using a piezoelectric ultrasound-emitting element to vapourise a pressurized jet of liquid containing nicotine diluted in a propylene glycol solution. This design produces a smoke-like vapour that can be inhaled and provides a vehicle for nicotine delivery into the bloodstream via the lungs. He also proposed using propylene glycol to dilute nicotine and placing it in a disposable plastic cartridge which serves as a liquid reservoir and mouthpiece. These inventions are the basis of the present-day electronic cigarettes.
The device was first introduced to the Chinese domestic market in May 2004 as an aid for smoking cessation and replacement. The company that Hon Lik worked for, Golden Dragon Holdings, changed its name to Ruyan (如烟, literally “Resembling smoking”), and started exporting its products in 2005–2006 before receiving its first international patent in 2007. – source Wikipedia