New e-cigarette has city stumped

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Smokers have found a way around the indoor smoking ban in Austin.

They are still inhaling without exhaling the fumes using an electronic cigarette.

Lex Luther has been catching a lot of dirty looks, lighting up in the middle of Barton Creek Mall.

"At first, they freak out because we're smoking in public,” said Luther.

After a quick conversation at his kiosk, passer-bys soon discover the drags he is taking do not stink. There is no fire involved. The LED light on the end of his electronic cigarette, also called an “e-cigarette” lights up when he inhales.

"It looks like smoke,” said Luther before pausing to exhale. “And it lights up and everything, but it's just steam."

An odorless vapor billows from his mouth. The pack Luther sells, made by Smoking Everywhere , comes with one rechargeable device that looks and feels like a real smoke.

A lithium battery is inside, and goes into standby mode when the smoker is not inhaling. The mouthpiece contains a disposable cartridge of liquid nicotine that is vaporized by a small heating element.

The price of the device ranges from $150 to $200, depending on how many cartridges and charges you buy initially. There are dozens of cheaper brands online.

The City of Austin could not give a straight answer, on whether or not electronic cigarettes fall under their indoor smoking ban .

“We need more time to assess the product,” said Carole Barasch with the city's Health and Human Services.

In addition to the attraction of satisfying cravings indoors, the cartridges come with different concentrations of liquid nicotine. Luther claims e-cigarettes area great tool to help smokers quit.

"It will kill the craving, without killing the person," said Luther.

The American Cancer Society issued the following information on electronic cigarettes:

• There is no scientific evidence that so-called electronic cigarettes are effective in helping smokers quit smoking or quit using other tobacco products.
• Claims about the effectiveness of electronic cigarettes are all based on anecdote, rather than scientific study, as would be required by the FDA for nicotine delivery devices.
• Electronic cigarettes have not been adequately studied for safety.
• In essence they are unproven drug delivery devices.
• No product containing powerfully addictive nicotine should be allowed to circumvent FDA regulation, whether as an approved cessation drug or device, or as a tobacco product. These products illustrate the dangers posed by lack of effective regulation of tobacco products.

In addition, the American Cancer Society cited several major downsides of electronic cigarettes:

• Because they may be less effective than standard cessation treatments in helping smokers quit, they could cause smokers to become frustrated and cease quit attempts with e-cigarettes or refuse quit attempts with other FDA-approved cessation tools.
• They may have unrecognized toxicities from inhaling propylene glycol etc.
• The flavored products may be popular with children, instigating early addiction to nicotine by children and adolescents.
• Because they circumvent smoke-free laws, they can be used to maintain the image of smoking as a socially normative behavior when, in fact, fewer than one in five U.S. adults now smoke
• Those who use e-cigarettes claim they can smoke them in smoke-free restaurants, hospital and even on airplanes.

"Supervisor of mine had an electronic cigarette one time and she brought it to work,” said Heidi Font. “She was smoking it in her office."

Font, who has been a smoker for 13 years, decided to sample the cigarette. The experience just was not the same. She plans on sticking to Marlboro Lights for now.

"You still get nicotine, but you don't get the flavor of a cigarette,” said Font.

As for Luther, who used to smoke a pack a day, he claims he has not had a real smoke in seven months.

Below is a video of what it looks like to smoke these "cigarettes":