Cultural Taboos Start to Fall as More Thai Women Vape

It started with Spy wine cooler.  Founded in 1986 in the lush northern valleys of Thailand, the Siam Winery had trouble finding a market for wine products in Thailand, where traditionally only men drink alcoholic beverages and they pretty much stick to beer and rice whiskey.  The marketing department at Siam Winery decided on a massive media ad campaign that would target women, and that they would roll out a wine cooler with a modest alcohol content as the first product that Thai women might try.  Their campaign worked - television ads showing sophisticated Thai ladies demurely sipping a Spy wine cooler at dinner soon had Thai women by the thousands emulating the ads, with no social backlash.  Today, while a woman drinking beer or whiskey in Thailand is still frowned on in polite circles, it is perfectly acceptable for even the most conservative dowager to have a glass of Spy with her green curry.

Smoking has also long been a 'men only' habit in Thailand.  While some Thai women indulged in the nicotine habit, it was always done in the deep and shrouded privacy of their own home, never in public.  A Thai woman who smoked in public was seen as nothing but an immoral 'bar girl', unfit for regular employment or marriage.  Plus the cigarettes on sale in Thailand, for the most part, are made with Philippine tobacco - one of the coarsest grades on the world market; Thai men are not boasting when they say it takes a real he-man to smoke a pack of cigarettes in a day - the tobacco is strong and reminiscent of a smoldering tire fire.  Thai women universally consider cigarette smoke one of the worst smells around.

But all that is changing rapidly with the introduction of the e-cigarette to Thailand.  In 2012 the Eco Cig Thailand Company began offering their e-cigarette kit online, with prices starting at a whopping 2800 baht (which is approximately 80 dollars US).  This was WITHOUT the nicotine liquid, a small canister of which costs 99 baht (about 3 dollars US).  The flavors being offered for the e-cigarette are decidedly feminine; Vanilla Mint, Triple Menthol, Bubblegum and Jasmine.  E-cigarette ads are banned on television and on radio in Thailand, but not in popular magazines.  Not surprisingly, once again advertisers are touting the e-cigarette as a woman's right and privilege at the end of a long, busy day; the ads show glamorous Thai models sitting back in their stylish living rooms, luxuriously exhaling a cloud of sweet-scented vapor that is nothing like the fumes from a nasty burning tobacco cigarette.  Women focus groups are regularly held in Bangkok at posh places like Siam Square, where the ladies are invited to puff on different flavors and give their frank opinions. 

Today, more and more respectable Thai women are trying e-cigarettes.  It's an expensive habit to pick up in Thailand, where a pack of regular smokes costs just under a dollar, and so the e-cigarette is catching on because of snob appeal with women.  The more trendy restaurants and bars now allow women to 'vape' while the men stick to their stinky Wonder brand tobacco cigarettes. 

E-cigarettes are readily available at 7-11 outlets and other convenience stores in Thailand, although you may not be able to get the nicotine canister at the same store; sometimes you have to hit several different convenience stores before finding one that has the flavored nicotine canisters.  There's been talk of regulating and taxing e-cigarettes the same way that tobacco is regulated and taxed, but what with the current political turmoil in Bangkok, e-cigarettes, for good or bad, are currently a mushrooming social phenomena that the Thai sisterhood is seriously embracing.  

Vaping helps some to quit cigarettes

A new tool smokers have turned to is e-cigarettes, or vaping.

Nate McDowell remembers the day he bought his vapor. He said he had three packs of cigarettes in his vehicle when he bought his kit last year. That day, right after he bought it, he threw away the packs of cigarettes.

“I feel a million times better since I stopped smoking and started vaping,” McDowell said.

McDowell says vaping works because people are still getting nicotine and going through the same hand-to-mouth movements of smoking.

Since quitting, McDowell said he tried to take a puff off a friend’s cigarette and it nauseated him.

Because vaping helped McDowell stop smoking cigarettes, he decided to open up The Vapor Store in Boise, saying he was a testament to the way vaping helps someone quit smoking cigarettes.

McDowell says the first person he got to stop smoking was his friend’s 60-year-old dad, who first started smoking Lucky Strikes when he was 12.

A similar story inspired Lacy Sereduk to open Valley Vapor three months ago.

Sereduk and her husband had tried numerous ways to stop smoking, but were never successful. She said the real test was seeing if vaping would help her husband, who smoked a pack a day.

“The first time he tried it, he didn’t have a cigarette again,” Sereduk said.

The first thing Sereduk noticed when she stopped smoking cigarettes and turned to vaping was that everything didn’t smell awful and her sense of smell came back.

“Walking through even a grocery store, it is surprising how strong the cigarette smell is on people who smoke,” Sereduk said.

Both McDowell and Sereduk have noticed they don’t spend as much on vaping as they did on cigarettes. Sereduk estimated that in three months, her family saved about $1,000.

But questions abound when it comes to recommending vaping for cessation and whether or not it is safe.

Dr. Dan Hendrickson has been practicing in the field of pulmonary medicine since 1991. Hendrickson, who works at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center, says that he is not in favor of e-cigarettes as a cessation tool.

“We don’t know what the long-term safety of it is,” Hendrickson said, adding that nicotine still contributes to heart disease. For Hendrickson, the American Cancer Society smoking cessation is the best way to quit.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is looking to classify e-cigarettes and vapors as a tobacco product, because the nicotine in them is derived from tobacco. If that happens, then the FDA would be able to regulate e-cigarettes.

The FDA describes e-cigarettes as battery-operated products that are designed to deliver nicotine, flavor and other chemicals. They turn nicotine and other chemicals into a vapor that is inhaled by the user.

Testing by the FDA in 2009 found diethylene glycol, an ingredient used in antifreeze, in e-cigarettes.

Sereduk says she is worried about certain flavors that other venders sell.

“Most of the companies that you talk to, they don’t want to tell you what is in it,” Sereduk said.

She makes sure to answer any questions her customers have about vaping and puts all the ingredients of her vaping juice on each label.

According to the Valley Vapor website, the juice is made up of nicotine, flavor concentrate and either vegetable glycerine or propylene glycol.

Should SA Airports get e-cigarette zones?

Cape Town - The popularity of e-cigarette smoking or ‘vaping’ as it has been termed, has led Heathrow Airport to open an e-cigarette zone in December 2013. 

Vaping travellers, who inhale water vapour, rather than smoke, were previously subject to the same restrictions as traditional smokers, having to stand outside of the terminal to inhale their vapour, ABC news reports. 

The lounge was opened by electronic cigarette manufacturer, Gamucci, and is 323-square feet (30- square meters wide).  

ABC News reports that many travellers are supportive of the lounge, highlighting that more than 10 percent of smokers in Britain have switched to electronic devices, and that a Skyscanner.net survey found 57% of people are in favour of creating e-cigarette lounges at other airports.  

But what are the harmful effects of secondary vaping? 

Ray Story, CEO of the Tobacco Vapour Electronic Cigarette Association toldHealth24 that the product eliminates second and third hand smoke. This means that the people around you, furniture, clothes and anything else that would usually incur damage from prolonged exposure to traditional cigarettes will not be affected or harmed. And while Story’s one-sided opinion of the product may be correct, there is not enough scientific data on the harmful effects of e-cigarettes. 

Health24 reports that while e-cigarettes are FDA approved, the FDA has released a statement on their official website, warning users that e-cigarettes may contain ingredients that are known to be toxic to humans, and that it may contain other ingredients that may not be safe. 

Deirdre Davids, Communications Manager for Airports Company South Africa says in line with International best practice vaping is prohibited at local airports and there are no plans to create e-cigarette vaping zones.
 
What are your thoughts on the matter, do you think South African airports should follow Heathrow's lead or does an e-cigarette zone subliminally say it is okay to smoke? 

New shop brings ‘vaping’ to Nogales

An e-cigarette shop opened its doors in Nogales, offering local residents the chance to join a nationwide trend of “vaping.”

On Thursday afternoon, Nogales resident Lizette Andrade, 23, stopped by the Sin Humo vapor lounge, which opened downtown on Jan. 21 at the former home of La Michoacana on Grand Avenue.

“It’s cleaner. You don’t smell like the regular tobacco,” Andrade said of the devices, adding “regular cigarettes have all kinds of poisons” and are more expensive than e-cigarettes.

Proponents of e-cigarettes, which use a battery to heat a nicotine-infused liquid, tout the device as a way to reduce the harm caused by tobacco smoke and even help smokers kick the habit. However, the jury is still out in the public health community, which so far has given only cautious support for the devices.

Sin Humo sells vials of nicotine-infused liquid for $15, which 21-year-old co-owner Juan Aguirre said was equivalent to about 30 packs of cigarettes. “Even buying duty-free, you’re not going to get anywhere close to that price,” he said.

Aguirre said he replaced his half-a-pack-a-day smoking habit with e-cigarettes, which spurred him to open the vapor lounge, so named because of the vapor that is exhaled after taking a pull from the devices.

“It’s not a sacrifice and it’s easier and more enjoyable. You can make it taste like whatever you want it to,” he said.

Aguirre offers free tastings from 27 different flavors, including blueberry, strawberry, and tobacco.

The liquid in the e-cigarettes sold at Sin Humo contains a mix of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin, Aguirre said.

Propylene glycol is used as a solvent for food colors and flavors, in the production of polyester materials, and in the fog used in theatrical productions, among other uses, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Vegetable glycerin is used as a dietary supplement and in medications and is sold over the counter at drug stores and Wal-Mart.

Ongoing debate

The debate over the possible health risks of e-cigarettes is far from settled, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration stating in a Jan. 10 news release that it has not yet fully studied the potential risks.

Under Arizona state law, it is illegal to sell e-cigarettes to minors, and both New York and Chicago recently banned using e-cigarettes in public places.

At the same time, two sociomedical sciences professors from Columbia University wrote an op-ed in the New York Times on Dec. 8, 2013 citing research that suggests e-cigarettes could be useful in reducing the harm caused by smoking and in helping smokers quit.

They ended their comments by saying: “If e-cigarettes can reduce, even slightly, the blight of six million tobacco-related deaths a year, trying to force them out of sight is counterproductive.”

While the jury is out on the effects of inhaling the vapor, e-cigarettes pose a unique risk not encountered with cigarettes: the danger of nicotine poisoning by swallowing the liquid or spilling it on skin.

In 2013, the Banner Good Samaritan Poison & Drug Information Center in Phoenix received 24 calls about nicotine exposure from e-cigarettes, up from 10 calls in 2012, according to a recent report by Cronkite News. So far in 2014, the center has received six calls, four of which involved children.

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