FROSTBURG — Kirk Valentine was smoking about two packs of cigarettes a day and wishing he could quit when he first learned about “vaping,” the term for using an electronic cigarette.
Now he’s a “vaper” instead of a smoker — a big improvement, Valentine and other e-cigarette advocates believe.
“It’s more pure. You’re not getting all that chemical,” said Sue Dicken, who with Valentine purchased supplies last week at The Vapor Room, a new e-cigarette store in Frostburg.
“The smell is gone,” Valentine said.
“You don’t feel so bad,” Dicken said.
“It’s cheaper,” said Valentine, 42, of McCoole. “We were probably spending $85 every two weeks on cigarettes.”
“We only spend about $50 a month buying this,” Dicken said.
“Big difference,” Valentine said.
Though controversial because of a lack of scientific studies on their health effects, electronic cigarettes are gaining steam among area smokers who like to smoke but don’t like all of the health problems associated with standard tobacco products.
Battery-powered, the e-cigarette resembles a standard cigarette, but uses an atomizer to heat a solution that delivers vaporized nicotine when inhaled. How much nicotine is up to the user; various doses are sold. Liquids come in a variety of flavors — from espresso to blueberry cinnamon crumble, vanilla tobacco to ripe banana.
According to the American Cancer Society, some of the benefits of e-cigarettes include:
• Their ability to deliver nicotine to the user without many of the other 7,000-plus chemicals in a regular, burned cigarette.
• Their absence of second-hand smoke.
• Their resemblance to regular cigarettes, which provide the tactile and visual sensations that many cigarette smokers have become used to, or even psychologically dependent upon.
• Their potential for aiding cigarette smokers to quit.
Some concerns about e-cigarettes, according to the Cancer Society, include:
• Users can’t be entirely sure of what they are inhaling, since e-cigarettes have not been subjected to thorough, independent testing, and there are no quality assurances in their production processes.
• There’s a lack of scientific data about the effect of secondhand vapor, and a lack of scientific data about their effectiveness as quit-smoking aids.
• Studies haven’t shown whether youth may use e-cigarettes as an introduction to smoking regular cigarettes.
The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association notes that while any product containing nicotine cannot be called 100 percent safe, studies strongly suggest that e-cigarettes are “magnitudes safer than tobacco cigarettes.” Harm reduction experts point to research that shows that switching from cigarettes to a smoke-free product will reduce health risks to less than 1 percent of smoking traditional cigarettes, according to CASAA.
Health officials contacted locally at the Allegany County Health Department and Western Maryland Regional Medical Center didn’t want to comment about the safety of e-cigarettes. Around 26 percent of the population in Allegany County smokes cigarettes, studies have shown — significantly more than in other parts of the state.
“No one feels confident enough with what they know about the electronic cigarette to make a statement,” said Nancy Forlifer, Western Maryland Health System community health and wellness director.
Josh Grapes believes he made a healthy choice by switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes a few years ago.
“It’s a night-and-day difference,” said Grapes, who started The Vapor Room as an online business two years ago with his partner, Jessica Seminerio. Grapes first saw an e-cigarette when a co-worker at a call center in Reston, Va., used one — at his desk.
“It just looked so much like smoking,” Grapes said. “I’d been wanting to quit for probably the last five years, so I ordered one. I ended up quitting in two days.”
The U.S. Federal Drug Administration prohibits e-cigarette dealers from marketing the product as a smoking-cessation device, but in the Frostburg area, anyway, word is getting around.
Grapes and Seminerio, who refer to vaping as an “alternative to smoking,” opened a storefront on Broadway Street over the summer, and the business has already outgrown the space. The couple are in the process of getting financing to move to a larger location in Frostburg, probably within the year, Grapes said.
Valentine, who smoked for almost 30 years before trying the e-cigarette, said he doesn’t crave cigarettes.
“I can’t stand the smell of them now,” he said. “(Where I work) when customers come up behind me, it’s like, man, I can’t believe I smelled like that.”
Contact Kristin Harty Barkley at kbarkley@times-news.com.
