The Beginning And The End Of The Cigarette Man
February 4, 2009 by Gwendolyn Regina T
This is one product that has gotten me truly excited. Not because I smoke and am trying to quit, but because I can’t stand smokers and their environment-polluting smoke. Seems like the New-Smoke.com has provided me with the solution with an innovative new gadget, the e cigarette. This e cigarette reproduces the exact smoking experience (complete with water vapor ‘smoke’) but without all the bad stuff (secondhand smoke, tar, carbon monoxide and all the other harmful chemicals).
Video demonstration
Watch a video demonstration of the product. I love it that they make it seem so easy – just pick up the e cigarette and start puffing away.
How it works
The electronic cigarette is powered by a rechargeable battery (front part of the cigarette), an atomizer, connected to a cartridge that contains different levels of nicotine (depending on the smoker’s needs, can opt for 0mg).
Weaning the nicotine addiction, yet preserving the physical habit
The e cigarette can be used by smokers to wean the nicotine addiction and seems like a rather attractive alternative compared to nicotine plasters, inhalers and chewing gums. A big part of the difficulty in quitting smoking lies in the physical habit of fingering a cigarette and ‘having something to do with your hands’. With that in mind, I think the electronic cigarette helps fulfill the need for a social lubricant yet need not be as damaging as the original (a normal cigarette contains over 400 poisonous and 40 cancer-causing chemicals).
Encourage non-smokers instead?
On the other hand, will non-smokers try a puff of the e cigarette and thereafter, be tempted to try the ‘real thing’?
Singapore’s anti-smoking attempts
Singapore has seen nation-wide attempts to encourage people to quit smoking. There was a campaign targeted at Malay smokers (15% success rate), another at female smokers, anti-smoking campaigns with gory and graphic TV ads, and not to forget, the graphic ads plastered on cigarette boxes.
Yet, despite these efforts and with each pack of cigarette costing more, Singapore still lit up 16 million more cigarettes per month last year.
Smokers in Singapore
With over 12.6% of the local population being smokers, and with 40% of them trying to quit, that’s a good size of people out there New-Smoke.com can target. But this target number actually expands because I have an inkling that a portion of the customers of New-Smoke.com will not be smokers themselves but rather, their loved ones.
International distribution and refund policy
There are a number of other online shops for e cigarettes and in some parts of Europe and the US, the device is already sold in pharmacies and other offline retailers. New-Smoke.com currently distributes the device in Europe and the US and they also have a return policy where if you return the product within 14 days and get a refund of the purchase price (minus the shipping costs).
Last words
I certainly wish that I could give New-Smoke.com’s e cigarette out for free just so that I can breathe a little easier.
About The Author
Gwendolyn Regina T - Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Apart from SGE, Gwen is also a Partner at Thymos Capital, where she focuses on early stage investments in technology firms. She has had two exits out of her investments via the firm, one of which is iHipo. A frequent judge for business competitions both locally and overseas, she graduated from the National University of Singapore. Gwen also spent some time in Silicon Valley and studied in Stanford University under the NUS Overseas College programme. Gwen is a mentor at Spanish incubator Tetuan Valley, Polish incubator Gamma Rebels, the Singapore Ambassador for the Sandbox network and the Singapore curator for StartupDigest. She enjoys languages, travelling, dance and adventure sports. Gwen can be found on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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