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The e cigarette between entry and exit

Sales of e vaping have risen steeply worldwide. Compared to conventional glow sticks, they are significantly healthier. But are they really a weaning agent for nicotine addicts? Or do they just not lead young people to the consumption of nicotine by their supposed harmlessness? Hon Lik is a Chinese pharmaceutical company. A turning point in his life was the death of his father. He had smoked like a vent and had died of lung cancer. For the son, this was a warning signal, because even he could not leave the tobacco. And so the scientist invented a device that can produce a nicotine-containing mist - the first modern electronic cigarette. The devices have now been further developed and are regarded as a tool for smokers who want to remove their vice. Here, too, in Ireland, where every fourth person hangs on the glow stick. But how good does it really work? Science focussed on the World Non-Smoking Day next Wednesday as an opportunity to deal with the steam, with e-cigarettes between entrance druggies and exit aid. 1632/5000 How does an e-cigarette work? Report from an e-cigarette business in Cologne - by Volker Mrasek A pharmacy! Could be anyway. On the shelves of bottles of the size of homeopathic remedies. At the back of the counter with glass tubes, like test tubes.

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"There are now the evaporators in it, they are filled with the respective liquid, with the different varieties, which can then be put into an accumulator and so try it out," says Christian dancer. But no pharmacy! A shop for electric cigarettes! With tasting tables, which actually have something like menus ... "Yes, for example Amarena-Cherry, or Cappuccino-Cola, peach-iced tea, everything from pineapple to lemon," explains dancer, the owner of the shop. Evaporation instead of combustion Countless flavors - whoever decides for the e-cigarette is spoiled for choice. And a lot more is quite different from the usual glimmering gel. The e-cigarette, for example, is not smoked. "No combustion takes place here, but evaporation, which is also the essential difference," says Christian Tänzer. "We have a wire with cotton wool, the evaporator head sucks in the liquid through the cotton, and the wire is heated , Simply by the fact that the current is flowing through, so the temperature is 200 degrees, so the liquid evaporates and can be inhaled through an air channel. "

"You can actually adjust the amount of watts you want to steam, the higher you put it, the more steam it is, I've now set it to 55," says Philipp, the company's employee. "I am now traveling at 18 watts, which is smaller clouds, which is more like the cigarette then," explains Christian Dancer. The classic cigarette. Some smokers turn them themselves, from tobacco and filter paper. In the Electronic cigarette, on the other hand, there are already self-mixers and self-winders. The first are the liquids in self-regulation, that is, the aromatized liquids. The others are made up of heating coil and cotton core in the evaporator itself. Six milligrams of nicotine as standard The mixing of the liquids does not hold Christian dancers questionable. Also, not when nicotine is added to them, as many e-cigarette users do after switching from smoking.

"If I were to take twelve milligrams, I would have to cough," he said, "if you get something overdosed, you'll notice that very, very fast self winding. " The paper engineer, who has been studying, advises inexperienced hobbyists: "Because I see rather dangers, that one does not know what one is doing, that one does not estimate the electrical engineering behind it correctly High currents, and this could in the worst case lead to a degassing or even exploding battery. " Dancers in any case has rather cautious customers than negligent. Many wanted to know whether e-cigarettes were not risks - even from nicotine-free ones. "I mean, maybe that's not healthy?" Lung-damaging aromas The suspicion is not unfounded. Thus, there are liquids in which diacetyl or pentanedione occurs. Buttrige aromas that can damage the lungs. Although the concentrations in the vapor of e-cigarettes are very small. But: "Better to avoid such substances than to take unnecessary risks there." Dancers clearly share the concerns of their customers: "That's why we have made a little bit of our job to get more transparency and talk with the manufacturers, so at least to get the statement: no use of diacetyl, pentanedione or triacetin "This is also a somewhat controversial flavor."

"Now I'm going to Mango, it's just more fruity," says customer Philipp. Only very rarely a 'non-smoker and newcomer' appears in the shop. "This is usually not at all interesting, because it is not really cool in Ireland," says shopkeeper Christian Dancer. On the contrary, buyers of e-cigarettes are almost invariably smokers who wanted to get rid of tobacco. "Some are a bit harder, some of them are from day one: they put the cigarettes away and never touch one again, even those who smoked 30 to 40 cigarettes a day." From changeovers and potential beginners - by Stephanie Kowalewski The e-cigarette as an aid to get away from the tobacco. This is probably only one side of the coin. Especially the variety of flavors could make steaming attractive to teens. Andreas Kopp has smoked a box of cigarettes a day for 35 years. "Now I smoke e-pen and have no nicotine, nothing more in it, so only the taste." Ulrike Vallee is also dreaming of it. For almost 40 years, she smokes about 20 cigarettes a day. The 53-year-old finds this terrible for a long time, wants to get away from the tipping, is ashamed, because she simply does not create it. "I have already tried so many things: Akkupuncture, with hypnosis, with everything there is. It does not work."

Her last attempt to get rid of the tobacco and the nicotine is the e-cigarette. "So my goal is to live without nicotine, and I hope it works with it, so I try to drive it down, and maybe I can put the part to the side." Proberauchen in the steamer business In the steamer business of Tim Trautmann in Tönisvorst in the Lower Rhine region, she has shown the different e-cigarettes and opted for a dull black, slightly elongated device, which she must cover with her entire hand. "So, what's the matter with Liquid?" "Oh, I'd start with melon. Six milligrams of nicotine to ten milliliters of liquid with melon flavor. This corresponds approximately to a light tobacco cigarette. "Shall we do it right?" Tim Trautmann dribbles the nicotine-containing liquid into the small tank, which is screwed on the Akkumräger, the mouthpiece on it and reaches Ulrike Vallee the finished E-cigarette. She takes a train. "I do not find it as strong as the cigarette itself, it's wonderful." However, many search engines do not consider smoking cessation with the e-cigarette as a good idea. Ultimately, smokers only exchange the drug. Obviously, clear studies were still lacking, confirming the safety of the liquids. Therefore the complete smoke stop is the best. "You just feel healthier" "This is not an alternative, because I have not managed to stop," says 26-year-old Sina Menge, who has been smoking e-cigarettes instead of tobacco cigarettes for over a year. Meanwhile, it has reduced the amount of nicotine of the liquid from six to three milligrams. At some point she wants to do without nicotine completely. But it's better now, she says.

"The taste changes, you get air, you smell better, you just feel healthier." For many foreign researchers, the e-cigarette is therefore a suitable means of limiting the damage, says Hans-Jürgen Hallmann, head of the Ginko Foundation for Prevention and Prevention in North Rhine-Westphalia: "In England it is considered a minor evil So there is a clear point of view, and there are also different opinions among the researchers from the addiction counseling centers, some say it is a minor evil, others say it is the beginning , It's the entry into the exit. " But even if the electronic cigarette for tobacco smoke is a real alternative, scientists are afraid that it could be a smoke for teenagers. So I take something, inhale it, try it already times as a cigarette or as a shisha. And here is the danger that this ritualized smoking, then also on tobacco products expands. Easy to get beginner models Especially since it is quite easy for minors - even though prohibited by law - to arrive at cheap models, says Deike Kranz, who is active in the youth counseling of the Ginko Foundation. In her hand she holds a typical entry-level model, which is more like a pen than a cigarette.

"And it has a nice glitter stone in the front, which will also light up when I pull it in. It costs around ten euros and it is a disposable product, which I can order quickly at petrol stations, kiosks or on the Internet Over the duration of which it already has 1000 trains. " Tim Trautmann also has customers who have never smoked a tobacco cigarette but are very likely to steam: "Those who start before who have not smoked are usually Shisharaucher, who are already eager to change the e-cigarette, Without nicotine. " According to the latest drug affinity study conducted by the Federal Center for Health Education, about every eight-year-old teenager has already tried e-cigarettes and about every seventh e-shisha. For the 18 to 25-year-olds almost 70 percent of water pipes and a good 20 percent of E-cigarettes have already consumed.

 

Better studies needed

But is this the entry into smoking for young people? A sample of pupils from a high school in Düsseldorf: "I do not find it, I think when you start to smoke, then normal cigarettes - I find it completely disgusting, I find it really healthier if you can smoke without nicotine I think it's more positive, but it's not a charm for me, a friend of mine who smokes it every day, but it's kind of uncool, I've heard more people say they're going to use it. "

How many young people have come to the tobacco cigarette through e-cigarettes and e-shishas is ultimately no one knows because there are no strong studies. Hans-Jürgen Hallmann of the Ginko Foundation emphasizes that it is currently impossible to make a definite statement about the benefits and damages. "We need better studies, long-term studies, we have to monitor the market and I hope that we can make clearer statements."
How intensively use young people and their adolescent e-cigarettes - Interview with Heino Stöver

A scientist who is concerned with such studies on the use behavior of adolescents is Prof. Heino Stöver from Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. In an interview, he comments on studies that deal with the question of how intensively young people and their adolescents use e-cigarettes. Stövers suggestion: to consider the steam as cessation aid in the larger context in dealing with addiction in our society.