For millions of people around the world battling to avoid the inevitable outcome a lifetime of smoking leads to, the challenge to finally kick the habit is long and tumultuous. Back in the day people would simply go “cold turkey”, either quitting outright or taking up some new hobby/habit. But this is 2011. We’re a technologically advanced society (at least we’d like to think we are). Smokers looking to kick the habit now have these fancy little plastic sticks called e-cigarettes.

Continue on after the break…

Design

There’s only so many ways you can design a simple plastic canister that holds an electrical element and some flavored liquid. Ok. There’s only really one way. An e-cigarette’s purpose in life isn’t to look pretty. It’s to pass off as a normal cigarette so smokers looking to quit can do just that while not looking goofy in the process.

Usage

We’ll be honest. We’ve never used an e-cigarette before. As such we’re not exceptionally versed on all the nuances between e-cigarette brands, what features — Do cigarettes have features now? — each respective brand has, flavor differences, etc. With that said, as an outsider coming in we felt Vapor4Life’s design and overall presentation of their e-cigarettes was spot on. The little metallic looking cases they send you are a bit chinzy looking, though admittingly much nicer than simply sticking an e-cigarette in your pocket, or our personal favorite (not really), your ear.

With Vapor4Life e-cigarettes there are two main pieces: the flavored canister and the heating element. Screw the two together, inhale, exhale. That’s all there is to it. Want a different flavor? Change the canister. According to V4L, each canister is equivalent to 10-15 cigarettes — the length of each “smoking”/vaping session will vary depending on how deep you inhale.

More seasoned smokers can choose nicotine levels up to 32mg. Because we’re not regular smokers, we went with more middle of the road 11mg level to keep from getting knocked over by the nicotine effect that permeated through our bodies. Flavor-wise, you name it, V4L has got it. The flavor we personally tested was hazelnut, and yes, it tasted just like that. A nice twist on the standard cigarette flavor we’d say.

We gave our test sample to a couple of friends who are actual smokers to see what they had to say not just about the V4L e-cigarettes themselves, but vaping in general. The general consensus is that it was extremely handy for places where, as we noted above, smoking isn’t allowed. When we broached the subject of e-cigarettes being healthier, the first response (surprisingly) wasn’t a resounding “yay”. The people we talked to were more concerned about convenience and the ability to satiate their nicotine cravings. With that said, such outlooks on e-cigarettes will vary from person to person and group to group.

Vaping In Public

Likes/dislikes concerning the actual e-cigarette itself, we found it somewhat exhilarating to sit down and “light up” in areas that didn’t allow traditional smoking (read: pretty much any public indoor building). Over the couple of weeks that we spent with the V4L e-cigarettes we garnered our fair share of stares from people likely questioning what exactly it was we were smoking, with a few even stopping us to ask/check it out, especially when vaping in a crowded mall or restaurant.

For the most part, however, when vaping in more smoke-friendly areas no one seemed to even notice that our pick-me-up was a lot less…smokey.

While we didn’t run into any negative encounters while vaping out and about, we’re sure some person or business has given a vaporing individual some grief over their lack of understanding on how e-cigarettes work. On that note, we’d like to hear from anyone who has had a bad experience over the last few years and tell us how you handled it so that it could help other e-cigarette users (new and old) avoid serious confrontation, or pollute the image of e-cigarettes.

Conclusion

If you consider an average smoker going through a pack a day, that (also on average) can equal about $5-6/day depending on local taxes. Multiple that x365 and you can quickly see how expensive the old habit has become. Conversely, the e-cigarette packs from Vapor 4 Life average $59.99 with each individual canister — remember, each canister is roughly 1 pack of cigarettes — costing ~$9.99, it may seem like a money pit. While it is still a rather expensive hobby to keep up, the overall level of your health will be increased significantly. To many who’ve been trying to quit smoking for years or even decades, having a cleaner bill of health is more than worth the money.

There’s also the factor of convenience. A normal cigarette is pretty much an all or nothing experience once it’s lit. Run out of time to smoke and you’ve wasted a cigarette. Many public places also don’t allow traditional smoking. With an e-cigarette you can take as little or as many puffs as you want, in just about any place (public or private) that you want.

We’re not smokers, and after several weeks of vaping we can’t say we’d be a regular in that crowd either. But for the purpose of helping people get off of traditional cigarettes or quit smoking altogether, e-cigarettes such as those by Vapor 4 Life are an immensely useful tool that not only make life more convenient but can add years to a person’s life. That possibility is, we think, one of the greatest “features” of e-cigarettes hands down.

More:

• Vapor 4 Life Starter Kits

• About Vapor 4 Life

Giveaway

Check back soon with Gadgetsteria.com as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages as we have a complete set of Vapor 4 Life gear to give away. The set includes:

• Two cases

• Two e-cigarette bodies (black and white)

• USB Charger

• Car charger

• 1 full canister of Hazelnut

• Several smaller “Trial” canisters of varying flavors

We’ll announce the official giveaway on a separate post and link to it from right here. Stay tuned!