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13-01-2009, 02:17 PM
CUSTOMERS in a pub are trying to get round the smoking ban by puffing away on a bizarre new invention - the electronic cigarette.
Made in China, the device looks like a sleek ballpoint pen and is longer than a normal cigarette.
When a smoker sucks on the tube, which contains a nicotine cartridge, it delivers a hit of nicotine vapour to the lungs.
The smoker can then breathe out the "smoke", said to be harmless and akin to the substance used to produce fog on stage.
Video bulletin on today's top stories - click here
To complete the effect, the end of the so-called e-cigarette lights up. It is powered by a small rechargeable battery.
Publicans Trevor and Jan Partt, both unrepentant smokers of normal cigarettes, have introduced the weird substitute at their pub, the Rivermill Inn at St Neots.
Mr Partt said: "With the smoking ban, people are forced to stand outside in the cold, but we are sure these are not breaking the law, so people can smoke them indoors. The law covers tobacco products, and these are not tobacco.
"When you smoke one, the feeling when you inhale is 95 per cent like the real thing - it's amazing."
The pub keeps a stock of starter kits and spare cartridges for the e-cigarettes behind the bar.
A kit, which includes the tube, batteries, charger and five assorted cartridges in different strengths, costs £39.95, with replacement cartridges 45p each.
Jason Cropper, managing director of theelectroniccigarette.co.uk, which imports the kits from China, admitted no clinical trials had been done to assess possible adverse health effects of the devices.
A spokesman for the Department of Health told the News: "Electronic cigarettes appear to be borderline products when considering compliance with the smoke-free law. They heat nicotine inserts using a microchip charging device, and therefore technically they are not 'lit'. However, most of these products seem to contain traces of tobacco.
"We have identified at least a dozen different brands of electronic cigarettes. All are different in composition and emissions. No such products have been approved for sale in the UK.
"We are currently obtaining information on ingredients and emissions of e-cigarettes from manufacturers and importers."
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=380409
Made in China, the device looks like a sleek ballpoint pen and is longer than a normal cigarette.
When a smoker sucks on the tube, which contains a nicotine cartridge, it delivers a hit of nicotine vapour to the lungs.
The smoker can then breathe out the "smoke", said to be harmless and akin to the substance used to produce fog on stage.
Video bulletin on today's top stories - click here
To complete the effect, the end of the so-called e-cigarette lights up. It is powered by a small rechargeable battery.
Publicans Trevor and Jan Partt, both unrepentant smokers of normal cigarettes, have introduced the weird substitute at their pub, the Rivermill Inn at St Neots.
Mr Partt said: "With the smoking ban, people are forced to stand outside in the cold, but we are sure these are not breaking the law, so people can smoke them indoors. The law covers tobacco products, and these are not tobacco.
"When you smoke one, the feeling when you inhale is 95 per cent like the real thing - it's amazing."
The pub keeps a stock of starter kits and spare cartridges for the e-cigarettes behind the bar.
A kit, which includes the tube, batteries, charger and five assorted cartridges in different strengths, costs £39.95, with replacement cartridges 45p each.
Jason Cropper, managing director of theelectroniccigarette.co.uk, which imports the kits from China, admitted no clinical trials had been done to assess possible adverse health effects of the devices.
A spokesman for the Department of Health told the News: "Electronic cigarettes appear to be borderline products when considering compliance with the smoke-free law. They heat nicotine inserts using a microchip charging device, and therefore technically they are not 'lit'. However, most of these products seem to contain traces of tobacco.
"We have identified at least a dozen different brands of electronic cigarettes. All are different in composition and emissions. No such products have been approved for sale in the UK.
"We are currently obtaining information on ingredients and emissions of e-cigarettes from manufacturers and importers."
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=380409