Recently saw this product for sale at a county fair while vacationing.

Actually the product itself is pretty cool. It's a plastic faux cigarette, powered by a ni-cad battery, which heats up and vaporizes air moisture which is drawn through a filter tip that contains concentrated nicotine. The smoker can draw the vapor into the lungs, creating the sensation of smoking while receiving some nicotine to aid in fighting smoking withdrawal symptoms.

We bought a set for about $80, including a number of replaceable filters. The salesman indicated that additional supplies could be obtained via the company's website, operated by OMG International from Rhode Island.

After returning to our hotel, I checked the website. There was no website, and the domain address had simply been parked with GoDaddy for future use.

Went back to the fair, and waited behind another customer to return the product. We watched the salesman tell a buyer ahead of us that they could get additional supplies from the website or by calling the company, and giving them the same handshake and congratulations they had given me for becoming an "ex smoker" on the spot. He held up the product box and pointed out the website address to the customer.

We then proceeded to explain ourselves and ask for a refund. After a brief argument in which the salesman denied having told us to order resupplies from the website, and insisted that he had told us that the site was not yet operational, he gave us a refund.

Long story short is that this seems like a great product, but it's completely useless if you can't buy supplies of the filter as they are depleted of nicotine. The salesman lied to the customers, lied to us, and lied to the county fair board I complained to.

If you can find a reputable seller handling these electronic cigarettes, you might want to try them for smoking cessation. I may try them again. But I won't be getting them from OMG Smoke-free, or OMG International.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-07-22-electroniccigarette_N.htm

The FDA says electronic cigarettes contain health hazards of their own, and is moving to regulate their importation and sale.

Similar situation happened to me a few days ago. We found the product at a state fair as well. My husband is a smoker who wants to quit and thought this would be a good way to go. We purchased the package from them and after being home with the product for one day discovered it didn't work the way the salesman had said that it would. We went back and asked for our money back (we wrote them a check). After making us wait around for about an hour for someone to go "find" our check, we got it back and left. Now im concerned that they will take the money anyway since they could very easily have wrote down our account and routing # that were on the check prior to giving it back to us?! They had us make the check out to IHI. Any ideas of who or what that is? Maybe I'm being too cautious, but Im thinking of closing my account and opening a new one, these people are obviously scam artists for selling a product that doesn't do what they say it does.

http://reordersmokefree.com/

Someone claiming to be a supplier for OMG Smokefree cigarette refills and accessories has opened a website. It's hard to believe that it was created by a professional. Looks more like the work of a high school kid. There is no contact information on it whatsoever, so you essentially have no idea at all who you're giving your credit card info to. Good luck with that!

They also continue the OMG tradition of lying, claiming that the OMG Smokefree cigarette has no carcinigens.

The FDA disagrees.

"Tests show that e-cigarettes contain "known carcinogens and toxic chemicals," including diethylene glycol, an ingredient used in antifreeze, officials announced Wednesday during a teleconference. The FDA notes that the products have no warning labels."

On the bright side, OMG does note that they are now protecting us from "electromagnetic radiation". I was getting pretty concerned about that.

http://tinyurl.com/knvjth

Commercial pilots are calling for a ban on air freight transportation of lithium batteries, which are suspected as the source of a recent airplane fire. The batteries were contained in a shipment of e-cigarettes.

sarahm wrote:

Similar situation happened to me a few days ago. We found the product at a state fair as well. My husband is a smoker who wants to quit and thought this would be a good way to go. We purchased the package from them and after being home with the product for one day discovered it didn't work the way the salesman had said that it would. We went back and asked for our money back (we wrote them a check). After making us wait around for about an hour for someone to go "find" our check, we got it back and left. Now im concerned that they will take the money anyway since they could very easily have wrote down our account and routing # that were on the check prior to giving it back to us?! They had us make the check out to IHI. Any ideas of who or what that is? Maybe I'm being too cautious, but Im thinking of closing my account and opening a new one, these people are obviously scam artists for selling a product that doesn't do what they say it does.

I would probably go ahead and change accounts. If you really get the feeling that they're scam artists then you would be feeling pretty silly for not having done so after they've ransacked your account. If you change your account and it turns out they're not going to jack you over, well then all you've got is you changed your account because you had the feeling some scammers had your info, which no one would blame you for.

http://portland.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2009/08/17/daily17.html

The State of Oregon has sued Smoking Everywhere, a major distributor of E-cigarettes, for making false health claims and targeting young people with its advertising and cigarette flavoring.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=327689

The controversy over e-cigarettes continues, with the FDA remaining skeptical and fans saying that the reduced harm from the smokeless cigarette substitutes makes them a valid tool for tobacco users to quit their habit.

I'm still quite tempted to give them a try. They sure can't be any worse for me than the real deal.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-10-25-ecigarettes_N.htm

Across the US, state and local units of government are introducing legislation and civil actions to discourage or ban the sale of e-cigarettes.