By Kerry Gaynor
For Murphy News Service

It is a typical Saturday night spent at an apartment complex, off-campus housing primarily for University of Minnesota students. Stepping out for a smoke break, University of Minnesota junior Lundy Thoung asks for a cigarette.

The night is chilly with an unwelcomed breeze. Intoxicated partygoers walk up and down University Avenue. Thoung is only wearing one shoe, propping open the door of the complex with the other. Without keys, this is the mode of access back into the building.

Chatting, Thoung finishes his cigarette, stepping on the butt with his one shoe. He pulls a black-and-silver stick out of his jacket. About the size of a Magic Marker, it looks like a robotic pen: an electronic cigarette.

Bringing it to his mouth, the 24-year-old presses a button and inhales, exhaling vapor, which quickly dissipates.

Electronic Cigarettes

Vape sticks, hookah pens, e-cigs are all slang names for tobacco-less electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes, sometimes called electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). With these mechanisms, users inhale a vaporized, flavored liquid containing nicotine. Typically, e-cigarettes are powered by a rechargeable battery controlling an atomizer. This atomizer heats a cartridge containing liquid, which the user inhales.

Electronic cigarette usage has, well, ignited in recent years, earning an estimated $2 billion in revenue in 2013. Wells Fargo’s Beverage and Tobacco analyst Bonnie Herzog said she projects sales of e-cigarettes to exceed those of traditional cigarettes within the next decade.

A 15mL bottle of e-liquid costs about $10, depending on the desired nicotine level. E-cigarettes can run anywhere from $20 to hundreds of dollars. Many stores offer “starter kits” of e-cigarettes, usually including liquid for a bundled deal.

Users can customize their device with different sized batteries, specially designed tanks and other accessories. Personalization can prolong battery life and allow for more e-liquid and “the style” the user desires. Parts are often sold independently to make small repairs and modifications.

Many users say e-cigarettes have helped them cut back or even quit smoking. E-cigarettes are often advertised as being safer or healthier alternatives to normal cigarettes. Thoung, who has been “vaping” for about a month, admitted this is part of the reason he began using e-cigarettes.

“I started for health reasons and it’s more cost effective. Instead of spending $6 or $7 on a pack of cigarettes, I have this,” he said. He still smokes occasionally, but Thoung credited his e-cigarette as a cessation tool from cigarettes.

Those opposed to e-cigarettes question the safety of the liquid, chemicals involved and the health effects of vaping. There is also concern the flavored liquids make the devices more attractive to children and teenagers. Despite a number of small-scale studies about e-cigarettes, many say government testing and regulation is necessary before a proper consensus can be made about the devices’ effects.

”There is no government oversight of these products and, absent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight, there is no way for the public health, medical community or consumers to know what chemicals are contained in e-cigarettes or what the short and long term health implications might be,” the American Lung Association said in a statement.

The current landscape of electronic cigarettes might be changing very soon. On April 24 the FDA proposed a new rule allowing it to classify and regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products. Proponents of e-cigarettes say this has major negative implications on the blossoming industry’s future.

FDA Regulation

Electronic cigarettes were invented in China in 2003 and debuted on the U.S. market in 2007.

The Federal Drug Administration became involved with regulation of e-cigarettes in 2009, initially claiming they were “drug device products.” Months later, the FDA gained regulation authority over tobacco products such as cigarettes and smokeless tobacco under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

After multiple legal actions In 2010 between the FDA and two electronic cigarette companies, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon ruled e-cigarettes could only be classified as tobacco products, the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA)’s website said.

Operating under Judge Leon’s ruling and the Tobacco Control Act, the FDA’s new rule—if approved as is—would increase the FDA’s authority over tobacco products. Under the current proposed rule, the regulation of e-cigarettes (also cigars, pipe tobacco, hookah tobacco and other products) would be identical to that of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.

E-cigarettes and the liquids used in them would have to be submitted for review by the FDA as “new” products. This process involves registering the products and ingredients, among other actions, the FDA said in a news release.

Potential Future for E-Cig Retailers

Kurt Kopatich said he is concerned about the future of the e-cigarette industry. The head of sales and head “mixologist” at Minnesota online store www.ecigpod.com, Kopatich broke down the logistics of complying with the FDA’s planned regulations.

E-cig Pod produces about 45 different flavors of liquid at three available nicotine levels. each flavor at each nicotine level is a different product to conform to the FDA’s rule. Kopatich’s would have to submit 135 applications to the FDA for his store to cover just its existing stock, he said.

Each application is estimated to cost vendors $10,000, Kopatich said. E-cig Pod would have to spend more than $1.3 million for FDA approval, money he said his store doesn’t have.

“That’s just assuming [the product application] will go through. In some cases the FDA just refuses to process these,” he said.

The FDA’s estimates are that it will take 5,000 man-hours to complete approval of one application. In the first year, it only expects to complete 30 applications, he said

An estimated 1,000 e-cigarette manufacturers and 20,000 related products on the U.S. market have created more than $7.2 million in 2014 revenue alone—and that’s just through April of this year.

Most electronic cigarette vending companies, especially in Minnesota, are small businesses. Usually these vendors, such as E-cig Pod, produce their own liquids. At most e-cigarette stores, shoppers can try each flavor of liquid before making a purchase. Such free samples, although usually nicotine-free, would also be banned under FDA’s rule. Small e-cigarette businesses as they operate now would be unable to function under the proposed regulation.

“It’s just putting this industry into the hands of big tobacco and nobody wants that,” Kopatich said. “This FDA regulation would kill the industry as we know it,” he added, “It’s ridiculous.”

“For the Children” and Other Concerns

One of the main concerns of e-cigarettes, as voiced by the FDA, is the potential appeal to children and teenagers. The fear is the fruity and sugary flavors of the e-liquid will entice them into trying the devices, leading to regular cigarettes down the road.

A study by the University of California, San Francisco, surveyed 40,000 youths across the U.S. who used e-cigarettes. It found a correlation between e-cigarette use and conventional smoking, saying youths who used e-cigarettes were more likely to smoke and smoked more cigarettes on average. When compared to smokers who do not use e-cigarettes however, those in the study were more likely to plan on quitting the habit.

The safety of vaping e-cigarettes is still up in the air, but drinking the liquid has been shown to be quite harmful, especially to younger children. Nicotine poisoning from drinking e-liquid can even be deadly.

The Mission in Minnesota

Minnesota is unique in its e-cigarette culture.

“It sounds cliché, but it’s not about profit. All the vendors here have the same common goal to help people quit smoking,” Kopatich said.

Starting at 15-years-old, Kopatich said he smoked on average a pack of cigarettes a day for four and a half years. He bought an e-cigarette, partially because he wanted to quit smoking, but mostly because he wanted the convenience to smoke inside, he said. At 20, he hasn’t had a cigarette since.

In an online survey of e-cigarette users by Society of the Study of Addiction, 74 percent said they hadn’t smoked since using the e-cigarette and 70 percent said their cravings had decreased. Many e-cigarette users want to see the devices accepted as smoking cessation aids like nicotine patches or gum.

Advocacy groups have sprouted up to defend “vaping culture.” Often these begin online in social media groups and forums. Minnesota Vapers Advocacy is the state’s forefront political organization active in e-cigarette regulation.

The mission of MVA is “to inform and educate in order to protect the future of vaping & e-cigarette use in our state.” Most recently, MVA is fighting two bills attempting to restrict vaping by encouraging e-cig advocates to contact their state representatives.

The first bill passed through Minnesota’s House of Representatives earlier this month, only banning the devices on school and government property, and not in all public areas as originally proposed.

Up until this bill, e-cigarettes had not been covered in Minnesota’s Clean Indoor Air Act. Some Minnesota cities and counties have drawn up ordinances about indoor use, but these bills mark the first step of state-wide regulation.

MVP is focusing on a bill hitting the state Senate that would classify e-cigarette users as smokers, a categorization that it said “has far reaching implications.”

Many people and organizations say government involvement is a defining factor for verifiable consensus on e-cigarettes. Despite few large-scale, scientific studies, many e-cigarette users are quick to defend the devices.

The FDA’s rule as it exists would significantly alter the current e-cigarette industry with its foundation in small business.

The rule is up for public review and editing suggestions until July 8, 2014.

Kerry Gaynor is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.