gofer articles

E-commerce, e-publishing, e-this, e-that.
And then, in one of the strangest ever events, the kind that makes the “believe it or nuts” section of the local daily, the type that is spoofed on TV using a soundtrack of Richard Strauss’ “Thus Spake Zarathustra” for an accommodation, the creation of the e-cigarette.

Yes its true, an electronic cigarette.

Hon Lik was a Chinese pharmacist who smoked first thing in the morning, along with in-between bites of lunch and, well, just about all the time.
He would be over two packs by dinnertime, with another before heading off for the night.

Smoking prodigiously was the family hobby, and in China, where some sixty percent of the men smoke, it’s perhaps the national pastime, second only after dining out.
But when his own father died of lung cancer, the middle-aged Hon Lik finally resolved to give up smoking – and, along the way, invent the e-cigarette.

It’s one of the strangest gadgets to come out of Asia, so inquisitive that one might be surprised it hadn’t already been thought of in Japan long ago, the country most often associated with technological novelties both sublime and absurd.
But there it is, an electronic cig, a smokeless cigarette, furthermore.

You heard that right, smokeless.

No carcinogens, or very, minimal.
No nicotine, even, if the user so wishes!
A cigarette-looking device that simply uses a tiny battery to vaporize a tiny bit of flavored liquid to make, well, vapors, vapors much like stage fog.

That’s all.

As strange as these things are, nevertheless, stranger most likely will be the claims that they assist one quit smoking, or, even, are more secure alternatives to cigarette smoking – strange because such claims may be genuine, if the conclusions from a new 2010 Boston University School of Public Health review should be believed!