The history of e-cigarettes

A fact that you may not have expected: Although someone made the prototype of e-cigarettes a long time ago, the modern e-cigarette we see now was not invented until 2004. Not only that, this seemingly foreign product is actually "exported to domestic sales."

The American Herbert A. Gilbert obtained a patented design for a "smokeless, non-tobacco cigarette" in 1963. The device heats liquid nicotine to produce vapor, which mimics the feeling of smoking. In 1967, several companies tried to produce this e-cigarette, but because the hazards of paper cigarettes had not been paid attention to by the society at that time, the project was not really commercialized in the end.

In 2000, Dr. Han Li of Beijing, China proposed to dilute nicotine with propylene glycol and atomize the liquid with an ultrasonic device to produce a water mist effect (actually, heating to generate atomized gas). The user can inhale the nicotine-containing water mist into the lungs and deliver the nicotine to the blood vessels. Among them, the liquid nicotine diluent is stored in a device called a cartridge for easy carrying. This is the embryonic form of modern electronic cigarettes.

In 2004, Han Li obtained the invention patent for this product, and it was officially commercialized the following year and sold by China Ruyan Company. With the popularity of anti-smoking campaigns abroad, e-cigarettes have also flowed from China to European and American countries. In recent years, major cities in China have begun to implement strict smoking bans, and e-cigarettes have slowly begun to become popular in China.

Recently, there is another type of e-cigarette, which generates smoke by heating the tobacco through a heating plate. Since there is no open flame, it will not produce carcinogens such as tar generated when the cigarette is burned. This is what I am smoking.