Instead of packing cigarettes, searching for a lighter and standing outside, smokers can now get their nicotine fix anywhere without the hassle, inconvenience and health problems of tobacco.Electronic cigarettes, or “e-cigs,” are gaining popularity among those smokers who want to quit or save money.”It’s a vehicle for transporting nicotine into your lungs,” said Jobi Collins, manager of Smoking Somewhere, an electronic cigarette vender located in the Mall of Louisiana. “With traditional smoking, this is done by burning tobacco, and the smoke from tobacco carries the nicotine into the lungs. That’s how the smoker feeds their addiction.”The electronic cigarette vaporizes water, giving the smoker the nicotine oral fixation without the negative drawbacks of tobacco.”Because you’re burning a plant [when using cigarettes], it’s producing carbon monoxide, and that’s what is bad for you and what causes lung cancer,” Collins said.The device looks and feels like a regular cigarette, but includes two rechargeable batteries, a vaporizer, power cord and adapter and a pack of five cartridges for about $150 or $365 for a one-year supply.”The batteries last about a full day, depending on how much you smoke,” Collins said. “You charge one [cigarette] while you use the other, and when you pull on the vaporizer, it pulls in air and heats it.”With the recent tobacco tax, cigarette prices in Louisiana will reach nearly $7.50, according to Joe Mullens, South Downs Liquor and Cigarettes manager on Perkins Road.Collins said purchasing an electronic cigarette kit could save smokers more than $1,800 annually.The electronic cigarettes contain nicotine but aren’t yet regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA recently reported it is looking into this new technology because of the encouragement from smokers and health officials.The Louisiana Smokefree Air Act protects nonsmokers from involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke by prohibiting smoking in most indoor areas to the public.Because the electronic cigarettes don’t produce firsthand or secondhand smoke, they can be smoked legally anywhere, including in restaurants, airplanes and theaters.”You can smoke these wherever you want,” Collins said. “It’s not harmful to the environment, and it doesn’t stink.”Brooke Martin, communication studies senior, said she tried the electronic cigarette but was unsatisfied.”You don’t get the same effect doing it,” Martin said. “The smoke isn’t heavy.”Martin said for smokers trying to quit, the electronic cigarette may be a good investment, but she doesn’t plan to purchase one.”I know a couple of people who smoke them,” she said. “But I won’t go out and buy them.”—-Contact Leslie Presnall at [email protected]