Lately I've been seeing more and more stories about employees of bars being responsible for enforcing new smoking bans in bars. Since when did it become the right of the state to force employees of bars to risk their health telling the large biker at the end of the bar that he can't smoke? If the state really had employees health in mind they wouldn't force them to do the job of police, which cops are eager to tell us is a very dangerous job.

Leaford of e-smoker-forever.com graciously agreed to be interviewed for my little website. Leaford has become a trusted source for unbiased reviews of electronic cigarettes products and somewhat of a celebrity in the e-smoking community. This is the second of two parts.

What prompted you to start doing reviews of e-smoking products?

Well, when I first started e-smoking there weren't a lot of video reviews out there at all, and those that were were from people who seemed to have just that one, or maybe one more. Without a comparison, all you can really say is that you like it. That was a mistake I made on my first ever review, a written review of the Crown 7. I loved it, and positively RAVED over it. Because it was the best I had found of the first three I bought. It only took my next e-cig, an Njoy to discover how bad it was in comparison to a decent one.

The city of Boston has outlawed the sales of cigarettes on college campuses, pharmacies, and supermarkets. Not happy with merely inconveniencing nicotine addicts, Boston went on to outlaw smoking in hotels, inns, outdoor areas near buildings, bars and restaurants. Including outdoor patios.

Wait, there's more!

Defying all logic the ban actually extends cigar bars and hookah bars, health officials are telling business owners they must shutter their private businesses within 10 years!

Is it just me or is this whole thing getting just a tiny bit ridiculous?

Boston's new tobacco laws.

I am a huge fan of Johnson Creek Smoke Juice as a company. They are the only manufacturer of nicotine liquid I have found that lists the contents of their product and really seems to care about the product. I use their products all the time and I love them, particularly the Tennessee Cured flavor and the Chocolate Almond flavor. I especially appreciate them after trying some of the off brand stuff that is sold on most of the sites on the internet, some of that stuff went right into the garbage after trying just a few puffs.

I am saying all of this becuase I am about to say something bad about one of their flavors and I don't want anybody to get the idea that I think poorly of all of their products. I ordered and received their sample pack recently which contains cute little bottles of every flavor they make. One of the first one's I tried was arctic mint. Let me tell you- it's bloody awful.

Johnson Creek's Arctic Mint

There is no accounting for taste and some people may love it, but to me it tasted like a peppermint patty soaked in formaldehyde and

Leaford of e-smoker-forever.com graciously agreed to be interviewed for my little website. Leaford has become a trusted source for unbiased reviews of electronic cigarettes products and somewhat of a celebrity in the e-smoking community. This is the first of two parts.

When did you first discover e-cigarettes and what attracted you to them?

I decided I needed to quit when one of my pet Parrots died.

The Daily Free Press is reporting that Boston University's social and behavioral sciences professor Micheal Siegel says many employers are implementing a no smokers rule for new employees and even firing current employees if they do not quit smoking.

“Discrimination is essentially the categorical denial of employment to a group, based solely on the membership to that group that is not related to job qualifications,” he said....

“I think you could make the same argument with obesity,” he said. “Companies could say, ‘We’re not going to hire obese people because we want to promote healthy practices.’”

Just an update today and a comment or two about the e-smoking community. First the update.

I smoked an "analog cigarette" today, I was drinking a gin and tonic and I just wanted one. This is the first one that I have had since Friday night when I was also drinking gin and tonic. Maybe there is a pattern here? In any case the experience was anticlimactic, it smelled funny and tasted bad, but it scratched some itch that my 901 or Penstyle just couldn't reach no matter how hard I puffed. Despite that I still feel like I am making progress on kicking tobacco out of my life. A year ago I couldn't imagine living four days without a smoke..

On to the commentary:

Michigan prisons are going tobacco free on February 1st. That includes everywhere inside and out, and applies to employees as well as the inmates. As if the threat of getting shived wasn't enough to stress you out!

Lawmakers say it will reduce the health care costs for inmates. The ban doesn't seem to cover electronic cigarettes but I doubt they'll allow those either.

Read more at the The Chicago Tribune

Leaford has tracked down the specifics of a bad vendor and how to avoid them. They go variously by Smoking Everywhere, LLC and their web pages include www.smokingeverywhere.com and www.smoking-everywhere.com

Read more about it on Leaford's Blog

I've been "vaping" now for almost a month. My goal was to use electronic cigarettes to try and quit using tobacco altogether, or at the very least cut down to a very few a day.

I have been smoking cigarettes for over 20 years and I have tried multiple times to quit, so when I heard about these new devices I was really excited. Smoking without the tar, carbon monoxide and hundreds of other toxic chemicals seemed like a great way to do something good for myself without too much pain! Well so far it seems pretty good. Not great, but pretty good.

The electronic cigarettes do in fact deliver nicotine to my brain very quickly and I have cut my consumption down from 20-30 tobacco cigarettes a day to around 1 or 2. As I type this, I have not had one in about 36 hours and I feel fine. I don't miss them at all really. In fact when I do smoke one I find them unsatisfying, nasty tasting and smelly. A sure sign of progress IMHO.

Some smart Japanese fellows think they have figured out a way to make tobacco stop producing nicotine. This would allow for nicotine free cigarettes! - Next projects: banana free peel, and car free pollution.

Read more about it here.

There is a good update on the status of smokers' (and nonsmokers) rights in US Ariports over at USA TODAY - I know I used to hate to fly because US airports can't seem to find a place to put smokers other than outside security three blocks from the terminal. Of course the ban does not apply to electronic cigarettes. :)

From the PRNEWSWIRE - Ruyan America, Inc., Minneapolis, announced that it will introduce its newest E-cigarette smoking substitute/cigarette alternative, the Ruyan Jazz, at the 2009 National Association for Truck Stop Operators (NATSO) to be held January 24th to 28th in Nashville, TN

Thaindian News reports: Despite being outlawed in Australia, electronic cigarettes that use nicotine-flavoured vapour are still being sold on the website eBay for hundreds of dollars....'This looks like another insidious, manipulative attempt to hook people on smoking. I”d be very concerned about any attempts to promote smoking, especially to young people,' news.com.au quoted  Health Minister Nicola Roxon as saying.   - proving that Nicola Roxon is very talented at completly missing the point.

Ruyan is planning to introduce a disposable e cigarette called The Jazz. They claim it is equivalent to four or five packs or traditional cigarettes and will retail for around $25.

• Update: Dustin over at e-cigreview.com has a video review of The Jazz