The newest smoking alternative, the e-cigarette has garnered both praise and debate. It looks like a cigarette, tastes like a cigarette, works like a cigarette, but is electric, does not combust, and emits a vapor rather than smoke. Makers claim that it has 4,000 fewer chemicals than cigarettes so is less harmful, and after the cost of the start up kit they are significantly less expensive than the real thing. This new product is popping up in the Kansas City market in places such as kiosks in Oak Park mall and Independence Center.

Of course, the FDA wants in on the action, and some are questioning whether the e-cigarettes really are any healthier. Perhaps, like margarine and shortening, we will discover years from now that they are more detrimental than what they mimic. Or maybe like polyester, polypropylene, and all the other poly fabrics, they will be with us always as a viable alternative.

What intrigues me is the advantage they may serve in building community. An abyss between smokers and non-smokers is ever widening. Non-smokers are attempting to escape the undesirable effects of second-hand smoke and the stench that comes with it by banning smoking from all public places. Smokers are often indignant with the bans, claiming that there ought to be places where they can enjoy the pleasure of a cigarette after a meal or in other social settings.

E-cigarettes are currently allowed in places that ban smoking otherwise. Although some people are still wary of the effects of inhaling the second hand vapor, e-cigarettes do not carry with them the smoky cigarette smell that invades clothing, hair, and skin. Perhaps now smokers and non-smokers can sit down at the table and enjoy a meal together. Friends torn asunder by their differing habits can once again stand side by side at the bar. Lovers driven apart by one’s bad breath can once again embrace.

Let’s open our minds to the potential benefits for us all.