I did try the "USB cigarettes", as I like to call them. But let me be bluntly honest here: it was merely a gadget, and like with so many other gadgets, it sooner than later landed on the shelf or drawer somewhere and got lost...

I found that there are gigantic differences between the devices. The entry-level ones that look like cigarettes are largely crap. Joyetech ego-t are pretty good. I personally (occasionally) use a pipe made by Vapeonly, which feels exactly like a normal pipe, minus the tar. It did cost me about 150 bucks, though.

I use Green Smoke, very good quality and they ship to CH http://www.greensmoke.ch/

Talk about coincidences - I was reading the updates on the EF on my post when I hear the ITV lunch time news talking about e-cigarettes in UK. Apparently there are about 2million users in UK and it's increasing. the expert was saying they are not absolutely safe but much safer than normal cigarettes. The concern is though that while restrictions and banning had seen the number of smokers decreasing, e-cig users are increasing now which may be the gateway for teenagers to start smoking or for people who had never smoking so indirectly causing the increase in normal smokers again. interesting theory...

She ended by saying "remember, it's not the nicotine that kills you, it's the smoke".

Thanks all for your constructive and not so constructive feedback. All good.

Then you might as well comfort yourself that "it's not the cigarettes that kill you, it's the cancer", as that'd be equally as paradox.

My apologies BigBlue...

It was not meant to be a silly comment - just that, in my opinion, alcohol can also be extremely addictive and harmful to one's health as well as cause serious social problems.

Having said that, I am not lobbying against anyone selling alcohol.

But it's not just cancer, is it? It's just smokers who think that to make the odds more appealing.

Heart disease including stroke.
Gangrene due to blocked blood vessels.
Respiratory diseases.
Being burnt alive (house fires caused by discarded cigarettes).

etc.

I wrote a nice long post, but the page refreshed, and it got swallowed by the interwebs "black hole"

The summary is: you have two hurdles, on one side the uncertain regulatory environment, on the other side the fact that you really need to think long and hard of who your buyers will be. As an ex-smoker who found it very hard to quit and still, after almost 2 years, has the occasional cravings (but I don't give in!) the last thing I would want to do is be anywhere near a pseudo-cigarette that constantly reminds me how much I enjoyed smoking when I did.

As a tool to quit smoking, you'd compete with the other available tools - nicotine patches and similar - so your consumer base would be temporary at best: either they quit or they go back to regular ciguarettes. Unless you want your customers hooked on e-cigarettes, in which case you still have not solved the initial problem of nicotine addiction and should not market e-cigarettes as a way to beat such addiction.

From a pure business perspective, your best bet is to convince people that smoking e-cigarettes is cool and trendy, much like the regular tobacco companies did with cigarettes before all the harmful effects really came out to the public. Leaving aside any consideration whatsoever other than pure economics (such as the ethics of doing the above, etc.), you would take advantage of the current uncertainties, bang on the "cool&trendy" and "no proven harmful effects yet" and hope that the regulations come out in your favor - either no proven harmful effects, or, if it turns out there are harmful effects, highly regulated, but 100% legal, sales, much like regular cigaretts, alcohol, etc.. You should still have a plan B in the case they are banned later.

Or you could just jump straight ahead to the coffee shop idea - coffee is a much tastier addiction

Interesting article on the subject today in local rag. A local business man has started such a business here in CH- opening the first e-cig specialised shop in La Chaux-de-Fonds , then Lausanne, Geneva dn Neuchâtel, with more following in Geneva and Sion soon, and many more in the pipeline- with more than 70 flavours.
It actually started in Annecy France. See Freevap.ch
No such products containing nicotine are allowed for sale in CH- and new laws to decide the fate of such products should be on the table by this Summer.

So successful btw, that cigarette makers, who are seeing their own sales dropping significantly, are taking a serious interest too. Philipp Morris International in particular- who perceive in such products a way to decrease the effect of lost sales to traditional cigs.

For info and not with any opinion on the + and -. 24% of people interviewed by our paper in Neuchâtel believed that e-cigarettes will replace real cigs in the next 10 years- no wonder cigarette manufacturers are taking a real interest in developments.

There are a few stores now that I've seen.
Nyon, ground floor of the La Combe center has a small but upmarket looking store selling a range of liquids and smoking devices.
Geneva, Can't remember the street but near Manor there's a older fashioned looking shop that sells loads of the stuff.
Geneva, main street near the apple store, the shop that sells all the really expensive cigars etc .. It also sells all the electic stuff too.

Let's not confuse Switzerland with other countries. Two days ago there was an article in 20 minuten , saying than less than 2 percent of all smokers switched to vaping. Almost half of them tried it, though. As long as nicotine liquids stay banned, there's no market here.

I heard on the radio this morning that they are going to discuss allowing the nicotine liquids to go on sale in Switzerland next month and there is every possibility that they will be allowed.
Their used will be restricted in that same way as cigarettes ( so they won't be allowed in public places) so the advantages will only be the health aspect and potentially the cost.

Which may or may not exist.

Don't underestimate the change which will happen in the next few years. The health benefits of not inhaling smoke are huge, and the switchover from tobacco to e-cigarettes will have important implications: loss of tax revenue from cigarette sales, loss of tax revenue from the tobacco multinationals, boost in life expectancy. It's a revolution, and probably nobody will be smoking in ten years' time. Possibly sooner.

And lets not underestimate the health benefits to non smokers as the traditional cigarettes are disgusting especially when most smokers light up next to you and blow the smoke in your face. Also cleaner environment when less rubbish will be thrown on the ground. One only needs to look at the carpet of cigs along the tracks at train stations to realise how much smokers pollute the environment as they are too lazy to throw their dirty butts in the rubbish bins.

Ditto, there are a huge amount of benefits over traditional cigarettes, it's obvious, and the sooner people start thinking objectively about it the better.

We've discussed that before - yes, there benefits (no stench, for example, and no waste), but the jury's out on the health aspect and recent findings indicate that vaping may not be healthier than smoking tobacco.

The health aspect for non smokers is clear since if they dont blow in your face in public areas thats already a plus. If the smokers are silly enough to do it to themselves then that is less of a worry to a non smoker and the smokers can go ahead and kill themselves without risking the non smokers

And, if we have discussed it before? Your viewpoint is not my reference, and I was not aiming my post at you..

I think the sheer amount more chemicals in cigarettes makes them insrinsically more dangerous than e-cigarettes, and I will wait until concrete long-term studies appear that say otherwise before changing that opinion. You are of course entitles to whatever opinion you please.

There is a shop in Lausanne near the Hotel de la Paix. Having done research on this industry, most of it is conducted online, although you are starting to see shops and kiosks selling them. You may decide to open up online first for the e-cigarettes. Across the EU legislation is coming into force, although not yet in Switzerland