Electronic cigarettes have only recently gained mainstream popularity, but these devices have been around for decades. The need for electronic cigarettes was evident as early as the 1960s. As the stigma around smoking cigarettes grows, so too does the interest in this smokeless alternative. Learn more about the journey e-cigarettes have taken throughout their history, and you’ll get a better feel for where these devices may go in the future.
1963: Herbert A. Gilbert and the First E-Cigarette
Herbert A. Gilbert was a two-pack-a-day smoker himself, but he saw an inherent flaw in cigarettes. As he put it in one interview, “when you burned leaves and wood, even if you did it in your backyard, it yielded a result that no one wanted to take into their lungs.” Though he saw the appeal of cigarettes, he simply couldn’t get past the obvious issue of inhaling smoke, and the fact that this was a dangerous practice to engage in.
Looking for a solution, he turned his mind first to baking bread, and then to brewing tea. Both activities involve heat, but they produce results that are far less noxious than smoke. He soon realized his goal was to “replace burning tobacco and paper with heated, moist, flavored air.”
Gilbert proceeded to design the first electronic cigarette and patented his invention in 1963 under the title Smokeless Non-Tobacco Cigarette. Though Gilbert’s prototypes no longer exist, his designs prove that all of today’s e-cigarettes follow the fundamentals of Gilbert’s original plan.
1979: The Favor Cigarette Introduces Vaping
Around 1979 Dr. Norman Jacobson came up with a different alternative to smoking, which he would ultimately term “vaping.” Jacobson was looking for a nicotine delivery system that would eliminate many of the chemicals and carcinogens produced when users burned tobacco. His solution was to inhale pure nicotine through a piece of liquid soaked paper. Jacobsen’s device differed dramatically from Gilbert’s because it had no combustion mechanism.
Jacobsen ultimately produced an item known as the Favor cigarette that allowed the user to inhale, or vape, nicotine from its liquid state. Since it lacked the heating part of the equation, the device ran into many problems. The liquid nicotine would evaporate quickly, producing a bitter flavor. Despite this flaw, the use of nicotine as an inhalable substance was an important element in electronic cigarette history.
2003: Hon Lik Develops an Electronic Cigarette
More than 20 years passed before electronic cigarettes took another step forward. Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik is often credited as the inventor of the first e-cigarette. Though it’s clear that electronic cigarette history dates farther back, Lik did play an important role in getting e-cigarettes to the place of prominence where they are now. Lik was a heavy smoker himself and lost his father to lung cancer.
Desperate to prevent future deaths from lung cancer caused by smoking, Lik set forth to create an electronic cigarette. He patented his design in 2003. Lik’s device heated liquid nicotine to produce a vapor, and the battery-powered product included both an atomizer activated by inhalation and a red tip that lit up with each drag.
2004: Ruyan Produces Electronic Cigarettes
In 2004, the company Hon Lik worked for changed its name to Ruyan, which means “like smoking.” Ruyan began producing and selling electronic cigarettes in China. The device gained rapid popularity, having finally emerged into a market that was actively looking for an alternative to traditional cigarettes.
2007: Electronic Cigarettes Reach the United States
Electronic cigarette history gets far more active following the rapid adoption of Hon Lik’s device. These products spread quickly across Europe and reached the United States market in 2007. Soon, devices hit the market in a variety of shapes, sizes, and flavors. E-cigarettes became widely known as smoking cessation devices that could deliver a satisfactory hit of nicotine without the many chemicals and carcinogens present in traditional cigarettes.
2008: New Zealand Deems E-Cigarettes a Safe Alternative
Health organizations quickly became involved with the sale and production of e-cigarettes, with many issuing claims that they were not safe. A New Zealand study tested Ruyan e-cigarettes for more than 50 priority-listed toxicants in cigarette smoke. The only one detected was a trace amount of mercury. Based on these findings, researchers deemed electronic cigarettes 100 to 1,000 times less dangerous than tobacco cigarettes.
2009: Washington Times Criticizes FDA’s Scare Tactics
In 2009, a New York Times piece by Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, the president of the American Council on Science and Health, criticized the FDA’s stand on electronic cigarettes. In the article she states that the most dangerous element in traditional cigarettes is the combustion and resulting smoke. Her piece points out that “getting the nicotine without the smoke is an enormous health advantage for cigarette smokers.”
2015: Vaporcade™ Announces the First Cellular Vaping Device
Vaporcade™ takes electronic cigarettes to a new level with the cellular vaping device known as Jupiter™. Available for preorder, these products combine cell phone use and vaping to create a phone you can smoke. The Jupiter™ vaping device is compatible with Android KitKat 4.4. It uses a proprietary vaping app and top-mounted shuttle to produce vapor, delivered directly through the shuttle or through an optional hookah pipe attached to the phone. Vaporcade™ originally distinguished itself with the 1963® electronic cigarette and cigar, produced with Herbert A. Gilbert himself. The Jupiter™ takes the next step in the development of these devices.
As this tour through electronic cigarette history shows, the idea of vaping is hardly new, yet innovative ways of engaging in this activity continue to pop up all the time. Today’s electronic cigarettes have perfected the elements of Gilbert, Jacobson, and Lik’s inventions to offer a device that eliminates tar-filled smoke while delivering a satisfying hit of nicotine in the form of a safer vapor. Though the future of e-cigarettes will undoubtedly include many more studies, revelations, and debates, this is an important technology that already has millions of users reaching for this as a safer alternative to smoking tobacco.
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