Battery Powered Cigarettes Come to Harrison

Honest Vapor owner Luciano Manente credits electronic cigarettes with helping him kick a 27-year-old, three-pack-per day habit that he feared would lead to an early death.

The soon-to-be-opened store on 141 Halstead Ave. will carry a selection of "e cigarettes," which were introduced to the U.S. in 2007 as an alternative to smoking tobacco.  Originally from China, e cigs have an internal mechanism that heats liquid nicotine rather than tobacco, converting it into a vapor that smokers inhale (also known as vaping). Unlike tobacco cigarettes which must be lit and burned, the e cigarette operates via battery power.  

"We've found something that works, we want to share it with everyone," he said.

According to Manente, the cartridges that go into e cigarettes contain four ingredients: propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, food flavorings and nicotine in concentrations between 0-24 ml.  

And since e cigarettes aren't burning tobacco, the smell emanating from an e cig is more likely to be fruity than noxious; nicotine flavors available at the shop include "Blue Bohemia" a mixture of wild blueberry and toasted marshmallow and "Sweet Heat" a combination of cinnamon and bavarian cream with a hint of bubble gum.

Manente—who co-owns the shop with his sister Rosanna Manente and Beth Nole—was an early advocate of e cigarettes, founding the "original electronic cigarette social media network" called Vapetv.com in order to connect with other early adopters of the new technology.

Quitting wasn't easy though, said Luciano, who cycled through nicotine patches and gum as well as hypnosis in an effort to kick the habit.  He said he hasn't touched a tobacco cigarette since January 2010.

Currently, though, e cigarettes remain unregulated by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and, until further studies are performed on their long-term health benefits, they'll be subject to the same restrictions in public places as tobacco.

"They're trying to lump us in with smokers.  If you can't smoke, you can't vape," said Luciano.

Honest Vapor is located on 141 Halstead Ave. in Harrison; (914) 630-4322.  The shop will open in the next few weeks. For more information, please visit Honest Vapor's website here. 

Editor's Note: A previous version of this article misstated the address of Honest Vapor; it is not Harrison Avenue, but Halstead Avenue.  Also, the name of co-owner Beth Nole was misspelled.  Patch apologizes for the errors.