After awhile, it got to be all normal. None of it seemed like crime. It was more like Henry was enterprising, and that he and the guys were making a few bucks hustling, while all the other guys were sitting on their asses, waiting for handouts. Our husbands weren't brain surgeons, they were blue-collar guys. The only way they could make extra money, real extra money, was to go out and cut a few corners.
Karen Hill, Goodfellas (1990)
Electronic cigarettes are sparking a social and legal debate
Electronic cigarettes are sparking a social and legal debate over whether it's OK to 'light up' in places where regular smokes are banned.
Despite big differences between cigarettes and their electronic cousins, several states, workplaces and localities across the country have explicitly included e-cigs in smoking bans.
Cliff Phillips, a 61-year-old retiree and former smoker, and his wife, Vali, enjoy electronic cigarettes at their home in Cuba, Illinois
Some have clarified that the battery-powered devices don't fall under those bans; others are retooling smoke-free laws to include them.
E-cigarettes are plastic and metal devices that heat a liquid nicotine solution in a cartridge, creating vapor that users inhale.
They don't burn and don't give off smoke. Users call the practice 'vaping' rather than smoking.
Advocates say e-cigarettes should be allowed in places where traditional cigarettes are banned.
Others are sceptical of their safety and what risks second-hand e-cig vapor holds.
E-cigarettes devotees tout them as a way to break addiction to real cigarettes. They insist the devices address both the nicotine addiction and the behavioral aspects of smoking - the holding of the cigarette, the puffing, exhaling something that looks like smoke and the hand motion - without the more than 4,000 chemicals found in cigarettes.
Industry estimates put U.S. sales of the devices and accessories at $200 million to $250 million annually.
But e-cig users are being lumped in with traditional smokers when they want to "vape" and are being asked to not use them in places where smoking is prohibited.
New Jersey is the only state that specifically bans use of e-cigarettes where regular smoking isn't allowed. Some local governments have banned the devices under their smoke-free laws.
However, in Virginia, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli wrote an opinion saying that because e-cigs don't burn tobacco, the 'vapor emitted by an e-cigarette would not fall within the definition' of the law.
Fan: Actress Katherine Heigl demonstrates an electric cigarette on the Letterman show after saying they are helping her quit
The Food and Drug Administration announced plans in April to regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products instead of under stricter rules for drug-delivery devices - news that was considered a victory for makers and distributors of the devices.
The U.S. Department of Transportation moved to ban the cigarettes back in February.
At the time they said the use of the smokeless electronic cigarettes on aircraft was prohibited and planned to issue an official ban this spring.
Meanwhile New York lawmakers are considering introducing the first state ban on the device.
Last year, Dr Edward Langston, of the American Medical Association said: 'Very little data exists on the safety of e-cigarettes, and the FDA has warned that they are potentially addicting and contain harmful toxins.'
Advocates say they provide a stepping-stone to quitting and give the sensation of smoking without taking in the carcinogens and 1,000 chemicals found in tobacco.
Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, who studied the device said the device had great potential in reducing the harm of smoking.
Similar: E-cigarettes look like slightly larger versions of regular cigarettes but while they're marketed as a safer device to tobacco there has been little independent research into the health impact
Writing in the Journal of Public Health Policy, they said: 'We conclude that electronic cigarettes show tremendous promise in the fight against tobacco-related morbidity and mortality.'
Nearly 46million Americans smoke cigarettes. About 40 per cent try to quit each year, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
But unlike nicotine patches or gums, e-smokes have operated in a legal grey area.
The industry has now grown from the thousands of users in 2006 to several million worldwide, with tens of thousands new e-smokers every week.
WHAT ARE E CIGARETTES
Electronic cigarettes have three integrated parts: the nicotine cartridge, the vaporiser and a lithium ion battery.
The battery powers the cartridge and releases the nicotine by heating, rather than burning like a conventional cigarette.
The 'smoker' inhales a vapour which is then exhaled. It looks like smoke but is in fact water vapour.
An e-cigarette starter kit starts from $75 with extra refill cartridges sold separately. However you can buy them much cheaper at
GoodFellas ECigarettes
Their ECigarette starter kits start at a very low price of just $19.99 Vs. $75 at most E-Cigarette online stores.
GoodFellas ECigarettes The Name Says it All!
