Smoking became a staple of the culture of the Southern United States when its environment proved perfect for growing and harvesting tobacco. With Kentucky and North Carolina “accounting for 71% of the tobacco grown in the United States,” it is easy to see how the culture of smoking is so deeply ingrained and beloved by Southerners (“Economies”). Since the inception of this relationship in the late 18th century, a plethora of research has shown many negative side effects of tobacco smoking, such as: cancer, increased risk of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and tooth decay (“Economies”). This, along with recent bans put in place by a growing number of cities that make it a crime to smoke in public places, has paved the way for a new, technologically advanced way of smoking. The e-cigarette became popular in the United States in 2008. Since then, its popularity and criticism have skyrocketed. It smokes and gives the user the same dose of nicotine as a normal cigarette. “E-cigarettes heat liquid nicotine into inhaled vapor, dissipating faster than cigarette smoke (Burritt).” E-cigarettes are currently unregulated and are becoming increasingly popular with expected sales of $1.5 billion in 2014 (Burritt). They look and smoke just like a regular cigarette, but are actually reusable. A user needs to refill and add new nicotine juice periodically. One user interviewed by Robin Utrecht described e-cigarettes as “very liberating (Burritt)”. This may be true for some users, since e-cigarettes “are designed to give smokers the pleasure and sensation of smoking a cigarette, without the nicotine and carcinogenic smoke (“Keep”).” E-cigarettes are becoming very popular and raising with... ....middle of paper......there is no need for access to e-cigarettes and nothing has been done nationally to block sales to minors of eighteen years old. For now I have to side with the opposition due to the toxicity of liquid nicotine when ingested and the lack of research on e-cigarettes, although I believe they are overly criticized by the mainstream media. This debate is very simple, but at the same time very complicated. There seems to be very little fact and research that could help form an opinion on e-cigarettes in the long term. In the near future, I hope to see this change. Society as a whole needs to be informed to decide how to deal with the rise of this new industry. In this way, a solid position could be determined and expressed through new laws and regulations aimed at tobacco companies producing e-cigarettes.