Other - Pour yourself a cigarette: The Liquid Smoking Drink

[chillinwill]

Pour yourself a cigarette: The new 'Liquid Smoking' drink that promises an instant high for smokers trying to beat the ban

It's the sort of news that will make a smoker's eyes light up.

A company has created a fruit-flavoured herbal drink that claims to deliver the same fix as cigarettes.

Called Liquid Smoking, it promises an instant high followed by a 'euphoric calming feeling'.

It is targeted at those who can no longer light up inside public premises under the smoking ban but want to feed their cravings.

Anti-smoking groups fear it could promote addiction at a time when the Government is trying to discourage smoking.

The Dutch supplier, United Drinks and Beauty Corporation, hopes the drink will go on sale here in the week before Christmas.

It says it does not contain the highly addictive drug nicotine, but a potent mix of roots from South African plants, which has been used since the 14th century by bushmen.

The bushmen would chew the concoction of leaves to achieve a high, but the producers of Liquid Smoking distilled the mix into an oil for their drink.

United Drinks and Beauty Corporation hopes to follow Red Bull and have the product sold in pubs and bars as a mixer with spirits such as vodka.

It has less than 21 calories per 275ml can and would cost £1.50 in shops and £2 in bars and pubs.

There will be no lower age limit to buy it, although the makers said they did not think it should be drunk by anyone under 15.

Chief executive of United Drinks and Beauty Corporation Martin Hartman said there was no research proving the drink was harmful in any way.

He said the company is waiting for clearance from health authorities in Holland to be able to sell the product there.

He said: 'The product we have developed has got similar properties to nicotine, so we are trying to help people out who are affected by the ban on nicotine. People might use this instead of a cigarette or tobacco to help the cravings.

'It is a relaxing drink, it gives a similar affect to smoking - initially you get a little boost which makes you more alert, then a euphoric, calming feeling.

'It will take the edge off of a need for nicotine for between one to four hours.

'I think it will help people who feel the need for nicotine in bars, restaurants, long-haul flights and on the train.'

But anti-smoking groups are not impressed. Amanda Sanford, from Action on Smoking and Health, said: 'We are concerned that we have started to see a number of these novel products on the market which are supposed to be alternatives to smoking.

'Although we welcome anything which is a genuine alternative, many of these are totally unregulated and we only have the manufacturer's word about what they contain.

'We would be concerned about any health claims that are unsubstantiated, and at this stage we wouldn't encourage people to buy them.'

The group also criticised the packaging, which is designed to look like a pack of cigarettes, saying it could further encourage smoking.

Concern has been growing about the effects of high caffeine drinks, such as Red Bull, on young people.

Drunk in excess, caffeine can lead to insomnia, anxiety and hyperactivity.

Mr Hartman stressed that Liquid Smoking has a relaxing rather than stimulating effect.

By Lucy Ballinger
Daily Mail Online
Last updated at 2:45 AM on 27th October 2008

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...-beat-ban.html

[fnord]

Can anyone find an ingrediant list?

[chillinwill]

Not exactly sure but the original article says it contains no nicotine, yet Fox News says it contains 15% nicotine.

A drink containing nicotine is being launched in Britain to help smokers beat the pub ban on cigarettes.

Liquid Smoking has proved a hit in the Netherlands, where it has been on sale for a year.

The drink, which contains 15 percent nicotine, also contains an African herbal extract said to provide drinkers with “a slight energizing effect plus a euphoric sense of calming and relaxation."

Guillaume van Grinsven, sales and marketing manager for Dutch supplier United Drinks and Beauty Corp., said the drink is, “an ideal healthy alternative to cigarettes.”

But anti-smoking groups have already raised concerns.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,444176,00.html

[Mint boi]

Would 15% nicotine not be well into the lethal dose range? Or at least very near it?

[Panthers007]

Why would you listen to/watch FOX News? I want facts, not a fascist laundry-list. 15% nicotine would be 41.25 grams of nicotine. You'd be dead before you swallowed.

[chillinwill]

LOL I don't believe Fox News but what just doing some searching to see if I could find what the exact ingredients were. I still am baffled as to how the original source I got this from stated it contained no nicotine and Fox News reports 15%. Clearly, Fox News is wrong here as most other news sources reporting this are stating that is has no nicotine in it

[Pondlife]

Here's another article from The Guardian. This one says:

- No nicotine
- No caffeine or taurine
- Contains a South African herb used by the bushmen since the 14th century
- The manufacturer wants to keep the exact details secret.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/oc...ing-fooddrinks

The sweet taste of a cigarette in a can

As an asthmatic, I have never felt the urge to coat my lungs with tar. Yet the nagging sense that I want to know what a cigarette feels like has stayed with me. Now, a Dutch company has come to my rescue. The United Drinks and Beauty Corporation is about to launch its Liquid Smoking drink, aimed at people struggling with the ban on smoking in public places, and I am about to test it.

It looks like an energy drink, but its inventor, Martin Hartman, stresses it's nothing of the kind. The promo leaflet puts it like this: "Liquid Smoking has a slight energising effect, followed by a euphoric sense of calming and relaxation."

I fiddle with the red-and-white can, and nervously eye the stark "no warning needed" sign. Hartman promises I won't get addicted. "There is no nicotine in it, just a South African herb used by the bushmen since the 14th century. There is no caffeine or taurine either, and hardly any calories." So what is this mysterious herb? "We would like to keep that a secret. But it is totally safe and healthy."

Going by the smell, the "secret herb" is actually chewing gum. But it tastes more like cinnamon and sugar with a hint of lemon; heavy and cloying. If Christmas were a drink, it would taste like this.

Waiting for the "slight energising effect", I feel a little dizziness and nausea. Then the calm kicks in. No deadline can stress me out, which is a first for me. The trouble is, I am not entirely sure I am happy about that. I feel a little drugged, and more absent-minded than I feel comfortable with. If smokers need this every few hours, I don't envy them. But at least I know how they feel, and I'll consider myself warned.

[G_nome]

Hmmm interesting, SWIM wonders what this African herb could be, kanna maybe?

SWIM looks forward to trying this drink anyway.

[Lehendakari]

My bet would be on Kanna, Bushmen, south africa, chewing. Everything points to kanna (Sceletium Tortuosum)

[El Calico Loco]

Damn...I was hoping it was going to be a nicotine drink.


ECL

[Sven99]

Sounds interesting... certainly worth giving a try

[Razz328]

I'd give it a try, any idea when it will come to the US? I just wonder how it tastes...hmmm

[Pope Albacore]

Seeing that it is new to the UK, SWIM does not see it hitting US shelves for quite a while. Just think of the opposition this drink is going to face (however silly that may be).

Anti-smoking groups in the US are going to try to tear it to shreds. Then again, they did let the Cocaine Energy drinks fly. In the US though (at least in the last 10 years) cigarettes have gotten worse press than cocaine and anyone who is educated on the two knows that cigarettes deserve their bad rep.

SWIM thinks we'll see this drink but it will have to go through its BS trials and tribulations. Just another way to keep our youth on the straight and narrow! Welcome to the United States: Please set your watch back 50 years. (Open-minded individuals please return to your country of origin!)

-Pope Albacore

[Evil GIR]

People like drugs, be it Nicotine, alcohol or weed, though Christians don't like drugs nor do they want others to take drugs. Christians don't even like sex and they don't want others to like sex either, well unless its with children but that's mostly with them priests.

Point being christians want to control every detail of your life, they suck.
So if they ban one type of drug, someone will suddenly produce an alternative and this will just go on and on until they are either no more legal drugs left, the Christians are all dead or every one just buys from the black market.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	insulting
	Truthful but could have been worded in a less directly inflammitory way

[El Calico Loco]

People like that shouldn't call themselves Christians. It's very easy to call yourself one, but quite another thing to act like one. The hateful worship the man, but ignore the message.

And they are not the only ones. Most of the anti-smoking hysteria here in the states, in recent years, has come from the nanny-state left. They can't allow individuals to do anything that's bad for them, because ordinary people are stupid and need to be managed by their betters for their own good.

Puritanism is not limited to religion. It's the mother's milk of any fanatical control-freak.


ECL

[salviablue]

There is a fair bit of drug use in the bible too........
Besides, the church doesn't like the competition with their big commercial drug.

This article just goes to show how infactual news reporting can be. What beggers belief is how they are allowed to get away with it.
Nicotine drink.......15% you say......hmmmm.....

Looks interesting, however, I wonder how this will impact those bushmen.