Are the lookalikes a help or a hindrance to people?

[geoffthechef]

As per question..Does the market of lookalikes cause a negative view of vapors and therefore give the regulating bodies ammunition or are they the first step on the ladder?
I have a negative view of them and the manufacturers who are involved in the marketing of them but understand that they may lead people to move on to better products after realising they are having their pockets picked.
I feel like screaming when i see them in shopping centres peddling their expensive wares..
A necessary first step or the bane of vapors?

[Sal]

Personally, they never appealed to me in the slightest. I tried to quit with the nicorette inhalator and eventually went back to the stinkies. It wasn't until I had a go with a friend's CE4/Ego that I felt I had found a real alternative that I'd actually enjoy - I haven't looked back. I don't believe I would have ever quit tobacco with cigalikes, I needed something that was significantly different to cigarettes. Just my thoughts!

[OneDay]

There's pros and cons. The vast majority of people on this forum started their vaping journeys with cig-alikes, so as the first step or the motivation to stop smoking they are perfect. They are not as intimidating looking as mods for self conscious vapers. But - they're expensive, by and large taste shit, and have dire battery performance. They also do us no favours in terms of gaining acceptance for vaping in public. The argument that because they look like a fag then smokers think it's ok to light up is often quoted as a big negative.

[poochops]

Look alikes are the best thing that could have happened to me when trying to quit the analogs, they were the only thing that kept me off fags for a while when I might have caved in otherwise. They were utter rubbish of course but the fact that I could get through the day without thinking about ripping someone's head off got me to thinking about researching them a bit more.
Then I found this forum and others, and thankfully after only using lookalikeys for a few weeks I was informed enough to buy my first 'PV' an ego battery and ego-t set up and a bag of juices. Needless to say I never looked back, mrs poo neither, but if it hadn't been for lookalikeys I hate to say it but we'd have been smoking again by now probably.
No will power some people! We are slowly reducing the nic though.

[womble]

I wouldn't have started using ecigs if it weren't for lookalikes, I had to have something that looked like a real fag, felt like it and was like it enough, that I was happy.

[giles]

Like most, I started on lookalikes, wouldn't have touched an ego. But I think I'd have been just as happy if it was, say, green instead of white - it was the size that mattered

Do other people feel the same? Perhaps we should tell them to settle for banning e-cigs that look like the real thing?

[lynwlt]

When I first started vaping nearly 4 years ago, with a cig-a-like, there really wasn't much else available.
No such thing as Ego type batteries or cartos of any description.
The 501 and 910 kits were pretty much the same size as cig-a-likes and only differed in colour and the mods available were pretty expensive and, tbh, I wouldn't have been interested in one at that stage.

Cig-a-likes were my life saver really...

We should have a 'vaping museum' thread......

[trish]

I started on cig-a-likes too, and I really liked the fact that they looked like a real fag. The first 2 kits I had really were expensive rubbish, then I got onto the TW brand ones, made by Joyetech. These are far superior to anything else out there, as the batteries are a higher mah. The "kingsize" one, for instance is 340 mah and lasts me quite a while before charging. When you consider that the SD keyring, which a lot of people seem to like is 300 mah, then the Joytech ciggie type compares quite favourably.
The problem is that most of the ciggie type have batteries of only 90 mah, which is why most people give up on them, due to constant battery charging.
I still use these cig-a-likes when I go out, and keep my Provari and egos for indoors. IMO there is a place for the good quality ones.

[ccmjonny]

i had one 3yrs ago, it leaked ..it didnt give me enough of a hit to be much good,and i guess my head was not in the right place either.
it wasnt until recently i was even aware of all these proper vaper units.

if you can buy them in petrol stations doesnt that say it all?

[Perpetua]

For me they're a bit of both . . . if buying a cigalike creates enough interest for someone to go on and look for something better, then it can only be a good thing surely?

On the minus side, if they're rubbish it can be enough to put someone off progressing further. And because they look like a real cig, are being prohibited in many places where they might have been accepted, had they not.

We're between a rock and a hard place with cigalikes it seems to me.

[charon]

I feel that like all things vaping, the plastic stick has it's place. Some say the bin is that place, I prefer to see them on sale alongside ego startersets and juice. If the potential vaper wants to try and find out the hard way how pathetic they are,all well and good. Then they can go to the same store and get a starter kit with no problems...Of course it would help if all vendors were at least able to give basic guidance and not just shrug off questions.

(I now await the crys of condemnation for my views)

[padiho]

I started on look-a-likes and it set me on the right path. Thanks to this fantastic forum I moved onto to a Riva 1100 which was my saviour. I was sick of continually charging the cig-a-like and close to going back to the stinkies. So for me I have to say they play an important role. I ( quite ridiculous now ) was a little embarrassed initially by the Riva but thankfully got over it.
I have always felt that the word E-CIG is what causes us most problems as far as the non smoking public are concerned. I know it needed to have the word CIG in it for marketing purposes but it is our downfall as far as acceptance is concerned. Cig a likes don't help in making us " friendly" to non smokers either, purely because the majority of the public aren't clued up on how they work.... So they automatically turn up their noses and think we are still smoking when they see something that looks like a fag. They have their place for smokers wanting to quit but also don't help us to be accepted.

[Sassy]

Again, it was cig-a-likes that got me into vaping and not smoking, although I never used one.

What sparked my interest was a news article on the E-Lites TV advert being banned (The Gangnam Style baby one). I went to their website, snooped around and as I used to smoke rollies and got my bacca cheap without the taxman getting invoved it didn't work out that much cheaper at all. I started nattering to my online friend about it and he then told me about PV's as he'd swapped to them about 2 months previous

So I did the obligatory 'best e-cigarette' Google search (always a winner!) which led me to an article on Gizmodo which linked to UkV which I read into the early hours and went for an eGo twist kit, my only newbie mistake (at the time, pah!) was buying it from TW. I was swiftly told that I probably could have got my kit a lot cheaper, but there we go!

It was on UkV I read about this place and here I am!

Without ever using one I can't comment on them as such, but from what I read they are a bit rubbish - but maybe in a funny way that's a good thing, because it means some people will start searching for better and discover the PV's like I did. Ofcourse you will have the other side of the coin and some of them will go back to stinkies but even if they only get a small amount of people into the PV world then they can't be an all bad thing I don't think.

[Roscopecotrain]

Cigalikes def have there place i think. I saw the elite stand at a garage. Did some more research anf was going to buy the jacvapour pcc kit but then joined a forum and asked questions and ended up with 2 ce5 kits for cc and i. The rest they say is history but without the intial spot of the elites at the garage i would probably still be smoking.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

[barrynorton]

I started with lookalikes...