Smoking became a staple of southern American culture 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 understand how tobacco culture is so deeply ingrained and valued by southerners (“economies”). Since the birth of this relationship in the late 18th century, a plethora of research has shown many negative side effects of smoking, such as: cancer, increased risk of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and tooth decay (“Savings”) . This, along with recent bans put in place by a growing number of cities that make it a crime to smoke in public places, have paved the way for a new, technologically advanced way of smoking. E-cigarettes became widespread in the United States in 2008. Since then, their popularity and criticism have skyrocketed. It is smoked and gives its user the same dose of nicotine as a regular cigarette. “E-cigarettes heat liquid nicotine into an inhaled vapor, dissipating faster than cigarette smoke (Burritt).” E-cigarettes are currently unregulated and are becoming increasingly popular with an expected revenue of $1.5 billion in 2014 (Burritt). They look and smoke like a regular cigarette, but are actually reusable. A user must 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”). .... middle of paper ...... they do not need access to e-cigarettes and nothing has been done nationally to stop sales to under eighteens. For the moment, I have to side with the opposition because of the toxicity of the nicotine liquid when ingested and the lack of research around the electronic cigarette, even if I think it is too criticized by the major media. This debate is very simple, but so complicated at the same time. There seems to be very little fact and research that could help form an opinion about e-cigarettes in the long term. In the near future, I hope to see this change. Society as a whole must be informed in order to decide how to react to the growth of this new industry. Thus, a strong position could be determined and expressed through new laws and regulations targeting tobacco companies producing electronic cigarettes..