We felt it was a good move forward that an airline was going beyond allowing an electronic cigarette and actually selling one.

Not everyone agrees - Paul Bergen from the Tobacco Harm Reduction Center was not impressed with the device.

In an email to us he commented:

there is no sensory feedback of any kind...no feeling of anything coming out of the tube you are sucking on, no exhalation after, no change in the device...even a color change would help...no way to differentiate it from sucking on a plain empty cardboard tube. It seems just like a pacifier.

He went on to wonder whether it could even have a negative effect on e-smoking:

It is such a sad little device, if it is working at all, that if I was a smoker I would not even bother. There is absolutely no sensation of anything going in...you suck on something that looks like a cigarette but with no effect that you can tell. It could actually undermine ecigs in that if this was your idea of one, you would just keep smoking cigarettes.

Ultimately, RyanAir was both brave and forward thinking in making this move. However, I think they chose this particular version of the electronic cigarette so that no one could complain about any vapour in the air.

They had good motives, but its one of those cases where trying to please everyone ends up pleasing no one at all.

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