The Smoke Assassin - or whatever they call it now

There's a relatively new anti-smoking device out there they called the Smoke Assassin. Actually, they now seem to call it something else - just about the same ad with a new product name, but the name Smoke Assassin came first, and stuck in my head, so that's the one I'll run with here.

So here's the deal with the Smoke Assassin: the commercial tells you that the product doesn't actually work. "We won't tell you that you'll quit smoking, but thousands quit every day." Very nice - I support quitting smoking, but the fact that thousands quit every day doesn't mean that the Smoke Assassin had anything to do with it. In fact, if Smoke Assassin did help these people quit, I suspect the ad would say so. So between the lines, the message is: buy this device! - it won't help you quit smoking.

Accoding to the Smoke Assassin website, the gas you inhale from the device contains no nicotine, so switching from cigarettes to Smoke Assassin would be the equivalent of quitting cigarettes cold turkey, with nothing to help you face the nicotine cravings. The Smoke Assassin does give you an opportunity to maintain the oral habit, but the refils aren't cheap. Each refil is the equivalent of a pack and a half of cigarettes, the website tells us, and they sell for $70 for 20, or $100 for 40. That's cheaper than real cigarettes, but its still nothing to sneeze at. Why not switch to carrot sticks instead?

Looking for customer service? See this post. (Added 4/4/2010)