Cigarette drink to ease nicotine cravings

United Kingdom, October 27: Making it easy for the smokers, considering the ban on cigarette smoking, a new drink that promises its consumers a cigarette-like experience has hit the UK market.

Liquid Smoking, as the drink is called, has done good business in the Netherlands last year and is now launched in Britain to deal with the ban on smoking in pubs. The drink manufacturers, United Drinks and Beauty Corporation, are aspiring to capture the energy drinks section and hope to start selling it soon.

Both Dutch manufacturers explained that the drink contains an organic mix of South African plants, typically the roots, that offers "a slight energising effect, followed by a euphoric sense of calming and relaxation."

The manufacturers, however, said that the drink does not contain nicotine and for every 275ml can costing £1.50, it has less than 21 calories. No age limit for buyers is declared by the companies, but they maintained that the drink should not be consumed by anyone under the age of 15.

Martin Hartman, Chief Executive of United Drinks, 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 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."

However, Amanda Sanford, of Action on Smoking and Health said, "Although we welcome anything which is a genuine alternative [to nicotine], 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."

Apprehensive anti-smoking groups have jumped in action to convey their concern regarding the safety of the drink and its ingredients.