“Smoke Juice” Future
States across the country are implementing indoor smoking bans – Wisconsin’s took effect just over a year ago. So some people not quite ready to kick the habit are looking for alternatives. One that seems to be gaining steam is electronic cigarettes. People fill the battery-operated device with so-called “smoke juice.”It gives users their fix without actually lighting up Dunhill cigarettes.
WUWM’s LaToya Dennis visited a Wisconsin company called Johnson Creek that makes smoke juice. It’s in the process of expanding. It was less than five years ago when Christian Berkey heard about something that would change his life. Back then he managed an Apple store and smoked two packs a day.
“I had heard a story on the news about this new invention called an electronic cigarette and I decided to place an order, I really didn’t place much stock in it. It arrived one day, I put it together took a puff, and I was absolutely blown away,” Berkey says.
But there was one thing Berkey did not like – the liquid that users put into e-cigarettes to give them flavor.
“It had sort of a chemical aftertaste to it,” Berkey says.
Berkey says back then, there were no American companies making the so-called “smoke juice.” In fact, all the companies were located in China. So he set out to make his own recipe.
“I knew what the basic components of e liquid or smoke juice are. It’s a glycerin based product. The difficult part was coming up with flavors that were stable, that retained their body that were really, really terrific,” Berkey says.
Berkey says it took about 10 months to come up with a juice he preferred. He let others try it, and says the response was so amazing he knew he was on to something. That’s when he started his company, Johnson Creek, in the Wisconsin city that bears the same name. Today, the firm is headquartered in a 25,000 square foot facility in Hartland and employs 23 people.
“Over the next two quarters, we’re going to be adding about another 10 to 15 jobs so this area is going to get filled up very quickly,” Berkey says
The facility is equipped with a state-of the-art laboratory where workers in full-body clean suits and facemasks mix the smoke juice by hand.
“They’re working right now on today’s shipments. The front part of the lab is where we prepare bulk orders. We have a lot of companies who come to us, for us to make their smoke juice that they sell under their name. And in the front, is where we do our retail orders, our daily orders from our website,” Berkey says.
The smoke juice can be made with or without nicotine. Berkey charges about $20 for a one-ounce bottle and says it lasts two weeks. He estimates that during that same time, a typical smoker would spend more than $200 for regular cigarettes. Right now, e-cigarettes fall under general manufacturing guidelines, but soon the Food and Drug Administration will begin regulating it as a tobacco product. Berkey is confident his company is prepared for any new regulations impacting production and safety.
“Johnson Creek already has in place likely the vast majority of regulatory measures the FDA would otherwise ask us to do. So that when regulation is announced, we’re ready,” Berkey says.
Back in 2009, the FDA warned the company that it needed to implement a quality control unit – and it did. The FDA also warned Johnson Creek that it could not market smoke juice or e-cigarettes as healthier alternatives to smoking, or even smoking cessation products. But Derrick Czarnecki believes e-cigarettes are safer.
“What it is, is just nicotine and water vapor. What you’re not getting is tobacco, the tar, the chemicals in a regular cigarette,” Czarnecki says.
Czarnecki works for A&N Smoking Solutions in Southridge Mall. The e-cigarette he’s using looks real – the filter is an orangey-yellow color. The longest piece, the battery, is white. There’s even an LED light on the end that glows blue whenever he takes a drag. Czarznecki says he started using electronic cigarettes because he says he noticed the real ones taking a toll on his breathing whenever he played sports.
“I couldn’t run as much, but now that I smoke this, my lungs feel a lot healthier,” Czarnecki says.
Still, questions linger about the safety of e-cigarettes. Some smoke juices contain a toxin called diethylene glycol or DEG; it’s used in antifreeze. And there are concerns that e-cigarettes could increase a person’s addiction to nicotine. Even so, Christian Berkey, owner of Johnson Creek, claims as many as 40,000 people across the world each week are switching to electronic brands. In case you’re wondering, most smoking bans do not outlaw e-cigarettes, so discretion is in the hands of management.
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