E-cigs fire up controversy

Timothy Magaw for Crain's Cleveland Charlie Lardomita has been an off-and-on smoker since he was about 16 years old. And while it's only been two months since he lit up, the 38-year-old IT executive thinks this time he's kicked the habit for good. Forget the patch or nicotine gum. Mr. Lardomita swears by his electronic cigarette, a device that could be described as the lovechild of RoboCop and Joe Camel. He has made believers — or “vapors” — out of a handful of his friends who've since dropped traditional smokes. He even has dreamt of opening a vapor lounge — a one-stop shop and haven for e-cig connoisseurs — near his home in Kirtland. “I'm so into them it's ridiculous,” said Mr. Lardomita, chief technology officer for International Excess Alliance in Richmond Heights, a wholesaler of property, casualty and other [...]