Energy Shisha: Caffeine Infused E-Cigarette
We’ve seen a plethora of caffeinated products come across our desk at Caffeine Informer over the years, but caffeine infused electronic cigarettes probably takes the cake!
This product is actually called Caffeine Infused Electronic Shisha and they aren’t really “e-cigarettes” since they contain no tobacco or nicotine.
I was recently sent a few free samples of Shisha from the company to review. They operate out of the USA.
The best way to describe these to people is to describe Shisha as caffeine e-cigarettes because that is how they look and function.
I inhale the caffeine/ taurine infused vapor, the end of the device lights up and I exhale a water vapor that resembles smoke.
Side note: I have never been a smoker, but I have to admit this product is pretty innovative and was fun to try. It was really hard to stop after the recommended “no more than five 3 second puffs per session“.
This potentially makes Energy Shisha a tad dangerous, but I’ll get to that later. First, let’s look at what’s in this caffeine e-cigarette-like stick of wonder.
Caffeine Infused Energy Shisha Ingredients
Contains: Propylene glycol, Glycerol, Energy Shisha ® flavoring, Caffeine (0.3% per ml) and Taurine. Nicotine and sugar free.
Seems pretty simple and the product states that there are up to 300 puffs per Shisha. Now the hard part: figuring out the caffeine content.
Here’s what we know:
- The caffeine content is 0.3% per ml of product.
- The website states that “300 puffs can equate to the effects of drinking 15 regular cans of energy drink“
- 15 standard energy drinks at 80mg/can is 1200mg of caffeine.
What we don’t know:
- How many milligrams of caffeine is in each Shisha.
- Is the stick equivalent to the caffeine in 15 energy drinks or the “perceived effect” of 15 energy drinks?
Our guess is that this caffeine infused electronic cigarette actually contains very little caffeine.
Here’s why:
- There is only .8ml of liquid in the Shisha due to room needed for the casing, electronics, etc. only .3% of that is caffeine.
- Since there isn’t room for 1.5 grams of caffeine in the Shisha, they are referring to the “perceived effects” of 15 energy drinks.
- The product needs very little caffeine to produce results since it’s entering the body through the lungs. This sends caffeine directly to the brain, bypassing the liver, which would start metabolizing the caffeine as happens with energy drinks.
Its Effect on Me
I took 5, three second long inhales one after the other as directed. In about 5 minutes I began feeling more alert and after 10 minutes I had a slight caffeine buzz going.
So, these caffeine Infused e-cigarettes do indeed work as advertised and I’m impressed given the fact that they aren’t delivering that much caffeine.
The effects of 5 puffs don’t last long (about 15-20 minutes) , so I guess that is why they recommend no more than 20 puffs in an hours time.
Are These Caffeine E-Cigarettes Dangerous?
This is clearly a tumultuous time to be launching a caffeinated product of this nature in light of all the recent uproar over caffeine in products, however, Shisha is doing some things right.
They label the product as only for those 18 and older and include recommended dosage warnings.
However….
I see this product as being highly attractive to those under 18 and they could probably get their hands on them pretty easily if they wanted to.
But then again….
There just isn’t a dangerous amount of caffeine in Energy Shisha to cause caffeine overdose in children or adults.
- Is caffeine harmful to lung tissue long-term?
- Will caffeine e-cigarettes encourage the use nicotine based ones or the smoking of real cigarettes?
- Does this product just add to the world’s growing addiction to caffeine?
A recent study showed that the chemicals in these devices does pollute the air and potentially cause harm to the lungs. Here’s a part of their conclusion:
Our data confirm that e-cigarettes are not emission-free and their pollutants could be of health concern for users and secondhand smokers. In particular, ultrafine particles formed from supersaturated 1,2-propanediol vapor can be deposited in the lung.
We certainly don’t have the answers to all of those questions, but Caffeine Infused Energy Shisha is an interesting and innovative caffeinated product that will for sure get some attention.
Energy Shisha started in the UK, but ships to most places around the world and now has official USA distribution.
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- Schober, W., Szendrei, K., Matzen, W., Osiander-Fuchs, H., Heitmann, D., Schettgen, T., ... & Fromme, H. (2014). Use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) impairs indoor air quality and increases FeNO levels of e-cigarette consumers. International journal of hygiene and environmental health, 217(6), 628-637.
- Grana, R., Benowitz, N., & Glantz, S. A. (2014). E-cigarettes a scientific review. Circulation, 129(19), 1972-1986. study link