The Hon Lik: The Inventor Of The Electronic Cigarette

The electronic cigarette (E-cigs) is first developed in 2003 in Beijing, China by Hon Lik, wha 52 year old pharmacist. He reportedly invents this device after his father who was a heavy smoker like Hon Lik, dies of lung cancer. Golden Dragon Holdings, the company Hon Lik worked for developed E-cigs device and changed their name to” Ruyan”, which means "Like Smoke." E-cigarettes introduced to Europe in April 2006, and in 2006-2007 introduced to the U.S.

Mr. Hon Lik says he was smoking two packs of cigarettes every day during working as a chemist at the Liaoning Provincial Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine (LNUTCM), founded in 1958. He thought that ‘How can I quit Smoking?’ So, he tried cold turkey many times, but failed. In 2001, Mr. Hon Lik tried a nicotine patch, but when he forgot to take it off at night. It gave him nightmares and it unsuccessful to replicate the original rush of a cigarette.

Finally, he developed e-cig device in 2003, and had filed a patent on a smaller and more practical model. After 8 months of toxicology testing by the Chinese military’s medical institute and the Pharmaceutical Authority in Liaoning, this device went on sale. But, there was a little interest in China, but when the company “Ruyan” started selling in Europe and North America, the popularity and interest for this device began increasing among people. His formation had become so popular by 2006 that Ruyan couldn’t maintain with demand in spite of producing e-cigs for 24 hours a day.With more and more demand for E-cigs, the future of Hon Lik looked bright, but then something wrong happened.

Lots of Chinese media reports put Hon Lik’s e-cig in a bad light by telling them as addictive as well as responsible for heart-attacks in 2006, and this negative reporting put a serious dent in the sales of Ruyan, and competitors of the Ruyan jumped up around China and US to make matter worse. Mr. Hon Lik claims that t all his rivals sold copycats of his unique design with only some small modifications. Hon and his company have filed court cases against many US e-cig manufacturers throughout the years, and have managed to settle with some of the cases out of court.

Today, over a million smokers have quit smoking by using e-cigarettes in Britain. This figure is increasing with every passing day, and it’s now the most popular method of quitting tobacco without any problem, as a result less heart disease, lung cancer, stinky clothing and fire risk.

Hon Lik is neither a rich person nor a celebrity in China.If you are looking at the house he lives in, then you will notice it is average, and the car (Volvo SUV) he is driving, he did not buy. Before he started developing e-cigs, he had already made his success through the small-scale and very niche company he worked for.Mr. Hon Lik hopes that his product will one day replace the injurious tobacco cigarettes, as well as confident that he will get the acknowledgment and appreciation he deserves at the end of the day.