You may have heard people talking about using electronic cigarettes (also called e cigarettes or e cigs) as a way to try to quit smoking. If you re thinking about using an e cig, here are three things you should know.

1. E cigs contain nicotine
   An e cig is a battery operated (disposable or rechargeable) device that contains nicotine. The nicotine is turned into a vapor in the e cig and then inhaled. The vapor looks similar to smoke. E cigs come in all sorts of sizes and sometimes have flavored nicotine cartridges.
2. E cigs aren t regulated
   E cigs contain other chemicals besides nicotine, which also get inhaled. Since e cigs aren t regulated yet, there s no way of knowing how much nicotine is in them or what other chemicals they contain. These two things make the safety of e cigs unclear.
3. E cigs haven t been shown to be effective
   There haven t been any scientific studies that prove e cigs actually help people to quit smoking. There is also concern that using e cigs may lead kids to start smoking regular cigarettes.

The bottom line is that we just don t know enough about e cigs, so we don t recommend that you use them. There are other quit aids, with or without nicotine, that have been proven to be safe and effective at helping people quit smoking. But if you do choose to use an e cig, we recommend that you be very careful!

Harriet’s gun media — bumming cigarettes

Bumming Cigarettes is a short film about a brief and intimate meeting between a young Black lesbian woman who is in the process of taking an HIV test and a middle aged Black Gay HIV Positive man. Coming off of the devastation of a bad breakup with a girlfriend, Vee musters up the courage to go and take an HIV test to put her worst fears to rest. What she experiences during her trip to a local clinic is much more than she expects while sharing a cigarette with a stranger, Jimmy, during the 10 minutes that she awaits her test results.

Alia Hatch makes a strong debut in this short film, as a young Black lesbian woman looking to discover her status. This is a breakthrough performance for James Tolbert, a native Philadelphian and professional actor living with HIV for 21 years. Alia and James deliver a moving performance in this film that explores complex issues surrounding the HIV/AIDS epidemic including the loss of intimacy and stigma that persons living with HIV/AIDS may encounter, while also encouraging awareness around HIV/AIDS testing and the way we treat persons living with the disease.

Starring Alia Hatch, James Tolbert, Gerloni Cotton, Vincent Du, Zerandrian Morris, Kaamilah Milton, Gary Kramer, Peaches Jones, Katrina Clark, Johnny Rans

CREW
Executive Producer/Director/Writer tiona.m.
Cinematographer Sienna Pinderhughes
Sound Recordist Richard Hamilton
Original Music & Film Score Rucyl Mills
Line Producer Gala P. Goodwin

Film Festival Screenings

2012 Philadelphia QFest Philadelphia, PA

2012 BlackStar Film Festival Philadelphia, PA

2012 Corona Cork Film Festival Cork, Ireland

2013 Langston Hughes African American Film Festival

2013 Sistah Sinema Screening Tour Atlanta, Greensboro, Portland, Cleveland, Chicago,

2013 frameline San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival

2013 Long Island Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

2013 Fresno Reel Pride Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

2013 GFest Gaywise Fesitival London

2013 Queer Film Festival MEZIPATRA Prague & Brno, Czech Republic

2014 Queens World Film Festival2014 Massimadi Afrocaribbean LGBT International Film Festival 2014