BECKLEY, W.Va. — Before you mash the button to light up your e-cigarette, you might want to check the local clean air regulations.

Several counties in the region have passed new regulations surrounding e-cigarettes, limiting where they can be used.

If you’re not familiar with an e-cigarette, it’s a type of electronic cigarette that uses a coil to heat “e-juice” until it vaporizes. E-juice is made of nicotine, flavoring and glycerine.

In Wyoming County, beginning Jan. 1, you won’t be able to smoke an e-cigarette anywhere that you can’t smoke a regular cigarette.

The decision to limit e-cigarettes in public was made for several reasons, according to Wyoming County Sanitarian Fred Cox.

One reason is that “the manufacturers of these products are poorly regulated and the composition of electronic cigarettes can pose unknown risks to the user and to the general public,” Cox told The Wyoming County Report.

Monroe County will also adopt this “no-vaping” policy on Jan. 1.

“Specifically it says that places where smoking is prohibited, e-cigarettes are prohibited as well,” Monroe County Health Department Administrator Julie Mundell said. “This only addresses indoor areas, not public parks.”

Some counties already regulate e-cigarettes…