Can electronic cigarettes help you quit smoking and what are they anyway?

I had to write about electronic cigarettes recently and not really knowing what they were I knew I needed to do some research. I found that not only were they real but that they are actually a phenomenom right now with nigh on five million results returned on Google.

The electronic cigarette has been in existence for almost three years and is a clever device aimed at providing smokers with a healthier option. Apparently also useful in helping to reduce and indeed quit smoking altogether.

At 100mm in length the new mini e cigarette is the most realistic so far. In its fourth generation the electronic cigarette is finally user friendly and sleek, unlike its earlier brethren which were large and perhaps a little embarrassing to use.

Containing a taste of tobacco and apparently none of the harmful substances and chemicals found in standard cigarettes, they allow smokers to satisfy their cravings without taking in all those toxins. Is this too good to be true or can the electronic cigarette really deliver on its claims?

The electronic cigarette can be held and smoked just like any other cigarette, right down to the smoke like vapour and glowing end when drawn. A battery, an atomiser and a renewable nicotine chamber creates this cigarette effect. Cartridges are available in different strengths, which slot into a nicotine chamber. These allow the smoker, if they so wish to gradually reduce the amount of nicotine they take in. Eventually quitting altogether if desired.

Distributrs of these electronic cigarettes have worked out that a typical nicotine cartridge can last as long as fifteen or twenty normal cigarettes would. This is an estimated 80 per cent saving on usual costs of smoking.

A healthier option altogether it seems, though the benefits don't end there. Due to the electronic cigarette not emitting any known dangerous substances, toxins or real smoke for that matter, they are perfectly legal to smoke in public. In winter in particular, normal cigarette smokers have to brave the freezing cold and the rain just for a quick smoking break but this alternative will allow them to stay in their offices, restaurants and pubs.

Social benefits can be found also as non smoking friends can remain present while the electronic cigarette is being smoked by their companions.

If all the claims are backed up and electronic cigarettes do indeed prove to be not only safer but also a method of quitting altogether and people take to them in their droves then surely this must lead to a healthier, less polluted future for us all.