Ever since the public became aware about the dangers of smoking a few decades ago, many people have found quitting the tobacco habit hard. Companies have been innovating and manufacturing smoking cessation products for many years now. From nicotine patches to gum, nicotine addicts have been using them to quit their habit.

Electronic cigarettes (also known as e-cigarettes and electric cigarettes)are the newest product on the market. They are designed to look and feel like real cigarettes, even down to emitting artificial smoke however they do not actually contain any tobacco. Users inhale nicotine vapour which looks like smoke without any of the carcinogens found in tobacco smoke which are harmful to the smoker and others around him.

What is an electronic cigarette?

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.

Now in a fourth generation, electronic cigarettes have become much more user friendly than earlier versions which perhaps were a little too large to encourage a mass market appeal. The "mini" is the most realistic e cigarette to date with its length of 100mm being the same as a conventional cigarette.

An electronic cigarette contains a taste of tobacco but none of the harmful substances found in normal cigarettes allowing smokers cravings to be satisfied without inhaling the many dangerous toxins. Is it all smoke and mirrors? Or can this item really be the saviour it wants to be?

A battery, an atomiser and a renewable nicotine chamber allows the smoker to hold and smoke the electronic cigarette just as they would any other cigarette, even creating a "smoke" like vapour and glow at the end as they draw. The nicotine chamber proves very useful as cartridges are available in different strengths, permitting the user to reduce the amount of nicotine they intake until if they wish, can quit completely.

A nicotine cartridge typically lasts the same time as 15 to 20 cigarettes, thus creating a huge saving to normal costs. Standard, medium, low and no nicotine at all are the various cartridge strengths.

The main advantages electronic cigarettes have over nicotine patches or gum is firstly, users have the nicotine hit much quicker and secondly, because a big reason why smokers fail to quit suing patches and gum is because they still miss the act of inhaling smoke from a cylindrical object. The electronic cigarette emulates that even down to the smoke.

The electronic cigarette is also beneficial from a financial perspective. A set of five nicotine cartridges costs around £8 and is equivalent to 500 cigarettes. Although the initial investment of an electronic cigarette kit of £50 may seem steep at first, users save money in the long run.

As with many popular products, there have been a great number of cheap Chinese imitations flooding the market. They are usually half the price of a branded electronic cigarette and look like the real thing as well. It is inadvisable to use these because they have not been subject to the same rigorous testing the official electronic cigarettes have and can potentially be highly damaging to the user's health.