^from anecdotal reports, most people seem to say that e-cigs are much easier to quit with than standard NRT, and much much better for getting off fags in the first place. This is probably down to how e-cigs can much better satisfy the non-nicotine part of the addiction (something in your hands/mouth to fiddle with; social ritual; proper 'smoke' to blow out - those crappy inhalor things don't come close). And even if you never give them up nicotine isn't that bad for you without burning (bad for blood pressure and such, like any stimulant) - i think the nhs website says it's 1000x times safer than smoking (saying more about how dangerous smoking is rather than how safe vaping is).
I think this will show up in research (or already has), but at the moment there are big interests intersecting against these things (tobacco/pharma(cancer and NRT divisions)/taxman), so it's unsurprising that the research isn't being done much, or cherry picked to show issues that aren't there - i kept reading a while ago 'they're bad cos they've got carcinogenic nitrosamines in them'; when i looked further it turns out that, yes they've got a very small amount of these nasties in them, but it's in exactly the same amount as exists in regular nicotine therapy products (i guess because they source the nicotine the same way).
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Shambles: well worth getting on it - i haven't given up tobacco particularly, i just prefer ecig to a rolly, but i definitely notice some improvement in my lungs/fitness, and it doesn't take long before you can smell the stinky smokers - plus after the initial splurge of trying shit out, it's saved me loads of money.
To me there is a noticeable difference between the hit from a fag and an e-cig - luckily, the bits that are missing for me are the things i don't like: like when i smoke a rolly in a fag break, if i decide to have a second one, half way through i get nausea and stomach discomfort. I can puff on an e-cig much longer without getting that (it's certainly possible to have too much nicotine from them and feel a bit hot and swimmy - doesn't happen often though). I think it might be to do with Harmine being in tobacco (i think) - a potentiator of the nicotine, but also a sort of drug in itself (i don't miss it in the e-cig though).