There are few more reliable routes to an early grave than cigarette smoking. But despite the dangers, nicotine addicts find it almost impossible to kick the habit. Half of those who try to stop “cold turkey” will fail within a week. Fewer than 5% manage to stay clean for a year or more. Crutches such as nicotine patches or gum, which provide the drug without the cigarettes, can help—but only a little.
One reason is that addiction is about more than mere chemistry. The rituals involved, such as holding a cigarette between the fingers or taking a long, luxuriant puff, can be as habit-forming as nicotine itself. So a better way to stop smoking might be a drug-delivery system that mimicked an ordinary cigarette as closely as possible, but had none of the pesky carcinogens and other poisons which come from burning a rolled-up mix of paper, tobacco leaves and additives.
Electronic cigarettes would seem to fit that bill. They use a small electric heater to vaporise a mix of glycerine and propylene glycol (two fairly inoffensive chemicals) in which nicotine has been dissolved, turning it into a breathable mist that can be savoured much as cigarette smoke is. And because some of these devices are designed to resemble traditional cigarettes, they can be held between the fingers and jabbed in the air for emphasis, just like the real thing.
Read the rest of the article on the Economist.com http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21636714-latest-investigation-vaping-suggests-it-can-help-you-quit-smoking-vapour
