people are trying to find out for sure as we speak. The FDA certainly wants you to believe that they are very bad for you.

Electric cigarettes use a chemical called Propylene Glycol (PG), or alternatively Vegetable Glycerin (VG) to create the vapor. PG is used in fog machines and is deemed safe for human consumption. Whether it’s ok to heat and smoke, however, is not certain. However it is the popular belief that it is far safer than smoke, which itself is a carcinogen. Electric cigarette smokers report feeling healthier in the lungs after quitting normal tobacco cigarettes. Many anecdotes from e-cig smokers talking about their doctors’ reactions have been very positive about the device.

I personally have been using one for 6 months, and have only smoked a couple cigarettes in between. I do feel healthier. They helped me quit regular cigs. It was very difficult though… everyone is different but for me, switching over to the e-cig from regular cigs seemed 50% as difficult as quitting regular cigs altogether. And I’ve never been able to quit regular cigs in too many tries to count. I hope that eventually someday I will be able to quit completely.

Also, make no mistake, nicotine is bad for you. E-cigs use cartridges filled with a solution of nicotine and flavoring and PG/VG, so you have to refill them. I’ve heard that nicotine itself is about as bad for you as caffeine. But remember, it’s not the nicotine in cigarettes that kills you, it’s the SMOKE.

So the moral of the story is that e-cigs can’t possibly be good for you, but most people who have educated guesses believe that it’s very far less harmful than regular cigarettes.