Ecigs are the best cigarette alternative they've come up with so far.
They may not be good for you, but they're definitely much better for you.
You get the manual/oral fixation of getting to "smoke" something, and you get the nicotine.
What you don't get is the cancer, emphysema, shortness of breath, smelling like an ashtray, litter, fire hazard, arsenic, ammonia, burning organic matter, cyanide, accelerants, or air pollution.
I can take two puffs and then put it back in my pocket, or I can "smoke" a cigarette and a half worth, without being committed to cigarette size portions.
I do it inside the house, in the car, there's no real scent at all, and certainly none that lingers. If I smoke a cigarette in the morning, my girlfriend will notice and complain when I get home at night. I use my ecig while we're sitting next to each other on the couch and it doesn't bother her at all.
Most people start with the cigarette looking ecigs that they sell at whatever local store sells cigarettes - buying those is like buying a knife at a gas station.
A lot of people get turned off of them from that one bad experience.
It is an area of knowledge (there are some very busy forums) that can be daunting and confusing when you start researching, with people using nicknames and abbreviations, it can be hard to tell where to start. There are so many reviews on youtube that you can't even begin to watch enough. And since it's such a new industry, they're coming up with significantly better devices all the time, much unlike the knife world that is so well understood and mature, so a new user FAQ that's two years old is outdated enough to no longer be relevant.
You can get a good starter kit for $50-70, but you can spend hundreds if you want the Sebenza of ecigs. You can mix and match parts (legos), you can buy custom mods and handmade accessories. If you want it to become a knifelike hobby that kinda takes over your life and your wallet, that's certainly a possibility, but it's also not necessary (some guys buy one Benchmade and it's the only knife they need for years). After the initial start up cost, which is less than 2 cartons of cigarettes, it's much cheaper than buying cigarettes.
The variety of flavors is incredible. Once you realize that the thing you're "smoking" is not a cigarette, and doesn't have to taste like one, you can get whatever you want. My favorites are vanilla and coconut, but I also like clove and banana. Flavor is very subjective, and you can buy small bottles cheaply to try out different flavors before buying a big bottle of whatever you decide you like.
I've even seen ads for caffeinated juice, though haven't tried it.
I smoked a pack a day of Marlboro Reds for 16 years, and didn't particularly want to quit, but this turned out to be a better alternative for me and lots of others.
There are hundreds of websites, many of which are as reliable as a lot of the knife websites we keep going back to. My latest favorite is ECBlend.
As far as doing it at work, my company has a policy against it, but I sneak a hit here and there anyway, as the vapor disappears right away and unless someone is actually watching you do it, they'll never know.
I do it in stores, restaurants, movie theaters, the mall, etc. I try to be discrete because if someone doesn't know what it is, they might think it's drugs or something, and because I'm not doing it for attention, but no one ever notices.
If you don't smoke cigarettes, you have no need to bother with it.
If you do, you'll probably like it.
