The issue of whether or not e cigarettes are worth the hype is not very clear-cut because, to date, no extensive surveys have been carried out to
a.Determine their effectiveness in quitting standard cigarettes.
b.Examine whether there are any health risks associated with them.
However, there is no doubt that sales of e cigarettes have risen astronomically since they were first introduced so it seems reasonable to conclude that many people must find them effective as a cigarette substitute (although not necessarily as an aid to quit). Loads of e cigarette review sites like insightecigreviews.com are popping up each and every day. The only reason this is happening is because of demand and a good indicator of industry growth.
A survey conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reveals that, between January 2008 and September 2010, in online queries for alternatives to cigarettes, searches in the US and UK for e cigarettes exceeded by far those for more traditional products like nicotine gum, nicotine patches and herbal cigarettes.
Another study carried out by Boston University into the effectiveness of e cigarettes in helping to quit smoking targeted purchasers of a particular brand of e cigarettes. The survey, the results of which were published in February 2011, received 222 replies of which 34.3% claimed that six months later they had quit both cigarettes and all substitutes altogether. This cessation figure is around double the figure in similar studies carried out into the effectiveness of nicotine patches and nicotine gum, where the quit rate is 12-18%.
Trying to work out whether e cigarettes are worth the hype is further complicated by the fact that the arrival of e cigarettes on the market coincides to a large extent with the growing social intolerance of smoking and ever-increasing restrictions on where and when people are allowed to smoke.
In the western world smoking is almost universally banned in bars and restaurants, cinemas, planes, many private homes and so on. But in all these locations, using e cigarettes is permissible, but some local government have partially banned e cigarettes in public places. It is unclear how many people buy e cigarettes to satisfy their need without breaching anti-smoking regulations. It is equally unclear whether, given the choice, such people would stick with the e cigarettes or revert to normal cigarettes, but some studies suggest that there is a high probability they would stick to e cigarettes as an alternative rather than a quit smoking aid.
As a business opportunity, e cigarettes are definitely worth the hype because their sales figures look set to continue to rise dramatically. The jury is still out on their potential to help cure a worldwide addiction.
