I have been using e-cigs or PVs (electronic cigarettes or personal vaporizers or just vaporizer) for 6 months now and anyone wanting any info on these for quiting analog cigarettes (ie normal cigarettes) can ask questions here as i've researched quite a lot and bought lot of useless stuff initially before learning what works.
Good thing about e-cigs is that you can quit analogs but still get your nicotine fix - without the 5,000 harmful chemicals. More than 99% of the harm in cigarettes comes from the other 4,999 chemicals including Tar/CO2 etc and not from Nicotine.
Most of the manufacturers are chinese as US tobacco lobby is trying frantically to stop US mfrs or imports and trying to spread FUD that its not approved by FDA etc.
Fact is that e-cigs are proven to be 100 times better than analogs in various studies. Off course, nicotine is still an addiction so its not something for non smokers to pick up but for smokers to use to drop a unhealthy habit.
Also there's no tax on nicotine liquid so governments are also wary of how to treat this. But the sales of e-cigs are over $ 100 Mn now and quality & features have improved dramatically.
Its quite practical now and there are various advantages - for example you can smoke inside Car or Home/Office A/C environments instead of opening car window in the heat or going and standing outside, there's no smell or bad taste for wife/GF to complain about, after a few months all the gunk in you lungs go away and you feel much healthier.
Some downsides are: ordering from china takes 2-4 weeks to arrive so if you run out of batteries or atomizers or e-juice (nicotine liquid) or cartridges you will fall back to analogs. You need to plan in advance which is not always possible or you end up ordering too much stock. Also customs charges (around 500 for Rs 5000 order) vary and so does the time they take to clear the package. But you don't have to go to customs office, you just pay the postman when he comes to deliver.
The cost per month is nearly the same as analogs or maybe little higher during initial months as you settle down. But each order size is 3,000-5,000 which seems little large as we buy cigs for 50-100 per pack and just 1-2 pack at a time. One order will go on for 1-2 months usually.
Some forums for more info: www.e-cigarette-forum.com
Good (& Cheap) supplier: www.heaven-gifts.com
Good Models:
newbie: M Series or M401 (looks identical to analogs)
later: Joye eGO (looks more like a pipe - but 6 hours battery life compared to 1 hour of M series)
You need to get 1 starter kit plus 3-4 extra atomizers (attys) and 10-20 empty cartridges (carts) and 1-2 bottles of 35 ml e liquid of extra/super high strength (denoted in mg eg. 24 mg) For 36 mg strength you will need to go to bestecigs.com but 24mg is also ok.
You can also buy pre-filled carts but turn out to be expensive so i don't prefer them. YOu can order pre-filled carts if you don't want the hassle of refilling your carts every 2-3 days (takes half an hour)
You can use a USB Pass through (USB PT) to connect and vape (smoke:smoking :: vapour:vaping) without using the battery. I even connect the USB PT to my car cig lighter jack using a motorola car charger to vape in car. Batteries usually work for a month or two before conking off.
You typically need to vape for more time than you usually smoke as its slower than analogs. This is because nothing is burned in e-cigs, the atomizer heats a little (60-80 C) and the liquid (soaked in a foam in the cartridge) is vaporized before you inhale it. Since the feeling of a normal cigaratte and look of smoke is there, this product doesn't involve any other changes in your lifestyle and so it is easier to quit.
I have been 10-15 analogs per day person for a decade or two and found it difficult to quit as i like the nic kick. But with e-cigs it just took me 2 days to drop of analogs. after a few weeks i threw away my various lighters ash tray etc. and for in a few months i started really hating the smell of cig smoke. Ran out of e-cigs then and fell back to analogs since my next order took 5 weeks to arrive. Switched to e-cigs again after that and am now trying to order in advance.
In full disclosure, I still do sometimes have an analog with people (every 3-4 days) when I don't want to take out the e-cig and waste time in everyone going gaga over it and trying it out and wasting time in all types of explanation of how it works.
Will write in detail when i have some more time or if anyone has any quries. Just thought that this might help someone quit so...