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FRIDAY, Feb. 26, 2010 (Health.com) — Nikhil Rao, 23, a student at the University of Louisville, in Kentucky, took his first drag of a cigarette at age 18, while hanging out in a bar with buddies. Soon he was smoking half a pack a day. Then, like many smokers, he tried to kick the habit and—surprise!—found he couldn’t do it.

But that was then. Now he goes by the screen name of PureVapor and extols the virtues of electronic cigarettes, also known as personal vaporizers. He saw an Internet ad for these battery-operated, smokeless cigarettes, and decided to see if they could help him quit.

So far so good, he says. “I have smoked four cigarettes in the last month, and only when I forgot to charge my batteries. Cigarettes now taste pretty disgusting, and I hate the thought of having to smoke one,” he says.

“My favorite thing about [electronic cigarettes] is that they're healthier and don't harm the people around me with secondhand smoke,” he says. “My mom says I don't emanate the stench of burnt tobacco, and I already feel less out of breath when doing heavy exercise.”

Healthier than cigarettes? Maybe, but some experts aren’t convinced they’re a safe or effective way to quit smoking. They say e-cigarette nicotine levels can range from nonexistent to toxic, and that some may contain dangerous additives. Others fear they are the 21st-century equivalent of candy cigarettes—attractive to children and teens as a sort of gateway drug for real cigarettes.

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