E Cigarettes in 2013

In 1965, a whopping 42 percent of all American adults smoked, and by 2010, that number at decreased to 19 percent and was decreasing at a faster rate with each passing decade.

Now, there is a new product on the market, the e-cigarette. Using a battery, it heats nicotine oil to create a vapor. The vapor is satisfying like cigarette smoke, but it does not smell or contain anyone of the tar and other impurities found in traditional tobacco smoke. In addition, a person can use it in no smoking area, including indoors.

Initially, some believed that this product was targeted specifically at the younger generations, but statistics show that is the Millennial generation, born between 1977 and 1994, that has embraced e-cigs most. According to a recent survey, 40 percent of all adults who smoke are Millennials, and 44 percent of all adults who use an electronic cigarette are Millennials.

So are e-cigs actually smoking cessation devices? In legal terms, no, and since they’re not technically a cigarette, they can be marketed on television and radio. However, a large majority of Millennials surveyed indicated that they smoked e-cigarettes as a step toward quitting altogether.

In fact, the statistics show that 8 percent of everyone who attempted to quit last year did so with e-cigarettes, which is second only to stopping cold turkey, which accounted for 11 percent. Nicotine patches clocked in at 6 percent, pills at 5 percent and gum at 4 percent.

At this point, it is impossible to predict the future of e-cigarettes. There are numerous fiscal, political and special interest factors in play, and perhaps if e-cigs are very effective as a cessation device then they will eliminate the very market to which they cater.

A factor other than quitting may be pushing smokers to e-cigs as well. The FDA has the power to reduce nicotine yield in cigarettes, and it has been decreasing it methodically. The FDA does not, however, have the power to control nicotine yields for e-cigarettes, so many smokers have and will continue to turn to electronic cigarettes in order to get the level of nicotine that they enjoy.

This survey was originally covered by Forbes.