I've been smoking since i was about 16-17, im 24 now.
Recently, i invested in electronic cigarettes for marketing purposes, and decided to keep 2, one for me, and one for my mom, just to give them a try.
me and my moms personal experiences with this so far:
It works. It's definitely different than actually smoking, but its a great substitute.
its also alot cheaper to buy refills for an ecig than to purchase a pack of smokes, i did the math and itll save you anywhere from 30 - 100 bucks depending on how you smoke (how big of a hit you take basically), for me, im saving about 100 bucks for every pack of cartridges I go through.
Past that, it really does manage to sooth your craving. I've tried the mints, the gum, and even went to Marlboro snuff to try and combat my habit, all failed horribly. but the ecig is nice. I keep it in my pack of cigs that way when i go to smoke, i remember i have it, and over half the time ill opt to puff on it instead of a real cig.
It's cut my consumption of cigarettes down to 1 pack every 3 days, where I've been at 1 pack a day for years now. granted, im still SMOKING, but its not as strong as a regular cig, doesn't cost NEARLY as much, and doesn't make you stink like no other (one of my biggest complaints, i hate smelling like a smoker)
I plan to move on to lower strengths as I go until i've cut down my smoking significantly.
My mom has taken to it fairly well too. shes cut her smoking habit into about half the amount of cig consumption since she started using it, she keeps forgetting about it though. I just gave her the "stick it in your pack" idea and we're going to see how that changes things
Long story short: If anyone is actually wanting to quit smoking, this is a great cheap and effective stepping stone. it soothes the nicotine craving, but thats only half that battle that makes things like gum and mints not work. it also helps you combat the physical "i have to do something with my mouth and hands" portion of it as well.