Chinese 'e-cigarette' Helps You Stub Out the Habit

For all of you who want to kick the butt, but have gone back to it after

leaving it for sometime, this may spell some good news for you and for those

around you. A Chinese company is now marketing the world's first 'electronic'

cigarette, which feels like a cigarette, looks like a cigarette but it isn't bad

for your health.

Golden Dragon Group Ruyan cigarettes are battery-powered, cigarette-shaped

devices that deliver nicotine to inhalers in a bid to emulate actual smoking.

"The nicotine is delivered to the lungs within 7-10 seconds," says Scott Fraser,

VP, SBT, the Beijing-based firm that first developed the electronic cigarette

technology in 2003 and which is now controlled by Golden Dragon.

It feels like a cigarette, looks like a cigarette, and even emits vapor. In

many ways, it is like an actual smoking experience.

The cigarettes sell for around 1,600 yuan ($208) a piece and are already

available in China, Israel, Turkey, and a number of European countries, but not

yet in the US.

Golden Dragon's competitors include global giants Pfizer and Novartis AG,

which sell more familiar nicotine replacement products such as chewing gum,

patches, and inhalers.