Well that, and the fact that they're not nearly as harmful to your lungs as inhaling the crude combustion of a plant is. Nicotine is about as dangerous as caffeine is, it's the fucking carcinogens and CO² and all that other shit that exists in the smoke itself that kills you and fucks you up. E-cigs are just nicotine laced water vapor. I tried one of the cheapies and I thought it was harsh. I hear the expensive ones are much, much better.