While one-third of the study participants used e-cigarettes with nicotine, one-third was given e-cigarettes without nicotine, and the remaining one-third did not use e-cigarettes at all. All participants underwent approximately 100 minutes of counseling over the course of 12 weeks.

If a participant had not smoked a single cigarette after the full 12 weeks, the researchers viewed them as if they had officially quit. Overall, 21.9% of participants given e-cigarettes with nicotine had quit, 17.3% of participants given nicotine-free e-cigarettes had quit, and 9.1% of participants who only underwent counseling had quit.

“These findings show that nicotine e-cigarettes are effective for smoking cessation in the short term,” lead author Mark J. Eisenberg, MD, a professor of medicine at McGill University in Montreal, said in a statement. “Vaping with counseling is more effective than counseling alone, although it’s not a magic bullet for smoking cessation.”