While visiting an ill relative in Princess Margaret Hospital, Bill Marangos walked by the nurse's station and took a deep drag on his cigarette, exhaling white curlicues – the cancer hospital equivalent of discharging a gun in a police station.

"A nurse nearly tackled me," says Marangos, who, before security was summoned, quickly explained it was an electronic cigarette, no tobacco, no smoke.

Still ready to pounce, the nurses watched as he blew what looked like smoke, but was actually vapour, straight into a smoke detector.

"A couple of nurses covered their heads, sure that the sprinklers would spray," says Marangos. "Some came up to me asking where they could get these cigarettes."

From him. Marangos is president of SmokeStik, one of the many brands of battery-powered cigarettes being made in China and gaining popularity globally through sales online and in corner stores.

And through celebrity boosts: Photos of Leonardo DiCaprio with an electronic cigarette stuck in his lips are plastered on pop culture websites and baseball star Jose Canseco is reported to be a pitchman for a distributor.

Usually a slim white cylinder with a beige mouthpiece to mimic the look of the real thing, these pseudo cigarettes contain liquid nicotine that is heated and vaporized when a user inhales. It's a safer way to get a nicotine fix without the tar and carcinogens, say the sellers.

"It's like smoking with a condom on," says William Taskas, Canadian distributor for SmokeStik. An orange light glows at the tip, resembling a burning ember.

But these faux smokes are also sparking controversy as governments grapple with how or whether to regulate them, and anti-smoking activists either dismiss them as untested gimmicks to keep people hooked or see them as a way to reduce harm.

"The problem with cigarettes is not the nicotine, not even the tobacco; it's the smoke, the delivery system," says David Sweanor, former legal counsel of the Non Smokers' Rights Association of Canada. "Much of what we've done has been prohibitionist in approach. Are we simply trying to reduce consumption or are we also trying to reduce the overall risk?"

Response to these faux smokes has been literally all over the map. Australia banned the sale of electronic cigarettes with nicotine, but smokers in Britain can buy them in some pubs and puff with a pint.

Health Canada determined last month that they fall under the Food and Drugs Act, which means a company must submit evidence of safety and effectiveness in order to market them. Health Canada is taking steps to inform importers of the regulations, according to a government spokesperson.

That's news to Marangos, who has been selling them since July. A starter kit with rechargeable batteries, charger and five cartridges sells for about $110. "We'd love them to clear the air. It won't be a problem for us."

But without that government stamp of approval, many researchers say steer clear. "There's no scientific data on how they work, if there are interactions with anything else," says Kelli-an Lawrance, a tobacco control researcher at Brock University.

"I can't imagine companies want people to use them to quit. They're capitalizing on the fact that people will keep smoking."

While the nicotine cartridges for the cigarettes come in different strengths – high, medium, low and no nicotine – tobacco researchers worry consumers can't be sure what strength they get.

For those who want to quit, safe and proven methods, such as the patch, gum and inhaler, are already on the market, says Lawrance.

None of those worked for Marlene Sen. "I couldn't get past day three. I enjoyed smoking too much, the habit, the ritual," says Sen, a smoker for 30 years. She also used nicotine as a way to calm down, cope with stress, especially as the stay-home mother of two young children.

Feeling trapped, she had resigned herself to a possible early death from lung cancer. Then she saw a friend's posting on Facebook about electronic cigarettes, and she ordered some from the Internet.

"It's five weeks today I haven't had a real cigarette," Sen says, adding she hasn't been miserable and angry as with other attempts to quit. She hopes to taper off until she's using the nicotine-free cartridges.

"I'm proud of this. It's a positive change in my life."

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Since the electronic cigarettes don't contain tobacco, they are not prohibited under anti-smoking laws. Sen has smoked them in malls and movie theatres, and no one has questioned her.

One downside, though, is she is more likely to puff where her kids can see her. "That's not good," says Sen, who plans not to smoke even a fake cigarette in front of her kids.

Researchers worry that the electronic variety could become a gateway to the real type.

"Why do they need to look like and act so much like a cigarette?" asks Michael Perley, director of the Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco. Some brands come with a variety of flavoured nicotine, such as tobacco, mint, vanilla or fruit.

"That's to appeal to children," says Roberta Ferrence, executive director of the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit. Nicotine, while not as risky as the smoke in cigarettes, is highly addictive.

Despite the fears, some longtime anti-smoking activists see electronic cigarettes as relatively safe. Independent researcher Murray Laugesen, formerly a medical officer with the New Zealand government who has worked to reduce smoking since 1984, tested the first electronic cigarette, the Ruyan V8 marketed in China in 2004.

"So far, no cause of serious concern has been found," writes Laugesen in an email. His safety tests were funded by Ruyan.

The exhaled mist contains almost no nicotine, he writes. It consists of propylene glycol, commonly used as stage fog. No tests have been conducted to prove that the smokeless cigarettes increase chances of quitting, says Laugesen.

"Safe doesn't exist," says Sweanor. "But electronic cigarettes are low risk compared to regular cigarettes. It's the equivalent of having a four-wheel-drive Volvo compared to a high-powered motorcycle with bald tires in an ice storm."

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