PEARLAND, Texas — If you haven’t heard of electronic cigarettes by now — they are getting more popular by the day.

Dylan Thompson knows all about e-cigs.

He not only uses the nicotine inhalers but opened a store on Broadway Street in Pearland to sell them.

“We’re not combusting anything, “Thompson explains. “We’re heating this liquid to the point that it vaporizes and therefore we’re vapors not smokers.”

Thompson said he smoked for 25 years and this was the first thing that helped him quit.

“The second that I took my first vape, I knew it was gonna work cuz it simulates you know what I mean,” he said. “I like to blow smoke out of my face and the gum doesn’t do that.”

E-cigarettes appeal to Alex Bradley too. But it seems the trend is ahead of the etiquette when it comes to when and where to fire up.

“Personally, I try to be polite and ask others around me if it bothers them because most people don’t understand what it is,” Bradley said.

Doctors admit there’s no risk of being exposed to carcinogens because there’s no tar or tobacco.

However, the thick white vapor blown out is a bit of a mystery.

“We do not know,” said Dr. Joy Schmitz, professor of Psychiatric and Behavioral Sciences from the University of Texas. “There is not the scientific evidence to tell us about the harmful effects of second hand exposure to e-cigarette vapor or mist.”

So where is it polite to vape?

Etiquette expert Annie Cater says the best advice is to treat them like real cigarettes.

“I wouldn’t want somebody sitting next to me smoking vapors,” said Cater. “I don’t care what they’re smoking. I just don’t think it should be in a dining room.”

As for Dylan, he’s just glad something helped him kick the smoking habit.

“I smoked for 25 years, tried the patch, tried the gum — none of it worked,” he said. “This works.”

Source