THINKING about quitting smoking for your New Year’s resolution?

This bloke reckons he can vaporise your nasty habit in as little as three months.

Like a lot of smokers Troy van Buuren had tried “everything” from nicotine replacement therapy to going cold turkey to ditch the durries but nothing could shake his 15-year or more habit.

“I found it difficult to quit,” he said.

“A mate of mine introduced me to (vaping) and I could see the concept working.”

media_camera Mr van Buuren was like a lot of smokers who struggled to quite cigarettes. (AAP image / Mark Scott)

Mr van Buuren “got entrenched in research” and before long he was mixing his own e-liquids for himself and friends.

A year ago he and his wife Beatrix launched an online vaping store, Cloud Chamber, selling his own range of 36 flavoured e-liquids and the vaping devices, which he imports from overseas.

“My professional background was in IT (information technology) but I did it because my experience was so positive in quitting smoking,” he said.

On Saturday the van Buuren’s turned that online venture into bricks and mortar, opening the Central Coast’s first stand alone vaping store at Gorokan.

media_camera Beatrix and Troy van Buuren have opened the Coast's first dedicated vaping store. (AAP image / Mark Scott)

Mr van Buuren said “demographically” people on the Coast preferred “walking into a store and talking to someone”.

He said after the initial outlay to buy a kit, Mr van Buuren said vaping was “incredibly cost effective” compared to cigarettes with an average pack-a-day smoker saving up to $30 a day.

But he said it was the health benefits driving the uptake in vaping as a way to quit smoking or simply for the pleasure of the different flavours available.

A peer reviewed UK study of 181 smokers and ex-smokers published in the Annals of Internal Medicine earlier this year found significantly lower levels of toxic chemicals and cancer-causing carcinogens in former smokers who had been using e-cigarettes (vaping) or nicotine replacement therapy compared to current smokers.

media_camera Mr van Buuren said vaping was a good way to quit people’s nicotine addiction. (AAP image / Mark Scott)

Mr van Buuren said he had a vaping program, which could free people of their nicotine addiction within three months by cutting the amount of nicotine added to the e-liquid over time.

He said some customers then quit vaping altogether or continued “just for the fun of it”.

“It’s very rewarding when you’re able to help someone who has been trying to quit smoking for years,” he said.

“There’s no more effective way of doing it than vaping.”

While he said the new store was able to sell the electronic vaping devices and the e-liquid refills it was not legally allowed to sell nicotine.

However, he said the shop had kiosk where customers could order liquid nicotine from overseas and he could mix it for them in store after it arrived or show them how to do it themselves.

media_camera NSW Health is unsure of the benefits of vaping. Photo Mark Cranitch.

NSW HEATH: BENEFITS OF E-CIGARETTES UNCERTAIN

The Public Health (Tobacco) Act 2008 makes it an offence in NSW to sell e-cigarettes

and accessories to minors and illegal to use one in a car with a child under the age of 16.

A NSW Health spokesman said the sale of liquid nicotine, including in e-liquids and in electronic cigarettes, was illegal without approval from the Ministry of Health or the Therapeutic Goods Administration

No approvals have been issued for any e-cigarette products containing nicotine.

“NSW Health is committed to monitoring the emerging evidence about health risks

associated with the use of e-cigarettes and responding accordingly,” the spokesman said.

“In April, the National Health and Medical Research Council outlined the latest

evidence in relation to the safety of e-cigarettes. This update addressed potential risks to bystanders from e-cigarettes and found there is still insufficient evidence to support claims e-cigarettes are safe or effective as a quit aid.”

The spokesman said NSW Health was currently considering the implications of this evidence.

“Fortunately, the use of e-cigarettes in NSW is low, with around one per cent of NSW

adults current — daily or occasional — users,” the spokesman said.

“However, young people are more likely to use e-cigarettes, and NSW is protecting

children and young people from the potential risks of e-cigarettes.”