E-cigarette campaigners have headed to the big smoke to convince federal politicians to lift bans on nicotine vaping products.

A recent CSIRO report found regular use of vapers was likely to harm a person's health, but it suggested there were likely benefits in replacing regular cigarettes with e-cigarettes.

Brian Marlow, the campaign manager for Legalise Vaping Australia, said the report quantified points his organisation had been making for years.

"They've shown the gateway theory, that vaping leads to smoking, just doesn't exist; they've shown that vaping reduces smoking rates; they've shown that it's safer than smoking," he said.

"This is not a harmless technology, it's just significantly less harmful than tobacco and that's what we're trying to get across."

The most common e-cigarettes emit vapour as opposed to smoke like regular cigarettes. ( Flickr.com: Vaping360 )

Electronic cigarettes heat liquid into vapour for users to inhale.

There are various bans across Australia that restrict the sale of e-cigarettes and liquids containing nicotine.

Many vapers purchase the products online and some don't even know that it's technically illegal.

Mr Marlow went on a road trip around Australia to speak with vapers and learn more about the human side of the technology.

"I met big burly guys that had smoked two packs a day that said they'd quit in a week," he said.

"Some of them were almost in tears talking about how it saved them."

Brian Marlow has taken the vaping campaign to the top of Capital Hill. ( ABC Canberra: Michael Black )

Mr Marlow doesn't vape himself, saying it's addictive and only useful for harm reduction.

He said he was drawn into vaping circles from a health perspective and for personal reasons.

"My mother is 70 years old. She smoked her entire adult life. She's been through breast cancer treatment and she still smokes.

"She doesn't know how to buy things online when the vaping liquid runs out.

"She goes back down to the tobacco shop and buys something that's going to kill her."

The Queensland Government has been cracking down on vaping imports. ( Supplied: Colin Mendelsohn )

The case for change

Dr Coral Gartner from the University of Queensland said her research had centred around e-cigarettes as an aid to quit smoking.

Some of the vulnerable groups she encountered with high smoking rates included low socio-economic demographics and the chronically ill.

"The reality is that many smokers do not quit smoking before developing serious diseases which are often fatal," she said.

"A less-harmful alternative is likely to help more people.

"A lower-cost product may also help reduce the adverse impacts of the high cost of cigarettes."

She said many policy barriers had been put in place around vaping.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration does not authorise e-cigarettes as a form of nicotine replacement therapy.

It is seen by some as a de facto ban on vaping, backed up by tobacco control laws.

Dr Gartner claimed this attitude was at odds with the Federal Government's first National Tobacco Strategy released in 2009 which promoted the strategy of harm reduction.

She said other banned cigarette alternatives, like snus (a form of oral snuff) from Sweden, contained low levels of carcinogens and produced no smoke.

"A few other countries have also banned non-smoked tobacco products, but ironically the most harmful nicotine products — tobacco cigarettes — are always exempted," she said.

"An option could be to repeal the ban for those products that meet a standard, such as is used by Swedish snus manufacturers.

"[It would] ensure the product has low levels of carcinogens in it."

Three of Dr Gartner's studies were referenced by the CSIRO in its review of e-cigarettes.

But the report found a lack of other Australian research and convincing case studies to back the calls for change.

"I'm not really sure why there hasn't been more research on this in Australia," Dr Gartner said.

"Case studies that involve recruiting people who vape are challenging to conduct in Australia because we have a relatively small population of people who vape."

Her case studies have also involved gathering qualitative responses from vapers.

There was a broad spectrum of reasons for vaping, with not everyone as outspoken as vaping campaigners.

"Some people who have switched to vaping are very passionate about it," she said.

"It is quite common to hear personal testimonials about health improvements and better physical functioning after switching.

"The main reason people vape is to stop smoking either as a short-term quit aid or as a longer-term substitute for cigarettes."

Legalisation and regulation is the end of the road for vaping activists. ( Supplied: Legalise Vaping Australia )

Grassroots lobbying on Capital Hill

Health Minister Greg Hunt has consistently spoken out against nicotine vaping.

"It's not going to be happening on my watch as far as I'm concerned," he told the ABC last year.

"There is clear evidence that it's likely to lead to the uptake of cigarette smoking.

"I have a very strong, clear, categorical view that this is not something that should occur in Australia."

Campaigners have failed to change the Minister's mind despite lobbying for face time at Parliament House.

But Mr Marlow claimed there was a lot of support within the Liberal Party but it had yet to reach a party-room consensus around vaping.

"We've been mainly targeting policymakers and politicians because the health bodies have just been staunchly against this in Australia," he said.

"Usually they follow the lead of health bodies over in America and over in Europe — we do that on almost everything.

"But when it comes to vaping, we're following the lead of countries in the Middle East."

Some of the senators who agreed the laws should change include Cory Bernardi, David Leyonhjelm and Dean Smith.

Liberal-National MP Andrew Laming made his support clear in a 10-word dissenting report during a parliamentary vaping inquiry.

"Life is short and shorter for smokers. Just legalise vaping," it read.

Mr Marlow said he'd had mixed support from the major parties at state and federal levels.

Vaping activists regularly pop up during election cycles and confront candidates directly.

"Come next year, if the Liberal Party haven't pulled their fingers out, we'll be knocking on the doors of Greens and Labor politicians," he said.

"Have a look at this — it could win you an election."