A year ago, if you told me that there was a way to enjoy cigarette smoking while maintaining good health, I would think you were out of your mind. But now I’m sitting at a Coffee Bean shop, sipping my favorite double shot espresso, enjoying a mint-flavored cigarette water vapor, and writing on my blog about e-cigarettes. And I don’t miss the real smoke that irritated my eyes and built tar deposits on my lungs. (Check out my latest hub about e-cigarettes.)

It’s been only a month since I switched to e-cigarettes—battery-powered devices that turn a flavored liquid into water vapor—and I already feel better than ever: I can smell the roses in the garden, I can breath at night, and I burn 50 calories more in a 30 minute exercise on my treadmill. Before, during judo practice I could last for only one five-minute one-on-one sparing—now I can do 15 minutes before I go out of breath. I don’t imagine things, I’m a healthier person.

E-cigarettes are a recent invention so until now no scientific studies have been conducted to confirm the benefits of e-smoking. But a quick glance at the differences between conventional and e- smoking will make any critical thinker decide in favor of e-cigarettes as a healthy alternative to conventional cigarettes:

• No cancer-causing additives found in all conventional cigarettes

• No tar

• No flame, which produces harmful substances like carbon monoxide

• No danger of second hand smoking—the harmless water vapor evaporates almost immediately after breathing out

There are other benefits of e-smoking besides the health-related: e-smoking can’t cause fire because there’s no flame and burning. E-smoking doesn’t smell—it doesn’t create the stench of real cigarettes. E-smoking has the potential to become legal in many public areas if the clinical studies confirm it is harmless.

You'll find  advice and more information on e-cigarettes at e-cigarettepedia.com -- the website is not affiliated to any electronic cigarette seller.

So, you decided to switch to e-cigarettes or you want to give the best gift to a smoker who’s close to you. You need to find a quality e-cigarette and liquid (called e-liquid). What’s a quality e-cigarette? It’s one that produces a lot of vapor without much effort, has at least two batteries, which combined last a day of smoking.

As for the e-liquid, first make sure it was made by a legitimate company, and that they list all their ingredients. Other than that the e-liquid should produce a lot of vapor to make e-smoking as close to conventional smoking as possible.

I’ve found many websites that offer e-cigarette devices, many of which also offer e-liquid. Some of these websites represent the companies that make the devices; others are distributors.

I bought my first e-cigarette of better quality, called Mini e-Cigarette, at www.e-cig.org/sale/--it’s a company called Instead Inc. If you decide to go with the same model like mine—buy it from www.puresmoker.com. I'm sure that soon after I publish this article the price will drop, so before you buy run a quick search at google with "Mini e-Cigarette" as keyword.

I've tried two brands of e-liquid--the original one that comes with the Mini e-Cigarette and Johnson Creek's smoke juice www.johnsoncreeksmokejuice.com/. The original e-liquid that comes with the Mini e-Cigarette is better because you can smoke for longer time with 3-4 drops, the cigarette doesn't overheat, and it makes more smoke, which brings the experience closer to real smoking. Unfortunately, there's no information available about the ingredients and maker of the original e-liquid.

Johnson Creek are a legitimate American company—when it comes to food and drugs I trust companies based in countries that enforce their laws and regulations. The e-liquid sold at Johnson Creek—they call it smoke juice—is half the price of any other company. They have 10 kinds of smoke juice. Johnson's Tennessee Cured and Wild Cherry smoke juice taste really good. Try their 10 different tastes with Johnson Creek’s Welcome to E-Smoking Kit—it’s a $29 package that includes all of their flavors.

But though I like Johnson's flavors, my electric cigarette doesn't. The device overheats and makes less smoke. I still use the juice because I enjoy the first four puffs so much.

The most helpful advise on e-smoking is at http://ecigforum.com/index.php?topic=172.0 It’s an online forum where you can get advice on e-smoking from how to troubleshoot your e-cigarette to which flavors taste better.