Consider e-cigarettes only if you really can't quit otherwise, and don't touch them if you don't already smoke

Cost

The device plus pods costs a few dozen to a few hundred CNY a month. In China only tobacco-flavored ones can be bought, and only in stores that hold a tobacco monopoly retail license (烟草专卖零售许可证).

What you get

A continuously updated review included 80 randomized trials with 29861 people. Compared with nicotine replacement therapy, nicotine e-cigarettes raised the quit rate by about 61% (RR 1.61, 95% CI 1.23–2.12, the plausible range; high-certainty evidence, 11 trials, 4114 people). In absolute terms, that is about 4 more people quitting per 100 (1 to 7 more). The share with serious adverse events was about the same in the two groups (risk difference 0.01, 95% CI −0.01 to 0.02, moderate-certainty evidence). Compared with behavioral support alone or no support, the gain was about 75% (RR 1.75, 95% CI 1.39–2.20, low-certainty evidence).

Notes

Disputed. In 2023 the World Health Organization said that e-cigarettes sold as ordinary consumer products have no evidence of helping people quit smoking at the population level. It does not advise governments to allow e-cigarette sales for the purpose of quitting; if they are used, they should be regulated like medicines. It also said the long-term health effects are not fully understood, and it worries that children and young people will start using nicotine because of them. Since 2023 England has done the opposite, giving about a million smokers an e-cigarette starter kit along with quit-smoking coaching. China has not banned e-cigarettes outright, but regulates them tightly, with the rules in the Measures for the Administration of Electronic Cigarettes (《电子烟管理办法》). Only tobacco flavors may be sold; fruit flavors and refillable ones that let you add your own liquid may not. They may only be bought in physical stores holding a tobacco monopoly retail license (烟草专卖零售许可证). Selling them on any site, online shop or social app other than the national unified e-cigarette trading platform is illegal. Sales to minors are also banned. So fruit-flavored e-cigarettes that can still be bought come through illegal channels and are outside regulation. The “head-rush vapes” laced with synthetic cannabinoids leaked out this way; see §22.4 (don't accept pods handed to you). The products tested in the review were all regulated nicotine products; liquids of unknown origin are not covered. As for order, try §2.3 (quit-smoking medicines) first, where the evidence is firmer and the cost lower.

Evidence grade

A : Specific numbers from meta-analyses, large cohorts or randomized trials; for law and policy, the statute or official text.

Sources

1. Lindson N, Livingstone-Banks J, Butler AR, et al. (2026). Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 8, CD010216. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD010216.pub11
2. State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (2022). Measures for the Administration of E-Cigarettes [in Chinese] (State Tobacco Monopoly Administration Announcement No. 1 of 2022, in force May 1, 2022), Article 18: anyone engaged in e-cigarette retail must apply to the tobacco monopoly administrative authority for a tobacco monopoly retail license. Article 22: "Selling e-cigarette products to minors is prohibited." Article 23, paragraph 2: "No individual, legal person or other organization may sell e-cigarette products, e-liquids or nicotine for e-cigarettes, etc., through any information network other than the e-cigarette transaction management platform specified in these Measures." Article 26: "Selling flavored e-cigarettes other than tobacco-flavored ones, and e-cigarettes to which users can add e-liquid themselves, is prohibited." http://www.gov.cn/gongbao/content/2022/content_5697988.htm
3. World Health Organization (2023-12-14). Urgent action needed to protect children and prevent the uptake of e-cigarettes: "E-cigarettes as consumer products are not shown to be effective for quitting tobacco use at the population level" "it is not recommended that governments permit sale of e-cigarettes as consumer products in pursuit of a cessation objective" "Whilst long-term health effects are not fully understood". https://www.who.int/news/item/14-12-2023-urgent-action-needed-to-protect-children-and-prevent-the-uptake-of-e-cigarettes
4. Department of Health and Social Care (2023-04-11). Smokers urged to swap cigarettes for vapes in world first scheme: "almost 1 in 5 of all smokers in England will be provided with a vape starter kit alongside behavioural support". https://www.gov.uk/government/news/smokers-urged-to-swap-cigarettes-for-vapes-in-world-first-scheme
5. Supreme People's Procuratorate (2021). Wujiang District, Suzhou, Jiangsu: The Prosecutor Handling the Case Reveals a New Type of Drug Disguised as a Trend [in Chinese]: "This kind of 'head-rush' e-cigarette contains synthetic cannabinoids, a whole class of which the state has placed under control". https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/zdgz/202110/t20211011_531831.shtml

Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 2, tip 6. This section is about health and medicines. It is general information, not a substitute for a doctor’s diagnosis or prescription. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer