Cigarettes are addictive and unhealthy, but a new form of smoking can give smokers a different way to fulfill their need for nicotine.

Electronic cigarettes are a new smoking trend that has people making the switch from lighting up to powering up.

Battery powered and water based, e-cigarettes have proven to help cigarette smokers transition from the approximately 600 ingredients in traditional cigarettes to liquid nicotine.

E-cigarettes are different from vaporizers, which are used to vaporize plant material such as E-C marijuana and tobacco, whereas the e-cigarettes do not contain tobacco.

Jordan Hines, general manager of Vape Paradise in Murray, said the popularity of e-cigarettes among Murray customers has been amazing, much to her surprise.

This is the second store Vape Paradise has opened, its first being in Paducah.

Since opening in December 2013, Vape Paradise has offered more than 107 different flavors of vapor for customers to choose from.

“If you would have asked me six months ago to forecast this kind of business, never in a million years would I have been able to anticipate the overwhelming response we’ve gotten from people,” Hines said. “People are finding out that they don’t have to smoke if they don’t want to. They also smell better.”

Hines said she believes the current popularity of e-cigarettes will only grow and likely replace regular cigarettes.

“To see that change in a mindset in the United States is amazing,” Hines said. “With us living in tobacco country, seeing this response is wild.”

The U.S. Drug and Food Administration has yet to fully regulate the e-cigarette industry.

The question unanswered by experts is if e-cigarettes will lead to non-smokers beginning to vape with nicotine, or allow for current smokers to find a way to quit.

Story by Mary Bradley, Staff writer