Smoking is a favored pastime among college students who are stressed out studying for exams and juggling family and full-time jobs. But the health risks are well known.

Smoking nicotine and tobacco products are a leading cause of heart disease and cancer around the world and, therefore, highly discouraged by the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society and the Centers for Disease Control; not to mention their friends and family.

Relatively new on the market is a device called the e-cigarette. Consisting of three components; a cartridge which serves as a mouthpiece and reservoir for liquid, an atomizer containing a small heating coil that vaporizes the liquid, and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, the e-cig is an inhaler that vaporizes a liquid solution into an aerosol mist which simulates the act of smoking.

Though originally marketed as a smoking cessation device, there really is no evidence that e-cigs can actually help smokers quit and may even be just as harmful as traditional cigarettes.

The popularity of the product comes from the convenience it provides to smokers who are hard-up to find places where smoking is not prohibited.

Prohibition of smoking in public spaces began in 1975 and gained momentum during the mid-to-late 1990s. Today smoking in all restaurants, bars, and public facilities is completely banned.

E-cigs emit only water vapor so they are perfectly legal in all public spaces. If you’re smoking one of these nifty little devices in the FCC free speech area and a non-smoker walks by and obnoxiously coughs in your general direction, he or she is merely being an attention-seeking drama queen and is in no way being affected by nasty carcinogens. However, this may not be entirely true.

According to www.fda.gov, the effects of e-cigs have not fully been investigated. This means that users have no way of knowing if they are safe, how much nicotine or other harmful chemicals they are ingesting, or if there are any benefits from their use.

The liquid solution used in e-cigs to create the smoke-like vapor is comprised of a mixture of propylene glycol and/or vegetable glycerin, and/or polyethylene glycol 400 mixed with concentrated flavors and, optionally, a variable percent of nicotine.

Polyethylene glycol 400 is a low-molecular-weight grade of polyethylene glycol that is used in a wide variety of pharmaceuticals. However, propylene glycol is a component used in newer automotive antifreezes and de-icers used at airports.

The FDA has classified propylene glycol “generally recognized as safe,” but Dr. Lowell Dale, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., reminds us that e-cigs are manufactured in China and, therefore, not regulated to U.S. standards.

“There is evidence the products vary from cartridge to cartridge,” said Dr. Dale.

So, to determine which de-stressing vice would be “better” or “healthier” for you, it would depend on which you consider to be the lesser of two evils: the nicotine, tobacco, tar and ammonia in traditional cigarettes that have been proven to lead to cancer and heart disease or the relatively unstudied and, therefore, potentially dangerous side-effects of e-cigs.

Both are poor choices, naturally. I’ve been a nicotine addict for 15 years and have “quit” countless times. I was hopeful that the e-cig would be a happy alternative in my next attempt at quitting. However, not knowing the potential health hazards just gives me the heebee-jeebees. At least with traditional cigarettes I know exactly what I’m putting into my body.