A Healthy Cigarette?

While the phrase "healthy cigarette" might be right up there with non-alcoholic vodka and risk-free investments, one company is making a pitch that is pretty convincing. Even if, in the end, what they've created isn't really a cigarette.

Meet Smart Smoker, a new cigarette-emulator that gives smokers the sensation of smoking without all the nasty side-effects of everything that comes with actual tar-and chemical-laced smoke.

Here's how it works. You buy a reusable cigarette-looking device, and then you buy little caplets that you replace as they get used up. These caplets get inserted into the device. Two things then happen. To give you the actual physical high of smoking, the Smart Smoker sends subtle electronic impulses which signal to a smoker’s sensory nerves the same sensation experienced when enjoying a traditional cigarette. This tricks you into thinking you're getting a fix. In addition, a water-based mist is emitted through the device, giving you the sensation of inhaling smoke. And there you have it. A healthy cigarette.

Or is it? While testimonials on a product site can't generally be trusted, I do know one puffer, Elizabeth Sutton of San Francisco, CA, who kicked her smoking habit using the Smart Smoker, and she says flat out: "When I'm smoking my e-cig, it feels exactly like the real one."

Next stop: carefree anxiety.

Photo via GetSmartSmoker.com.