Not only the TH and the vapor clouds, but e cigs give smokers the similarity of oral fixation, and wanting to use their hands. A patch on your arm might deliver nicotine, but it is far to passive. Smoking is as much of a psychological addiction as it is a physical one. So, vaping is very much a mimic of smoking. That's probably why those that vape can quit smoking analogs instantly, whereas even the patch and gum which deliver nicotine fail more often and people continue to smoke even when using them. It's probably also why vaping is never going to be as much of a smoking cessation method as much as it is an alternative nicotine delivery system.
The fact that carcinogens in vaping are 1/300th (at most) what are found in tobacco products, alone is enough to say "who cares if it looks and feels like smoking, who cares if it is an alternative and not a quit-smoking product, and WHO CARES WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK" The fact that you are putting an absorbable vapor into your lungs, and not small suit particles (the worst kind of air pollution imaginable), makes it even more "healthy" compared to smoking. Nevermind the hundreds of other chemicals.
The reason smoking needed to be banned in public facilities is because it was an affront to the health of those not doing it. Vaping isn't, and it is much healthier to the actual user. I'm glad it mimics smoking. When I think of vaping I think of the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland, and how, back when smoking was acceptable, it was OK to have a cartoon character in a children's movie puffing away on a hookah. In an ideal world people could enjoy smoking nearly guilt free. But the world is not ideal, and smoke in the lungs is one of the greatest health threats man has ever known.
Vaping on the other hand is about as close as that guilt-free smokers vision as is possible. With or without nicotine there is something alluring about the sight, smell, and taste of vapor clouds, which for all intents and purposes do mimic smoke.
Vaping does not mimic smoking 100%, but it is damn close. The few things it doesn't offer aren't missed by former smokers anyway. Smelly breath, smelly clothes, dirty ashtrays, burns in clothing, carpets, furniture, and skin, cigarette butts overflowing ashtrays and trashcans and littering yards and decks and porches and car floors.