It looks like a cigarette, it's used like a cigarette, and tastes like a cigarette, but it's not.
"It utilizes a liquid nicotine solution to create a tar-free and odorless vapor that is just like smoke," said John Burns, owner of electroniccigarettes.com.
Electronic cigarettes burst on the scene just a few years ago and have caught on with smokers looking for another way to get their nicotine fix.
It's built a lucrative company for Burns, but now New York State could be crushing out his business with two new bills that have reached Albany.
"There's one bill in the Assembly that would effectively ban the sale of e-cigarettes in New York State period, and there's a new bill that's just been introduced in the Senate that would simply ban the sale to minors," said Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo.
While Lupardo and Burns understand and support keeping the product away from those less than 18 years of age, an all about ban is a bit more puzzling.
The reason: lack of information on exactly electronic cigarettes do.
"There needs to be regulation and more scientific studies to determine if these products are hazardous to consumers," said Sharon Fischer,
tobacco Control Coordinator for the Broome County Health Department.
Regulation of electronic cigarettes has been tough since the Food and Drug Administration hasn't been able to classify exactly which category they fall under.
It's technically not a tobacco product since the device contains no tobacco, and there is no proof that it is an effective smoking cessation device, although Burns says he has customers who use it as such.
"You can choose from high, medium, low, or non-nicotine, which allows a user to change their nicotine level at any time, so they may very well be doing that," Burns said.
The Health Department says its spoken with smokers who agree, but others who say the new nicotine supplier fuels their habit.
"Smokers are using it to sustain their addiction, because with our clean indoor air laws, they use this product to smoke indoors and therefore if they weren't able to use it, maybe they'd be more likely to quit," Fischer said.
Points that will likely be brought up as the debate over whether put the sale of electronic cigarettes up in smoke continues.
