Table 4.

The most positive and negative aspects of ecigarettes: open-ended comments from e-cigarette users

	Number of comments
Positive points (total from three open-ended fields)	208
Taste and variety of flavours	38
Beneficial effects on health, breathing and cough	26
No unpleasant odours or bad breath	23
Inhalation, including harsh sensation in the throat and pleasure of inhaling	16
Less toxic than tobacco smoke	15
Facilitates smoking cessation	15
Can be used everywhere (the freedom)	15
The gestures or actions (similar to smoking)	13
Ease of use, design	10
Less expensive than cigarettes	9
No environmental tobacco smoke	8
Facilitates smoking reduction	5
No ash, dirt, or burned clothes	5
Can choose the dose of nicotine and number of puffs	5
Relieves craving for tobacco	3
Improves sense of smell and taste	2
Negative points (total from three open-ended fields)	154
Poor quality, lack of reliability and frequent failures	40
Batteries discharge too rapidly	27
Too expensive	14
Bad taste	14
Difficult or impractical to use; dosage is difficult to adjust	10
The liquid may leak during usage	10
Only sold on the internet	9
No studies or information on the composition of the vapour and the health risks of the e-cigarette	8
Cartridges do not last long enough	6
Difficult to stop using the ecigarette without relapsing to smoking	4
Too big or too heavy	3
Too often asked by friends or colleagues to explain the device	2
Miscellaneous	7