The electronic cigarette, or e-cigarette, a battery operated cigarette like device which produces a nicotine vapour, is one of many products smokers use to try kicking their tobacco addiction.
Most GCC countries have banned the import and sale of e-cigarettes since 2008 as there are still doubts over its effectiveness and safety. However, some smokers in Oman smuggle the devices into the country.
Dr Jawad al Lawati, director of the department of non-communicable diseases surveillance and control, Ministry of Health, believes e-cigarettes are marketed as a quitting device.
Yet there is little medical evidence to suggest they are achieving their objective and are not harmful. "The World Health Organisation doesn't recommend them and locally, the topic of e-cigarettes is under discussion in various ministries.
"Just like any new drug, professionals have to ascertain whether they are safe for the public, and there just isn't enough research about them at the moment," said Dr Lawati.
Meanwhile e-cigarette users in Oman do what they can to get their hands on the device. An e-cigarette user, who doesn't wish to be named, said he has to order stock by mail and hope that it doesn't get intercepted by the authorities as they would most likely be confiscated.
"I haven't had a real cigarette in three weeks and I feel a lot better. I have more energy and it is easier to breathe.
"I have regained my sense of smell and taste and have no desire to smoke a real cigarette. But I just wish e-cigarettes were readily available in the sultanate," he said.
Not all e-cigarette users are able to quit smoking tobacco. Another e-cigarette user in Muscat, who acquired them with the help of relatives abroad, said, "I have tried them, and I didn't get the same satisfaction as I get from conventional cigarettes, so I gave it up and went back to smoking tobacco."
© Muscat Daily 2012
