Posted on 25th Aug 2011 @ 9:50 AM

Every afternoon at about 3 p.m., Chris, a 40-year-old marketing exec in Manhattan, takes a smoke break — without leaving the comfort of his cubicle. “I just sit here and lean back in my chair with a cup of coffee,” he explains. No, Chris hasn’t let “Mad Men” go to his head. Just some flavored menthol vapor, courtesy of his electronic cigarette habit. “I’m actually more productive because I’m not taking those 15 minutes to go in the elevator, go downstairs, smoke [a regular cigarette] and go back up.” With NYC smoking bans on the rise, it was inevitable that nicotine junkies would be on the hunt for a new way to get their fix. Conveniently for them, e-cigarettes — electronic devices that look like real cigarettes and produce an inhaled, odorless mist while delivering a dosage of nicotine upwards of 24 mg — are becoming ubiquitous. The first e-cig was introduced to the marketplace in 2004. But it’s only been in the past year that the cigs have blazed their way into the public consciousness, thanks in part to the product’s celeb following. Lindsay Lohan, Jesse Metcalfe and Steve Carell are reputed fans, as is Katherine Heigl, who smoked one on an episode of “The Late Show With David Letterman”; she even sneaked a few puffs during a Broadway performance of “The Book of Mormon” three weeks ago. It also helps that electronic cigarettes can end up costing patrons less than a quarter of the price of real cigarettes. A starter kit averages between $60 and $70, and includes about five to six cartridges, each of which lasts about one week. Plus, sales and usage are both currently unregulated in New York. The ability to smoke the device indoors is the biggest draw for Marshall Weinstein, who works as a DJ at Gunbar in the Meatpacking District, as well as other nightspots that are tobacco smoking-free zones. “When I’m working in the clubs or when I’m traveling, I make sure I have my electronic cigarette with me,” says Weinstein, a 31-year-old Brooklyn Heights resident. A single-use V2 Cig costs him approximately $20 and “is as good as 40 cigarettes.” “It’s not like I sit there and it’s in my mouth and I’m puffing on it incessantly and sitting on a banquette and waving my hands in the air,” he says. “I might turn around and take a few puffs.” Weinstein started smoking e-cigs two months ago. “Etiquette-wise, you should ask [for permission in clubs] if you’re going to be blatantly smoking it like a chief all night,” he adds, though it is technically legal to do so. Nick Molina, CEO of e-cigarette brand South Beach Smoke, says his company’s typical customer is someone who wants to quit smoking; the second-most common type of user is someone like Weinstein, who wants an alternative to smoking when traditional cigarettes are prohibited