September 24, 2008 1:59 PM

By PHILIP VICTOR, ABC News London

Smokers in the United Kingdom facing public smoking bans may now be able to enjoy their pastime in a slightly unorthodox way. 

An UK based company has managed to find a way around the public smoking ban.  The Electronic Cigarette Company has developed just that – an electronic cigarette. 

So what exactly are these contraptions? 

Electronic cigarettes, according to the Electronic Cigarette Company, are battery-operated devices featuring an atomizer, which is activated by the user’s inhalation. The atomizer then converts the liquid nicotine into a vapor to be inhaled while releasing a water vapor, saving bystanders hazardous second-hand smoke. 

Jason Cropper, managing director of the Electronic Cigarette Company, told ABC News that the new cigs do not have nearly the same detrimental effects as their traditional counterparts. 

“There is no tobacco and it’s a lot healthier,” said Cropper, referring to carcinogens released from the burning of tobacco in normal cigarettes.  He added, “they are totally legal because nothing is burning.” 

The high-tech cigarettes do, however, contain nicotine. 

The cigarette can be purchased for about £36 ($67) as part of a starter pack that includes the electronic cigarette itself, a charger, and 5 nicotine cartridges. Each cartridge includes nicotine roughly equivalent to 15 cigarettes. Further cartridges can be purchased as needed.

In light of the public smoking ban, some UK establishments have decided to give these new cigarettes a try, hoping they may become a new trend. The British pub Butler Arms located near Birmingham introduced the product about a week and a half ago and claims it has been met with some interest.   

James Cook of Butler Arms told ABC News that the pub has sold “about seven or eight” starter packs, and said “we’d like to sell as many as we can.”   

So will these cigarettes give users the same kick as traditional cigarettes? 

“It tastes a lot like a cigarette,” Cook said.  Cropper agreed, saying “it feels like a cigarette in your hand and 95 percent as real.”

The new cigarettes may even be a matter of convenience for those needing their nicotine fix in the U.K.

The smoking ban has forced many smokers to take their puffs outside and, as Cook pointed out, that can be a major inconvenience in the unpredictable U.K. weather. 

Cook says: “Because you can’t smoke anywhere outside your house these days and you’re never too sure about the weather, why not introduce this?” 

Of course, this begs the question: Why bother with an electronic cigarette at all if you can just buy a pack of nicotine gum? It might even help you kick the habit someday.