Background:
E-cigarettes include components lethal to the human body. A lot of e-cigarette users receive more nicotine than their traditional counterparts. But the tobacco companies say the opposite, like e-cigarettes can reduce tobacco-related diseases and assist in quitting conventional tobacco use, though many of the harmful chemicals generated by e-cigarettes are similar to those generated by conventional cigarettes. E-cigarettes are not approved by the Drug Administration Bangladesh either. Still, the increase in the number of e-cigarette users in the Dhaka metropolitan area remains alarming. The multi-layered impacts of e-cigarette consumption on quitting tobacco need to be evaluated as well.

Objective:
To investigate the role of e-cigarettes in assisting people to quit smoking and analyze the causes behind e-cigarette consumption in the Dhaka metropolitan area.

Methods:
The study adopted a mixed methodology where structured questionnaire-based surveys and in-depth interviews were conducted. The participants were e-cigarette users for at least twelve consecutive months. The sample size for the survey was 405 and 15 participants were selected for in-depth interviews.

Results:
The majority of respondents in the 18–25 years age group consider e-cigarette smoking glamorous, whereas, the 46–55 and 56–65 years age groups used e-cigarettes to quit smoking. In all, 185 of the 276 respondents using e-cigarettes to quit smoking, returned to smoking again and 212 mentioned e-cigarettes have no impact on getting rid of cigarettes. None of the three respondents who managed to quit smoking attributed their success to e-cigarettes; 89 of the 129 respondents who started using e-cigarettes first from peer pressure and to show off, switched to cigarette smoking later.

Conclusions:
This study indicates the insubstantiality of companies’ claims regarding the positive impact of e-cigarettes. The youngsters find e-cigarette consumption stylish, which often leads them to cigarette smoking. A number of respondents resume smoking after trying to quit tobacco using e-cigarettes.