Aim and objective:
Turkey banned the import and sales of e-cigarettes in 2013. Yet their use has been expanding rapidly in the last few years. This study aims to understand who the users are, what their motivations are to start and to stop using e-cigarettes.

Methods:
A survey of 234 e-cigarette users was conducted via snowball sampling within vaping communities.

Results:
E-cigarette users in this study were mostly middle-class employed (27% civil servants, 20% employees, 14% healthcare professionals) men (90%) in their 30’s (mean age 35) with above average education (86% with high school and above education). Main reason for switching to e-cigarettes was to quit smoking (74%), while 51% continued to smoke cigarettes. 86% reported using e-cigarettes 6 or more times a day and 54% daily used inside their homes, 31% also reported frequently using it in the presence of their children. 170 of the 284 participants reported stopping e-cigarette use. Most frequently cited reasons to ending the use were “failed to quit smoking” (27%) and “worries about the risk” (23%). A total of 90 of the 234 people surveyed reported having quit cigarettes and 60 of these were among the ones who also stopped using e-cigarettes. Yet, it would be premature to claim that this group quit successfully since the average time of switch to e-cigarette use was 4.01±2.62 months.

Conclusions:
While quitting smoking is the main stated reason for the switch to e-cigarettes, failure to quit is listed as the main reason to stop using e-cigarettes as well, pointing to a lost opportunity for cessation and the limited reach of existing cessation services in Turkey. Success of reaching currently healthy young adults via hospital based cessation clinics –the predominant cessation service mode in Turkey- needs to be reevaluated.

Funding:
No funds were used when conducting the study. (301 kelime)