I quitted thanks to an e-cig, that's true. Tried nicotine gums and patches before that, only wasted my time.
My partner is a hard smoker too and started doing that since he is in highschool. But when e-cigarettes were introduce to the market he switched to it and the result for him is good. I think it depends for each smoker on what they prefer but whatever it is for sure it has a bad effect to our body.