Follow the money. Eventually, they will be taxed, and taxed heavily—nicotine will become a controlled substance in the same way that alcohol is a controlled substance. The large tobacco companies will do their best to buy up e-cig producers to maintain their nicotine oligopoly. Whether or not the Marlboro Man mystique transfers to e-cigs remains to be seen.
For me (a non-smoker), these look like a great innovation. If someone wants to be addicted to nicotine, and I don’t have to smell it, great. And, from a societal point of view, if reduction of lung cancer is worthwhile, e-cigs do the job, because there is no tar.
I suspect the large tobacco companies will become crony capitalists and attempt to rely on restrictions of new products based on the notion they are “untested and unproven” in order to shut out competition from e cigarettes. Which is a damn shame because e cigarettes are helping people’s lives and genuine tobacco, as much as we rightfully protest the out of control regulations on it, has wrecked lives just as much as alcohol and, yes, marijuana.