<P> The earliest e-cigarette can be traced to Herbert A. Gilbert, who in 1963 patented "a smokeless non-tobacco cigarette" that involved "replacing burning tobacco and paper with heated, moist, flavored air". This device produced flavored steam without nicotine . The patent was granted in 1965 . Gilbert's invention was ahead of its time . There were prototypes, but it received little attention and was never commercialized because smoking was still fashionable at that time . Gilbert said in 2013 that today's electric cigarettes follow the basic design set forth in his original patent . </P> <P> Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist and inventor who worked as a research pharmacist for a company producing ginseng products, is credited with the invention of the modern e-cigarette . Lik quit smoking after his father, also a heavy smoker, died of lung cancer . In 2001, he thought of using a high frequency, piezoelectric ultrasound - emitting element to vaporize a pressurized jet of liquid containing nicotine . This design creates a smoke - like vapor . Lik said that using resistance heating obtained better results and the difficulty was to scale down the device to a small enough size . Lik's invention was intended to be an alternative to smoking . </P> <P> Hon Lik registered a patent for the modern e-cigarette design in 2003 . The e-cigarette was first introduced to the Chinese domestic market in 2004 . Many versions made their way to the U.S., sold mostly over the Internet by small marketing firms . E-cigarettes entered the European market and the US market in 2006 and 2007 . The company that Lik worked for, Golden Dragon Holdings, registered an international patent in November 2007 . The company changed its name to Ruyan (如 烟, literally "Resembling smoking") later the same month and started exporting its products . Many US and Chinese e-cig makers copied his designs illegally, so Lik has not received much financial reward for his invention (although some US manufacturers have compensated him through out of court settlements). Ruyan later changed its company name to Dragonite International Limited . Most e-cigarettes today use a battery - powered heating element rather than the earlier ultrasonic technology design . </P> <P> When e-cigarettes entered the international market, some users were dissatisfied with their performance, and the e-cigarette continued to evolve from the first generation three - part device . In 2007 British entrepreneurs Umer and Tariq Sheikh invented the cartomizer . This is a mechanism that integrates the heating coil into the liquid chamber . They launched this new device in the UK in 2008 under their Gamucci brand, and the design is now widely adopted by most "cigalike" brands . Other users tinkered with various parts, such as 18650 flashlights, to produce more satisfactory homemade devices, and the hobby of "modding" was born . The first mod to replace the e-cigarette's case to accommodate a longer - lasting battery, dubbed the "screwdriver", was developed by Ted and Matt Rogers in 2008 . Other enthusiasts built their own mods to improve functionality or aesthetics . When pictures of mods appeared at online vaping forums many people wanted them, so some mod makers produced more for sale . </P>

When was the first e-cigarette sold in the us