Famous French smokers including the actor Catherine Deneuve and the novelist enfant terrible Michel Houellebecq have both publicly puffed on fake plastic slims while trying to give up smoking and retain a modicum of cool, reports The Guardian.
But France's love affair with electronic cigarettes could be about to hit a major stumbling block as the government considers banning them from all public places, including restaurants and bars.
The battery-powered devices which let users inhale a vaporized liquid nicotine solution instead of tobacco smoke are the subject of a major medical report commissioned by the French health ministry and delivered on Tuesday.
The nation of Gauloises and Gitanes is showing an ever-growing dependence on electronic cigarettes, which were first produced in China in 2004 and allow smokers to get a nicotine fix without exposing themselves or others to the toxins, tar and carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke.
Industry statistics show at least 500,000 people smoke e-cigarettes in France but Bertrand Dautzenberg, the professor who led the report suggested there could already be as many as 1 million people using them in France. The market is reportedly worth €100m (£85m) in France with around 150 specialist shops.
Read more of this report from The Guardian.