JOIN USShaped like a cigarette, the inhaler doesn't contain tobacco or burn when one puffs it, meaning it won't pollute the lungs with carcinogenic tar, the researchers said.
The "nicotine delivery" device which will look, feel, and taste exactly the same as a normal cigarette, was designed by inventor Alex Hearn, a 28-year old Oxford graduate.
Hearn's invention has earned the backing of many wealthy investors as well as a licensing deal with British American Tobacco (BAT), maker of popular brands like Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall, LiveScience reported.
It also said that Hearn is in talks with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the UK's version of the FDA, to be allowed to market his nicotine inhaler as a medicinal product.
Currently under development, BAT said the inhalers will hit the market within two years.
Although it is touted as the safest device for people who want to quit smoking, scientists are not really convinced.
"If you need to deliver nicotine, it's certainly a safer route than what you get in a cigarette," said Scott Rogers, a University of Utah neurobiologist who studies nicotine addiction and its effects.
Scientists no longer think that nicotine is entirely safe, Rogers said. "For many years it was believed that nicotine was one of the least caustic agents in a cigarette -- that it was the addiction compound but not harmful in itself."