St. Louis • They prefer to be called "vapers," but really they're electronic cigarette users.

And on early Friday evening, dozens of them roamed a conference room at the downtown Sheraton Hotel on 14th Street, sucking on cylinders about 4 inches long.

Puffs of steam floated from their mouths and quickly disappeared. The faint scent of apple mingled with menthol and caramel.

Midwest Vapefest had officially begun. Spike Babaian, organizer of the event and founder of the National Vapers Club, estimates that about 200 vapers would take part in the meet-up, which runs through Sunday.

She jumped up several times to hug vapers as they entered the room.

"This is like a reunion, only we've never actually met in person before," Babaian said, alluding to the online community that has evolved in recent months.

Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered devices that deliver a spray of nicotine without any flame or smoke — just a puff of steam. They work by vaporizing a mixture that includes liquid nicotine.

Midwest Vapefest offers a chance to check out the wares of vendors and listen to speakers extol the virtues of e-cigarettes over tobacco. Undoubtedly, there'll also be discussions about ways to thwart a growing anti-vaping movement.

Vapers believe that using e-cigarettes instead of smoking tobacco will prevent diseases and prolong their lives. The American Association of Public Health Physicians and some other medical experts agree.

Opponents, which include the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society and Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, say the devices haven't been proven safe and are being marketed to minors. A lot of vendors sell them online in various flavors, without verifying ages.

The health groups would like for communities to ban the sale of e-cigarettes until they're approved by the Food and Drug Administration. That could take years and could be costly to manufacturers.

"I believe these things will save lives," said Julie Woessner, 47, of Wildwood. "And I want to make sure they remain legal and accessible and that people know about them."

Woessner smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for more than 30 years. She bought an e-cigarette 18 months ago, planning to use it to help reduce smoking.

"Within days," she said, "I was done with smoking. Period."

FDA IMPORT BAN

E-cigarettes come in different sizes and shapes. They are equipped with cartridges that contain a mixture of water, nicotine and propylene glycol, which is used in food, medications and cosmetics.

The cartridges come with different doses of nicotine, ranging from none to 60 milligrams. Each cartridge lasts about as long as a pack of cigarettes.

Prices for e-cigarettes start at about $40, and, according to the Electronic Cigarette Association, sales have climbed to about $100 million nationwide.

Those that look like cigarettes tend to have a short battery life, so avid vapers often move on to larger models with more powerful batteries.

Woessner feels so passionate about e-cigarettes that she carries informational cards to give people when they inquire about them. Last year, she and another avid vaper, Patricia Clewell, 50, of Webster Groves, testified before the Illinois Legislature, which was trying to ban the sale of e-cigarettes. The bill stalled, though bans have been debated in other states.

The FDA has questioned the safety of e-cigarettes.

Last year, the agency analyzed several brands from China — where most e-cigarettes are made — and turned up traces of toxic chemicals in some. One brand contained diethylene glycol, an ingredient in antifreeze. Several other brands, the FDA reported, had chemicals such as nitrosamines, the carcinogens found in tobacco.

In 2008, the FDA started blocking the import of e-cigarettes from China. Several companies filed suit and in January, a federal judge ordered the FDA to stop blocking them.

The agency wants e-cigarette makers to apply for approval as a drug, which could require years of costly testing. The federal judge suggested the FDA regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products, a move manufacturers say they would welcome.

When asked by the Post-Dispatch whether e-cigarettes are more harmful than regular ones, Siobhan DeLancey, an FDA spokesman, responded that the more relevant question is whether they're as safe and effective as FDA-approved smoking cessation products.

"The FDA will not know the answer to this question until the marketers of e-cigarettes seek FDA approval," DeLancey said in an e-mail.

Babaian, president of the National Vapers Club, argues that the chemicals found by the FDA were in some, not all, e-cigarettes and that they were at far lower rates than in tobacco cigarettes.

"That's why we're recommending people buy them from domestic dealers. They get their ingredients from FDA-approved labs," she said.

Cracking down on e-cigarettes is perplexing to vapers, who point out that the products don't create secondhand smoke and are odorless if they don't contain flavors.

"You could blow it right in someone's face and they'd say, 'You ate a tuna sandwich for lunch,'" said Chris Gaab, 28, of Manchester, who used e-cigarettes to help quit smoking.

Dr. Walton Sumner, associate professor of internal medicine at Washington University, who has written papers for the journal Tobacco Control, believes e-cigarettes are no more dangerous than caffeine.

While nicotine is addictive, most health problems with regular cigarettes come from chemicals in smoke, he said.

But he also understands the FDA's concerns. A lot of e-cigarettes come from China, "which has brought us such delights as lead-painted toys, sulfur gases in drywall and melamine in pet food."

And yet, the FDA and the health groups opposed to vaping need to look at the bigger picture, he says.

"You're trying to replace a horrendous and deadly habit with something that would lower the risk tolerance," he said.

The health groups, though, aren't convinced.

The American Lung Association last year declared that e-cigarette makers were making "unproven health claims" by asserting their products "are safer than normal cigarettes and asserting that they can help people to quit smoking."

"In fact, no studies have been done on e-cigarettes to date regarding their health effects or their effectiveness as cessation aids," the association said in a statement.

At Midwest Vapefest, Harry Kholer, a vaper with a bushy goatee and chest-length gray hair, declared Friday that he hadn't smoked a tobacco cigarette since Feb. 4. And that's after smoking three packs a day for 45 years.

Kholer, 64, of St. Louis, now owns Move2Vapor, selling electronic cigarettes.

"I didn't get into this to make a bunch of money," he said. "I got into it to save my life."