The price of cigarettes keeps rising, and it's got some life-long smokers looking for ways to quit.

However, in that search, some are turning to products not approved by the government.

Steph Rogers no longer takes your usual smoke breaks at work. She's smoking what is called an electronic cigarette, or e-cigarette. A battery warms liquid nicotine inside that creates the vapor when the smoker exhales.

"I just tried several times to quit. The patches, I've done hypnosis, the gum, and always went back to it," says Rogers.

Rogers smoked a carton a week for 30 years.

"They just got so expensive," says Rogers.

She started using the e-cigarette almost 40 days ago and she hasn't had a real cigarette since.

However, e-cigarettes aren't approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and companies aren't promoting them as tools to quit smoking. Despite these facts, that's just what people like Rogers are doing.

Dana Breeding is a specialist at Augusta Medical Center who helps people quit using tobacco products.

"It's not FDA approved. Therefore, what other chemicals are being put in it? We have no idea," says Breeding.

"For a smoker. It's not just getting the nicotine drug. It's the oral fixation of wanting the cigarette," says Rogers.

"What are their chances of quitting? We don't know what the statistics are," says Breeding.

Something that is known for sure is that cigarette are getting more and more expensive for people, which sometimes forces them to quit.

The federal tax on cigarettes went up in April from 39 cents to more than $1. Rogers says more smokers may try what she's doing.

"Especially when more of it is known out there, that there is another alternative," says Rogers.

The FDA has stopped imports of e-cigarettes, but it's not seizing products already in the United States. It wants to see scientific proof that e-cigarettes are safe or effective.

A formal study is underway at Virginia Commonwealth University to try to learn how the nicotine from e-cigarettes affects the body.