E-cigarettes contain 10 times the level of cancer-causing agents as regular tobacco, Japanese scientists said Thursday, the latest blow to an invention once heralded as less harmful than smoking. The electronic devices -- increasingly popular around the world, particularly among young people -- function by heating flavoured liquid, which often contains nicotine, into a vapour that is inhaled, much like traditional cigarettes but without the smoke.

Shopkeepers caught selling cigarettes in the ISIS-conquered city of Mosul now face 80 lashes, more than two weeks in jail and a hefty fine. The 700,000 Iraqi dinar penalty is the equivalent of $580 — or enough to buy an iPhone 5S or Windows 7 laptop computer in the country. Anyone caught trying to import cigarettes into the northern Iraqi city also faces 80 lashes, as well as four months in jail and a fine of up to 4 million Iraqi dinar — the equivalent of about $3,300.

Cigarettes containing human poo and rat droppings are flooding the UK market. People have reportedly bought the fake fags in pubs, a betting shop, cab offices and car washes.

Man dropped lit cigarette down front of his jacket.

Reynolds American, the maker of Camel cigarettes, is barring smoking in its offices and buildings. Beginning next year, the use of cigarettes, cigars or pipes will no longer be permitted in the company’s offices, conference rooms and elevators.

Among the long, long list of reasons why we shouldn't smoke lies cigarette ash: it's a fairly unsavory chemical cocktail that also happens to be a major eyesore around any popular smoking spot. But thanks to a team of chemists, we could use that same cocktail of horrific chemical to make water clean. Go science!

A recent patent from Phillip Morris imagines a web-connected e-cig. It could help users quit—but it could also open their pipe up to tracking and hacking.

How a world-famous cigarette brand got around India’s restrictions on tobacco advertising.

For those who count Don Draper among their TV loves (or love-to-hates), it comes as no surprise that drinking and smoking go hand in hand. Public health researchers have long known that smokers tend to drink, drinkers tend to smoke, and heavy smokers (see: nearly anyone on Mad Men) tend to drink even more heavily.

CVS Caremark plans to stop selling tobacco products in all of its stores starting Wednesday — a move health experts hope will be followed by other major drugstore chains. CVS announced in February that it planned to drop tobacco by Oct. 1 as the sales conflicted with its health care mission. To bolster its image as a health care company, CVS will announce a corporate name change to CVS Health. Retail stores will still be called CVS/Pharmacy.

Public health officials disagree about the relative safety of e-cigarettes and nicotine vaporizers, noting that there's a dearth of research on the longterm effects of the products. But e-cigarettes just got a significant endorsement as a quitting tool from an unlikely source: The American Heart Association, a nonprofit health advocacy organization that has taken a strong stance against the tobacco industry for nearly a century.

In an official policy statement, the American Heart Association calls for stricter regulation of e-cigarettes.

A new study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention shows that individuals who use reduced-nicotine cigarettes do not, in fact, smoke increased amounts to make up for the lower levels of nicotine in a single cigarette. Nicotine is the main addictive property of cigarettes, making it extremely difficult for smokers to quit.

The militant Islamist group Boko Haram has taken control of another town in northern Nigeria and executed two people for smoking cigarettes, the International Business Times reports.

A new study makes the alarming discovery that nearly 10 percent of cancer survivors do not quit smoking. The population-based study surveyed nearly 2,938 cancer survivors after nine years of diagnosis.

On the contrary, allowing e-cigarettes to compete with regular cigarettes might cut tobacco-related deaths and illness, the researchers concluded after reviewing 81 prior studies on the use and safety of the nicotine-emitting devices.

A Florida jury awarded a widow $23.6 billion in punitive damages in her lawsuit against tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, her lawyer said. Cynthia Robinson claimed that smoking killed her husband, Michael Johnson, in 1996. She argued R.J. Reynolds was negligent in not informing him that nicotine is addictive and smoking can cause lung cancer. Johnson started smoking when he was 13 and died of lung cancer when he was 36.

Some demographics have had a much harder time kicking their respective cigarette smoking habits.

A National Academy of Sciences committee meets this week to study a large, growing and little-understood black market in drugs. But rather than cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, the committee members will be discussing tobacco cigarettes.

Combining varenicline and the nicotine patch was more effective in helping smokers quit after six months than the drug alone