Analogy, Metaphor, and Idiom in a New York Times Article on E-Cigarettes

A Hot Debate Over E-Cigarettes as a Path to Tobacco, or From It. (The New York Times, February 22, 2014)

Where it all began.   Smoking is already undergoing a rapid evolution. Nicotine, the powerful stimulant that makes traditional cigarettes addictive, is the crucial ingredient in e-cigarettes, whose current incarnation was developed by a Chinese pharmacist whose father died of lung cancer. With e-cigarettes, nicotine is inhaled through a liquid that is heated into vapor.  (Without the deadly tar.)

Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium

1920s.  Sales of cigarettes undergo a sharp increase.
1940s.  Lung cancer rates skyrocket.
1960s.  Peak use:  50% of men, 33% of women.
1964.   The Report of the Surgeon General on Smoking and Health.
1966.   Warnings first appear on cigarette packs.
2014.   Approximately 18% of population smokes.

Related posts:
Heckuva job, Jenny.  (9/6/2013)
With work hard to come by, Jenny McCarthy takes a smoke break.  (8/30/2013)
Public thread on electronic cigarettes.  (6/22/2011)