It's not obvious, that's why we're studying it. In fact some studies have shown that e-cigarettes may not lead to cessation.
https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/2020-smoking...
E-cigarette aerosols vary greatly, as well as the temperatures that various devices heat them to.
> as any smoker that was into vaping could and did tell you
Anecdotal evidence may be unreliable due to cherry-picked or otherwise non-representative samples of typical cases.