As an individual who spent four months studying in Paris, it would be remiss not to mention the smoking. The first thing anyone thinks of when someone says "Paris" is either the Eiffel tower, baguettes, "omelettes du fromage," or thin cigarettes whose smoke billows from between beautiful women's lips.

That's what I used to think of too, but as things tend to do, Paris has changed.

With the emergence of E-cigarettes and a massive increase on tobacco taxes, even extremely stubborn Parisians have bent the knee and made the healthier swap. Over 1,000,000 of the 13,000,000 smokers in France have picked up a "mod ecig" and went to the streets smelling like some variation of cotton candy or extremely fake vanilla, sans nicotine and sans tobacco. For health professionals, this is great news, but not all the (statistically) newborn 48,333 Parisian "vapers" made the swap for health reasons; rather, they just weren't allowed to smoke in public anymore.

France followed the rest of Europe on the "banning cigarettes" train. Gone was the stereotype of hundreds of smokers on the streets every day; gone was the image of France being "Europe's chimney" (for the most part); -- rather, small pine-scented white plumes emerge on occasion (but not on public transport, enclosed spaces, or near children).

For those of you opened this article with the assumption that you'd be learning about MONQs, all this talk about cigarettes is probably not what you're looking for -- they're related, I promise. While "MONQs aren't E-cigarettes," they both face the same stigma, which makes this relevant.

For those of you who aren't familiar with MONQs, they are personal, portable aromatherapy diffusers that are made from all organic and natural ingredients, free of nicotine, tobacco, and artificial flavors. They boast an impressive 13 flavors, each advertised with different effects such as "zen," "happy," "healthy," and "active," each made from a combination of plants and spices. Studies have even proven that the Zen MONQ can increase relaxation by an effect size of 0.62, which may not seem like a lot, but it truly is significant.

MONQ credits their healthy smoking alternative to not only biological reactions to certain herbs and spices, but also to the brain itself recognizing certain scents and reacting accordingly. "The brain translates scent information into memories, ideas, emotions, and more…[MONQ] makes it simple and efficient to explore the natural process of scent-evoked memory and emotion."

This may all seem well and good, but unfortunately, they look very similar to (dun-dun-dun) e-cigarettes. Although you pull air in through your mouth and blow out through your nose, they make it very clear that you are not explicitly "smoking."

"Smoking is the act of burning a substance, and then inhaling the burned material. There is no burning of any substance when using MONQ, so there is no smoking," says MONQ on their website. "The haze that you see that looks like smoke is water vapor, similar to steam coming off of boiling water, as the liquid inside MONQ is heated to approximately 215 degrees."

So, these are decidedly not under the same category as cigarettes or any of its electronic alternatives, which means they're being treated the same way and are banned from use. While MONQ doesn't recommend using their products if you have asthma or another chronic or acute pulmonary issue, they are less triggering than the fumes leaving cars and dissipate even more quickly than ordinary steam. Yes, they still shouldn't be used in enclosed spaces with others, just like e-cigs in Paris, but should they be held to the same standards as other forms of smoking? If you want my personal opinion, I think MONQs aren't under the same category whatsoever, but I can see the stigma.

Here's the real question: should you start using MONQs?

Honestly...probably not. They cost $20 per unit and last 200 puffs, which in my experience means 5 minutes of use every day for three months. For those of you with anxiety issues, definitely pursue the Zen MONQ, but if you're looking to use them on a regular basis for aesthetic reasons as a non-smoker / non-vaper...don't go down that road. Save your money, invest in an essential oils diffuser, and drink some tea.