HaydnH, can understand your disagreement to eCigs being regarded a medicine but there has to be a degree of regulation in place, such as CE marking of the devices themselves to ensure a level of quality, and given that components of the vapours themselves have already been cited to include propylene glycol, glycerine and of course nicotine I for one would want these to be of a suitable grade, such as complying with the monographs of the European and/or British pharmacopoeias. I would be surprised if these were ever considered as prescription only products, more likely that they will be regulated by the MHRA but granted a general sales list category such that they can be sold on shop shelves, such as your supermarket own brand paracetamol tablets etc.
I would add that I am smoker, still on cigarettes, and have looked at the whole eCig thing but have yet to try