E-Cigarette Inventor Hon Lik on Vaping. Story by Matt Ridley, Newsnight UK. E-Cigarette Inventor Hon Lik on Vaping. Story by Matt Ridley Newsnight UK. Quitting is suffering Hon Lik said on why he invented the e-cigarette. Few people have heard of Hon Lik, which is a pity because he’s probably saved more lives already than anybody else I have met. Twelve years ago, he invented vaping — the idea of getting nicotine vapor from an electronic device rather than a miniature bonfire between your lips. Vaping is driving smoking out at an extraordinary rate, promising to achieve what decades of public health measures have largely failed to do. And it is doing so without official encouragement, indeed with some official resistance. Check out the full story Here