Note that most of the people who make this argument are either addicts or nicotine sellers, so I am highly skeptical and you should be too, especially since there hasn't been much study on the direct effects of mere nicotine.
If the science comes in and it turns out nicotine really is harmless on its own, and it really does help you focus and suppress appetite and whatever, then I'll be all aboard the vape train, love myself a good nootropic. Until such a time, I think it's wise not to take chances. Give it a few years for the science to settle before getting addicted.
That said, it's still an addiction. I'd advise against any form of addiction [1], and I'd further advise against compounding addictions upon each other. Especially when it comes to nicotine, it's a HARD habit to quit.
Unsurprisingly, the science of nicotine is murky[2], especially the science around non-cigarette based nicotine. That's likely to change as vaping becomes more popular. I would not be surprised if vaping turns out to be slightly less bad than cigarettes, these companies like PM aren't known for their ethics. Vaping on it's own, sure maybe it's not any less bad than living next to the 405. But corporate sold stuff? COme on.
That said, nicotine is a drug just like all drugs. There are good things about it and bad things. With nicotine, the bad mostly outweighs the good. The bad is easy enough to google and isn't something to dismiss at all. The 'good' is vasoconstriction, alertness boosting, and short-lived memory retention; that's about it. These things are really useful if you have a reasonable suspicion that grievous bodily injury may occur to you in the next few hours. So, if you aren't in an active warzone, I'd stay away. Office politics can be vicious, but not that bad ;)
[0] https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/addiction/what-...
[1] There is a coffee mug not 2 feet from me at the moment.
While there are many possible explanations for this, a particularly compelling theory is that this is self-medication: nicotine directly alleviates some of the symptoms of schizophrenia, so schizophrenics naturally gravitate towards becoming heavy users.
Along these lines, albeit very anecdotally, many people take up smoking as self-medication for high levels of stress and anxiety.
While I'm not in favor of the Nanny State, the fact that tobacco products (read: known carcinogens) are sold freely boggles my mind. Imagine if a terrorist (e.g., UBL) had said, "I'm going to developer a product that addicts it's users. This product will cause health issue, and perhaps even cause cancer. I'm going to bring this product to the masses wolrdwide."
If such an proclamation where made, the public and the governments would FLIP OUT. The war on terror would ratchet up ten-fold. It's a mad world