A friend of mine tried one of those inhalators ages ago (probably before e-cigs were introduced over here, or around that time). It seemed pretty useless to me & about as far from smoking as you could get. Unless she was using it wrong, you are only supposed to take one or two puffs every now & then (hours apart IIRC). So nothing like smoking at all really.
I think that ad is pretty old now, I seem to remember it being on TV (again, before e-cigs I think) & I actually thought it looked like a good idea, until I saw my friend using hers.
Do you think these NRT companies actually bother to consult real smokers when they think up these devices? I can't imagine they do, or they would have come up with something that actually works by now.
It's a bit like my local council's highways division, I'm sure whoever does the road planning there doesn't actually drive!
These companies really need to do some proper, real world, consultation. Not just the usual doctor's "holier-than-thou" attitude of "we know best".
Then again, maybe the tampon look is supposed to "shame" us into not smoking.