Close, never identical. E-liquid recreates the taste of tobacco leaf without the smoke, and it is the smoke that carried much of a cigarette’s character. Straight blends get nearest; give one a week and it becomes the reference point, at which point cigarettes taste like an ashtray rather than the other way round.
The same rule as any switch: 20mg salt for a pack-a-day habit, 10mg around half that, low freebase strengths for social smokers. Tobacco flavour plus the right strength is the combination that makes the first fortnight stick.
The vaping world’s oldest recipe: tobacco rounded with caramel and vanilla. It exists because pure tobacco flavour proved harsh to vape all day, and something like Just Juice’s Nutty Caramel Tobacco is its modern descendant. If straight blends feel thin to you, RY4-style is the fix.