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By Matt Richtel

Electronic cigarettes, promoted as a healthier alternative to tobacco, are getting powerful new backers with an unhealthy reputation: big tobacco companies.

The development points to ways Big Tobacco is moving to turn the young e-cigarette market to its advantage.

E-cigarettes have become an overnight sensation, with $2.5 billion in sales, though that is a tiny fraction of the smoking industry. The devices have also touched off a public health debate. Some argue that e-cigarettes, which vaporize nicotine, offer a less dangerous alternative to cigarettes. Others warn there is insufficient evidence on the product’s health risks and whether e-cigarettes are prompting people to quit smoking.

In fact, the tobacco companies say they do not yet see evidence that most smokers are captivated by e-cigarettes, but they could become so.

A subsidiary of��, which is known for Camel cigarettes, plans to announce on Tuesday that it will start distributing its Vuse e-cigarettes nationwide on June 23. NuMark, a subsidiary of��, known for Marlboro cigarettes, plans to follow suit by year-end with MarkTen, as signs emerge showing that e-cigarettes are nipping into sales of cigarettes. Both companies join Lorillard, which owns the nation’s dominant e-cigarette brand, Blu eCigs.