Smoking cigarettes is the leading cause of preventable death. It’s estimated 6 million people die each year from tobacco-related diseases. Including lung cancer, coronary heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and stroke. Vaping is considered the lesser of two evils as the healthier alternative for those who can’t quit cold turkey. But let’s be clear here, vaping does not have a positive impact on your health. If you’re somebody who doesn’t smoke, we would certainly not promote taking up vaping.
However, if you’ve thought about trying to quit smoking, you might consider vaping as a step in the right direction. A short term solution to ultimately help you stop smoking.
Can e-cigarettes help you stop smoking once and for all? More importantly, are they a healthier alternative?
How Does An E-Cigarette Work?
In an e-cigarette, there’s a battery that powers a small heating device called an atomiser. This heats up a liquid containing a blend of flavours and nicotine (e-liquid) and creates vapour. E-Cigarettes come in a multitude of formats, disposable vapes, pod kits and open tank systems, no matter the format of the vape, the science is always the same. The vaporised e-liquid is drawn into the mouthpiece and then inhaled by the user. In comparison, cigarettes contain 7000 chemicals, of which many are toxic.
Let’s take a more in-depth look into what is in e-liquid.
E-Liquid Ingredients Broken Down
The first point here is to make sure you’re purchasing your e-liquid from a reputable supplier. E-liquids in the UK go through testing by the MHRA (Medicines & Healthcare Regulatory Agency) before sold. This is to ensure no nasty ingredients are making their way into the e-liquid.
Controlled e-liquids contain – Propylene Glycol and Vegetable Glycerol.
Propylene Glycol is a clear, colourless, oily liquid with a slightly sweet taste. Known best for its use in everything from food to medicine. It can be found in most toothpastes and topical medicines as well.
Vegetable glycerine is an organic compound based on plant oils, like corn oil and soy.
There’s also water, nicotine, and a flavouring. The flavouring used in vape liquid is food grade flavourings so, that just leaves the nicotine.
Nicotine is a naturally occurring chemical found in tobacco plants. This is the addictive bit; cigarettes contain nicotine too; the difference is that e-liquids give you more control over your dose. You can start with a higher strength to curb your nicotine cravings. Then gradually reduce it until you’re on 0mg nicotine e-liquid, and even better when you no longer need to vape!
Ingredients Comparison
What’s in a cigarette: tar, benzene, formaldehyde, polonium 210. There are other carcinogenic materials in cigarettes as well. Other known ingredients are – arsenic, cadmium and lead.
Tar is a product that comes from burning tobacco leaves which give smokers their nicotine fix. It builds upon the smoker’s tissues for years and damages the lungs long-term. Tar coats the lungs and other breathing organs with a thin layer of chemicals, which make it difficult for them to function properly.
Benzene causes cancer in humans which leads to leukaemia, blood disorders, and other types of cancer. Benzene causes side effects such as headaches, confusion and listlessness when consumed by smokers at a high level. However, the long-term effects of this chemical compound result in dramatic damage to the circulatory system.
Negative Press
In short, unregulated e-liquids. Many unregulated e-liquids contain harmful levels of diacetyl. Diacetyl is a chemical in microwave popcorn production. This chemical is linked to lung cancer in factory workers.
Another ingredient causing negative press found in unregulated e-liquids is vitamin E acetate. An additive used in some THC containing vaping products. Regulated e-liquids will not contain these nasty substances. However, if you’re in doubt, you can ask your seller to provide the testing results.
Does Vaping Still Have Risks?
Yes, of course there are risks, but they are much smaller compared to smoking. It’s the process of removing the toxins by-products which makes vaping much safer for you.
Overall we can see there’s a lot more of the nasty stuff inside a cigarette than in e-liquid. However, vaping isn’t great either and should only be a stop gap to eventually stop smoking completely.
Always use a reputable supplier when buying e-liquid to and if in doubt ask for the lab testing reports!
Collaborative Post
For me as a non smoker, vaping just seems to replace one habit with another.
Danielle | thereluctantblogger.co.uk
I’m the same. I think it’s easier to just quit than to prolong it by vaping instead.