Vaping is the latest big thing, the fad that people assumed would fade away yet it is as popular as ever. The question remains though, is vaping all it’s cracked up to be?
What is Vaping
If you’ve got as far as reading this blog post on a vaping website the chances are that you know a fair bit about vaping already. Just in case though, we’ll break it down for you.
Vaping is a valid, cleaner and much preferred (by health professionals) alternative to smoking. There are many reasons for this, not least that there are numerous nasty chemicals hidden in tobacco cigarettes. Don’t take our word for it. The World Health Organisation are very clear about their stance on smoking, having analysed and categorised a number of these chemicals as being toxic and as having the potential to cause numerous cancers.
In practical terms vaping is where you fill the tank of your e cigarette device with e liquid then activate it to heat the e liquid up. The device is powered by a powerful lithium battery and heats the e juice quickly to create a flavoured vapour. This vapour may be inhaled and exhaled. E liquids are not full of toxic chemicals either, which is why vaping is so popular with those concerned with the harm that tobacco smoking can do.
Is Vaping All That It’s Cracked Up To Be?
Many people are wildly enthusiastic about vaping. We have a look to see why the hype exists, why many prefer it to smoking and whether it really is as good as it sounds.
Vaping Kicks Smoking’s Backside
When it comes to your health, vaping is a much better option than smoking, according to Public Health England and many other health and harm reduction agencies and professionals. Last year (Spring 2018) Public Health England (PHE) released a comprehensive review into vaping, backed up by reams of research and data. Basically, they hailed vaping as being at least 95% less harmful than tobacco smoking is. Ok, there is still 5% floating around out there for people to disapprove of but honestly, many believe this will disappear once PHE and others can tick a box stating research has been undertaken over a longer period of time than vaping has currently been around.
PHE aren’t the only ones who support vaping either. Many others, from cancer charities to NHS specialists support vaping as a valid alternative to smoking and something which can act as a successful cessation tool, helping many more smokers give up their harmful habit for good.
So, is vaping all that it’s cracked up to be? The health professionals and experts who have looked into the smoking vs vaping issue certainly seem to think so.
Vaping Doesn’t Harm Others
One of the reasons that the Go Smoke Free legislation that went live in 2007 was implemented was due to damning evidence about passive smoking. Passive smoking is where non-smokers breathe in tobacco smoke unwillingly, i.e. by sitting near smokers, sharing a space with them when smoking, being in a queue with a smoker or even in a car. Evidence showed that passive smoking could be just as dangerous for the person breathing in someone else’s smoke as it could be for the smoker her/himself. For this reason, additional legislation came into force a few years ago which has made it illegal to smoke in a car with a minor. Clearly, passive smoking is not cool, and thankfully the smoking ban laws make it much more unlikely for someone to have to breathe in someone else’s smoke unwillingly.
Passive vaping, not that the term is often used, would be where vapers use their e cigarettes around non-vapers. Could the vapour that these e liquid filled e cigarettes produce be harmful to non-vapers? Evidence says not. The first study which tested “vapour” rich air was conducted in a number of vaping shops and cafes where the amount of vapour present would be much higher in amount than you would expect it to be in a “normal” setting. The results came back clear and vapour has been given a clear bill of health as far as passive vaping goes.
Nasty Nicotine
Boo and hiss say many, who are not fans of nicotine. We hear you (up to a point). Nicotine is an addictive substance when used in a cigarette and many are concerned that the same applies when it is present in the e liquids that are used to create vaping vapour. The jury is still out on that one. We can't answer the "is vaping all it’s cracked up to be" question if we don't look closer at the way vaping and nicotine work.
Whatever your feelings about nicotine you may be interested to hear that when choosing vaping you are able to choose your nicotine strength. That means that if you want to taper down your nicotine intake or even enjoy nicotine free e liquids that is certainly an option.
In theory you could switch straight from smoking tobacco cigarettes to vaping zero nicotine e liquids, however, you might find that difficult. The reason for this is that one of the reasons giving up smoking is so hard is that your body is used to smoking nicotine taking products and therefore when you take that away suddenly you get strong cravings that many you may have experienced if you are trying to give up smoking but struggling.
Switching to vaping means you can still maintain that level of nicotine for however long you want to, without the health risks of smoking, and while maximising your chances of becoming smoke free forever. So, yes, many e liquids do contain nicotine but if you look at it as described above you’ll see that that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The Freedom of Choice
If you are still asking “is vaping all it’s cracked up to be?”, consider for a moment how easy it is to completely customise your vaping experience to suit you. First of all, you can choose from a huge range of flavours. Start with tobacco e liquid flavours, consider our popular menthol e liquid flavours, drink e liquids, fruity flavours and so much more. What’s more, with our high quality e liquids being so cheap, if you want to try a few different types to find your favourites, it has never been more affordable.
As well as e liquid flavour type you can also choose the type of e liquid base takes your fancy. Generally speaking, e liquids are made up of two base types, Propylene Glycol and Vegetable Glycerin in varying quantities. Propylene Glycol (PG) is best known for its clarity of flavour and slight harshness which is perfect for those who are looking for a decent throat hit. Vegetable Glycerin (VG) is known for offering a smoother vape and is famed for offering big vape clouds full of flavour as the VG vapour is naturally thicker and fuller. You can choose whether an e liquid with more PG in it (usual a 50/50 mix) or a high VG e liquid is more your kind of thing. There are plenty of e liquid options which offers you a fabulous amount of flexibility is terms of how you choose to enjoy your vape.
There are a number of other ways that you can customise your vaping experience to suit you. Choose the device type you want, from a basic starter kit to an advanced model with lots of features and choose the nicotine strength you prefer too. Is vaping all it’s cracked up to be? From a freedom of choice perspective it is!
Vaping is a Budget Friendly Option
While you would expect the majority of people switching from smoking to vaping to do so in order to save their health, many also do it to save money. Every year in the UK tobacco cigarettes are taxed more and more and right now (Spring 2019) you could easily spend £10 on a packet of twenty cigarettes. If you smoked just three packets of twenty cigarettes a week that would cost you at least £120 a month. Many people smoke more. That is quite an outlay.
Vaping is considerably cheaper in the long term however does have start up costs. When you get started a basic starter kit, which will have everything in it that you need to get started, will cost between £20 and £30 depending on which one you go for. Some starter kits include e liquids while others might not. E liquids are the main consumables however with one pound e liquid available that is high quality, your money goes a lot further. Unless you are someone who is likely to buy every new piece of vaping kit as it comes out, even with the occasional cost of a new battery or replacement kit, you should still find vaping to be significantly cheaper than the monetary cost of smoking tobacco cigarettes.
Is Vaping All It’s Cracked Up To Be: In Conclusion
The short answer is yes. There is a reason why so many people have already switched over to vaping from smoking and not gone back. There is a reason why health professionals are pushing for vaping to be more widely accepted and perhaps even adopted officially by the NHS as a cessation tool. For many people vaping ticks all of the boxes. At the end of the day though if you or someone you know is looking to switch to vaping they have to do it for their efd6rown reasons and give themselves time to see if they like it (vaping isn’t smoking, obviously, so it will take some getting used to). While we’re very excited about vaping and the possibilities it offers too, we have to urge you not to try and push others into switching. Simply share articles like this and they will switch when they are ready.
Seriously though, if you are still asking "is vaping all it’s cracked up to be?" after reading this I guess the only way for you to know for sure would be to try it.