Vaping has been around for decades now. And despite repeated assertions from public health bodies around the world, people are still unsure about the vaping vs smoking benefits. So, if you find yourself asking, “Is vaping better than smoking? " or, “Should I use vaping to quit smoking?”, you’re not alone. Despite all the evidence, there is more confusion now than ever before, even among smokers themselves. A large number of smokers in England mistakenly believe vaping to be just as harmful or more harmful than cigarettes. This guide will break down the differences between vaping and smoking and dispel all misconceptions around the best way to quit smoking, which, evidently, is vaping.
Effects of Smoking On Your Body
When you light a cigarette, you’re burning tobacco. It’s this process of combustion that creates smoke, which is loaded with more than 7,000 chemicals. Out of these, at least 70 are known to cause cancer.
Contrary to what a non-smoker or even smoker might think, nicotine is not the most dangerous chemical here. Two of the most damaging byproducts in cigarette smoke are:
- Tar: This brown cancer-causing residue sticks to your lungs and airways when you take a puff on a cigarette. A few years down the line, it can lead to chronic lung disease and cancer.
- Carbon monoxide: This poisonous gas, a product of incomplete tobacco combustion, reduces oxygen in your blood as it binds to hemoglobin. This stresses your heart and raises the risk of both heart attack and stroke.
It is not the nicotine, but the toxins in the smoke that make smoking dangerous in the first place.
How Vaping is Different from Smoking
Instead of burning tobacco, vaping heats a fluid called e-liquid to aerosilize it into vapour. A vaping kit uses a battery to provide power to the coil, heating the vape juice (usually propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, flavourings, and nicotine).
This is why vaping does not produce any tar or carbon monoxide, which are the two biggest causes of smoking-related disease. This harm reduction is the most critical distinction when deciding to transition from smoking to vaping.
Smoking Vs Vaping
Smoking and vaping differ fundamentally in both their chemical makeup and mode of nicotine delivery.
Chemicals and toxins
- Smoking: When you smoke, you are essentially exposing yourself to thousands of toxic chemicals, some of which are known carcinogens.
- Vaping: When you vape, you are still inhaling chemicals. But their number and toxicity are far below the levels produced by smoking.
With vaping, you do not run the risk of developing smoking-related diseases (involving toxins released by burning tobacco).
Nicotine
With cigarettes, your nicotine intake is uncontrolled and random. Vaping kits, on the other hand, allow you to pick a nicotine level suitable for you, or even go nicotine-free. Nicotine, whether inhaled through cigarette smoke or vape vapour, is still addictive. Vapes allow you to control their dose, though.
Long-term risk
Vaping is relatively new on the scene when compared to smoking. So, there is not enough data to draw conclusive findings about long-term vape use. But there have been multiple comprehensive reviews that have shown that vaping exposes you to only a small fraction of the harms associated with cigarettes in the short and medium term.
Public health bodies, including the NHS, regularly pitch vaping as a less harmful alternative for adult smokers. They still caution against vape usage by non-smokers. The commonly referenced “95% safer” figure, while not a precise measurement, does reflect strong evidence that vaping poses much less risk than smoking.
What the Evidence Says in the Smoking Vs Vaping Debate
While public opinions vary and often contradict official research findings, here’s what the best current research and reviews show when it comes to the harms of smoking vs vaping:
Less Toxic Exposure
In smokers who switched completely to vaping, researchers found much lower levels of harmful toxins in their blood, breath, and saliva compared with continued smoking.
Improved Biomarkers
In most cases, ex-smokers start noticing changes in their general health within weeks of quitting smoking or transitioning. Studies are showing that indicators of heart and lung health improve when people switch from cigarettes to vaping.
Better Quitting Aid
There is evidence now to suggest that people who vape are almost twice as likely to quit smoking compared with those using other nicotine replacement products like patches or gum.
Public Misperception
Despite the strong evidence backing vaping, there is still a large proportion of smokers who think vaping is as bad or worse than smoking. Wrongly-held perceptions like these are undermining quitting efforts and affecting vaping’s popularity as a harm reduction tool, according to public health experts.
Is Vaping Totally Harmless
When it comes to vaping health risks, it is much safer than smoking, but not totally harmless. While positioning it as the best quit smoking aid, health bodies acknowledge this fact as well. There are real risks to inhaling an aerosol with nicotine and other chemicals:
- If one uses nicotine-containing e-liquids in a vape, nicotine addiction itself can raise heart rate and blood pressure.
- Some compounds in e-cigarette vapour can irritate the lungs and airways.
- We do not have the complete picture yet to know the long-term effects of vaping.
So, are vapes bad for you? Not really, if you are replacing vaping with smoking. But if you are someone who does not smoke at all, starting to vape isn’t a good idea either. The healthiest option for you is to neither smoke nor vape.
Switching from Smoking to Vaping
While ditching cigarettes and picking up a vape kit is the best path forward for smokers, there are a few considerations to be made when choosing vaping.
Youth and Non-smokers
Public health guidance is consistent when it comes to the adoption of vaping by non-smokers. It is best used as a tool to quit smoking. Young people and non-smokers should not take up vaping because nicotine addiction carries its own harms and risks.
Product Quality
Only purchase regulated vape devices that are sold legally in the UK or EU and are subject to safety standards. If you buy an unregulated or illicit product, you risk getting fake vapes. Some studies have even found high metal emissions from certain cheap vapes.
Dual Use (Vaping + Smoking)
If you are thinking about using both cigarettes and vapes, it won’t reduce harm as much as completely switching. You’re still exposing yourself to the toxins from smoking. The full health improvement only comes when cigarettes are cut out entirely.
Switch With a Reliable Vape Kit
By now, you’ve seen how vaping stacks up against smoking, and that vaping really is better than smoking. The next step is choosing a kit most suitable for you. Have a look through the best vapes for sale and pick a kit that lines up with your goals. You will find both prefilled and refillable pod options, all in a variety of nicotine strengths. If you’re not sure what to go with, check out the best vape kits, or you can always ask our experts, who are ready to help you on your quit journey.
