Most smokers contemplate quitting smoking at one point or another. The inability to quit is not an indictment of their lack of willpower or being oblivious of the harmful effects tobacco cigarettes have on human health.
These individuals just happen to have become dangerously hooked to one of the most addictive substances available: nicotine.
Quitting nicotine is no child’s play. Of course, not that the market is short of quitting aids to help smokers drop the habit, but most of these are largely ineffective.
Nicotine gum, patches, nicotine inhalers and lozenges (medication or behavioural therapy even) have been around for the longest time. The reality, though, is that quitting smoking has been found to be more than just substituting cigarettes with nicotine replacement therapy.
The feel of holding something in the hand matters just as much; as does the drawing of [in this case] vapour, and inhalation. The vapour production (in place of smoke) is the cherry on top.
This is why vaping boasts a high efficacy rate and is generally considered to be the most effective smoking cessation tool.
However, most smokers making the switch to vaping harbour some trepidation, and it’s not without good reason.
Unlike regular cigarettes, vaping devices come in different shapes and sizes, and making the right pick can be a bit confusing. You also have the accessories to think about, a wealth of e-liquid flavours to choose from, not to mention the nicotine strengths; the little nitty-gritty notwithstanding.
The good thing is that with a little brush-up on the basics, it’s possible to get up to speed fairly quickly and bed in within no time.
This post does not focus on the nuts and bolts of vaping. Rather, we seek to address some of the lingering concerns many smokers have when making the big transition.
Here are the three main issues on most people’s minds.
Is vaping more expensive than smoking?
It is only natural that most smokers considering picking up vaping will be concerned about the cost-effectiveness of vaping compared to smoking.
So, is vaping cheaper than smoking?
Well, the answer is not so white-and-black as there are many variables to factor in. Generally, though, vaping has higher upfront costs since you have to plan for a good e-cig starter kit which bundles everything you need to get started – vape device and charger, battery, coils or cartridges, and in some cases, a bottle of e-juice thrown in for good measure.
While the initial budget may be steeper, the upside is that your weekly costs will likely be noticeably lower than what you would spend on cigarettes each week. It is no secret that smoking has become an expensive pastime of late due to the enormous sin tax imposed on cigarettes as governments look to shrink the rates of smoking in the coming years.
For heavy smokers in particular, the costs of smoking can without a doubt cause a sharp sting in the pocket as it can literally eclipse what you spend on groceries in a given week, if you – for example – go through a pack-and-a-half to two packs a day.
That’s not to say vaping is the cheapest pursuit, but there are many ways you can bring your vaping costs down even lower.
Can vaping help me quit smoking for good?
If you are like many people looking to kick the habit at some point, yes – vaping can indeed be an effective cessation tool to deliver you from the yoke of cigarettes. As we mentioned at the start, many of the quitting aids available haven’t really worked out for most people.
While there might be some teething problems when you make the transition to vaping, more so for individuals who have been smoking for the longest time, there really aren’t better tools out there.
The good thing with vaping is that it can be more than just a cigarette quitting aid. If freeing yourself completely of your nicotine dependence is the ultimate goal, e-cigs can make that journey a smoother one if quitting cold turkey has proven close to impossible.
E-liquids come in different nicotine strengths, from 20mg/ml nicotine concentration (in the UK and EU countries) to 0mg – what is known as nicotine-free e-liquid.
If you’re a heavy smoker and start at 20mg (common with nicotine salts) or 18mg, for instance, it is possible to gradually scale your way down the nicotine levels until you get to 3mg (equivalent of a light or social smoker), before finally getting comfortable with a 0mg strength.
Is vaping a healthier option?
This is one of the hottest discussion points when comparing conventional cigarettes and vapes.
But it need not be as anything is literally better than tobacco cigarettes, the biggest cause of lung cancer by a country mile. Smoking accounts for approximately 90% of cases in men and 70-80% of lung cancer cases in women. And it’s not just lung cancer. Smoking is attributed to other cancers numbering more than 10, in addition to a long list of other diseases and conditions.
It is true that vaping hasn’t been around as long as smoking to effectively gauge its health effects. But since it went mainstream in Europe and the US a little over a decade ago, there really hasn’t been much to worry about, health-wise.
And it’s not hard to understand why.
Regular cigarettes contain over 4,000 chemicals which are not present in vape juice. The majority of the most harmful compounds that have dealt cigarettes such a bad rap come about as a result of tobacco combustion. These include tar and carbon monoxide, lead, arsenic, hydrogen cyanide and more.
Just before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a spate of reported lung injury disease incidents in the United States attributed by vaping. However, this was later confirmed to be caused by e-liquids from questionable sources that had been laced with vitamin E acetate.
This is why it is imperative to always purchase your e-liquids from trusted sources that are licensed and have a good track record of delivering high quality products to their customers. And while you’re at it, you may also want to find a dentist who can help you fix the damage that smoking had brought to your teeth. Searching for phrases like “dentist near me stafford” on the internet should give you some good options.
Conclusion
In an ideal world, you’re better off as either a non-smoker or non-vaper. Since most people are not smoking just for the fun of it but rather due to the inability to function without nicotine, there really is no comparison between tobacco cigarettes and vapes no matter how you dissect the issue.
Anything that can help you quit cigarettes should be encouraged, especially if it that alterative has been established to have less harmful effects on your health. With Public Health England on record affirming that vaping is 95% safer than smoking, it really is a no-brainer.
Read More:
Looking to quit smoking? Here’s how vaping can help!
