Vaping vs Smoking – Facts & Figures
Vaping vs smoking is a debate which rages online and offline. But what are the real facts and figures? What do you need to know about smoking vs vaping? This guide will cover it all.
Let’s start with one fact to get us started: e-cigarettes are up to 70% more effective when quitting smoking compared to traditional Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT).
Is Vaping Safer Than Smoking?
Yes vaping is safer than smoking. Public Health England (PHE) state that e-cigarettes are at least 95% safer than smoking.
Cigarettes contain thousands of harmful chemicals, a large number of these are carcinogenic, meaning that they cause cancer. In fact whenever you smoke a cigarette, there are over 4000 toxic chemicals in the smoke. This is what makes traditional tobacco cigarettes so harmful.
Tobacco is one of the number one causes of preventable deaths around the world. A lot of countries are now bidding to be smoke free by the end of the next decade. The UK is included, pledging to be smoke free by 2030. Their first steps to implement this have happened recently with the banning of all flavoured tobacco products, most notably menthol cigarettes.
E-cigarettes however have four ingredients (three if they are nicotine free); two diluents, flavouring and nicotine. Through extensive studies it has been proven that nicotine is not the devil, in fact it has the same impact on the human body as a cup of coffee.
The important thing to remember when choosing your e-cigarette and e-liquid is to buy them from a reputable vaping vendor, especially when it comes to your e-liquid. If you are ever concerned ask the vendor for their independent test results, any reputable e-liquid manufacturer will be able to provide these for you.
Health Benefits of Vaping Vs Smoking
Smoking causes a variety of different cancers, including; throat, mouth, and lung cancer. It also dramatically increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. This is all down to the 4000+ chemicals in tobacco smoke. It also seriously damages your sense of taste and smell.
Not only are there serious health implications, but financially smoking is only getting more expensive. In November of 2020 there was a tobacco price hike and the cost of smoking will only increase as the UK continues on its bid to be completely smoke free.
With all the information available and studies done so far, there have been no long-term health implications in terms of vaping present themselves. In fact, even while passive smoking is dangerous for those around anyone smoking a cigarette, passive vaping is not an issue, it has been found through independent studies to be harmless.
Long-Term Effects of Smoking and Vaping
Long term effects of smoking;
- Damages every organ in the body
- Cause of various cancers including lung, throat, and mouth cancer
- Increased risk of heart disease
- Increased risk of stroke
- Increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Reduces sperm count
- Impairs immune system function
- Damages sense of taste and smell
- High cost
Long term effects of vaping;
- Still using nicotine (although nicotine is not the harmful part of smoking)
- Financial outgoings (vaping still costs money, but it is much less than smoking)
Nicotine Levels In Vaping vs Smoking
Both tobacco cigarettes and vaping contain nicotine. This is the addictive chemical that smokers crave when they try to quit cold turkey.
But nicotine is only as harmful to the human body as a cup of coffee. It is not the part of cigarettes that cause long term damage to the human body, this comes from the 4000+ chemicals.
The problem is, with tobacco cigarettes you have no control over the amount of nicotine you are ingesting. It is a fixed amount of nicotine and a lot of it burns away as the cigarette burns. This means you end up craving more cigarettes, sooner and have to smoke more.
With vaping you are controlling the amount of nicotine you are vaping. There is a choice of nicotine strengths and depending on the type of e-liquid you vape, the nicotine level stays higher for longer, so you are craving the nicotine less. This in turn means that you are ingesting less nicotine overall.
The Cost of Vaping vs Smoking
The cost of vaping and smoking is incomparable. Vaping is massively more cost effective than smoking.
Even without taking into account the recent hike on the cost of tobacco cigarettes, vapers save thousands of pounds a year compared to smoking.
You will still spend money when vaping. You don’t just buy an e-cig and you are done. You will need to replace the e-cig eventually. General maintenance also means you have to buy vape coils, e-liquid, vape tanks and batteries.
But taking all of that into account, you will save at least £3400 a year when you make the switch from smoking cigarettes to vaping. Just imagine what you can do with all of that spare cash.
Summary of Vaping vs Smoking
This was a look at vaping vs smoking. According the PHE vaping is at least 95% safer than smoking. Not only is it safer in terms of health, but it can also save you thousands of pounds a year when you make the switch from smoking to vaping.
If you want to make the switch from tobacco cigarettes to vaping, here is the ideal place to start. We have been helping smokers start vaping for over 10 years and have a range of vape starter kits ideal as your first e-cig.