Vaping is relatively new compared to how long cigarettes have been around since they were developed in the 1800s. In this short time, vaping has not yet been subject to sufficient studies to establish enough information about it like it’s been done to cigarette smoking. The effects of vaping are spoken about often but the discussion has a lot of controversies and limited information. We are yet to have thousands in pages of findings about the effects of vaping to the body compared to smoking conventional cigarettes. Much of the information we have on vaping is based on a mixture of circumstance and anecdote-based evidence, and mostly subjective views and suppositions. The major question remains; Is there any problem with vaping?
How Does it Work?
The way smoking works is known by everyone. It simply involves dried and frayed tobacco wrapped inside a tube-like paper and one end lit with fire. The smoker then inhales the smoke via another end. Vaping is slightly similar to smoking but involves a lot of electronics and vapor instead of fire and smoke. With vaping, an electronic device called a vape pen or vape mod is designed to heat a volatile liquid contained in a cartridge. The consumer inhales the juice in vapor form once it is heated in seconds. So, like cigarette burning, vaping heats the liquid and turns it into vapor ( that’s how the name came about).
The vaping process can be simple or complicated. It all depends on how the vaper makes it. Vape enthusiasts do it like the gearheads there are known to be. Take for example, the LED light which stimulates the e-cigarette’s burning end is but a useless and yet stylish feature. Some vape pens have bells, whistles and features to either increase or reduce vapor. High-end mods on the other side are customizable and are priced higher. Vape enthusiasts mostly go for larger vape tanks that can keep them on for longer hours
Vape smoke also varies with the design. The major ingredients in a vape juice or e-liquid are quite simple. They include glycerin, and for the vapor cloud; propylene glycol, flavor, and nicotine as a pure, pharmaceutical-level concentrate.
Does Vaping Help Smokers to Quit?
Initially, vaping was introduced to the world as a cigarette smoking cessation aid. Smokers across the world have since been looking for a means to quit smoking traditional cigarettes and vaping came like an opportunity to switch to something different and better. Reducing the amount of nicotine in vaping has been a key strength of the vape industry. The US alone has 37 million smokers who at least know the health dangers of smoking and think vaping is a better alternative.
According research, adult smokers can eventually quit smoking by vaping. They take vaping as an alternative to smoking. In 2015, a survey found out that approximately 2000 smokers abandoned smoking after substituting it with vaping. It’s a win for the US public health considering that the American economy was spending about $100 billion on health care annually. So, when a smoker quits smoking, it profits everyone.
This study sounds great but there is a complication in the same study done on 70,000 vapers that found that the absorption of nicotine via vaping will double the risk of a heart attack as opposed if the suer was never a vaper in the first place. So, vaping only helps to reduce the amount of nicotine vapers actually absorb but non-smokers who become vapers are not doing themselves any good by vaping. Think about this; most of the smokers that embraced smoking are only doing so because smoking is generally restricted in nearly all public places.
Vaping Among Teenagers and Young Adults
The popularity of vaping among teenagers and young adults has skyrocketed far above smoking, according to a Pediatrics study in 2016 which reveals that 10th graders who are already using vaporizers are as many as 11% as opposed to 5% that smoke traditional cigarettes. The same study shows that 4% or more middle schoolers have vaped. Overall, the number of teenagers who admitted to have been vaping in the last 30 days were above 2 million. One could see that as positive, provided they simply forwent cigarettes for vape mods since it would involve a reduction in nicotine intake. Vaping is safer than smoking since it doesn’t involve the many harmful chemicals that burn in tobacco and paper during smoking. However, teen vaping has its own issues, like vaping when one is not a smoker or previous smoker, lack of information about vaping, vaping against age restriction, expenses and many more.
Parents are concerned that their vaping teenage children are using e-cigarettes like a gateway to traditional cigarettes. And many teenagers have gone on to become smokers via vaping. However, studies have disproven the idea that marijuana smoking results in switching to hard drugs.
So is Nicotine-Free Vaping Bad for You?
If there is nicotine in your vape tank, then you’re not totally without a health risk but when compared to traditional cigarette smoking, vaping is a lot safer. For instance, if vaping helps to distant you from smoking, then you’re reducing your chances of all types of smoking related diseases.
From what we have studied, premium quality e-juice combined with a high-quality vape pen, is safe. Vaping nicotine is better than smoking it because conventional cigarettes contain very high doses of nicotine and plenty of other chemicals. So, is nicotine-free vaping bad for you? No, it is not. If vape juice is free-of drugs, then all a vaper inhales is vaporized flavorings and glycerin.
Legitimate concern about foreign products that sell at cheaper prices is something to pay attention to though vapers turn to just trust the ingredients, process and how clean they must be. It’s time the FDA which has approval rights puts e-cigarette under full regulation in order to clear the market of any suspicious vape mods or e-cigarettes and work with vape makers to ascertain the ingredients in each of their products.
Consumers need to know exactly what they are consuming. For instance, most e-juices apply propylene glycol which is a harmless chemical and asthma inhalers can even work to supply the flavorings. But if not regulated, cheap vapes with banned chemicals and explosion prone batteries will enter the market en masse and make vaping risky. Vaping has always been a safer alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes.
