Vapes or electronic cigarettes can be found everywhere, these days. Even if you’re not a smoker, you’ve almost certainly been around someone who uses a vape at some point. And, with recent news headlines about the pros and cons of vaping, you’ve definitely heard about their safety.
So, are e-cigarettes safe to use? What are the benefits of owning one? And the dangers? Join us, today, as we break down the facts of this issue.
The Essentials
For those of you who are new to the vaping process, we thought a quick breakdown of the basics would help set the stage for our pros and cons list. So let’s begin with how electronic cigarettes or vapes work.
Vapes are battery-operated devices that come in a few very specific shapes and designs. Some are designed to look like real cigarettes, or sometimes like a large pen. Larger models may resemble a small plastic brick with a nozzle and some electronic controls on the side. There are thousands of brands and varieties, available online or from “vape shops”.
While they may all look different, each one works in the same basic way:
- There is a container, usually filled with a liquid made of nicotine, chemicals, and flavorings, chosen by the user.
- A heating element converts the liquid into a light vapor that the user inhales when dragging on the device.
Is Vaping Better Than Smoking?
Researchers have gone on record saying vapes aren’t 100% safe. That said, most agree they are definitely less dangerous than cigarettes. Tobacco kills nearly half a million smokers in the United States, alone, every year. Most of that damage is from chemicals inhaled with the smoke.
Electronic cigarettes, meanwhile, don’t burn, so there are no toxins to be exposed to. In the battle of vaping vs smoking, even staunch critics of e-cigarettes agree they’re a half to two-thirds as dangerous. Others argue that number can be as high as 85%.
Pros
Control Your Nicotine Intake
With vaping, the user has full control over his or her nicotine dosage. Cigarettes come in one concentration, with slight variances here or there. E-juice, on the other hand, is available in a variety of strengths, ranging from nicotine-free to high strength varieties. So, if you’re wondering “is vape bad for you?”, the answer is, “It’s as bad as you want to make it, mostly.” You get to decide how much nicotine you’ll use if you even use any at all.
The trend among vapers seems to be to start at a high dosage of nicotine and work their way down to only a little or none at all. Whatever you choose, that’s not a luxury you’ll find with cigarettes.
No Noxious Tobacco Odors
Cigarettes are made from rolled, diced dried tobacco leaves. The enjoyment comes from igniting these leaves and inhaling the smoke they create. But one of the biggest drawbacks is the distinctive smell that comes along with burning dried organic matter.
Vaping doesn’t smell like cigarette smoke because you’re inhaling chemical vapors that dissipate. There is usually a smell associated with whatever flavor e-juice you are using, but it’s a long way away from burnt tobacco. Your vapor may be hardly noticeable to some people, and you may even get a few compliments on the aroma (certainly more than most cigarette smokers). Even the tobacco flavor doesn’t actually smell like burning tobacco.
Price Points
Whatever your budget may be, there are vape products that will serve your needs. The vape market has exploded in the last few years, and the result is a robust market full of devices at every price point. From disposable e-cigarettes to more sophisticated mods, if you need it, it exists. Pair those with top-shelf e-liquids in a range of flavors, and it’s not hard to get the exact vape experience you’re looking for.
Got less than $10 to spend on a new vape? You can find one, usually for less money than traditional smoking, right away.
Cons
Costs
Like any consumable product, you’ll need to make repeated purchases to keep up with your vaping. Regardless of the design of your device, e-liquid will always need to be replenished. Prices and sales quantities of this liquid may vary. Some brands will be more expensive. Others will be much cheaper. No matter which you choose, however, a bottle will not last forever and you’ll have to replace it eventually.
Bottles rarely break the bank, but the cost may add up over time. There is actually a rising trend of people making their own DIY e-juices, which is easy and could save a lot of money if done right.
Alternatively, you could find an online vape shop with good deals and positive reviews. Building a healthy relationship with a brand means you’ll learn how and when to shop there in order to find the best deals.
Stigma
Nicotine may be lighter than most other drugs on the market, but that’s done nothing to make the public perception of it any better over the years. It’s a mild stimulant, associated with cigarette smoking, which is itself a pretty dangerous way to ingest nicotine. For many, the link between the two is unbreakable, and that stigma has bled over into vapers using nicotine as well.
“Hating on” vaping has also become a bit of a trend, so you may just want to grow a thick skin around people and their opinions. Many of them will not have tried vaping, and even fewer will have done the research to see how good or bad it really is. Their opinion on the matter isn’t worth as much as they might think, so feel free to follow your own.
New and Relatively Unmeasured
One of the downsides of vaping is that the longest long-term vaping study to date only clocks in at 3.5 years. This is a significant amount of time to put any substance under the microscope, but you may want longer-term insights and there just aren’t any yet.
Vaping is still a new phenomenon, so any long-term data is nearly impossible to find. This means that people who vape now do run the risk of finding out about serious health issues as research develops down the line. The question “is vaping harmful?” may only have any real answers in five to ten years from now.
The one upside, as we’ve mentioned in this article, is that it has been shown to be safer than smoking, so you’re at least cutting out those dangers.
The Pros and Cons of Vaping: Now You Know
Vaping is still a pretty new phenomenon, all things considered. The technology has been around for many years, but it’s a lifestyle that’s only become popular within the last five, if that. What this means is that opinions still vary wildly, and it will take some time for studies to prove the pros and cons of vaping, definitively.
For more on this and other vaping-related topics, be sure to check out the rest of our blog today!
