While cigarettes have been around ever since time immemorial, e-cigarettes have just emerged in the industry. The latter has been marketed as the safer alternative to traditional smoking, or the first way for smokers to quit their habit.
In order to gain ample insight on this subject, here are some of the differences between a traditional cigarette and an e-cigarette.
Process
Smoking cigarettes is a practice wherein a real tobacco is burned and the smoke of it is tasted or inhaled. A tobacco is usually rolled up in paper and lit up. Conversely, vaping is the process wherein there is no actual tobacco used. Instead, an e-cigarette is used to simulate the process of smoking, without the exposure to the health risk brought about by traditional smoking. A battery powered device with a cartridge that houses the e-liquid, is used for vaping.
Nicotine Content
Cigarettes have nicotine. There are e-cigarettes, on the other hand, that offer nicotine-free solutions. The e liquid can even come in different flavors such as peach or lemonade, for the enjoyment of the consumers. Often times, these e-liquids can be purchased on reputable online platforms.
Restrictions
Smoking is often banned in public areas, schools, restaurants, and even in some parks. More often than not, there are only designated smoking areas where smokers are allowed to light up a cigarette. On the contrary, the usage of e-cigarettes have been largely unrestricted until recently wherein legislations were slowly put up to regulate its usage. There might be more usage restrictions in the future, with some countries banning its usage in general.
Other Factors
A person smoking a traditional cigarette is prone to tar in his teeth, carbon monoxide inhalation, as well as a lingering odor of tobacco. All these are simply not present with a person vaping an e-cigarette. This individual will not experience having tar in his teeth because of vaping, nor linger in a tobacco odor for long.
Are e-cigarettes safer than traditional cigarettes?
Traditional cigarettes cause long lasting inflammation, which can lead to chronic diseases such as bronchitis, emphysema, and various heart ailments. This is the reason why overall, smoking is discouraged. Likewise, over the recent couple of years, there have been studies that show that e-cigarettes also contain a detectable level of unknown carcinogens and toxic chemicals. These are known to be one of the causes of cancer in humans. There are also some liquid cartridges that are analyzed and evaluated to contain formaldehyde, which is another cancer-causing chemical. Thereby, while there are still no conclusive results regarding the safety of e-cigarettes, it is best to only purchase and use the ones from reputable and licensed manufacturers and distributors.
In conclusion, it can be deemed that e-cigarettes have not been around long enough for researchers to be able to come up with a conclusive study regarding its safety. It is therefore not surprising if numerous people deem that it is the safer alternative rather smoking a traditional tobacco. Conversely, cigarettes have long been known to have certain harmful effects on the health of an individual.
