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People start vaping for various reasons, ranging from health, saving money, to cut down on smoking, or to completely quit. While some smokers quit cold turkey, the evidence of them actually quitting for good without the use of a vaping device, NRT’s (nicotine replacement therapies) and help from local stop smoking services is quite low.
The global vaping industry is estimated to be worth approximately USD 28.17 billion in 2023, up from USD 22.45 billion in 2022. The vaping industry doesn’t show any signs of slowing down and popularity is increasing year on year.
Below we have outlined some of the most common reasons that people start vaping, so if you are thinking about ditching the cigarettes and making the switch to vaping we hope this article will help guide you in the right direction.
Why do people vape?
Vaping is safer than smoking
There’s some confusion and misleading information circulating about vaping, but leading medical institutions including the NHS, Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation follow a similar stance. Vaping or using an e-cigarette is far less harmful to your health than tobacco cigarettes and can help you comfortably make the switch from smoking to vaping, and can help you quit smoking for good. Switching from cigarettes to vaping can save you lots of money and your health can also benefit from switching.
The current best estimate is that e-cigarettes are around 95% less harmful than smoking. Public Health England
The British Heart Foundation says… “Smoking-related diseases account for around 100,000 deaths each year in the UK. Most of these deaths arise from one of three diseases: lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and coronary heart disease.”
Hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde, arsenic, ammonia, tar, carbon monoxide. All these harmful chemicals can be found in combustible tobacco cigarettes. When replacing cigarettes with vape juice, none of these chemicals are present and vaping poses a fraction of the risk to your health.
E-liquids are blended with a PG and VG mix, both ingredients are found in many common food items.
PG (propylene glycol)
PG is a viscous, colourless and odourless liquid with a slightly sweet flavour. It is considered extremely safe, non-toxic and has no carcinogenic (cancer causing) properties.
PG is used in food products to contain moisture and works well to maintain flavour quality over longer periods of time. It is commonly used in food flavourings, food colourings, dried soups, soft drinks, ice cream, bread, sauces and cheese to name a few.
PG is used in e-liquids to provide a ‘throat hit’ to closely resemble the sensation associated with smoking, helping smokers comfortably replace cigarettes for vaping. PG also helps carry flavour and helps mix flavours together to provide multi-layered complex flavours.
High PG e-liquids due to their thin consistency provide less vapour clouds when compared to high VG juice. They also require less heat and power to turn them into vapour. PG vape juice (50% PG and above) are a great starting point for new vapers looking for a real smoking sensation.
VG (vegetable glycerine)
VG is a clear, odourless, sweet and quite thick liquid with a syrup-like consistency. It is a natural chemical that’s derived from vegetable oils (coconut, soybean or palm oils), so is safe for vegetarians.
VG is widely used in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. In food it is commonly used to help oil and water based ingredients mix together, adding sweetness and adding moisture to the final product. It is also used to prevent ice crystals from forming on frozen foods including ice cream and other desserts. You can also find glycerine in everyday items like toothpaste to help prevent the product from drying out and hardening.
VG is used in e-liquids to help create big clouds, bold flavours with a mild inhale. VG e-liquids are much thicker in consistency when compared to PG e-liquids and will produce large clouds of vapour. VG based liquids will require more heat and more power to turn them into vapour that can be inhaled. High VG juice is most commonly considered where there is a 70% VG ratio or more.
Nicotine
Cancer Research UK says… “Nicotine is the chemical that makes cigarettes addictive. But it is not responsible for the harmful effects of smoking. Nicotine does not cause cancer, and people have used nicotine replacement therapy safely for many years.”
Whilst nicotine is addictive and keeps smokers going back for more, it’s the thousands of other harmful chemicals contained in cigarette smoke that causes almost all the harm.
Flavourings
Many misconceptions about vaping flavours are that they will give you ‘popcorn lung’. This common misunderstood view came about because some flavourings used in e-liquids to provide buttery and bakery flavours contain the chemical diacetyl, at very high level exposure has been associated with the serious lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans.
The condition gained its name because it was initially observed among workers in a popcorn factory.
However, diacetyl is banned as an ingredient from e-cigarettes and e-liquids in the UK. It had been detected in some e-liquid flavourings in the past, but at levels hundreds of times lower than in cigarette smoke. Even at these levels, smoking is not a major risk factor for this rare disease.
For more details on myths surrounding and what is and isn't true check out this blog from the UK Health Security Agency.
When it comes to vape blends the range of flavours is literally endless. With flavours ranging from; mint, menthol, citrus, mixed fruit, dessert, soda, candy, berry, shisha flavours, tobacco, custard, coffee, yoghurt, donuts, cookies, aniseed, ice cream, jam, bubblegum, cotton candy, and the list goes on.
Whether you are using nic salts, high VG, high PG, 50/50 or shortfills, we can guarantee the e-liquids we stock are blended from high quality ingredients, are fully TPD compliant and MHRA registered.
Vaping closely mimics a real smoking sensation
The sensation of vaping closely replicates the feeling of inhaling on a cigarette. The propylene glycol combined with nicotine in e-liquid is designed to provide a throat hit in the flavour and strength of nicotine you choose. As well as the feel of nicotine on the throat, vaping also offers the routine of hand to mouth action that most smokers miss when trying other nicotine replacement therapies like nicotine patches or nicotine gum.
Vaping offers an enjoyable experience that replaces the craving for smoking a cigarette.
Vaping is less harmful to others
Cancer Research UK says… “There is no good evidence that second-hand vapour from e-cigarettes is harmful. As vapes are still relatively new, we can’t be sure there aren’t any long-term effects to people who breathe in someone else’s vapour. But this is unlikely to be harmful. Passive vaping is not the same as passive smoking. This is because e-cigarettes do not contain tobacco.”
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