Enjoying a traditional cigarette has always been a looming health risk for users who regularly smoke. As numerous studies conclude, this unhealthy habit has been the leading factor for all kinds of serious health issues, such as lung and throat cancer, decreased life expectancy, cardiovascular disease, decreased bone marrow density, and other deeply undesirable conditions (both chronic and acute) as well.
Further, given the trends of traditional smoking have been steadily declining over the last few decades, it becomes clear that more and more users are now choosing vaping over the classic tobacco/nicotine use. And the studies are there to support these stipulations.
Teens Prefer Vaping over Smoking
A 2017 study from the NIH (National Institute of Drug Abuse) has found that teenagers prefer vaping over lightning up a traditional cigarette by a large stretch of a margin. The numbers are as follows: at least 27.8 percent of high school seniors have confirmed to trying vaping, with 51.8% going for flavor only, and 32.8% preferring added nicotine as well. Important to note is that there is still some room for concern here, but swapping combustible cigarettes with e-cigarettes is an excellent place to start. In fact, vaping has been proven as the safest alternative for those who want to enjoy this hobby without the health concerns of traditional smoking.
Vaping is Healthier than Smoking
To double-down on the previous statement: vaping has been, times and again, proven as the safer alternative to traditional smoking.
Smoking Compounds
Traditional smoking is essentially a tobacco combustion that releases thousands of compounds into the air, of which 20+ are tightly linked to causing cancer. These compounds are referred to as carcinogens. Here are some of them:
● Hydrogen Cyanide
● Lead
● Ammonia
● Arsenic
● Carbon Monoxide
● Formaldehyde
● Nitrosamines
As most of you can imagine, these chemicals are not involved in the production of tobacco or cigarettes. Rather, it’s the combustion of the tobacco leaf that leads to the release of the aforementioned carcinogens, which negatively impacts your health.
Vaping Compounds
The process of vaping does not require any kind of combustion in order to enjoy this hobby. In fact, most of the compounds released during vaping are perfectly safe both for the user and the environment as well. Some of these compounds include:
● Vegetable Oil
● Acetaldehyde
● Vegetable Glycerol
Most of the other chemicals are either flavors, or compounds which are deemed safe to consume. This concludes that vaping is healthier than smoking by a large stretch of a margin.
Switching to Vaping can Extend Life Expectancy
A recent study from the research team at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center has shown promising results in regards to smoking, vaping, and life expectancy among users. In it, the scientists concluded that as much as 6.6 million smokers could live up to 86.7 million years longer cumulatively if they switched from smoking to vaping.
This is the first study of its kind to consider public healthcare issues if combustible cigarettes were replaced with electronic cigarettes or vaporizers. The study’s lead researcher David Levy, PhD and his team of ten investigators have looked into markers such as harms from cigarettes, rate of cessation, amount of youth uptake, and other major factors concerning the issue-at-hand.
Then, two trends were devised: the first was dubbed the “pessimistic” trend and predicted 1.6 million former combustible cigarette smokers to increase their life expectancy for additional 20.8 million years of life. The second or “optimistic” trend has calculated 6.6 million smokers to live a combined 86.7 more life years after the switch from smoking to vaping would’ve been made.
Dr. Levy also vouched in favor of second-hand benefits from the switch to vaping, such as reduced pain, improved health and well-being, reduced exposure to second-hand smoking, reduced risks of disease, and more. To conclude, the leading author had also claimed that these findings are very important for the public health community to reduce the risks associated with traditional smoking.
Cost Implications
Yet another popular reason why vaping has become more popular than smoking is cost. The initial cost to purchase a vaping kit could be higher; however, traditional smoking is more expensive further down the line, which makes vaping the more cost-effective option of the two.
Smoking
A pack of traditional cigarettes can usually cost more than $10 in New York, give or take. The average smoker will buy a minimum of five cigarette packs per week, which amounts to $50, or $200 a month and $2,400 a year respectively. This only applies to the cost of the cigarettes themselves, not taking into consideration the additional healthcare costs that most traditional smokers experience throughout life. In fact, users who smoke one pack a day will spend even more than intermittent smokers ($3,360), without adding medical costs.
Vaping
To acquire a vaping kit that would last at least a year, you would need to spend anywhere between $40 and $60 (for the sake of argument, we’ll go with $50). Once you’ve made your purchase, then you’d have to spend around $20 to acquire your preferred e-juice on a weekly basis. This equals to $80 a month, or $960 over the stretch of one year.
As you can see, vaping turns out to be much cheaper than traditional smoking. Plus, you exercise more control over your e-juice that you use with your device, having the convenience to inhale at your leisure.
The Vaping Culture is on the Rise
Slowly but surely, traditional smoking is coming to a halt. This unhealthy trend has been replaced with vaping – the safer, cheaper, and more fun alternative to tobacco burn. More and more enthusiasts are starting to enjoy the benefits of these e-juice-powered devices, which have trumped the tobacco industry practically overnight.
These enthusiasts even gather to compete against each other in events dubbed as “cloud chasing”. Competitors use their custom made vaporizers to make the most interesting vapor. The contestant with the most votes can win cash prizes and advance to the grand finals for the chance to win even more prizes.
Finally, the consensus (as supported both by common knowledge and clinical trials) is clear: vaping is much more popular than smoking, and is here to stay for a long time.
If you or anyone you know are interested in making the positive change from smoking to vaping, then we encourage you to visit our friends over at VaperEmpire. They are a prominent e-cigarette company that strives to help cigarette smokers kick their habit and to provide customers with high-quality hardware and e-liquids they can trust.