The last 30 or so years have witnessed a considerable shift-change in people’s attitudes to cigarettes and smoking in general. As the world has slowly begun to wake up to the dangers of smoking (and inhaling second-hand cigarette smoke), there has been a considerable backlash to the habit.
With governments the world over now taking an active stance against smoking by trying to discourage cigarette use and limiting the places where people can smoke, it seems there’s a slow but growing revolution taking place. Where once cigarette smoking was considered ‘cool’ (look back at old movies for evidence), there now seems to be a real counterattack underway. Smoking is now, in most circles, considered anti-social. You’ll barely see anyone in movies smoking anymore, and in many places, smokers are now pushed to outdoor areas in pubs, restaurants, hotels, and other public areas.
Reasons to move to vaping
With such a widespread movement against smoking taking place, isn’t it perhaps time you considered moving to the more widely-accepted practice of vaping? Aside from the generally recognized health benefits of vaping over smoking, there are countless reasons why, if you smoke, vaping might prove the better option. Below are just a few.
Vaping is cheaper than smoking
The apparent cost of vaping puts off many smokers; however, just like starting anything else, there are some unavoidable costs when you first begin that you’ll soon recoup when compared to the cost of smoking. Sure, the outlay of buying a kit at the start can seem quite high, the average cost of vape kits runs between around £20 up to £50 or over, but that’s a one-off payment that you’ll not likely to have repeat until your battery eventually dies or you break something. With the cheapest cigarettes in the UK now costing around £9 a pack – and going up to almost £13 – it’s easy to see how you can quickly earn back this money.
From there, you’ll need to buy liquids (sometimes extra nicotine if required) and other vape accessories like coils, but the figures involved in vaping are considerably lower than smoking. In terms of cost, it depends on how often you vape – and how strong you prefer to operate your battery.
Making the shift to vaping from smoking
It is undoubtedly true that vaping is more involved than smoking. With a cigarette, you simply pull it out of the pack, put it to your lips, and light it. It’s a little more complex with vaping as you need to change coils, buy (and top-up) liquids, and choose the right strength and flavour that works for you best.
The biggest thing you’ll probably notice is there’s a slightly different technique to inhaling – plus the fact an e-cigarette doesn’t have a soft filter tip which can feel a little odd to start with. Also, you’ll need to get used to pressing a button when you inhale, which, at first anyway, can feel a little strange. Nonetheless, most people make the switch quickly and easily.
The dangers of vaping versus smoking
There has been an incredible amount of negative press about the apparent ‘dangers of vaping’; however, the vast majority of medical practitioners are in unanimous agreement – vaping is considerably safer than smoking. Sure, most also say that we simply don’t have the data available on vaping’s long-term effects; it is still widely agreed that vaping is at least 95% safer than smoking cigarettes.
It doesn’t take a genius to work these stats out. Cigarettes contain around 600 different ingredients, which, when burned, make around 7,000 chemicals – many of them toxic and known to cause cancer. By comparison, vape ‘smoke’ contains mostly water with a combination of flavourings, propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, and some other chemicals.
Are there any side effects of vaping?
As noted above, we simply don’t have enough medical evidence to know for sure what dangers might be associated with vaping. In truth, if you wanted to be completely safe, you likely wouldn’t smoke or vape – but if you’re looking for an alternative to wean you off smoking cigarettes, vaping has been proven to be a very good, very effective alternative.
You might notice a couple of things when making the change include having a slightly dryer mouth, and it’s quite normal to find the vapour produced to be slightly thicker in consistency when compared to cigarette smoke. Other than these two small issues, most people make the transition to vaping very quickly and very easily.