I’m currently smoking about one pack of cigarettes a day, which costs me around $5 per pack. Lately, I’ve been seriously thinking about quitting.
Some of my friends have suggested switching to e-cigarettes (vapes) as an alternative. However, I don’t know much about them, and I’ve also heard that vaping can have its own health risks.
So I wanted to ask:
Are vapes actually worse than cigarettes, or are they a safer option if I’m trying to quit smoking?
I’d really appreciate any advice or personal experiences you can share.
Thanks a lot!
Cigarettes are much worse for your health than vaping
Cigarettes are a little worse for your health than vaping
Both options are equally bad for your health
Vaping is a little worse for your health than cigarettes
Vaping is much worse for your health than cigarettes
I’m pretty sure tar build up from smoking has significantly worse known negatives than vaping, but we also don’t have enough long term information about vaping to know how the effects will play out over time, either for the users or people around them.
E liquid is almost entirely propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, a nicotine salt, and flavoring. There are contaminants that can sneak in, including some heavy metals like Zn and Cr. I haven’t found anything supporting arsenic in e liquid; I wouldn’t be surprised if there are trace amounts, but it’s certainly not enough to make it more dangerous than cigarettes.
I feel like vaping is too convenient for me. When I vape, I end up using it almost 24/7, and after a while I noticed I started having shortness of breath and wheezing. So I stopped vaping and switched to cigarettes. Now I usually smoke half a cigarette in the morning and the other half at night. On most days that’s all I smoke, and the most I’ll have is around three if I’m drinking or socializing. After doing this for about two months, I’ve noticed that I don’t have any problems with my breathing anymore.