Vaping Facts You Need to Know
Definition
- A “vape,” or electronic cigarette, is a device that heats a liquid to create a vapour you inhale.
- Some types of vaping devices include pens, e-cigarettes and hookahs.
- While vaping appears to a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes. Still there is many health risks involved.
- Vaping is different to smoking, which burns tobacco leaves, creating smoke.
- Both vaping and smoking deliver nicotine, but the burning of tobacco causes most of the harm. Vaping, however, is not entirely harmless.
What’s in vape liquid?
- The vaping liquid (also called e-liquid) typically contains propylene glycol, vegetable glycerine, plus flavours and the option of nicotine.
- Propylene glycol creates a throat sensation similar to smoking.
- A higher ratio vegetable glycerine gives more vapour.
- Flavours added for personal preference.
- Flavours must be water-soluble.
How Does Vaping Work?
- Vaping devices can vary in shape, size and colour.
- Devices produce an aerosol byproduct from heating a liquid that sometimes consists of flavourings and other chemicals.
- Which will make vaping seem less harsh (initially at least) than smoking.
- This liquid delivers nicotine, marijuana even other drugs to the user via a mouthpiece inhaled into the lungs then expelled via the mouth or nose.
Vape Mod?
- Vape mods are the latest edition of devices in the vaping community known as firepower and advanced personalisation features.
- The term mod originates from vapers would modify their flashlights into a vaping device.
- Back in the day, vape enthusiasts experimented with making existing devices better.
- The macgyver wanted to know how far they could push their vapes.
- Although they got their fat plumy clouds, it didn’t come without sketchy moments and explosions.
- Due to the mainstream adoption and commercial availability of mod devices, you can find a wide range of stylish designs that safely deliver powerful vape clouds.
What is a Vape Pen?
- Vape pens are cylindrical and come in various styles.
- Vape pens are more extensive than predecessor (cig-a-likes) to increase battery power and cloud production.
- When vape pens came out in the mid-2000s, the larger battery size, microchip inside battery and the use different atomiser (cartomizer) were considered innovative.
- With the advancements in vaping technology, today’s vape pens have some of the latest features incorporated into vape pens.
- Vape pens risen in popularity due to cannabis industry, it is used to vape flower, concentrates and oils.
- While some vape pens and e-cigarettes have been popular in the media lately for catching on fire or sometimes exploding.
- With proper vape battery care and buying a high-quality device, vape pens are a great choice to vape.
Cig-a-like?
- Cig-A-Likes are devices often seen in gas stations and used as entry-level vaping devices.
- The device are called cig-a-like because the similar appearance and size to a real cigarette.
- This is also where the term electronic cigarettes originated from.
- The idea behind it was to mimic the smoking experience as close as possible to make a smoother transition from smoking to vaping.
Pod Mod?
- Pod mods are the latest devices gaining popularity in vaping community.
- Also Pod Mods are low wattage devices similar to a cig-a-like and are used with nicotine salt e-juices.
- However, Pod systems are new and improved version of cig-a-like, and they the closest device on the market right now to smoking a cigarette.
- It is referred as the cartridge and is similar to the cartomizer explained above in cig-a-like section.
Vape Flavors types
Fruity Flavored Ejuices
- Fruity flavoured ejuices are probably the most popular type of juice flavor, and no wonder why!
- You can get every type of fruit flavour imaginable, in single or mixed varieties, and from thousands of brands.
- Fruity flavoured ejuices generally quite sweet they have a strong and tasty flavour to them that will leave your home smelling fresh and fruity.
- In our experience, the fruit flavours come through the best in juices are grape, strawberry, blueberry, and apple; however, other fruit flavours can still deliver great taste.
Tobacco Flavored Ejuices
- This is probably the number 1 go-to flavours for those who have quit smoking.
- There are actually a wide variety of brands that produce many different types of tobacco flavoured juices.
Dessert Flavored Ejuices.
- The dessert flavours you can get pretty vast, and you can think about a dessert, probably exists in juice flavour.
- The famous dessert flavoured red juices you get are apple pie, ice cream sandwiches, cinnamon buns, slushies, cakes and sherbert.
Candy Flavored Ejuices
- You can get every type of candy and chocolate bar flavour you think of and there are even interesting new combinations that come across.
- From crispy rice squares and Reeses pieces to KitKat and smarties, you’ll find every type of candy bar flavour your heart could ever desire.
Menthol Flavored Ejuices
- If you love that minty cool sensation, menthol-flavoured juices are the way.
- Menthol flavoured red juices come in many different varieties, you can get much more than just a typical minty taste.
Ingredients of Vape liquid
E-Liquid
- E-liquid is a liquid converted into aerosol by an e-cigarette or vaping product.
- It is typically mixture of water, food-grade flavouring ring, choice of nicotine levels, cannabis (THC, CBD), propylene glycol (PG) or vegetable glycerin (VG).
- PG and VG are humectants used in e-liquid to produce aerosols that simulate combustible tobacco cigarette smoke.
- The ratio of PG and VG in the e-liquid can change based on whether flavour (higher levels of PG) or plume (higher levels of VG) is desired.
- E-Liquid is made up of four basic ingredients; water, nicotine, flavorings, and a propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin base (or sometimes a mixture of PG and VG).
Nicotine
- The addictive ingredient found in e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes.
- Nicotine stimulates the central nervous system and raises blood pressure, respiration and heart rate.
- When nicotine enters the brain, releases a feeling of pleasure as dopamine levels increase.
- Makers tend to offer their products in varying ranges of nicotine content, ranging from none to 36 milligrams per milliliter.
- Nicotine, while considered carcinogen, is still addictive and may “prime the brain.
- To become addicted to other substances,” according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Advantages of Vaping
- E- cigarettes produce far fewer carcinogens than traditional cigarettes.
- Traditional cigarettes contain between 4,000 and 7,000 harmful chemicals.
- Many of which are produced by tobacco and smoke.
- Since e-cigarettes use vapor technology, they expose users to fewer carcinogens.
- Some studies show e-cigarettes can be effective in smoking cessation.
- In multiple studies and surveys, e-cigarettes have been shown to potentially help smokers to reduce their habit or to quit altogether.
- One New Zealand study showed e-cigarettes to be as effective as nicotine patches.
- The second-hand effects are far less harmful than traditional cigarettes. Though second-hand vapor exists, the levels of smoke and second-hand effects of “vaping” are magnitudes lower than traditional smoking.
- They are more socially acceptable and do not smell.
- E-cigarettes provide the same experience and sensation for smokers – particularly those with nicotine habits – but can be used in far more places. They do not leave a sticky, unpleasant odor and do not stain teeth or fingernails.
- They are a cheaper alternative to smoking. While this has not been extensively researched, studies in the U.K. and the U.S. show that vaping habits can be up to 40 percent less expensive than cigarette smoking habits.
Disadvantage of Vape
- Nicotine is still an addictive drug. While not all e-cigarettes contain nicotine, most do. Nicotine impacts the neurotransmitters in the brain, causing addictive cravings and behavior.
- Electronic cigarettes still emit carcinogens. E-cigarettes use liquid nicotine, a highly dangerous substance even in small doses (far more dangerous than tobacco leaves themselves).
- Some testing suggests that some vaporizers release toxic metals during use.
- The industry is relatively unregulated. These products are not subject to FDA approval and, according to some experts.
- They have not been studied thoroughly enough to understand potential risks.
- There are potentially dangerous advertisements to young people. Studies have shown that e-cigarette ads reach more than 50 percent of 12 to 17-year-olds
- They are promoting addictive habits to young people.
- The act of smoking is habit-forming.
- Almost all experts agree that the physical activities associated with smoking are habit-forming, without the help of tobacco or nicotine.
- This makes arguments about e-cigarettes helping smokers quick seem flawed, and also could promote negative habits among previous non-smokers.
Research on Vaping
- Research on e-cigs is slightly promising, but there’s a catch.
- A 2019 study found that 19 percent of participants who used e-cigs to quit smoking were no longer smoking a year later, while those who used nicotine replacement therapy.
- Such as patches and gum, quit smoking at a rate of 9 percent.
- However, among the e-cigarette smokers, 80 percent were still vaping a year later, compared to only 9 percent of people in the nicotine replacement group.
- E-cigarettes may be more addictive than conventional cigarettes.
- In another 2019 study, e-cig smokers and dual smokers – those who smoke both e-cigs and conventional cigarettes – were more dependent on nicotine than conventional cigarette smokers.
- The convenience of e-cigarettes, which are often allowed indoors, might make it difficult for smokers to resist them.
- The variety of e-cig flavors might also be adding to their popularity, especially among teens.
E-cigs
- E-cigs contain fewer chemicals, but they’re not exactly “healthy.”
- E-cigarettes are appealing for harm reduction, or the idea that addicts should reduce harm if they cannot quit altogether. But e-cigs contain dangerous chemicals like diacetyl and vitamin E acetate, which can injure lungs, and heavy metals like lead. E-cigarette vapor is akin to secondhand smoke from traditional cigarettes in that it can also harm bystanders, including pregnant women.
- Some advocates say e-cigs could save smokers from the dangers of combustion, or the burning chemicals in conventional cigarettes, and that alone is worth giving them a try. The British College of Physicians has promoted the use of e-cigarettes for harm reduction, and a 2017 study argued that e-cigs could save millions of lives.
- “They could make cigarettes obsolete and be a more effective tool for any physician to help their patients stop smoking…and save their lives from debilitating preventable chronic diseases exacerbated or caused by cigarette smoke from combustion, and not from nicotine,” Dr. David Abrams, a professor at NYU College of Global Public Health, says.
E-cigarettes raise a number of health and safety concerns.
- E-cigarettes have been the subject of several public health warnings from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). These include warnings about lung disease and injury, second-hand smoke, device explosions, dangers for pregnant women, and marketing targeting teens. In fact, the U.S. surgeon general has called the popularity of e-cigs among young people an “epidemic.”
What are the health risks of vaping?
- We don’t know as much about the long-term effects of vaping compared to what we know about smoking traditional cigarettes.
- But recent studies suggest that vaping may double the risk of heart attacks, can lead to gum disease, may increase the risk of emphysema, and can raise your blood pressure.
- In addition, vaping users may be at risk of popcorn lung, also known as bronchiolitis obliterans.
- It is an irreversible lung injury that leads to people needing oxygen and, rarely, a lung transplant.
Popcorn lung
- The name “popcorn lung” originated when workers at a popcorn factory developed the condition from breathing in a chemical called diacetyl.
- It was used in microwavable popcorn to give it a buttery flavor. Some e-cigarette flavors have found to contain diacetyl.
- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have 68 deaths confirmed in 29 states and the District of Columbia as of February 18, 2020 due to lung injury from vaping or e-cigarettes.
- Unfortunately, last year a 17-year-old with lung injury even had to undergo a double lung transplant to save his life.
- Because of the outbreak of cases, the CDC created a term — e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) —
- To describe lung injury from vaping. This type of lung injury, or EVALI, might be due to a range of chemicals commonly found in e-cigarettes.
Most EVALI cases have been linked to e-cigarettes
- Most EVALI cases have linked to e-cigarettes that contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive substance in marijuana.
- However, there is not enough evidence to rule out other chemicals of concern in either THC or non-THC products.
- Right now, though, the CDC believes vitamin E acetate to be at least one source of the problem.
- On a positive note, emergency department visits related to vaping declined from a peak in September 2019.
- Experts attribute this drop to increased public awareness, removal of vitamin E acetate from some vaping products, and a crackdown on illegal products.
- Besides these health problems from vaping, teens who use e-cigarettes are more likely to start smoking traditional cigarettes than teens who do not.
What treatments are available to help me quit vaping?
- While there are lots of FDA-approved treatments to quit smoking, there are currently no FDA-approved treatments specifically to quit vaping.
Nicotine replacement therapy
- Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is an FDA-approved treatment that administers low doses of nicotine, which is the addictive chemical in e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes, without the added harmful chemicals.
- It helps to reduce cravings for nicotine and the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. NRT is available as a patch, gum, lozenge (similar to a hard candy), nasal spray, and inhaler.
- The nasal spray and inhaler both require a prescription.
- In fact, the inhaler looks and works similarly to an e-cigarette. It contains nicotine cartridges that are loaded into a device to “smoke” like a cigarette.
Varenicline
- Varenicline (Chantix) is a prescription medicine that is FDA-approved to help people quit traditional cigarettes.
- It is thought to block the same receptors in the brain where nicotine attaches, and in doing so, prevents the release of dopamine.
- Dopamine is often called the “feel-good” chemical because it gives feelings of pleasure, and after dopamine wears off from smoking, the cravings will start again, causing addiction.
- By reducing dopamine release, varenicline can help break the cycle of addiction.
- There haven’t been any studies done to see if varenicline can help people quit e-cigarettes (though some have been proposed). But one observational study suggests it might help people who use both cigarettes and e-cigarettes (dual users).
Bupropion
- Bupropion (Zyban) is an antidepressant also used to help people quit smoking. When it was approved for smoking cessation, it was marketed as Zyban.
- When used to quit traditional cigarettes, it is about as effective as NRT but might be less effective than varenicline.
- It is thought to work by helping dopamine and other brain chemicals linger a little longer in your brain, which can reduce withdrawal symptoms from nicotine.
- There have been concerns that both varenicline and bupropion caused mental health side effects, termed neuropsychiatric side effects, including anxiety, depression, aggression, and psychosis.
- However, a study published in 2016 found no difference in these types of side effects between varenicline, bupropion, NRT, or placebo. Because of this, the FDA removed previously published warnings of serious neuropsychiatric side effects on the labels of both varenicline and bupropion.
Tips for quitting vaping
In addition to medications, you may find the following tips useful in quitting e-cigarettes:
- Get support from family and friends: Studies show that support from family and friends can increase a smoker’s motivation to quit traditional cigarettes, and there’s good reason to believe a strong support network can help smokers of e-cigarettes too. Smokefree.gov offers tips on how friends and family can be supportive of a person’s decision to quit.
- Seek out professional help: Whether it’s a counselor, a quitline, or an app, getting professional help can significantly improve your chances of quitting for good. Some organizations have even launched quitlines for vaping. You can also speak to a medical provider online about quitting here.
Don’t be too hard on yourself
- Understand your triggers: Ask yourself questions to better understand what types of situations make you want to vape. Do you vape at parties? Do you like to vape between classes, or on a lunch break at work? Is your vaping associated with certain emotions (stress, for example)?
- Prepare for cravings: Once you know what makes you crave e-cigarettes, get prepared for it in advance. If you vape between classes or at lunch, what can you do during that time to keep yourself busy? Can you substitute it with something else — chewing gum or coffee, for example? It will be easier to push through if you’ve prepared for the cravings to come.
- Don’t be too hard on yourself: Quitting is a journey, and it may take more than one try to be successful. You might slip up on occasion, but keep going. Reach out to your support network and don’t let one or two slip-ups result in a return to old habits.
Conclusion
- A “vape,” or electronic cigarette, is a device that heats up a liquid to create a vapor you inhale.
- While vaping appears to be a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes, there are still many health risks involved.
- Both vaping and smoking deliver nicotine, but it is the burning of tobacco that causes most of the harm. Vaping, however, is not completely harmless.
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