Over the past several years, electronic cigarettes have made vast inroads into the American and European market.
E-Cigs offer an alternative to traditional cigarettes that use tobacco, which contains thousands of harmful chemicals.
It’s also one of the biggest reasons as to why people vape.
Vaping is now commonplace, and many locations allow vaping where tobacco cigarettes have been banned.
The popularity and growth of the e-cigarette is based on more than just being an alternative to tobacco.
In fact, we’ve found at least seven typical reasons why people make the switch to vaping…
1. QUIT SMOKING TOBACCO
It’s no secret that a lot of people have used e-cigs to help them quit smoking.
If you’ve ever purchased an electronic cigarette you may be one of the millions of people that did it simply to kick your smoking habit.
Today, over 9 million people vape on a regular basis, and many of these vapers have stopped smoking for good.
Vaping helps smokers kick the habit by providing nicotine similar to many nicotine replacement therapy treatments you’ll find in thousands of shops in the country.
Many smokers have reported that they’ve struggled to kick the habit with other cessation devices like nicotine patches and gum because do not provide any stimulation for the fingers and hands or any sensation of smoking an actual cigarette.
The act of holding a cigarette can be powerful psychologically for a lot of mid to long-term smokers.
It’s one of the reasons that you may experience withdrawal symptoms and ultimately find yourself unable to stay off of tobacco.
E-cigs offer a solution to this, helping you get the sensation of smoking a cigarette without the toxic smoke and thousands of harmful chemicals.
2. RECOMMENDED BY SOME DOCTORS
Although not universally accepted today, many doctors, including Dr Nick Hopkinson and Dr Brad Rodu, have recommended e-cigarettes as a smoking alternative.
Dr Brad Rodu wrote an article asking why the CDC are not encouraging vaping since it’s caused a 10% drop in smoking in 12 months.
Dr Nick Hopkinson did an interview with the BBC suggesting that e-cigs offer better health benefits to smoking as they still deliver nicotine without many of the harmful chemicals found in tobacco smoke.
You can watch his interview with the BBC here:
Several other credible and academic organizations have proclaimed the benefits of electronic cigarettes movement when compared to tobacco products.
These include:
While each organization offers different views on why they have endorsed vaping, the main reasons focus on the harm that tobacco causes and how the lack of tobacco in e-cigarette products makes them a much safer alternative.
The removal of tobacco for harm reduction is among the primary reasons why some doctors and organizations have recommended e-cigs as a substitute to smoking.
3. TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION
If you haven’t done so already, you may wish to give up smoking to reduce the amount of harm tobacco is doing to your body, also known as “harm reduction”.
Smoking tobacco causes diseases such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and cancer to name a few.
And this is exactly what a lot of people want to avoid.
But what exactly is harm reduction?
Wikipedia describes it as “…a range of public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal.”
I think fellow YouTuber, Suck My Mod, does a pretty good job of explaining what harm reduction is in ‘vaping terms’.
You can check his video out here:
They are not the only ones to draw this conclusion. An independent evidence review by Public Health England found that e-cigs are at least 95% safer than smoked tobacco.
Yes, you heard it right, AT LEAST 95% safer…
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that millions of people around the world have looked to vaping as an alternative to smoking with the primary objective of reducing their risk to smoking-related diseases.
While e-cigs may not be completely harmless or completely risk-free, it is true that the risk factors for developing illness and diseases you will likely get from smoking are greatly reduced.
…electronic cigarettes are a much safer alternative to tobacco cigarettes. They are likely to improve upon the efficacy of traditional pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation. – Zachary Cahn
4. SAVE MONEY
There’s no question about it, smoking is an expensive addiction. Just look how the cost of tobacco cigarettes has risen over the last 30 years and the hike it’s taken in since 2010!
Source: Office for National Statistics
For UK residents the cost of smoking is approaching £10.00 for a packet of 20!
But, sadly, even at these prices over a billion people are smoking.
The cost of vaping is a fraction compared to the constantly rising price of tobacco.
And yes, I will point out that vaping can be an expensive hobby if you like to buy the latest gear and try every e-liquid going.
But if you simply use a standard vaping device and stick with it, you can save a lot of money vaping.
Sadly, however, due to new regulations vaping companies may be forced to increase prices for hardware and e-liquid.
New regulations are squeezing small businesses to the point that they are either having to increase prices in order to stay afloat, while others are having to close their doors.
The low-cost of vaping is one of the most important reasons that some people choose to switch to an effective non-smoking alternative, and if this is taken away, fewer people may make the switch for their own good.
5. FOR SOME, IT BECOMES A HOBBY
For some people, vaping is about more than just giving up tobacco.
One of the most interesting developments over the past few years in the vape scene is how the product has developed into a real hobby.
There are many different websites, forums, social media outlets, and so forth that promote vaping as a hobby.
And why not, vaping can be pretty fun!
You can find videos of reviews, tutorials, vaping tricks, and more all over YouTube.
Here is a video by Vape Capitol showing off a few vape tricks:
Since we know that vaping is a lot safer and better for our health than smoking, this can only be a good thing.
6. TO STOP BEING A ‘SMOKING INFLUENCE’ TO YOUNGER GENERATIONS
One of the fascinating by-products of electronic cigarettes is how it can curb the introduction of tobacco products to a younger generation.
A study by Karl G. Hill, et al. concludes that “parental smoking contributes to the onset of daily smoking in their teenagers even if parents practice good family management, hold norms against teen tobacco use, and do not involve their children in their own tobacco use”.
One reason why it is so difficult for many adults to quit is because they were brought up in a world where everyone around them was smoking.
It may seem incredible today, but back in the early 1960s almost 75% of adults smoked cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. Growing up in a time when seemingly everyone smoked made it all the more difficult to quit.
I personally started smoking at a young age, and part of the reason for this is that it seemed normal as so many people around me smoked.
While I don’t currently have any serious health issues, I know that the chances of getting a tobacco-related disease would be higher if I still smoked.
I’m not saying vaping is 100% safe, but if I had vaped at that age instead of smoked, current studies suggest that I’d likely be in a much healthier state than I am now after all these years of smoking.
Today, about 25% of all adults smoke, but even that number is decreasing due to the rise of e-cigs which provide a safer alternative to tobacco.
This means that children today who might be tempted to smoke will have e-cigarettes or vaping as an alternative.
While many parents may not consider the vape culture to the be the ideal alternative, it is far better than tobacco products which means a far lower chance of being afflicted with diseases associated with tobacco products.
7. TO STOP SMELLING LIKE AN ASHTRAY
There are many telltale signs of a smoker such as the stains on their fingers, teeth, and clothing.
However, few signs giveaway the smoker as how they smell like an ashtray.
The smoke permeates clothing, hair, and skin which can make smokers off-putting to be around, especially if you cannot stand the smell.
For the millions of teens and adults who smoke, the stench of cigarette smoke combined with the additional cost of keeping their clothes, body, teeth, and even their homes free of the smell can be considerable as well as time-consuming.
Fortunately, second-hand vapor doesn’t leave a bad stench and is one of the many reasons people choose to vape instead of smoke.
CONCLUSION
There are at least 7 reasons why people choose to vape as opposed to smoking tobacco products.
And I have no doubt there are many, many more.
If you’re looking to quit smoking altogether, an e-cigarette offers a powerful alternative to traditional methods.
It’s not the only option you have, but it’s one that’s been growing in popularity due to how effective it is at helping people quit smoking altogether.
Which of these reasons that people choose to vape do you think is the most important and why?