Which is Worse: Vaping or Smoking?
By Leslie K. Hughes
The introduction of vapes into the world has revolutionized the way that people view smoking. If you want a hit of nicotine, no longer are you dealing with the awful, lingering smell of smoking; no longer are you suffering through the disgusting aftertaste in your mouth; no longer are you scrambling around fight a light to get that hit of nicotine; and no longer are people looking at you like a social pariah when you smoke near children.
Vapes are seen as far more socially acceptable than cigarettes. So, if you’ve made the switch from cigarettes to vapes, or skipped the cigarette phase entirely and went to vapes instead, you may be celebrating that.
But, don’t give yourself too much credit. No matter what way you cut it, nicotine is bad news for your health. But just how bad are vapes? Are they worse than cigarettes? Let’s find out.
Are Vapes Worse Than Cigarettes?
Vapes and cigarettes have one major thing in common: they are both used to deliver nicotine to the user. Why is nicotine so popular? Because it’s a stimulant that helps people focus better and increase their alertness. The act of smoking something is, for many, psychological and they find that it relaxes them. However, that relaxation technique quickly becomes a habit due to the plant alkaloid’s addictive qualities.
The Difference Between How E-Cigarettes and Cigarettes Work
The main difference between e-cigarettes (vapes) and cigarettes is how the chemicals are delivered.
Vapes work via the heating of a metal coil inside the pen. Once that gets hot enough, nicotine is released in the form of an aerosol, which is then inhaled.
Standard cigarettes work via the burning of tobacco. When that happens, the nicotine is released, and then inhaled.
The Health Of Vaping vs. Smoking
It is no secret that cigarettes are toxic. But what you may not know is that they contain over 7,000 toxic chemicals including arsenic, formaldehyde, cadmium, and more. These chemicals, all rolled together into cigarettes, make smoking the number one cause of premature, preventable death in the United States.
Vaping does not involve as many toxic chemicals, but that doesn’t mean that e-cigarettes are clean. Oftentimes vapes come loaded with heavy metals and artificial flavoring agents that are toxic on their own and become even more toxic when they’re heated and inhaled. A Johns Hopkins study found nearly 2,000 chemicals present in e-cigarettes, some of which were recognized as industrial chemicals and pesticides, while most of them were unidentifiable.
The CDC confirmed nearly 3,000 cases of lung injury and 68 deaths due to the use of vapes in 2020. So, this alternative to smoking that was lauded as a more healthy way to get your dose of nicotine is turning out to be different than we all thought.
Both types of smoking devices have the same primary ingredient: nicotine. And that agent is toxic. It is not only, as mentioned above, addictive, but it also leads to issues with high blood pressure as well as increased heart rate, the recipe for a heart attack.
The nicotine in both vapes and cigarettes is thought to be as addictive as heroin and cocaine. And, with an e-cigarette, it’s harder to tell exactly how much you’ve gone through. With a pack of cigarettes, you can take a look and realize that you’ve already smoked half a pack and need to slow it down. But with an e-cigarette, you won’t know until you’ve already blasted through the whole thing.
It’s not news to anyone that cigarettes are bad for your lungs. Studies have proven time and time again that cigarettes cause lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), amongst several other lung-related problems. You may be thinking you can avoid those issues by instead reaching for an e-cigarette, but think again. A Johns Hopkins study found that people who vape put themselves at a 75% higher risk of developing COPD and other lung disorders than those who steer clear of e-cigarettes. On top of that, there is no secondhand smoke with a vape – you instead end up inhaling all of the nicotine. With a cigarette, much of the nicotine is burned off in between puffs, thus resulting in secondhand smoke.
So, which is worse: vaping or smoking?
With all the above information and even more being uncovered as additional studies are done to look further into vaping, both vaping and smoking are setting your body up for failure in one way or another.
Though it seems as if vaping may be less harmful than cigarettes, that is likely only because e-cigarettes haven’t been around as long, and not nearly as many studies have been done as cigarettes, which have been around since the early 19th century.
If you’re considering picking up vaping just for fun or even to help you stop smoking cigarettes, think again. This is not a habit you want to start, as the road is a dark one that will, almost inevitably, leave you with some sort of health issue.
