WHY WE VAPE - REASON NUMBER ONE - QUIT SMOKING

VAPING TO QUIT…

There are as many reasons to vape as there are individuals doing it. Vaping is a highly personal activity that can take many forms and can have many levels of participation. As the author of this blog post, I can only give you the generally accepted reasons why people vape, and my own. They are all valid and they all have their benefits for each individual. So here goes… The first and biggest reason of course is To Quit Smoking!

We do not even need to state that nearly 50% of cigarette users will die from complications related to smoking to realize how bad it is, we all know it. Smoking chemical laden cigarettes is a highly addictive nasty habit that nearly every smoker would prefer not to have, but it is also very difficult to quit. Most smokers have tried multiple times to ditch the darts using every method known to them.

First there is the old standby “cold turkey, will-power”; their uncle/grandpa/cousin/mother or friend will tell them they just have to tough it out and refuse to cave into the cravings, just “decide” to quit, but the evidence says otherwise. Studies have shown that only 3% of people who just toss their smokes in the trash will still be a non-smoker after one year. The psychological makeup of the person, the amount smoked, the genetic predisposition to addiction, the stress levels in various areas of their life at that time, their socio-economic position in society, and the amount of support they have, all play a role in the success level of cold-turkey quitting. Everyone knows someone who just quit one day because they had had enough, but the number of people who succeed is exceptionally low. Quitting is hard!

Then there is the Patch. Probably the next best method for quitting smoking, the patch has helped somewhere in the range of 3% to 6% of users to quit. However, although it uses the same type of nicotine as vaping, it lacks the enjoyment aspect of vaping, it can irritate the skin, it does not address the oral fixation part of the smoking addiction, and can be expensive, but for those who use it successfully it is still a terrific alternative to the cancer sticks.

Other common methods are the Gum, the Spray, and the Medication. Again, these methods only tackle a few of the addictive behavours of smoking and have a low success rate. The gum is harsh and unpleasant, as is the spray. They can leave a burning sensation in the mouth. The medications that may be prescribed come with all kinds of side effects like anxiety and nightmares. If you need to be warned about suicidal thoughts to escape an addiction to a product that calms you, red flags should appear.

Some people also try hypnosis, reflexology, etc. These may work for some, but there is little evidence that these work well, if at all. We all know someone who got hypnotized and is still a smoker.

And then there is Vaping. Vaping in the modern form was invented by Chinese pharmacist, Hon Lik in 2003 as a less harmful alternative to smoking, after he lost his father to lung cancer. It ticks all the boxes in the quest to be smoke free. Vaping provides nicotine in a less harmful way to make it easier to gradually lower consumption. It provides for the oral stimulation generated by the inhale and the exhale. It gives one something to do with their hands to replace the activity of handling a cigarette. It allows the vaper to consume nicotine in a highly controllable dosage, in a flavour that takes them away from the taste of smoke rather than replicating it, thus helping to disrupt the habit pattern. It does all this using a simple and safe device and only four commonly found ingredients. Vegetable Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, flavouring, and optional nicotine. There are dozens of manufacturers such as Smok, Vaporesso, Aspire, Uwell, Voopoo, Geekvape, and literally thousands of flavours of E-liquid produced by hundreds of Juice makers such as Illusions, Twelve Monkeys, Dr. Fog, Lemon Drop, Madman, and the list goes on. Some studies estimate there are now over fourty million vapers in the world, and the number is growing rapidly.

The goal of vaping is first to gradually, or suddenly, replace the combusted cigarette smoke, with all its harmful and carcinogenic constituents with non combusted 95% less harmful vapor, then to lower the nicotine intake level gradually to zero, then to quit vaping as well. Quitting through Vaping success rates, depending on some of the many studies, range from 17 to 27%, substantially better than any other method on the market. Vaping has been one of the best inventions in the fight against smoking addiction ever devised. It has freed millions of smokers from the shackles of the addiction that was killing them over the last decade, with no known significant negative effects.

So that is the first reason we vape – to quit smoking. Check us out next time to see reason number two. The social and enjoyment aspects of Vaping.

If you would like to view some of the actual research about vaping, scroll through this LINK.