Vaping involves a deliberate act of inhaling and exhaling a suspension of fine solid particles present in a gas or in a vapor; these suspended particles are often referred to as aerosol. These inhaled particles are produced from an e-cigarette or any similar device. Vaping is always characterized with e-cigarettes which do not involve inhaling of smoke but water vapor.
The health risk of vaping should be evident enough with a comparison between the two. One of the motivations that supported vaping is the fact that vaping was designed as an alternative to smoking. Additionally, it is important to know the importance between vaping and smoking as there are huge differences between the two.
With respect to medical and scientific study, there is yet to be a clear comparison between vaping and smoking. Generally, it is understood that smoking is not good, causing a lot of health dangers and risk. But at the same time, is vaping bad? Is it possible for vaping to result in some health risks?
While still trying to establish the safety of vaping, it is important to know if vaping has less health implications than smoking. Since so many questions on the topic of vaping are still left unanswered, with findings still ongoing, vaping is sometimes categorized as smoking.
Looking into the future, with researches and studies on the topic on-going, there will be more freedom by those involved in vaping.
The difference between Vaping and Smoking
One of the major differences between vaping and smoking can be seen in the aerosol that is inhaled in vape product. When you smoke a cigarette, you inhaled the smoke produced through the process of burning tobacco. The word vaping however refers to a non-smoke product which produces vapor that is then inhaled by the consumer. A common example of a vaping product is the e-cigarettes.
Considering the health risks and the side effect produced in inhaled burnt tobacco, several ways were made to produce a flavorful nicotine product containing vapor that can be inhaled, with no side effects as smoking as you only inhale the water vapor and not the smoke.
While vaping and smoking both involves inhaling and exhaling materials, are there any significant differences between the two? While people tend to confuse vaping with smoking, the truth of matter is there is a big difference between the two. The following points show the differences between vaping and smoking.
- Vaping is an e-cigarette, a handheld device always powered by the use of battery. Smoking does not involve a device and it is not powered by a battery.
- One of the differences between vaping and smoking is in their visible components. Vaping is a product of vaporization, while smoke is a product of combustion, often associated with fire.
- The ingredients of the liquid used in vaping include propylene glycol, flavoring, and vegetable glycerin. On the other hand, smoke is a product of tobacco made up of Carbon monoxide, Lead, Benzene, Ammonia, Lead, Diacetyl and Radioactive elements.
- While the chemical constituent can be clear difference between the two, one of the differences between vaping and smoking is in the rate of intake of nicotine product.
With a cigarette, the nicotine substance present gets to the brain within a short interval of time. Smoke particles most time are seen deposited in the lungs, with a major connection to the brain.
Vaping helps to deliver most of its nicotine through certain membrane found in the mouth and in the nose.
- One of the best methods of consuming marijuana is through the method of vaporization. It is a product of water vapor. On the other hand, smoking is terrible for anyone. The various smoke from the combustions of plant materials (e.g tobacco, cannabis, leaf) from tree, produce a lot of harmful chemicals that are dangerous to the health. Smoking any of these plants related material, sitting to a wood-fueled environment, will result in exposure to these substances with the results seen as cardiovascular malfunction and other visible negative health effects.
Vaping and Smoking: What are their cost implications?
One of the factors that should be considered is the cost implications of vaping. This is a main issue for anyone using vaporizers or e-cigarette. Considering the initial cost to purchase the hardware used in vaping, it is often seen as been expensive in comparison with a cigarette. With a close observation however, this truth is not valid. There are a lot of statistical information available that estimate the cost of smoking, but this will directly depend on the amount of cigarette consumed in a day.
- Smoking – If a pack of 20 cigarettes cost around $15. We can make estimation that the average smoker will purchase five packs of cigarette in a week with an amount around $300 and a value of $3600 in a year.
- Vaping- To buy an e-cigarette with the starter kit for a year, you would need to spend around $60. This is the most expensive part when trying to get a vape product. As soon as you have your vape starter kit, you estimate to spend around $30 in a week to purchase a bottle of juice.
From the calculation made above, Vaping is seen to be cheaper compare to smoking. You have the choice of changing your juice that comes with your vaporizer.
With an increase amount of vaporizers becoming more accessible, it’s been observed that smokers changing to vaping will vape more than they smoked.
Vaping and Smoking: What are the health implications?
According to the United State Net Editorial Board, cigarette smoking is the major cause of disease and the cause of early death in the United State. Although recently, smoking has slowly reduced in the United State, several alternatives have become popular. Examples of alternatives to tobacco and related product includes:
- E-cigarettes
- Smokeless tobacco
- Water pipes
These products come in various sizes, flavors, forms and design.
Alternative to tobacco products have less harmful chemicals and carcinogens. These chemicals can also contain harmful substances but the health risks are minimal compared to smoking of tobacco.
E-cigarettes have been available since 2006; hence there is a limited research that can be made on their long term negative health consequences.
However, the health implications of smoking include:
- Central Nervous System (CNS) – One of the ingredients of tobacco is nicotine, a mood altering substance. Nicotine from cigarerret gets absorbed in the brain in few seconds and makes you feel energized for a while. But as the effect reduces, you feel a desire to get more. Withdrawal from nicotine can result in depression, loss of cognitive functioning, irritation and sleep problems.
- Respiratory System – Whenever you inhale smoke, you take in substances that can damage your lungs, and with time this damage lead to different problems. People who smoke are at a chance of lung conditions such as
- Emphysema
- Chronic bronchitis
- Lung cancer
- A group of lung disease (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD)
- Cardiovascular System – Smoking can damage the entire cardiovascular system. Nicotine in smoke has the ability to create a tightening effect in the blood vessel with restriction in the flow of blood. With time, the tightening effect of the blood vessel can result in damage to the blood vessels, resulting in peripheral artery disease. Smoking also has the ability to increase the blood pressure of the body, weaken the walls of the blood vessel, thereby increasing blood clot. All this in turn result to raises the risk of stroke.
- Digestive system – Smoking increases the chances of having mouth, throat and esophagus cancer. Smokers also have an increase rate of pancreatic cancer. People who smoke but do not inhale also face the risk of having mouth cancer as well.
Conclusion
In the comparison between vaping and smoking, there are many things to put into consideration. In the long run however, it can be deduced that vaping has fewer health implications as compared to smoking of tobacco because you get to enjoy smoking without having to inhale the smoke into your lungs, thereby reducing the health risks of tobacco smoking.
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Interesting related article: “Why is vaping better than smoking?”