Vaping to quit smoking - Better Health (2023)

FAQs

Is vaping a healthy way to quit smoking? ›

Nicotine vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking. It's also one of the most effective tools for quitting smoking. Vaping is not recommended for non-smokers and young people because it is not completely harmless.

Enhanced Lung Capacity

Within the first 1 to 9 months after quitting vaping, the lung's capacity to clear out mucus and fight off infections significantly increases. This event is even more noticeable than the early signs of increased lung capacity most people will feel shortly after they quit vaping.

Around 14 puffs would be equal to one cigarette and a 60 ml bottle of 3 mg e liquid would be equal to 15 cigarettes. People also ask how much nicotine is in a juul, one pod is equivalent to 20 cigarettes.

Are e-cigarettes less harmful than regular cigarettes? Yes—but that doesn't mean e-cigarettes are safe. E-cigarette aerosol generally contains fewer toxic chemicals than the deadly mix of 7,000 chemicals in smoke from regular cigarettes. However, e-cigarette aerosol is not harmless.

Switching to vaping helps to improve your circulation, and you'll begin to experience the right levels of oxygen. As you are not used to this, you may feel a bit dizzy or lightheaded to start with. Your brain has been deprived of oxygen, and this is it readjusting to the level of oxygen it needs.

After quitting, your lungs begin to heal, restoring lung capacity and the ability to fight infection. Soon you'll be coughing less and breathing easier — especially during physical activity.

Breathing in the harmful chemicals from vaping products can cause irreversible (cannot be cured) lung damage, lung disease and, in some cases, death.

1: Vaping is less harmful than smoking, but it's still not safe. E-cigarettes heat nicotine (extracted from tobacco), flavorings and other chemicals to create an aerosol that you inhale. Regular tobacco cigarettes contain 7,000 chemicals, many of which are toxic.

Research generally accepts that while vaping can harm the lungs and other bodily systems, its impact is much less than tobacco smoking. However, a 2019 study into the long-term health effects of vaping found that people using e-cigarettes had a higher risk of respiratory disease than people who never smoked.

Typically, manufacturers advise that 10 puffs on your vape are about the same as 10 puffs on your cigarette. They further speculate that 10 puffs are all you take on one cigarette. Of course, this varies based on how big your puffs are, how strong your vape device is, and how much nicotine you are using.

Is one vape equivalent to 20 cigarettes? ›

One JUUL pod contains 20 cigarettes worth of nicotine.

In fact, young people who use e-cigarettes are four times more likely to go on to smoke cigarettes than their peers who do not vape.

When you have nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) you'll get small, measured doses of nicotine into your bloodstream. You won't get the harmful chemicals found in a cigarette. NRT includes patches, gum, lozenges, sprays and inhalers.

Chantix (Varenicline): Chantix (Varenicline) is a prescription medication taken as a pill, twice a day. It's the most effective single product to help you quit smoking. And it doesn't contain nicotine. It cuts cravings by acting like nicotine on the brain.

► The FDA has not approved e-cigarettes as a quit smoking aid, and more research is needed on whether e-cigarettes are effective for quitting smoking and to better understand the health effects of e-cigarettes.

Benefits of vaping

Vaping can help some people quit smoking. Vaping is usually cheaper than smoking. Vaping is not harmless, but it is much less harmful than smoking. Vaping is less harmful to those around you than smoking, as there's no current evidence that second-hand vapour is dangerous to others.

No difference in the success rate of quitting, or even reducing how many cigarettes were smoked, was found when comparing nicotine vape use and non-nicotine vape use. Overall, only 15% of participants in this study managed to quit. Another study found that 68.1% of e-cigarette users also continue to smoke tobacco.

Nicotine withdrawal symptoms set in between 4 and 24 hours after a person last vaped. The symptoms peak around day three of abstinence and then gradually subside over the following three to four weeks.

Realistic goals. It's good to know that lots of people take two to three months to fully stop smoking and consider themselves a vaper.

What are the symptoms of vaping too much? ›

Exposure for just three days was enough to incur sufficient damage to their lungs, setting the stage for long-term chronic lung damage.

National Emphysema Foundation (NEF)

Researchers from the University of North Carolina Health Care have discovered that emphysema is just as likely in e-cigarette smokers as it is in traditional cigarette smokers. The takeaway is that vaping appears to be just as harmful as cigarettes.

Long-term use of electronic cigarettes, or vaping products, can significantly impair the function of the body's blood vessels, increasing the risk for cardiovascular disease. Additionally, the use of both e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes may cause an even greater risk than the use of either of these products alone.

When you go without vaping, the nicotine level in your bloodstream drops, which may cause unpleasant feelings, physical symptoms, and strong urges to vape. This is nicotine addiction.

While nicotine is the active ingredient in both combustible and electronic cigarettes, "vapes" can deliver a much higher dose much faster than traditional cigarettes. This makes the nicotine in vapes even more addictive.

What vapes have the least chemicals? Organic 100% VG ECOvape VSAVI e-Liquid is another of the safest e-cig brands. The company uses fewer chemical ingredients than others and any research they undertake centres on the health of the consumer. The new Vype and vPure e-liquid range are now only PG/VG mix.

The number of puffs per day varied considerably from one user to another. However, it should be noted that whereas a large minority of individuals take more than 140 puffs per day, only 14.60% of daily usage exceeds 300 puffs. Less than 1% of day-users reach 600 puffs.

A common benchmark is that a single milliliter of vape juice typically yields about 100 puffs. This means that, roughly, one milliliter of vape juice equals around five packs of cigarettes. The effects of the chemical, when released through vaping, are much more potent than the stimulant inhaled by smoking a cigarette.

FTC method at the Tobacco and Health Research Institute in Lexington, Kentucky. Two hundred cigarettes were smoked; the average number of puffs taken per cigarette was 6.8. This same procedure was repeated with a high- yield cigarette, Camel, and an average of 8.3 puffs was taken.

How many cigarettes are equal to a 5% vape? ›

JUUL Labs reports each 5% (nicotine-by-weight) cartridge contains approximately 40 mg nicotine per pod and is 'approximately equivalent to about 1 pack of cigarettes.

The basics of vaping and nicotine amount in Disposable Vapes

A disposable vape with a 2ml tank (the legal max size in the UK) with a 20mg nicotine or Nic Salt, contains 40mg of nicotine in the entire disposable (2ml x 20mg). This is why most disposables are suggested to be the equivalent of a pack of 20 cigarettes.

Nicotine Salts (Salt Nic E-juice)

You've now got the information you need to answer '6 mg nicotine equals how many cigarettes' and '6 mg nicotine equals how many light cigarettes'. To remind you, 8mg of nicotine are in one cigarette, so whether you're a light smoker or not, you'll hit 6 mg from a single cigarette.

Nicotine replacement therapy — nicotine patches, gum, lozenges, sprays, and inhalers — can help some people. These products provide nicotine at a consistent dose, so you avoid the nicotine rush you get from vaping while still getting relief from withdrawal symptoms.

Nicotine inhalers are the FDA-approved nicotine replacement method that's most like smoking a cigarette, which some people trying to quit find helpful.

There is no “safe” vaping

Is there a way to vape safely? The answer is no.

(1-800-784-8669) If you are thinking about quitting smoking and would like some help, a quitline might be just what you need to succeed. Quitlines provide free coaching—over the phone—to help you quit smoking. When you call 1-800-QUIT-NOW , you can speak confidentially with a highly trained quit coach.

Use a fast-acting nicotine medicine like lozenges or gum to quickly combat cravings. You can control how often you use the fast-acting medicine, so you won't get more nicotine than you want. This combination is easy to use. Using two NRTs together can help you quit more successfully than using a single medicine.

Will your lungs be OK if you quit vaping? ›

Additionally, quitting vaping will improve your blood circulation and enable your lungs to begin healing. This will result in fewer coughing episodes and improved breathing ability during physical activity.

“Vaping is bad for your heart. The truth is people who vape are 56 percent more likely to have a heart attack than non-smokers and 30 percent more likely to suffer a stroke,” Dr. Sharaf says.

The amount of nicotine in one standard JUUL cartridge is roughly equal to the amount of nicotine in a pack of cigarettes, or about 200 puffs, according to the JUUL website.

Breathing in the harmful chemicals from vaping products can cause irreversible (cannot be cured) lung damage, lung disease and, in some cases, death. Some chemicals in vaping products can also cause cardiovascular disease and biological changes that are associated with cancer development.

Vaping and Popcorn Lung

Diacetyl is frequently added to flavored e-liquid to enhance the taste. Inhaling diacetyl causes inflammation and may lead to permanent scarring in the smallest branches of the airways — popcorn lung — which makes breathing difficult. Popcorn lung has no lasting treatment.

Long-term use of electronic cigarettes, or vaping products, can significantly impair the function of the body's blood vessels, increasing the risk for cardiovascular disease. Additionally, the use of both e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes may cause an even greater risk than the use of either of these products alone.

A: Overall, there's not much difference between smoking and vaping. Commonly, smoking was thought to be more harmful because the product is being burnt and smoke inhaled into the lungs. But we're finding very similar damage from heating up vaping solutions and inhaling that vapor into the lungs.

If you quit, however, the risk begins to fall very quickly. “After just one day, your heart attack risk starts to decrease thanks to the lowering of blood pressure, rising blood oxygen levels, and reducing the negative influence on cholesterol levels and the formation of blood clots,” Dr. Djordjevic says.

There is no real "normal," and the puffs per day don't matter. The acceptable daily intake for nicotine varies based on several modes of life and biological factors. Since the system to calculate nicotine intake per puff isn't an exact science, it's better to satisfy your needs.

People also process nicotine differently depending on their genetics. Generally, nicotine will leaves your blood within 1 to 3 days after you stop using tobacco, and cotinine will be gone after 1 to 10 days. Neither nicotine nor cotinine will be detectable in your urine after 3 to 4 days of stopping tobacco products.

What are the benefits of switching from cigarettes to vape? ›

Results from the surveys showed that more frequent vaping — relative to smoking — was associated with better physical health, more exercise, more active social engagement and higher socioeconomic status.

Nicotine replacement therapy — nicotine patches, gum, lozenges, sprays, and inhalers — can help some people. These products provide nicotine at a consistent dose, so you avoid the nicotine rush you get from vaping while still getting relief from withdrawal symptoms.