‘Vaping’ is a term that is applied to the use of e-cigarettes—a modern day alternative to smoking that replaces tobacco products with an electronic device that heats up and vaporises a liquid. It is estimated in studies that vaping will outnumber traditional smoking in both Europe and the US in the next decade. This fact alone makes it a multi-billion dollar global industry with players and manufacturers from all over the world selling e-cigarette products and e-liquids. Even the tobacco industry has seen fit to jump on the bandwagon and has even started to market its own e-cigarette products. Clearly, vaping is here to stay for a while despite the health being as yet inconclusive.
Giving Up Traditional Smoking
The last 50-60 years has seen the science concerning traditional tobacco products solidify to the point of widespread public backlash over the activity of smoking tobacco products. This has led to new laws and bans in many countries, as well as a decrease in profits for the manufacturers concerned. But despite the scientific health concerns around vaping being inconclusive, there are a few key benefits to vaping that seem clear, at least intuitively:
- Control: Though the industry has yet to experience the widespread regulations that affect traditional tobacco smoking, it seems obvious that the practice should at least be healthier for us than regular smoking. This is due in large part to the fact that nicotine can either be added or not to the e-liquids that fill the reservoirs of e-cigarette devices. Though the statistics are fuzzy at best, it seems clear that being able to control nicotine content in e-cigarettes provides the user with a type of control that they never had when it came to regular tobacco products. The upshot of this is that vaping may in fact be less chemically addictive.
- Legality: As mentioned, vaping culture has yet to experience heavy regulations. This means that it is legal to vape in public areas in Australia as of 2016. Clearly, this is of great interest to former smokers who have often felt targeted by the ban on public smoking.
- Smell: There is no doubt that regular tobacco products smell. The smoke dissipates slowly and the smell seeps into fabrics and furniture. By contrast, vaping is not plagued by this stigma, and the widespread availability of e-liquid in Australia in online outlets and in pop-up shops in malls means that vapers have a huge variety of flavours and brands from which to choose. There are always those who don’t like smoke or vapour in public areas, but the absence of the foul chemicals to be found in regular tobacco products, along with the smell, means that vaping is at least more pleasant to be around.
Vaping Culture Is Here to Stay
For the time being vaping and e-cigarettes are legal and widely available. It is an industry that is growing each year and though the science is not yet conclusive as to long-term health effects, it seems at least intuitively obvious that vaping is healthier than regular tobacco smoking.