If you’re a smoker, you already know that cigarettes are bad for you. In addition to the myriad of health problems smoking can cause, cigarettes also make you smell like an ashtray, stain your teeth and fingers, and give you bad breath.
In recent years, vaping has emerged as an alternative to smoking. Vaping is still fairly new, so it’s uncertain what the health effects of vaping might be in the long run, but it’s believed that vaping is 95 percent safer than smoking cigarettes. And because vaping feels a lot like smoking, it can effectively treat your nicotine cravings and help with harm reduction.
Vaping Is a Safer Way to Get Nicotine
Don’t get us wrong – nicotine itself is a toxic chemical Fifty to 60 milligrams of nicotine is thought to be enough to kill an adult. However, you only get about one milligram of nicotine from smoking a cigarette, and nicotine just isn’t the only toxic chemical found in cigarette smoke.
Cigarette smoke contains a ton of harmful chemicals ranging from benzene and arsenic to carbon monoxide and lead. Most vape juices sold by retailers like White Horse Vapor contain just four ingredients: nicotine, propylene glycol, flavors, and vegetable glycerin.
One ingredient used in vape juice, diacetyl, has been linked to the medical condition popcorn lung, but there are plenty of diacetyl-free options available on the market today.
Because vape juice doesn’t contain all the toxic chemicals found in cigarettes, it’s a safer way to get nicotine into your system to fight cravings. You’ll have fewer toxins in your body, you’ll breathe easier, and you’ll have a lower risk of smoking-related illness. And vape juices come in different strengths, so you can get just a little bit of nicotine, or a lot. If you want to wean yourself off nicotine entirely, you can slowly lower the nicotine concentration of your vape juice until you’re eventually vaping nicotine-free liquid.
Vaping Recreates the Smoking Experience
Nicotine is super addictive, but that’s not the only reason why it’s so hard to quit smoking cigarettes. Smoking has a way of inserting itself into every part of your day. You smoke a cigarette when you wake up, after you eat, while you’re having a beer, or when you simply feel like going outside to have a few minutes to yourself. When you attempt to quit smoking, you’ll find yourself contending with triggers like these every day.
Not only that, but your addiction to smoking isn’t just about the physical craving for nicotine. Your body also craves the routine associated with smoking. For example, long after an ex-smoker has stopped craving cigarettes, he or she may still feel compelled to put something in his or her mouth during stressful situations. That’s why ex-smokers often eat more and gain weight. You’ll also crave things like the tingle of smoke in your chest and throat. Vaping allows you to go through the literal motions of smoking to recreate the experience, so you can cope with smoking triggers better and address the psychological aspect of your cravings.
For that reason, vaping may be more effective at helping you quit smoking than other stop-smoking aids, like patches and lozenges. Often, these others methods don’t completely satisfy your craving for nicotine, either, but merely take the edge off while you’re trying to quit. Vaping can completely sate your cravings.
Vaping Allows You to Maintain the Social Aspect of Smoking
Another reason that it’s hard to quit smoking is that smoking is often a social activity. You go out for a smoke break from work, and all the other smokers are standing in the smoking area, chatting. You go out for a drink with friends, and everyone stands around outside smoking and drinking on the bar patio. When you give up nicotine entirely, you can miss out on these social moments, and that can make it hard to maintain your resolve. When you switch to vaping, you can still join your friends and acquaintances in the smoking area for chit-chat while you satisfy your nicotine cravings.
If you’re looking for an effective way to quit smoking, vaping might be for you. It may not be 100 percent safe, but it’s quite a lot safer than smoking cigarettes, and it can give you a similar experience. You can more easily wean yourself off of nicotine altogether using a vape. Try vaping for your health and the health of those around you. You’ll be surprised at how much better you feel.
