Vaping vs. Smoking: The Safety Debate

Humans are adventure seekers. We seek thrills, grills, pills and chills. Throughout our entire existence we have been looking for ways to relax, enjoy and slowly or quickly put ourselves in harm’s way. We are at the turn of a new era in this with the introduction of the E-cigarette. Humanity has truly evolved from the old days of the pipe and the cigar. Technology has taken human beings very far as a species never before has enjoying the feeling of clouds in your lungs been so harmless, right? Well that’s what we’re figuring out. First we’ll look at tobacco

Smoking has been a hobby for anyone looking to have the taste of burning tobacco or other herbs in their mouth for a long time. The cigarette we know and see today having been around since 1881. In this time it has been known to cause health problems for a long time. Not only are smokers filling their lungs and mouth with smoke which is harmful in itself the addition of nicotine gives an extra kick to potential for addiction and heart disease. The smoke enters your lungs an extremely sensitive area giving you a very good chance of lung diseases including bronchitis and emphysema. Smoking is also known to cause cancer almost anywhere in the body in particular the lungs and circulatory system. Smoking is not only bad for your organs. It can also harm your mouth, bones and your bones (for breeding). Smoking can make it harder for both a woman to get pregnant and a man to make a woman pregnant and it is even worse for an already pregnant woman to be smoking, not just for herself but her unborn child potentially causing the very self explaining sudden infant death syndrome amongst other potential birth defects. Not only for pregnant women but if you’re in a confined space with others smoking is extremely harmful to those around you. Second hand smoking has all potential of smoking except that one doesn’t have to be actively participating. In summary cigarettes are bad for you and everyone around you damaging almost every part of your body from your head down.

Vaping and E-cigarettes are a relatively new method of recreation and unlike cigarettes the variety of flavours is far wider than just tobacco. The modern E-cigarette was invented in 2003. While they have been studied nowhere near as thoroughly as tobacco there is data on them that can allow us to compare them to their far older rival. While cigarettes have been known to cause problems for a long time we have discovered some similarities with E-cigarettes and vaporizers in regards to potential health problems. Many e-liquids contain nicotine which itself is known to cause heart problems and create dependence. Firstly we have to examine the contents of the vapor used. While not smoke water can still cause damage to your lungs though is not a carcinogen and unlike cigarettes it is much harder to make a mistake using e-cigarettes. If mistakes are made or a fault tool is used one can experience a dry puff which could have one finding themselves inhaling formaldehyde which is a known carcinogen. However that’s not how most vaporizers and e-cigarettes are used. Glycerine and propelyne-glycol two of the main ingredients in e-liquids and e-cigarettes and not enough study has been done on them to determine how harmful they are. However there are many chemicals like diacetyl that have negative effects on the respiratory system when inhaled. However in the department of fertility and dirtying the air vaping so far has a clean record. Vaping has not been seen to lesson one’s ability to impregnate or become pregnant so far giving it a leg up on smoking. Vaping also does not leave behind a trail of smoke like cigarettes removing the problem of second hand smoking entirely.

Now that both have been examined can we gleam the final answer? Not necessarily. Vaping is new as it was said before so we don’t have enough data on it but so far it seems to be a better alternative and is commonly used for people trying to quit smoking. While not totally harmless most of the studies done so far seem to indicate at least a slight improvement over smoking. This means until the day we find vaping’s deep dark cloudy and delicious secret we can say that vaping is safer than smoking.