Is Vaping Better Than Smoking Cigarettes?

Most people would likely agree (or at least be aware) that smoking cigarettes isn’t a healthy choice—but what about vaping? 

Vapes, also known as electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes, were introduced to the United States in 2006 and became popular in the 2000s (CASAA n.d.). Many brands saw increased popularity with younger smokers, who were especially drawn to the large selection of flavors. 

Questions of safety continually come up: Is vaping a healthy alternative to smoking cigarettes? Could vaping help a person quit smoking? Does vaping damage the lungs as much as cigarette smoke? Will the secondhand “smoke” from a vape cause the same damage as a cigarette’s?

Harmful Vape and E-Cigarette Ingredients
The central ingredient in cigarettes—nicotine—is generally present in a vape as well. Nicotine is extremely addictive, activating the reward system in the brain that encourages a person to continue using the substance. 

According to the National Institutes of Health, “nicotine in e-liquids is readily absorbed from the lungs into the bloodstream when a person vapes an e-cigarette” (NIDA 2020).

Nicotine isn’t the only concern for vape users, though. The e-liquid used in vape “juice” contains many other ingredients.

While some of the ingredients are innocuous when applied topically or ingested—such as vitamin E—they can be damaging when heated and inhaled as an aerosol.

Diacetyl and acrolein are two other common e-cigarette ingredients. These compounds are known to damage the lungs. Formaldehyde is also used frequently in vape e-liquid, and its ingestion leads to lung and heart disease (Johns Hopkins Medicine 2024). 

Heavy metals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and ultrafine particles can also damage the lungs (SAMHSA 2020).

Vaping-Related Medical Conditions
A number of medical conditions have been associated with vaping. Yale Medicine reports that, in 2019, “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began to investigate a steep rise in hospitalizations linked to the use of vaping products” (Yale Medicine n.d.). 

A few of these short-term risks include the following.

- Popcorn lung, which is a type of bronchitis resulting from damaged airways
- Lipoid pneumonia
- Collapsed lung
- EVALI, which is short for e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated with lung injury

Could Vaping Potentially Help A Person Quit Smoking?
The short answer is: we don’t yet have enough information to say “yes.” 

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved seven different “quit aids” for consumers who want to stop smoking; vaping is not an FDA-approved quit aid. At this point, there are not enough studies to back up the claims that vaping could help.

Safety Considerations for Vaping
Consider the following if you choose to vape:

- If you do not currently smoke, it is not recommended to start using vapes or e-cigarettes. The safest option is to avoid any type of smoking.
- Consider the ingredients and nicotine concentration of your e-cigarette or vape. Options without nicotine do exist. It may be helpful to “step down” from a higher concentration of nicotine if you are trying to quit.
- Always take chest or lung pain seriously. Any signs of breathing difficulty, chronic cough, or pain should be addressed with a doctor.
- Secondhand vapor isn’t harmless (Johns Hopkins Medicine 2024), contrary to popular belief. Be respectful of those who choose not to vape—take it outside and keep it far from children.
- Vape devices, pods, and batteries should be disposed of properly. These products are considered “hazardous materials,” and should be treated as such (University of Colorado Boulder 2022). Instead of throwing them in the trash or recycling, consult your local guidelines for disposal.
- While we have many years of data to quantify the risks of cigarette smoking, vaping is a fairly new habit, and there’s a lot we may have yet to discover about its long-term effects.
- We can look to what we know about cigarettes as a possible playbook for the risks of vaping. Cigarette smoking is known to increase the risk for heart disease, stroke, many types of cancer, and pregnancy complications.
- In order to satisfy the nicotine addiction, some vape users may end up turning to combustible cigarettes, which increases the known risks to their health.

If you or someone you know needs help to quit smoking, call LEAF at (607) 432-0090. Our staff are trained to provide resources to help you choose a healthy lifestyle.

Sources
American Heart Association. “The 101 on E-Cigarettes Infographic.” Accessed July 11, 2024. https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/quit-smoking-tobacco/the-101-on-e-cigarettes-infographic.

CASAA. “The History of Vaping.” Accessed July 11, 2024. https://casaa.org/education/vaping/historical-timeline-of-electronic-cigarettes/.

Johns Hopkins Medicine. “What Does Vaping Do to Your Lungs?” June 20, 2024. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/what-does-vaping-do-to-your-lungs.

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). “Vaping Devices (Electronic Cigarettes),” January 8, 2020. https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugfacts/vaping-devices-electronic-cigarettes.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). “Tobacco, E-Cigarettes, and Vaping,” June 6, 2023. https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/atod/tobacco.

University of Colorado Boulder Health & Wellness Services. “7 Things to Know about Vaping,” September 14, 2022. https://www.colorado.edu/health/blog/vaping.

Yale Medicine. “E-Cigarette, or Vaping Product, Use Associated Lung Injury (EVALI).” Accessed July 11, 2024. https://www.yalemedicine.org/conditions/evali.