Vaping vs Smoking

Vaping is fundamentally different from smoking cigarettes. Vaping uses a modern, battery-powered device to heat a flavoured e-liquid until it vaporises, allowing inhalation without combustion. Conversely, cigarettes burn tobacco – an ingredient absent from e-cigarettes and e-liquid – and the smoke produced from burning tobacco is then inhaled.

Vaping has been around since 2003, and scientific research has shown the significantly reduced health risk associated with adult smokers switching to using vaping relative to continuing to smoking traditional tobacco products.

Vaping vs smoking: What’s the difference?

Smoking burns tobacco to produce tobacco smoke so it can be inhaled.  Whereas vaping heats a liquid, known as e-liquid, to produce an aerosol or vapour. The aerosol produced by heating e-liquid has a much simpler chemical structure than cigarette smoke which contains up to 7,000 distinct chemical constituents. Smokers who switch to vaping will therefore substantially reduce exposure to inhaled carcinogens and toxicants. Lower toxicant exposure is likely to reduce the risk of chronic diseases associated with smoking, including cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 

Peer-reviewed research testing for 51 chemicals in cigarette smoke of public health interest identified by the US Food & Drug Administration as Harmful or Potentially Harmful Constituents (HPHCs) of cigarette smoke show our myblu vape aerosols yield less than one microgram per puff. This level of inhalation is 99% less than the 381 micrograms per puff quantified and published for cigarette smoke.

As well as the differences between vaping and smoking – we should also bear in mind the similarities – which go some way to explaining vaping’s popularity among adult smokers seeking a less harmful alternative. These include the hand to mouth movement and inhalation, which many vapers associate with ritual and relaxation. Other nicotine products like snus and medically approved Nicotine Replacement Therapy products do not share this similarity.

What are e-liquids?

E-liquids are the liquid used in e-cigarettes and vape devices. When heated by the device battery, an internal coil heats the e-liquid and turns it into a vapour which can then be inhaled. E-liquids come in a variety of flavours and may contain nicotine. Vape e-liquids do not contain any tobacco, although they may be flavoured to taste like tobacco.

An important characteristic of vape e-liquid is the variety of flavours in which they are available. While you can flavour cigarettes with mint or fruit, the overwhelming taste is still tobacco and smoke. Conversely, e-liquids can be flavoured in an almost unlimited number of ways, allowing consumers to find something they like and something that does not resemble tobacco smoke.

Consumer research has shown that adult smokers frequently start their journey towards vaping by using familiar tobacco or mint e-liquid flavours, but over time start to experiment with new vape flavours that don’t remind them of smoking.  A wide variety of e-liquid flavours is therefore important to help adult smokers transition to vaping and stay with the category.