The reasons why people take up ‘vaping’ as some users call smoking an electronic cigarette are various but for the majority, at least in the first instance, health reasons predominate. Most smokers have at least tried to give up at some time and no one can now be unaware of the health problems that go with smoking tobacco but giving up is not easy. Even with electronic cigarettes, gum or patches, willpower is a huge factor which not many people have in large quantities. Other reasons include being able to ‘smoke’ anywhere and – once the numbers are crunched – savings.
Savings are definitely substantial
Anyone smoking twenty cigarettes a day is in line for savings of up to £3000 a year if they change to electronic cigarettes. This figure is based on a fairly middle of the road cost e-cig and average ‘puffs’ per pack so for some people it will be more and for others less, but even as an average three thousand pounds is not to be sniffed at. Looked at in terms of things you could buy, that is half of a cheap new car (all of a second-hand one); four foreign holidays (for one – two if you take the family); or five average mortgage repayments. It doesn’t matter how you look at it, it is a lot of money. Of course, if electronic cigarettes are a path to quitting, then the financial benefits are even greater, as well as being much better for the ex-smoker’s health.
Health benefits
The health risks of smoking does not come primarily from nicotine – which is the sole constituent that traditional cigarettes and electronic cigarettes share – but from the tars and additives that get inhaled along with it. Cutting these gives an immediate health benefit and most people, especially those who have problems with the lungs such as asthma, report that they immediately feel better when they move over to electronic cigarettes. Of course, if permanent damage has already been done by smoking, such as carcinoma or emphysema, e-cigs will not reverse it but it will certainly mean it won’t get any worse. One of the best health benefits of people smoking electronic cigarettes of course is that there are no secondary smoking issues. For that reason alone, the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) have given the figure of 57,000 lives saved over the next ten years, a figure that would grow if vaping became more widespread.
Choose your flavour
For everyone who hates the smell of cigarette smoke, there is an unexpected plus with electronic cigarettes. They come in all kinds of flavours and more are added to the range every day, but even the traditional taste of a traditional cigarette – normally called something like ‘classic’ by manufacturers – does not make clothes, hair and furnishings smell. The vapour does not cling like smoke does and so there is no lingering odours – although with flavours like popcorn and watermelon on offer, who would mind?