Vaping or smoking through vaporizers has become fashionable among certain sectors of the population.
Some teens take up vaping because “it seems cool” and people won’t look at them as badly as if they smoked traditional tobacco cigarettes or joints. And many of the people who start vaping are (tobacco) smokers who are trying to quit vaping, using them as a kind of replacement therapy for something apparently less harmful.
But is it true that switching to vaping helps you quit smoking tobacco? We’ll see.
Vaping is definitely less harmful in the short term than smoking tobacco. But not good for health
Electronic cigarettes work by burning different substances, which create aerosols with harmful substances.
Reasons why vaping is not a good method to quit smoking
The Preventive Services Task Force of the United States of America has concluded that There is not enough scientific evidence to recommend the use of electronic cigarettes as an effective resource to quit smoking Let’s see why.
1. You maintain smoking behavior patterns
Smoking tobacco is very addictive, not only because of the nicotine, but because of other elements that make it easier to reinforce the habit. When a person lights and smokes a cigarette, there is a whole series of rituals and mechanical, repetitive gestures The repetition of these formulas helps establish any habit.
Well, when you vape, you are maintaining many of those elements. When you feel “the urge to smoke,” you respond to that sensation with the act of taking the vaporizer out of your pocket, the sensation of the vapor in your throat and nose (and all the associated tastes and smells, which in the case of vapers are usually pleasant smells, fruit smells, etc.).
You put all those elements together, and you have a product that will continue to take advantage of those keys to make the person dependent on it.
2. From traditional cigarette to electronic cigarette, and from electronic cigarette to traditional cigarette
There is no scientific evidence to show that smokers who start vaping quit smoking tobacco or even stop vaping. Among smokers who have switched to vaporizers with the intention of quitting, many have ended up returning to tobacco shortly after (or smoking and vaping at the same time).
This occurs because, since the experiences of smoking tobacco and vaping are so similar, the person maintains the “smoking habit”, but with very little or no nicotine. This, in many cases, means that the smoker “does not know enough” and ends up escalating the consumption of vapers, and eventually switching back to traditional cigarettes to once again enjoy their dose of nicotine.
3. Vaping is not a good method to quit smoking, because the person continues smoking
Many of my therapy patients (who have used electronic cigarettes at some point) tell me how they ended up buying tobacco again. in some moment of crisis, vulnerability, anxiety
E-cigarettes had simply kept them very close to tobacco, sometimes buying those products in the same place where tobacco was sold. So the transition back to tobacco was too easy.
4. Vaping is smoking
Vaping is smoking. When a smoker switches to vaping, he could be sending himself the implicit idea that he will never quit smoking. You vape because you don’t know how to stop feeling the need to do so.
If you want to quit smoking, you reduce how much you smoke until you quit. Using vaporizers as a substitute creates a false sense of security
It’s like when someone who wants to lose weight, instead of stopping buying mayonnaise, simply switches to “low-fat” mayonnaise. The impact of this change on your health will be minimal, and it still does not address the main problem, which is that you do not know how to eat without abusing ultra-processed sauces.
5. You are still a slave to the tobacco companies
Most vaping products (vaporizers, oils, etc.) are products of the tobacco companies themselves It is simply another formula to continue milking their cows (smokers) and continue contributing financially to one of the least ethical industries in the history of humanity.
6. You distract yourself from the real treatments
By using vaping as a method to quit smoking, you are displacing other treatments that do have effectiveness with proven scientific evidence If you start vaping on your own, you stop going to the doctor or psychologist to help you with a cessation treatment to quit smoking.
In the same way, replacing regular cigarettes with electronic cigarettes does not bring you closer to your goal of quitting tobacco, it often takes you further away.
How to quit smoking (without vaping)
Vaping as a substitute for tobacco does not work. E-cigarettes do not help people quit smoking. They simply distract them for a while until they start smoking tobacco again.
In a real treatment to quit smoking they will help you:
I am Luis Miguel Real, a psychologist specializing in addictions. I have helped hundreds of people quit smoking and avoid possible relapses into smoking.
If you have made the firm decision to quit smoking permanently (forever), contact me.
