From university students to current smokers trying to quit, the sweet smell of e-cigarette vapour is never far away.
Across all ages, vaping has become part of the social norm, with people vaping in clubs, restaurants and even spaces like libraries and classrooms.
Lucy Barker, 22, a student at the University of Sheffield, started vaping on holiday with her friends when she was 18 having never smoked before and found that when she returned, she had developed some health issues.
“When I initially came back from Zante, and I’d been vaping all the time I was there, I got a chest infection, and I was on antibiotics. A few months after that I got chest pain, and I wasn’t feeling very well at all.
“I remember one morning I woke up and my body just hurt, and I was like, I need to stop using it so much. I tried a few times to quit and then I did quit.
“I notice that if I use a vape on a night out, I’ll wake up in the morning and think ‘I feel awful’ and then I’ll think ‘How did I used to do that every single day?’”
Lucy described how difficult it was to break the habit, saying it took her much longer than the matter of days which she had been told due to the intense nicotine cravings she was experiencing.
Many are being lured into the false pretence that vaping is completely safe and ending up with bleeding gums, and a raging nicotine addiction.
The government is promoting vaping as a strategy to help smokers quit, but the consequence of producing vapes which taste and look nice which attracts young people to buy them.
Whilst e-cigarettes eliminate the tar and tobacco element of smoking, the vapour inhaled still contains chemicals – such as the highly addictive nicotine – which carry their own health risks.
Ruth Williams, a Senior Nurse Practitioner, is just one of the health professionals who promotes e-cigarettes to smokers but is also concerned about the potential damage vaping could have on non-smokers.
“My issue as a health professional is that it is a better alternative to smoking cigarettes, or rollies or cigars or pipes which we still sometimes get; however, what we have seen, and I haven’t seen this mentioned in the studies is a massive increase in new e-cigarette use.
“The whole idea of e-cigarettes was to help people stop smoking,but we have seen a massive increase in people starting smoking when they’ve never been a smoker and they’re generally amongst the younger people.”
Mrs Williams emphasised her sadness at seeing so many young school age children vaping and names peer pressure as one of the reasons why they do it.
One company which has been at the forefront of the rise in vaping is the American super-giant JUUL.
Created back in 2015 by James Monsees and Adam Bowen, it kick-started the drive for young e-cigarette users. They perceived vaping as trendy and fun, with their advertisements sporting beautiful, young models vaping and partying with their friends.
The catch is one JUUL pod is the equivalent of 20 cigarettes.
The company onced held 75 per cent of the US cigarette market estimated at the value of $38 billion.
This was until In 2019 Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi took JUUL to court for illegally advertising their products to children where they were found guilty and forced to pay a $439 million settlement.
But, Frances Thirlway, Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology at York University, claims most young people who are vaping now will stop before they reach adulthood.
“What you have historically is when people are young, they tend to try things, anything available. Most people then stop using whatever it is when they leave University and go into work, get married and have kids,
“In drug theory it’s called ‘ageing out of drugs.’ For most people they don’t have to have help to quit it just happens automatically.
Though, University College London’s research into e-cigarettes shows that since 2010 e-cigarettes have become the main supplier of the most addictive substance in smoking – nicotine. Their studies aim to eradicate the so-called stigma around the harms of vaping, with Professor Michael Russell stating:
“Smokers smoke for the nicotine but die from the tar.”
The UK has imposed strict regulations around the legal percentage of nicotine in e-cigarette products and only those 18 and over can purchase them. UCL’s tests into flavourings show that the concentrations are low enough to not pose a risk to public health and not all e-cigarettes contain nicotine.
Though, a quick search online shows hundred of instances of people falling seriously ill from using vape pens.
Eventhough these cases are rare they still hold the reminder of how constant puffing can change lives forever.
But, what remains to be true is that using an e-cigarette as a current smoker is a safer option than continuing to smoke, but it is not without its risks. As it stands, there is not enough evidence to suggest that vaping is completely safe, so if you have never smoked, it is safe to say do not start vaping.
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