Kicking a smoking habit can be tough, and if you’ve ever thought about or tried to stop smoking you know how difficult it can be. The Centres For Disease Control and Prevention claim nearly 70% of adult smokers want to quit, and nearly half of all smokers have tried to quit in the last year. However, only 7.5% of those of that tried to quit successfully kicked the habit for good. Luckily, here in the United Kingdom we have a strong support network and multiple nicotine replacement products when it comes to putting down the cigs.
Cutting out smoking is one of the best things you can do for your health and an NHS study found that participants with support were twice as likely to quit smoking using e-cigarettes to cut out combustable tobacco.
Vaping, but more specifically disposable vapes have seen a huge increase in popularity within the UK due to their no nonsense and easy to use approach to vaping. The question is though, are they as harmful as smoking and is vaping disposables worse than regular vaping? Some questions you may have around disposable vape kits will be answered throughout.
Is vaping Disposables more harmful than smoking?
To quickly put your mind at rest, no form of vaping nicotine (whether this is from disposables or refillable kits) is not more harmful than smoking. Public Health England maintain that vaping is 95% healthier than smoking and ongoing research suggests its still one of the leading methods in helping smokers quit for good. Mechanically, disposable vape kits work the same way as regular e-cigarettes. They heat e-liquid (usually containing nicotine) which provides a vapour for you to inhale. Studies suggest that most of the toxic chemicals found in traditional smoking are not found in Vaping. This also applies for other nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products, such as nicotine gum.
Professor Peter Hajek, Queen Mary University London and independent author of the review said:
“My reading of the evidence is that smokers who switch to vaping remove almost all the risks smoking poses to their health. Smokers differ in their needs and I would advise them not to give up on e-cigarettes if they do not like the first one they try. It may take some experimentation with different products and e-liquids to find the right one.”
Is vaping disposables worse than vaping regular refillable e-cigarettes?
This question is posed pretty frequently in vaping-skeptics across the UK, and I completely understand as to why. As soon as you head to the likes of Twitter, Facebook and Tiktok; vaping gets a pretty bad reputation on these social media sites, but more specifically disposables are under fire. Disposable vape critics have thrown wild allegations such as “with disposables you’re vaping battery acid” which is scarily untrue. Disposable vapes work in the exact same way as a regular vape kit, by heating the e-liquid, which produce vapour for the user to inhale. So for absolute clarity, vaping disposables is no more harmful than regular vaping.
Has anyone died from vaping?
As you may have well heard in the news in recent years, regular vaping got dragged through the mud and into the news when it was identified in America there has been lung injuries and deaths associated with Vaping a chemical called vitamin E Acetate, commonly found in E-liquids containing THC. This discovery, which had nothing to do with regular vaping was interestingly only found in the US, there has been no similar lung disease outbreak in England, although the MHRA has received reports of 2 deaths through the Yellow Card Scheme where vaping was suspected to be implicated. However, the connection with nicotine-containing vaping products has not yet been established. There is more information in the January 2020 MHRA drug safety update.
Are disposable vapes safe?
The answer to this depends entirely on context. Public Health England maintain that vaping is 95% healthier than smoking, but vaping is not safer than being tee total. Professor Kevin Fenton, Director of Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England said:
“E-cigarettes are not completely risk free but when compared to smoking, evidence shows they carry just a fraction of the harm. The problem is people increasingly think they are at least as harmful and this may be keeping millions of smokers from quitting. Local stop smoking services should look to support e-cigarette users in their journey to quitting completely”
Should I use disposables if I didn’t smoke before?
Again to give a brief answer, no you shouldn’t use disposables or vape in any capacity. Most disposables contain nicotine which is an addictive chemical, and one of the most addictive substances out there. If you have not smoked before, and take up vaping (with nicotine) – you pose a risk exposing yourself to nicotine addiction which can be extremely difficult to stop.
However, if you’re going to vape no matter what (after all, we can’t sit hear and tell you what to do) and you haven’t smoked previously, the best thing for you do to is to buy either nicotine free e-liquid or 0mg disposables.
Should I vape instead of smoke on a night out?
As humans, naturally we conform to the norms or ideologies within our social circle. Nicotine ingestion, whether it’s through smoking or vaping will often occur during these times of social interaction. From in the beer garden at your local in summer, or popping out to the smoking area in a nightclub; it happens. If smoking or vaping is within these situations, even as somebody who doesn’t usually do it, it can be tempting to do so. Firstly, we would obviously recommend not to smoke at all. Social smoking is the leading cause of smokers becoming addicted. If you are going out, and you know you’re going to smoke then yes buy a vape kit. A disposable is a perfect substitute for this; easy to use, tastes good and doesn’t matter if you lose it. But if you buy one containing nicotine, remember 20mg or 2% is the maximum amount of nicotine allowed in e-liquid in the UK. So if there is an option to buy 0% then do so, failing that try something lower than 20mg/2%. If you happen to have some left the next day, don’t touch it, just save it for the next time you go out. Nicotine dependancy will start if you make it part of your day to day routine.
Are Disposable vapes as addictive as cigarettes?
Any nicotine replacement product is just as addictive as traditional smoking. Disposable vape kits are no exception to this rule. Both cigarettes and regular cigarettes contain nicotine, and are therefore as addictive. If you’re not sure where to start in terms of what level of nicotine nic salt to choose, it’s important to get the correct advice. You can talk to one of our team members on our live chat now.
Vaping amongst the underage, is it growing in popularity?
In a study published by ASH in June 2021 (Action on smoking and health); a large majority of 11-17 year olds have never tried (77.7%) or are unaware of e-cigarettes (10.5%). The report also details the lack in use of e-cigarettes for those who have never smoked. Use of e-cigarettes remains largely confined to current or former smokers. The overwhelming majority, 95.4% in total, of 11-17 year old never smokers have either never used an e-cigarette (84.3%) or are not aware of them.
It still poses the question, is there underage users who have never smoked before? Since 2015 there has been a slight increase in 11-18 year old current e-cigarette use since 2015 from 2.4% to 4.1% in 2021, but only 1.5% of young people used e-cigarettes more than once a week in 2021.Current use of e-cigarettes among 11-18 year olds is higher among current smokers (43.5%) than former smokers (14.1%), and it is very low in never smokers (0.7%).
McNeill, A. et al. Evidence review of e- cigarettes and heated tobacco products 2018. A report commissioned by Public Health England (2018).
Royal College of Physicians. Nicotine without smoke: Tobacco harm reduction. (2016).
Goniewicz, M. L. et al. Exposure to Nicotine and Selected Toxicants in Cigarette Smokers Who Switched to Electronic Cigarettes: A Longitudinal Within-Subjects Observational Study. Nicotine Tob. Res. 19, 160–167 (2017)
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain. 2021.
Are Disposable vape kits more harmful than Smoking?
Kicking a smoking habit can be tough, and if you’ve ever thought about or tried to stop smoking you know how difficult it can be. The Centres For Disease Control and Prevention claim nearly 70% of adult smokers want to quit, and nearly half of all smokers have tried to quit in the last year. However, only 7.5% of those of that tried to quit successfully kicked the habit for good. Luckily, here in the United Kingdom we have a strong support network and multiple nicotine replacement products when it comes to putting down the cigs.
Cutting out smoking is one of the best things you can do for your health and an NHS study found that participants with support were twice as likely to quit smoking using e-cigarettes to cut out combustable tobacco.
Vaping, but more specifically disposable vapes have seen a huge increase in popularity within the UK due to their no nonsense and easy to use approach to vaping. The question is though, are they as harmful as smoking and is vaping disposables worse than regular vaping? Some questions you may have around disposable vape kits will be answered throughout.
Is vaping Disposables more harmful than smoking?
To quickly put your mind at rest, no form of vaping nicotine (whether this is from disposables or refillable kits) is not more harmful than smoking. Public Health England maintain that vaping is 95% healthier than smoking and ongoing research suggests its still one of the leading methods in helping smokers quit for good. Mechanically, disposable vape kits work the same way as regular e-cigarettes. They heat e-liquid (usually containing nicotine) which provides a vapour for you to inhale. Studies suggest that most of the toxic chemicals found in traditional smoking are not found in Vaping. This also applies for other nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products, such as nicotine gum.
Professor Peter Hajek, Queen Mary University London and independent author of the review said:
Is vaping disposables worse than vaping regular refillable e-cigarettes?
This question is posed pretty frequently in vaping-skeptics across the UK, and I completely understand as to why. As soon as you head to the likes of Twitter, Facebook and Tiktok; vaping gets a pretty bad reputation on these social media sites, but more specifically disposables are under fire. Disposable vape critics have thrown wild allegations such as “with disposables you’re vaping battery acid” which is scarily untrue. Disposable vapes work in the exact same way as a regular vape kit, by heating the e-liquid, which produce vapour for the user to inhale. So for absolute clarity, vaping disposables is no more harmful than regular vaping.
Has anyone died from vaping?
As you may have well heard in the news in recent years, regular vaping got dragged through the mud and into the news when it was identified in America there has been lung injuries and deaths associated with Vaping a chemical called vitamin E Acetate, commonly found in E-liquids containing THC. This discovery, which had nothing to do with regular vaping was interestingly only found in the US, there has been no similar lung disease outbreak in England, although the MHRA has received reports of 2 deaths through the Yellow Card Scheme where vaping was suspected to be implicated. However, the connection with nicotine-containing vaping products has not yet been established. There is more information in the January 2020 MHRA drug safety update.
Are disposable vapes safe?
The answer to this depends entirely on context. Public Health England maintain that vaping is 95% healthier than smoking, but vaping is not safer than being tee total. Professor Kevin Fenton, Director of Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England said:
“E-cigarettes are not completely risk free but when compared to smoking, evidence shows they carry just a fraction of the harm. The problem is people increasingly think they are at least as harmful and this may be keeping millions of smokers from quitting. Local stop smoking services should look to support e-cigarette users in their journey to quitting completely”
Should I use disposables if I didn’t smoke before?
Again to give a brief answer, no you shouldn’t use disposables or vape in any capacity. Most disposables contain nicotine which is an addictive chemical, and one of the most addictive substances out there. If you have not smoked before, and take up vaping (with nicotine) – you pose a risk exposing yourself to nicotine addiction which can be extremely difficult to stop.
However, if you’re going to vape no matter what (after all, we can’t sit hear and tell you what to do) and you haven’t smoked previously, the best thing for you do to is to buy either nicotine free e-liquid or 0mg disposables.
Should I vape instead of smoke on a night out?
As humans, naturally we conform to the norms or ideologies within our social circle. Nicotine ingestion, whether it’s through smoking or vaping will often occur during these times of social interaction. From in the beer garden at your local in summer, or popping out to the smoking area in a nightclub; it happens. If smoking or vaping is within these situations, even as somebody who doesn’t usually do it, it can be tempting to do so. Firstly, we would obviously recommend not to smoke at all. Social smoking is the leading cause of smokers becoming addicted. If you are going out, and you know you’re going to smoke then yes buy a vape kit. A disposable is a perfect substitute for this; easy to use, tastes good and doesn’t matter if you lose it. But if you buy one containing nicotine, remember 20mg or 2% is the maximum amount of nicotine allowed in e-liquid in the UK. So if there is an option to buy 0% then do so, failing that try something lower than 20mg/2%. If you happen to have some left the next day, don’t touch it, just save it for the next time you go out. Nicotine dependancy will start if you make it part of your day to day routine.
Are Disposable vapes as addictive as cigarettes?
Any nicotine replacement product is just as addictive as traditional smoking. Disposable vape kits are no exception to this rule. Both cigarettes and regular cigarettes contain nicotine, and are therefore as addictive. If you’re not sure where to start in terms of what level of nicotine nic salt to choose, it’s important to get the correct advice. You can talk to one of our team members on our live chat now.
Vaping amongst the underage, is it growing in popularity?
In a study published by ASH in June 2021 (Action on smoking and health); a large majority of 11-17 year olds have never tried (77.7%) or are unaware of e-cigarettes (10.5%). The report also details the lack in use of e-cigarettes for those who have never smoked. Use of e-cigarettes remains largely confined to current or former smokers. The overwhelming majority, 95.4% in total, of 11-17 year old never smokers have either never used an e-cigarette (84.3%) or are not aware of them.
It still poses the question, is there underage users who have never smoked before? Since 2015 there has been a slight increase in 11-18 year old current e-cigarette use since 2015 from 2.4% to 4.1% in 2021, but only 1.5% of young people used e-cigarettes more than once a week in 2021.Current use of e-cigarettes among 11-18 year olds is higher among current smokers (43.5%) than former smokers (14.1%), and it is very low in never smokers (0.7%).
Reference List:
Websites
Journals
McNeill, A. et al. Evidence review of e- cigarettes and heated tobacco products 2018. A report commissioned by Public Health England (2018).
Royal College of Physicians. Nicotine without smoke: Tobacco harm reduction. (2016).
Goniewicz, M. L. et al. Exposure to Nicotine and Selected Toxicants in Cigarette Smokers Who Switched to Electronic Cigarettes: A Longitudinal Within-Subjects Observational Study. Nicotine Tob. Res. 19, 160–167 (2017)
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain. 2021.