*2022 Update - Now you can enjoy your favourite SMOKO flavour in our new, pre-filled pod style vape - the SMOKO VAPE POD!
Though E-Cigarettes have only been around for the last 15 years or so they have somehow become the centre of a web of myths saying everything from they encourage smoking to that they are somehow even more deadly than cigarettes.
In today’s article we will look at some of the most common myths around E-Cigarettes and show that not only are E-Cigarettes nowhere near as bad as these myths would have you believe, but one of the best tools for smokers who are looking to get away from smoking.
MYTH 1 - “VAPING CAUSES POPCORN LUNG”
Popcorn lung is a rare disease in which the lungs’ airways become stiff and scarred.
It’s proper name is bronchiolitis obliterans though sometimes it’s abbreviated as BO or constrictive bronchiolitis. What makes it so scary is that popcorn lung scars the smallest airways within the lungs (bronchioles) and damages these tiny air sacs. This reduces the lungs capacity to hold air and the efficiency in which they transfer the oxygen to the blood is reduced hugely and causes long term damage.
It got its name from where it was discovered, a popcorn factory in the USA. At the time a lot of food items used a chemical called diacetyl to make food taste creamier or more like butter, but it was discovered that when turned into a gas diacetyl can cause a lot of damage to the lungs.
The reason that it was linked to E-Cigarettes is that about 5 years ago some very cheap e-liquids in the USA started to add it to their vape products. Though only a few cases of popcorn lung from e-cigarettes ever appeared, it was enough to scare people.
The good news is that since 2016 no product made or sold in the UK will have diacetyl in, as the TPD (Tobacco Products Directive) law forbids it being added in.
Here at SMOKO as all our liquids have always been made in the UK we have never added diacetyl to our liquids.
Conclusion - This is now a myth, if you buy any e-cigarette from the UK or from a trusted source then there is no chance of your vaping products giving you popcorn lung.
MYTH 2 - “VAPE IS A GATEWAY TO SMOKING”
It is understandable that people worry that the numbers of smokers is going to rise again, and that is something that none of us want. And to those who don’t know anything about E-Cigarettes it can look like they will tempt people into getting addicted to nicotine. And that could be an issue, after all E-Cigarettes are meant to be for smokers who are looking for a healthier alternative to tobacco smoking, not for non-smokers.
However this is just not happening. The first study to look into this in 2017 looked at the average high school student and found that although some of the young and non-smokers are trying e-cigarettes, continued use by non-smokers is extremely rare.
*2022 Update - We quizzed over 100 SMOKO customers and found over 60% of those asked hadn't had a cigarette in over a year! Here is a chart to show you our results that indicate vaping is not a gateway to smoking!
Cancer Research UK also looked into this issue to make sure that that this is true and found much the same thing, that although there are some non-smokers who are trying vaping, it is extremely rare.
They went on to say: "This study found that it is equally likely that trying an e-cigarette “causes” trying smoking, as trying smoking “causes” trying an e-cigarette."
The study also looked at uptake from non-smokers who were tried an e-cigarette then went to smoking and found it was less than 2%.
The charity ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) compiled their findings as well, and found that “Fewer than 1% of never smokers are current vapers”
Conclusion - This is a myth, there are a few people who try E-cigarettes out of curiosity, but that almost certainly doesn’t translate to trying tobacco.
MYTH 3 - “VAPING DOES NOT HELP SMOKERS”
Another myth that pops up now and then is that E-cigarettes are useless, that they don’t help cigarette users get away from cigarette products.
This has been proven to be wrong, with multiple studies showing that E-Cigarettes are actually better at getting smokers away from regular cigarettes than nicotine gum or nicotine patches.
In fact in one study by Cancer Research UK they found that E-Cigarettes can be almost TWICE as effective as a smoking cessation tool than patches or gum or any other nicotine replacement therapy.
This is because not only are you getting the nicotine from the E-Cigarette like you do with the patches and the gum, but you get the feeling and taste of a cigarette as well.
This can be extremely useful for smokers as it satisfies the psychological craving for a cigarette by giving the same habit as you had before, just without the carcinogens and toxins.
Conclusion - 100% a myth. All three products, patches, gum and E-Cigarettes do require willpower, but vaping has been shown to be just as (if not much more) helpful to people quitting smoking.
MYTH 4 - “VAPE CONTAINS THE SAME CANCEROUS CHEMICALS AS CIGARETTES”
There have been some huge headlines that seem to indicate that smoking has as many, if not more, carcinogens (cancer causing chemicals) in them than cigarettes. The thinking seems to be that as both E-Cigarettes and tobacco have nicotine in, they must share the same danger.
But this isn’t true, especially for nicotine which isn’t carcinogenic at all.
Test after test have been run on the water vapor electronic cigarettes make and they found that they are much better than cigarettes, with Public Health England (the English health agency) repeatedly saying that E-Cigarettes are at least 95% less harmful than cigarettes.
Other studies have said that number might even be higher, with Cancer Research UK saying E-cigarettes could be closer to 97% less harmful than tobacco.
Where this myth more than likely came from was a study we mention in this article, where they found that if you heated up e-liquid up to a very high temperature than you can create harmful chemicals. However (and this is a big however) the temperature has to be much higher than any e-liquid is meant to go. It would be like saying that there are carcinogens in all food if you cook it so much that it turns in charcoal.
There are carcinogens in charcoal, but that isn’t the way you are meant to eat broccoli!
Conclusion - Almost 100% a myth. If you want to be certain though make sure that you are using a fixed low voltage E-cigarette like our E-Cigarette starter kits then there shouldn’t be anything to worry about.
MYTH 5 - “WE DON’T KNOW WHAT CHEMICALS ARE IN E-LIQUIDS”
For many people they do not want to make the same mistake we all did with cigarettes, that is using them without knowing what is in them. However while most of the other myths have a seed of truth which has been twisted, this one is flat out wrong.
Here at SMOKO we are proud of our UK made e-liquid, and know exactly what is in them. That isn’t very hard though as there are only 4 ingredients!
1 . NICOTINE– The reason why smokers smoke, and how E-Cigarettes help smokers move away from tobacco products.
- PROPYLENE GLYCOL – Also known as PG, this is used in cakes, salad dressings, soft drinks, fat-free ice cream and some medicines. PG has been thoroughly tested to ensure it’s safe. PG is what carries the flavour and nicotine and what creates the “throat hit” in an e-cigarette or vape.
3 . VEGETABLE GLYCERIINE – Also known as VG, this is used in sweets, gum and more. It’s colourless, odourless and non-toxic. It is the main ingredient that creates the vapour in a vape e-cigarette.
4 . FLAVOURING – These flavourings are also used for almost every food or drink product we consume every day, they don’t leave an aftertaste and have been approved for human use for years.
But if you need more proof that they are safe, all liquids made or sold in the UK have to pass the TPD (Tobacco Products Directive), these regulations means all E-liquids have to be tested before they are sold in order to make sure they are safe.
Conclusion - A complete myth, we are proud of our UK made E-liquids and know exactly what is in them!
MYTH 6 - “ SECOND HAND VAPING IS HARMFUL”
2nd hand smoke from tobacco can be extremely dangerous, causing 34,000 deaths in the US alone. In smoke there is more than 7,000 chemicals, of which hundreds are toxic and about 70 can cause cancer. It is natural then to worry about the vapour from e-cigarettes, after all it looks like the smoke from a cigarette.
The good news is that according to the NHS there is nothing to worry about. According to them the two main dangers of cigarette smoke, tar or carbon monoxide, aren’t in the vapour that comes from an e-cigarette.
Mainly what is in E-cigarette vapour will be nicotine, however the amount in the vapour will be tiny. In fact vape users will absorb 93.8% of the nicotine in the vapour, leaving very little to be breathed out.
For a more in depth look at what all the science says you can read our article on this issue, but they all say the same thing, that there is no real risk from vapour.
Conclusion - Big Myth, even the most anti-e-cigarette studies out there admit that there almost nothing coming out of the vapour to harm anyone, especially if you compare it to cigarette smoke!
MYTH 7 - “IT’S DANGEROUS TO INHALE PG”
PG (Propylene Glycol) as we mentioned is one of the main ingredients of e-cigarettes, and recently some mis-informed people have raised the worry that it might be harming e-cigarette users. The long and the short of it is that no, PG isn’t dangerous.
Various studies have looked at this and found that apart from one study on animals where some female rats gained weight, and the monkey’s faces got dryer, not much changed when animals were exposed to PG in vapour.
The only things that you have to be aware with PG is that you can be allergic (though only 0.8% of people are afflicted by this), and that it can make your throat dry if you use it a lot.
Conclusion - Complete Myth (unless you are allergic). In the extremely unlikely case you react to PG then this might be an issue, however if that’s not the case then the worst PG can do is make you want to drink a glass of water.
MYTH 8 - “E-CIGARETTES ARE COSTLY”
Out of all the myths about vape this is a strange one, as unlike the others where we have to get scientists to test them, we can disprove this one right now.
An average pack of 20 cigarettes costs £10+ (and the price will always rise), but let’s stick with £10 as that is a nice round number.
If you smoke 20 cigarettes a day, in 1 week you have spent £70.
Now a box of E-Cigarette refills is £9.99 and has 5 refills in, with each refill having about 30 cigarettes worth of nicotine in.
To make this easy let us say this 20 a day smoker instead uses 1 refill a day (that is more than the 20 a day smoker would, but no-one wants to get into fractions!). With a box of 5 refills being £9.99, each refill is £2.
That means that per day the now ex-smoker is spending £2.
In savings that is £8 a day, £56 a week, £240 a month and £2920 a year!
This doesn’t even include extra savings like our weekly deals, where the ex-smoker could save even more money.
Conclusion - Myth BUSTED!
DEBUNKING MYTHS SURROUNDING E-CIGARETTES CONCLUSION
Almost all of these myths are either from a tiny bit of truth that has been blown out of proportion, or are just made up entirely to either sell newspapers or just to scare people.
We hope this has helped if you have been unsure about E-cigarettes, and if you are a smoker who wants to get away from cigarettes, but were put off from E-cigarettes by one or more of these myths, why not check out our popular e-cigarette and vape starter kits and see if they can help move to a 95% less harmful alternative? You can can get the nicotine you need, but without the tar and other chemicals in cigarettes!
*2022 Update - Now you can get a FREE E-Cigarette starter kit when you buy a box of SMOKO E-Cigarette refills! (One per customer)
