Vapes, which were originally designed as a way to wean people off cigarettes or tobacco, are now sometimes being used (particularly among young people) as what some may falsely believe is a harmless introduction to nicotine.
In 2023, 15% of experimental vapers aged 11-17 and 32% of regular vapers in the same age group said they’d never touched a cigarette before trying a vape (per Action on Smoking and Health, or ASH).
A lot of e-cigarettes and vape brands are also owned by tobacco companies, and vape marketing has been criticised by the government for seemingly appealing to younger audiences.
With all that information, perhaps it’s not so shocking that in a recent TikTok, surgeon Dr Karan Rajan stitched a video in which another app user read that one bar of her brand of vape had as much nicotine as 12 packs of cigarettes.
“If you think vaping is the best way to quit smoking, you’ve been lied to,” he began.
It’s better than smoking, but neither vaping nor smoking is the best option for your health, the NHS says.
That’s partly because, as Dr Rajan explains, “a single vape pod can contain around 60mg of nicotine, depending on the brand and strength.”
That’s 60mg against the standard 1-2 mg of nicotine your body can absorb from a cigarette, the doctor adds.
“So one vape pod [can be] easily a pack of cigarettes or more” in nicotine, he continues, though they don’t contain some of the harmful ingredients in cigarette smoke.
Because the experience of vaping is “smoother” than smoking, and brands come up with fun flavours, the doctor adds, people can “puff away and chain vape through multiple pods ― unknowingly super dosing on nicotine, turbocharging their addiction, and frying their dopamine pathways.”
According to Dr Rajan, vaping “is only moderately better” than quitting cigarettes cold turkey at stopping smokers.
The NHS disagrees, saying vapes are “one of the most effective tools for quitting smoking” ― though they do add “Vaping has not been around for long enough to know the risks of long-term use,” and stress not smoking or vaping at all is best.
Still, the FDA does not include vaping in their list of safe ways to quit tobacco.
The NHS says on their stopping smoking page that some great ways to leave the smoke behind include:
You can find out more about the NHS’ Stop Smoking initiatives, which offer free advice and resources, here.
@dr.karanr The burden of vaping OC: @conorkilbridge
♬ original sound - Dr Karan Raj
