From accessories to flavors, vaping can seem very appealing. Unfortunately, it’s not as harmless as it seems. We know nicotine and other ingredients in e-liquids can hurt your body and we still don’t know what long-term health problems vaping could cause. If you don’t vape, don’t start. If you need help quitting, know that you’re not alone. There are online resources, texting and phone services and apps that connect you with real people to help you on your journey to kick the habit.
What is vaping?
Vaping is when you use a small, handheld device (like e-cigarettes, vape pens or mods) to inhale a mist of nicotine and flavoring (e-liquid). It’s similar to smoking a cigarette, but vaping heats tiny particles out of a liquid rather than burning tobacco.
How does vaping work?
Vaping works by heating liquid in a small device so you can breathe it into your lungs. The e-cigarette, vape pen or other vaping device heats the liquid in the device to create an aerosol. This isn’t water vapor. Mist from e-cigarettes contains particles of nicotine, flavoring and other substances suspended in air. You breathe these particles into your mouth from the mouthpiece, where they go down your throat and into your lungs.
What are e-cigarettes (vape pens)?
An electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) is a device that heats up the liquid nicotine and flavoring for you to breathe in. There are many varieties of e-cigarettes that go by different names, including vapes, vape pens or sticks, e-hookahs, hookah sticks, mods and personal vaporizers (PVs). They can also be collectively called electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).
Is vaping worse than cigarettes?
Vaping is often thought of as safer than cigarette smoking, but vaping causes health problems, too. Both vaping and smoking are addictive and bring potentially dangerous chemicals into your body. The levels of many of these chemicals is higher when you burn tobacco. Vaping hasn’t been around long enough to know what kind of long-term damage it might cause.
What does vaping do to your lungs?
The particles you inhale while vaping can cause inflammation (swelling) and irritation in your lungs. This can lead to lung damage like scarring and narrowing of the tubes that bring air in and out of your lungs. Researchers don’t yet know all the effects vaping can have on your body.
Isn’t vaping just water vapor?
No. Despite the name, vaping doesn’t make water vapor. It actually creates an aerosol (or mist) that contains small particles of nicotine, metal and other harmful substances.
What’s in e-liquid (e-juice)?
E-liquid, also called e-juice or vape juice, is what vaping devices use to make the vapor you breathe in. E-liquids aren’t just water. They usually contain:
- Flavoring. Each flavoring has its own set of ingredients.
- Nicotine, the addictive and harmful substance in cigarettes and other tobacco products.
- Propylene glycol and glycerin, used to create vapor.
- E-liquids and flavorings sometimes have other ingredients, including:
- Chemicals that can cause cancer (carcinogens), like acetaldehyde and formaldehyde.
- Chemicals known to cause lung disease, such as acrolein, diacetyl and diethylene glycol.
- THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the chemical in marijuana that gets you “high.”
- Vitamin E acetate, linked to lung injury caused by vaping (EVALI, see below).
- Heavy metals like nickel, tin, lead and cadmium.
- Tiny (ultrafine) particles that can get deep into your lungs.
What are the dangers of vaping?
The dangers of vaping include lung and other organ damage, breathing problems, addiction and more. People tend to think of vaping as “safer” than smoking, but it’s not safe.
Problems vaping causes include:
- Asthma: Vaping can make you more likely to get asthma and other lung conditions. It can make your existing asthma worse.
- Lung scarring: Diacetyl, a chemical used in some flavorings, can cause bronchiolitis obliterans (“popcorn lung”). Bronchiolitis obliterans causes permanent scarring in your lungs.
- Organ damage. In addition to your lungs, nicotine and other substances in e-liquid can hurt your heart and brain. We know nicotine can hurt brain development, raise your blood pressure and narrow your arteries.
- EVALI (e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury): EVALI is a serious lung condition that vaping causes. It causes widespread damage to your lungs and gives you symptoms like coughing, shortness of breath and chest pain. EVALI can be fatal.
- Addiction: Nicotine is highly addictive. It causes changes in your brain so you want more and more nicotine. You might not be able to stop vaping if you want to or if it starts causing health problems. Even e-liquids that say they’re nicotine free have small amounts of nicotine.
- Cigarette smoking: Many people start out vaping and end up smoking cigarettes, which contain higher amounts of harmful chemicals.
- Second-hand exposure: Vaping doesn’t make smoke, but people around you are exposed to nicotine and other chemicals when you vape.
- Explosions: There have been incidents of batteries in vaping devices exploding and causing serious injuries and burns.
- Cancer: Some ingredients in e-liquids are known to cause cancer.
Can vaping kill you?
In some cases, yes, you can die from lung injuries vaping causes. For instance, 68 people died in an outbreak of vaping-related illness (EVALI) in 2019 and 2020.
Does vaping help you quit smoking?
Vaping isn’t approved as a way to quit smoking. Approved methods include patches, inhalers, lozenges and gum. While vaping might help you quit smoking, it probably won’t help you quit nicotine altogether.
In a recent study, about 18% of people who switched to vaping had been able to quit smoking. That’s about twice as many people as those who used other methods to quit smoking. However, about 80% of people who quit smoking were still vaping. Of people who used other methods, 91% kicked nicotine products altogether.