Policymakers in Canada are struggling to control the rise of the youth vaping epidemic, resulting in a ban on flavoured vaping products across different provinces. However, health experts suggest that vaping ban will do more harm than good, pushing smokers back to smoking tobacco-infused cigarettes.

The debate on smoking vs. vaping is long, with different researchers and health experts discovering new findings. According to the Canadian Vaping Association, vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking. Research suggests that vaping is comparatively better than smoking in the long term as people who vape have lower levels of toxins and carcinogens in their bodies than those who smoke.  

The Debate on Smoking Vs. Vaping

Vaping has the potential to be an effective smoking cessation aid for smokers. According to a study conducted in 2019, enrollment invitations were emailed to adult past-year smokers who had received cessation services across Ontario, Canada. Respondents who vaped to quit smoking in the past year finished a detailed online survey, where approximately 20% reported having quit smoking effectively by vaping in the past year.

Vaping is regarded as a less harmful alternative to smoking by a number of respected medical associations, including Health Canada, Public Health England, and Public Health France, and is one of the most effective tools for aiding smokers who wish to quit.

While there is a lack of adequate scientific research on the health effects of vaping products, smoking has been long known for causing cancer, heart diseases, stroke, and more. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable illness and death in Canada, where approximately 48,000 Canadians die each year due to smoking while numerous others live with chronic diseases.

The key distinction between conventional cigarettes and vaping products is that the latter do not contain tobacco. However, it is not only tobacco in cigarettes that causes cancer and other serious diseases. Traditional cigarettes contain a list of chemicals that are proven to be harmful.

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, tobacco use is the leading risk factor for preventable diseases and deaths in Canada. Smokers are around twenty times more likely than non-smokers to acquire lung cancer. The longer an individual smokes and the more cigarettes they smoke per day, the greater their risk. 

Researchers and scientists have explored the health benefits and risks of nicotine-based alternatives to cigarettes for many years, offering significant evidence that pod vaping devices are less damaging to health than traditional cigarettes. 

Nicotine Content

The average cigarette has approximately 10-12 mg of nicotine. However, you only inhale about 1.1-1.8 mg of nicotine by the end of each cigarette which means that a pack of 20 cigarettes contains 22 to 36 mg of nicotine. On the other hand, nicotine content depends on e-liquid strengths in vaping products.

In smoking, the strength of nicotine is fixed. Therefore, the amount of nicotine a smoker gets depends on how much they smoke, which can be harmful, particularly where a cigarette roll comes with low nicotine content. A smoker would need several rolls to satisfy their nicotine craving while consuming a lot of toxic compounds. Vaping lets you control the amount of nicotine you take, as it depends on the e-liquid you choose. While nicotine is addictive, it isn’t toxic.

Canada has set a maximum nicotine content of 20 mg/ml for vaping products to protect youth from becoming addicted to nicotine. When smokers vape for smoking cessation, they can control the nicotine content in their e-liquids by choosing from different nicotine strengths. It’s best to start with nicotine that matches your smoking habits and slowly work towards being tobacco-free.

Typically, the majority of vapers work their way down, starting with high nicotine levels and later sticking to zero-level e-liquids. Nicotine e-liquids are classified into two categories: nicotine-freebase and nicotine salts. Nicotine freebase strengths include 0mg, 6mg, 12mg, 18mg, and 20mg. On the other hand, nicotine salts strength includes 0mg, 36mg, and 50mg.

Toxic Chemicals

A smoker inhales approximately 7000 chemicals, including hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, benzene, lead, and more. Among these chemicals, at least 69 have cancer-causing potential, and others are highly toxic. In contrast, vaping exposes you to fewer toxins. Smoking delivers nicotine through tobacco combustion, resulting in the formation of smoke that can be harmful.

Unlike smoking, vaping doesn’t include combustion. A built-in coil heats all the elements in the e-liquid, causing it to vaporize. Therefore, there are no harmful chemicals in the e-liquid; it’s improbable to become toxic upon being vaporized. It is worth remembering that some of the ingredients used in vaping products, including polyethylene glycol, are FDA-approved. 

The Bottom Line

Many public health authorities and researchers have found that vaping has important health benefits for a specific group of people: smokers who are looking forward to quitting. Although there are various ways to cease smoking, such as nicotine replacement therapies, cold turkey, and more, vaping has been far more effective in helping smokers quit as compared to other traditional methods.

Vaping delivers nicotine in a much safer way than smoking, and the number of e-liquids makes the transition easy. It imitates the gestures involved in smoking and delivers nicotine adequately, eliminating the need for cigarettes. If the Canadian government imposes a flavour ban on vaping, it would result in black market vaping products containing harmful chemicals or make people switch back to smoking.

Looking for a switch from smoking? Try these Pop Hybrid Pods available in many flavours, ranging from the grape rush and sour peach to mystery swirl and prism ice. Get rid of unhealthy smoking habits and transition to vaping today!