Vaping has become incredibly popular in recent years. Initially, it was hailed as a safe alternative to smoking. This was followed up by a number of media authorities countering, saying that vaping was, in fact, quite dangerous. The truth lies somewhere in the middle, and if you’ve been following the media hype, the reality is that vaping isn’t as dangerous as you thought.
That said, it’s important to do anything in moderation. Doing anything in excess can create health issues, and vaping is no exception. However, moderate or casual vaping is not necessarily dangerous as long as you understand the facts.
All About Vaporizing
Vaporizing is a method of consuming substances like nicotine or cannabinoids like THC and CBD. Instead of using a flame to ignite substances, vaping uses indirect heat or a very specific temperature of direct heat to vaporize certain compounds without creating combustion.
The result of this is that you are only inhaling the active compounds that you want. With traditional smoking, you are combusting the entire plant material and thereby inhaling all sorts of byproducts such as tar. Vaping eliminates these byproducts and can thereby reduce some of the health risks associated with smoking.
Why Vape?
Most people who vape do so in order to receive a quick hit of chemicals like nicotine or THC. There are a number of benefits to using vapes over other conventional methods of smoking.
- Vaping is convenient. You don’t have to go out of your way to light a cigarette or a joint. This means that you don’t have to carry a lighter out with you. Vapes are also easier to hit in adverse weather conditions; you won’t have to worry about the wind or rain preventing your lighter from working.
- You are also more likely to be able to vape in some places than you are to smoke. Some places that forbid people from smoking don’t prohibit the use of vaporizers. This opens up more opportunities to enjoy your medicine.
- Vaping produces less waste. Any smoker will know how quickly cigarette butts can pile up. If you switch from cigarettes to using a vape, the only waste product that you have will be your old vape cartridges. Some places recycle these, but even if you’re not able to find a recycling facility, you’ll be producing less waste than you would if you were smoking cigarettes.
- Vaping is less dangerous than smoking. Smoking anything produces a number of byproducts. The very act of combusting plant matter creates chemical reactions that produce unhealthy toxins and carcinogens. This is even true for smoking marijuana.Vaping eliminates all of the byproducts caused by combustion. Even if you are using a vape to replace tobacco, you will only be inhaling nicotine and whatever carrier oil and flavorings that your vape juice is made with. Thus, you are able to enjoy the same satisfaction from smoking without consuming any of the toxins or chemicals that are added to cigarettes.
How Does Vaping Work?
Vaping involves heating up a substance to its vaporization point. This temperature point varies among different chemicals and substances. If you’re using an adjustable vape then it will have variable settings that allow you to change the temperature so you can vape different products. By doing this you can select the vaporization point of whatever it is you want to consume.
You can also vape without the use of an actual machine by indirectly heating up plant matter. This can be done by allowing a barrier to stand between an active flame and your plant matter. One example of this is using a glass ball pipe which is often used to vaporize powerful psychedelics like DMT. These pipes don’t require you to actually touch the active ingredients with a flame.
Most people, however, prefer to use premade vaporizer units. You can choose from either disposable or reusable vape pens, as well as tabletop vaporizers. Vape pens are far more popular nowadays.
If you’re using a reusable vape pen, all you have to do is select what sort of vape juice you want to use in the unit. Stick it in the vape pen, adjust the temperature accordingly, and you can go nuts. A vape kit will set you up with all the equipment that you need to get started vaping.
Some vape pens also allow you to apply plant matter directly into the chamber. This provides you with greater versatility as you can vape whatever you want. If you’re going to go this route make sure that you understand the ideal temperature for vaping whatever you’re thinking about vaping.
Disposable vape pens come prepackaged with a certain type of vape juice. These are a good option for beginners who aren’t sure if they’re going to like vaping. A disposable pen lets you experiment with vaping without having to make a big financial commitment.
Tabletop vaporizers are generally meant for marijuana. Because of the amount of space that they take up, they’re not as popular nowadays. However, they’re a great option for people who like their vape sessions to be a communal experience, much like sharing a hookah is a popular way to socialize and share tobacco.
Vaping Facts & Myths
One of the reasons that people are so confused about vaping is because the facts are often skewed and confused with numerous myths that are circulating. Especially in today’s day and age where it’s virtually impossible to accurately verify any information online, it can be a challenge for someone to know the truth about vaping.
Vaping Myth: Vaping Is Not Addictive
If you’re thinking about switching from smoking to vaping nicotine because it’s less addictive, think again. Vaping nicotine is just as addictive as smoking. In fact, it’s easier for people to become significantly more addicted to vaping nicotine than they ever were to smoking because of the ridiculous potency that you can purchase nicotine vape carts in.
Plus, because vaping doesn’t produce as many obvious side effects as smoking massive amounts of tobacco, people may be duped into thinking that it’s totally fine to inhale massive amounts of nicotine. While vaping might be less physically dangerous, the addictive potential is still there.
Vaping Fact: Vaping Is Less Dangerous Than Smoking
Vaping nicotine is, however, less dangerous to the body than smoking cigarettes. Cigarettes produce a large number of toxic byproducts, many of which are carcinogenic. These can gather in the lungs and increase the likelihood of developing diseases.
Remember, though, that not all vapes are created equal. Some vape products that are loaded with flavorings and other chemicals may actually be more toxic. Try to stick with vape juices containing only a few, simple ingredients.
Vaping Myth: It’s Just Water
What you’re inhaling when you’re vaping isn’t water. It’s a gaseous form of a substance called propylene glycol. And while propylene glycol might not be as dangerous and carcinogenic as some of the compounds found in cigarettes, it’s nowhere near as pure and healthy as water.
Vaping Fact: Vaping Can Help You Quit Smoking
Vaping can be useful for helping people to quit smoking, providing that they know what they’re getting into. If your ultimate goal is to stop consuming nicotine entirely, then you’ll still need to put some conscious effort into tackling your addiction.
Vaping can be useful for this, however, because you can gradually wean yourself off of nicotine by decreasing your dosage of nicotine. Buy increasingly less potent nicotine vape juices and soon you’ll have a much easier time quitting.
Vaping can also be useful because it helps to replace the psychological, habitual aspect of smoking. For many, the oral fixation associated with actually holding a cigarette up to the lips and inhaling is part of the satisfaction. By switching to a vape, you can still enjoy this oral fixation.
This can be especially helpful if you’re switching to another vape product entirely. By switching to something like CBD you can enjoy the ritual of smoking without consuming any addictive compounds. CBD also has been proven to help people reduce cravings and addictive behavior.
Vaping Vs. Smoking
Vaping was initially hailed as a safer alternative to smoking, and in some ways, it is. However, vaping causes users to inhale a different set of chemicals than they would be inhaling if they were smoking cigarettes.
Propylene glycol, the main ingredient found in most vape juices, is currently considered unsafe if it’s swallowed, inhaled, or coming into contact with skin. Many vape products also contain harmful chemicals like diacetyl, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds.
After a number of hospitalizations related to vaping occurred, however, vape companies were required to change the ingredients that they put in their products. Harmful ingredients, such as vitamin E acetate and others, were removed, and dangerous incidences have decreased significantly.
One of the main differences between vaping and smoking is the amount of time that they’ve been around for. Smoking has been popular for ages and has been studied for nearly a century. Researchers know that smoking is bad.
- Smoking causes nearly 500,000 deaths per year in the USA alone
- Smoking damages almost all the organs in the body
- 9/10 lung cancer deaths are the result of smoking
- Smoking increases the risk of death and health complications, such as decreased sperm count, increased inflammation, decreased immunity, arterial blockages, and strokes
Vaping, on the other hand, hasn’t been studied over the long term. Nonetheless, the research that has been done on vaping shows that it can damage the lungs and damage the immune system, especially when the vaped product is nicotine.
Is Vaporizing Weed Better?
Many of the health issues described above involve the consumption of nicotine. Vaporizing cannabis might be an entirely different ball game, especially if you choose to use vape products that contain nothing more than the active ingredients in the cannabis.
Using a tabletop vaporizer, for example, allows you to enjoy vaporizing weed cannabinoids without combusting anything and without inhaling propylene glycol or other compounds. However, even if you do choose to use a vape juice product containing CBD or THC, you can rest assured that it’s lot safer than vaping nicotine.
Is vaporization good for health? Maybe not. However, cannabinoids found in marijuana are known to improve health in a number of different ways. If you find a vape solution that allows you to inhale these cannabinoids exclusively without combustion and without the inhalation of other dangerous compounds, then you might actually be able to enjoy some health improvements.
Conclusion
Vaping has become incredibly popular in recent years, and for a while, it was touted as a completely safe alternative to smoking. Research shows now that it’s not completely safe, but if done properly it can still present fewer health risks than smoking tobacco.
Vaporizing cannabis and cannabis products is probably the safest alternative. Cannabis is not physically addictive like nicotine and doesn’t cause as many health issues in the body. Whether you’re looking to quit smoking or seeking an alternate way to consume cannabis, vaping might be for you.
