Is vaping harmful?

Evidence shows that vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking. Vaping exposes users to far fewer toxins and at lower levels than smoking cigarettes.

Switching to vaping significantly reduces your exposure to toxins that can cause cancer, lung disease, and diseases of the heart and circulation like heart attack and stroke. These diseases are not caused by nicotine, which is relatively harmless to health.

However, vaping is not risk-free. Non-smokers and young people under 18 should not take up vaping.

Long-term effects of vaping

Vaping has not been around for long enough to know the risks of long-term use. While vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking, it is unlikely to be totally harmless.

The healthiest option is not to smoke or vape. So, if you are vaping to quit smoking, you should aim to eventually stop vaping too.

Vaping versus smoking

Cigarettes release thousands of different chemicals when they burn. Many are poisonous and up to 70 cause cancer. They also cause other serious illnesses, including lung disease, heart disease and stroke.

Most of the harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke, including tar and carbon monoxide, are not contained in vape aerosol.

Watch the UK Health Security Agency’s video demonstration on the impact of smoking versus vaping.

How to choose and use a vape

There are a variety of vapes including:

• vape bars shaped like a highlighter pen (usually disposable but sometimes rechargeable and refillable with e-liquid capsules)
• compact pod devices shaped like a flash drive or pebble (either disposable, or rechargeable and refillable with e-liquid capsules)
• vape pens with a tank you fill with your choice of e-liquid, and a replaceable coil and rechargeable battery
• vape mods, customisable devices with variable power (these are more difficult to use and need more maintenance)

Which vape is best to quit smoking?

A vape bar, pod device or vape pen are good choices, as they are discreet, make small clouds and can give high amounts of nicotine. Starter kits come with a range of flavours.

It’s important to choose an e-liquid with enough nicotine to reduce withdrawal symptoms and urges to smoke. You need to start at a nicotine level that matches your cigarette use – how frequently and how much you smoke. A specialist vape shop or your local Stop Smoking Service can advise you.

Whichever vape you choose, make sure you use it daily to help you make the switch from cigarettes.

Where to buy vapes

You can buy them from specialist vape shops, some pharmacies, supermarkets and other retailers, or from an online vape store.

Make sure you buy your vaping products from a reputable retailer so you can be confident they are covered by UK safety and quality regulations.

So far, no vaping products have been licensed as stop smoking medicines in the UK, so they are not available on prescription from the NHS or from a GP. However, your local Stop Smoking Service may offer a free vaping starter pack.

Safety advice

Remember to keep vapes and e-liquid out of the reach of children and pets, as there is a risk of poisoning if nicotine is swallowed.

Always use the right charger and never leave a vape charging unattended or overnight.

How to quit vaping when you feel ready

Once you have been vaping for a while and feel sure you will not go back to smoking, you should aim to quit vaping too.

To keep yourself on track, it’s a good idea to quit vaping gradually. You can do this in a number of ways:

• gradually reduce the strength of nicotine in your e-liquid (if you are using a disposable vape, you could switch to a refillable device to do this)
• extend the time between vaping
• set rules for yourself about where you do and do not vape, for example only outside of the home or only on breaks at work

Do not rush this process. Only reduce your vaping frequency or nicotine strength when you feel you will not go back to smoking and do not have to puff more to compensate. Your local Stop Smoking Service can give more advice on quitting vaping if you need it.

If at any point you feel at risk of going back to smoking, increase your nicotine strength or vaping frequency until the feelings go away.

If you prefer to stop vaping in one step, you can ask your pharmacist or stop smoking adviser about switching to a suitable nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) product. This is an alternative way of cutting down your nicotine use until you are ready to stop completely.

Remember, if you have stopped smoking completely you have already achieved a huge step in protecting your health, so don’t worry if it takes you a while to stop vaping.

Vaping around others

While secondhand smoke from cigarettes causes serious harm to others, there is no evidence so far that vaping is harmful to people around you and any risks are likely to be very low.

But as a precaution, it is best not to vape around babies and children if you can avoid it. Young children often copy what adults do.

Always be considerate when vaping around anyone else, especially people with health conditions like asthma or other respiratory conditions, or people who do not like vaping.