Switching from smoking to vaping can be a major milestone in your life, instantly allowing you to feel better than you have in years. But, does that mean that vaping is 100% safe? Well, that all depends on your vaping choices and practices.
Today, we’re going to cover all of the safe vaping practices you need to know when it comes to protecting your health, your safety, your equipment, and those around you.
How Can You Avoid Vaping Risks?
Basically, there’s no getting around the fact that there will always be some risks when it comes to vaping, both in terms of the equipment and overall health. Let’s cover the various vaping risks that you need to know about, by category.
Risks to Your Health
It’s long been established that vaping is a better alternative to smoking when it comes to health. Unlike cigarettes, e-liquids used in vaping products do not contain the hundreds of individual toxins that are well-known to cause serious damage to the human body. And, fortunately, standard e-liquid vapor has not been found to be harmful. Still, there are some risks to be mindful of.
- Allergic Reaction: Some people are allergic to certain ingredients in e-liquid – after all, a person can be allergic to anything – so that is something to be mindful of. It seems the most common allergen in e-liquids is propylene glycol, often abbreviated to “PG,” which is an alcohol derivative found in many common household products and food items.
- Product Quality: Overall, the standards throughout the vaping industry are incredibly high when it comes to both quality and safety. But, naturally, there will always be brands out there that get by while producing unsafe or very low-quality products. Low-quality e-liquids, coils, and devices can all cause harm to your health. With low-quality e-liquids, there’s the risk of unsafe ingredients, like vitamin E, which has been linked to major respiratory damage. Coils made from toxic materials can cause the accumulation of toxins in the lungs, and devices made from poor materials can also do damage over time. This is why it’s critical that you only buy from trusted sources that have high standards when it comes to the vaping products they carry, to protect your health. Look for a vape shop in person or a vape shop online that has a strong reputation and lots of positive reviews.
- Vaping Temp/Wattage: The output level that you vape at matters as well. Generally, devices are equipped with a range of output levels considered safe for vaping. But, mods that have been modified in some way may reach output levels that are not appropriate for vaping, allowing e-liquid to reach such high temperatures that the vapor becomes carcinogenic. So, stick to legitimate vaping hardware made by trusted names in the industry, and you’ll be fine.
Risks to the Health of Those Around You
We all want to be mindful of any potential risks to the people around us, like children or pets who we live with. Make sure to keep all of your vaping supplies completely out of reach of children and pets at all times, and be very mindful of your e-liquids. E-liquids contain liquid nicotine, which is fine to inhale, but potentially deadly to ingest – particularly to children and animals. Spilling some of your vape juice on the floor while refilling your tank, for instance, could put children and pets at major risk should they ingest it.
Risks Involving Equipment
We implore you to use your equipment responsibly. We already talked about the importance of buying legitimate equipment that hasn’t been modified to reach higher output levels than what’s considered safe for inhalation of vapor. But, in general, low-quality or bootleg equipment is more prone to serious problems that could put you at risk, in particular when it comes to the battery exploding due to poor internal hardware.
Other Risks
There are some other safe vaping practices to be mindful of that fall into a miscellaneous category. For instance, if you’re driving, it’s not a good time to refill your vape tank with e-liquid. And, you never want to leave your vaping equipment in a very, very hot space, where there’s more of a potential for the battery to explode. Also, be careful when handling external vape batteries, because improper storage and handling can mean a leak of battery acid, which is very dangerous. Similarly, an external battery should not make contact with metal, as that can cause the battery to explode.
5 Fast Facts About Vaping
Now that we’ve covered the most important vape safety practices, let’s talk about the things about vaping that do make it generally safe.
- The ingredients in standard e-liquids are vegetable glycerin (VG), propylene glycol (PG), flavoring, and nicotine, none of which have been found to be independently harmful.
- The vapor you exhale dissipates within seconds, which means that it has no negative or harmful impact on air quality.
- Vaping hardware is getting safer than ever, with a series of safety features becoming standard in all devices, like short circuit protection, reverse polarity protection, and more.
- E-liquids have not been found to be carcinogenic when vaped at standard output levels associated with legitimate vaping devices.
- Today’s vaping market holds itself to higher standards than ever, in order to meet the always-evolving regulations and guidelines set forth by governmental bodies.
What Happens When You Switch from Smoking to Vaping?
Naturally, a lot of people wonder whether or not vaping is truly safer than smoking in term of its impact on our health. There aren’t as many long-term studies as we’d like for there to be on this subject, since vaping is still a relatively new industry. But, here’s what former smokers consistently report after switching to vaping:
- Better lung capacity
- Less respiratory irritation/coughing
- Clearer, healthier-looking skin
- Whiter teeth
- Better overall oral health/less gum sensitivity
- Healthier hair
- Improved blood pressure
How Many Vape Puffs Equal a Cigarette?
If you’re trying to go puff for puff as a former smoker who has recently made the switch, you may want to know how many puffs of vapor equal the number of puffs in a cigarette. There are about 8-12 puffs in a cigarette, but the number is extremely hard to compare to vaping. It all depends on how deeply you inhale, the nicotine strength of the e-liquid, the output of your device which determines how much vapor you take in, and the type of nicotine you’re using.
Conclusion
Overall, vaping-associated risks are, for the most part, very easy to avoid. And, it’s clear that vaping comes with some clear safety advantages over smoking. So, if you have been on the fence about making the switch out of concern for your health, the information above really does speak for itself.