4 ms·

Not water but it's essentially nicotine suspended in two types of glycerine (think: fog machines and inhalers). Additionally, most include some type of flavori

Not water but it's essentially nicotine suspended in two types of glycerine (think: fog machines and inhalers). Additionally, most include some type of flavoring agents and I think this is where much of the questions come up. The "mainstream" of ecig liquid makers (and certainly all the DIY folks) have been at the forefront of testing these things for what they produce when heated, atomized, and inhaled. For the most part, all currently accepted flavoring agents produce negligible levels of anything carcinogenic or otherwise toxic as far as I've been able to find. The traces of potentially harmful compounds that do exist are at levels that are a small fraction of what's found in any combustible cigarette so for ex-smokers, it's the equivalent of getting the active drug (nicotine) while removing 99%+ of the harmful byproducts of smoking as a delivery method. The way I understand things, it's largely the combustion of tobacco and the tars and particulates deposited in your lungs that cause the health detriments associated with smoking. Without that stuff, your health issues are largely limited to your addiction to a mild stimulant drug.

jerkstate 10y ago
From personal experience, I switched from smoking to vaping for a period of about 2 years, then quit vaping altogether. My cardiovascular health improved when I switched to vaping, but it really improved by what I felt was a much larger margin when I quit vaping. I'm not sure what to put it down to, but among other things, I believe that your lungs have to do extra work to clear out the PG/VG/flavorings, the nicotine contributes to arteriosclerosis, as well as the stimulant effects you mentioned. I get winded less easily and recover more quickly from being winded after quitting vaping. Towards the end of my vaping - the last couple of months - I was only vaping nicotine and PG, no flavorings, so I believe that the nicotine itself does have significant negative effects on your fitness. The really nice thing about vaping for cessation is that it allows you to drastically lower your nicotine intake without changing your physical addiction-sating behavior (i.e. you can still chain-vape for hours on end). My method was, a week before my quit date, I started stepping down my mix bottle by half (it was a 30ml bottle, so when it would get about halfway down, I would refill it with PG and no nicotine). I did this 3 or 4 times over the course of the week (I had a powerful mod and nice TC coil/tank so I went through a lot of juice) and when I hit my quit date, I threw everything away. I was surprised that I did not suffer significant physical withdrawal effects (I have quit smoking cigs a couple times before and there's always a lot of anxiety, restlessness, and discomfort for the first couple of days). So if you're a vaper and interested in quitting, I strongly recommend this step-down method.
- soylentcola 10y ago
  Sorry for the late reply (just skimming through past comments) and I agree completely. I was a moderate smoker for maybe ~18 years (average half a pack a day) and tried switching to a vaporizer back around 2009. Back then all I could really find were the old 510 "cigalike" things and the batteries and vapor production were terrible so they just left me wanting a smoke. A few years ago I had a nasty cold - the kind I got way too often and could never seem to shake - and decided I was gonna give it another shot. By that time, the pen-style devices had come out and over the course of a couple weeks, I'd completely switched over. Since then the change has been very noticeable. Haven't had a single real cold or other respiratory issue since then and I mix my own liquid with about 3mg/ml nicotine as opposed to the old 12-18mg/ml stuff I'd started out with. At this point I could probably wean myself off completely but for the time being I've settled into a habit of occasional use of low level vaporized nicotine in my own liquid so I can control what flavor agents are used. No doubt less healthy than only breathing fresh country air but much better experience than smoking 8-12 cigs a day. At this point quitting nicotine entirely feels more like quitting coffee due to the habituation and very minor health toll of daily caffeine intake. Either way, thanks for your input. It can be difficult to find discussions online that aren't either vape "boosters" or breathless demonizers whose information is limited to gut feelings or dodgy PSAs.
  - jerkstate 10y ago
    Yeah, I felt the same way when I was vaping - this isn't a dramatic enough impact on my health to put the effort into breaking the habit. The only reason I quit is I had a baby so my wife and I decided to take out life insurance policies on each other. Equivalent policies are about 5x the cost, if you have nicotine metabolites in your urine.

jerkstate 10y ago

From personal experience, I switched from smoking to vaping for a period of about 2 years, then quit vaping altogether. My cardiovascular health improved when I switched to vaping, but it really improved by what I felt was a much larger margin when I quit vaping. I'm not sure what to put it down to, but among other things, I believe that your lungs have to do extra work to clear out the PG/VG/flavorings, the nicotine contributes to arteriosclerosis, as well as the stimulant effects you mentioned. I get winded less easily and recover more quickly from being winded after quitting vaping. Towards the end of my vaping - the last couple of months - I was only vaping nicotine and PG, no flavorings, so I believe that the nicotine itself does have significant negative effects on your fitness. The really nice thing about vaping for cessation is that it allows you to drastically lower your nicotine intake without changing your physical addiction-sating behavior (i.e. you can still chain-vape for hours on end). My method was, a week before my quit date, I started stepping down my mix bottle by half (it was a 30ml bottle, so when it would get about halfway down, I would refill it with PG and no nicotine). I did this 3 or 4 times over the course of the week (I had a powerful mod and nice TC coil/tank so I went through a lot of juice) and when I hit my quit date, I threw everything away. I was surprised that I did not suffer significant physical withdrawal effects (I have quit smoking cigs a couple times before and there's always a lot of anxiety, restlessness, and discomfort for the first couple of days). So if you're a vaper and interested in quitting, I strongly recommend this step-down method.

soylentcola 10y ago
Sorry for the late reply (just skimming through past comments) and I agree completely. I was a moderate smoker for maybe ~18 years (average half a pack a day) and tried switching to a vaporizer back around 2009. Back then all I could really find were the old 510 "cigalike" things and the batteries and vapor production were terrible so they just left me wanting a smoke. A few years ago I had a nasty cold - the kind I got way too often and could never seem to shake - and decided I was gonna give it another shot. By that time, the pen-style devices had come out and over the course of a couple weeks, I'd completely switched over. Since then the change has been very noticeable. Haven't had a single real cold or other respiratory issue since then and I mix my own liquid with about 3mg/ml nicotine as opposed to the old 12-18mg/ml stuff I'd started out with. At this point I could probably wean myself off completely but for the time being I've settled into a habit of occasional use of low level vaporized nicotine in my own liquid so I can control what flavor agents are used. No doubt less healthy than only breathing fresh country air but much better experience than smoking 8-12 cigs a day. At this point quitting nicotine entirely feels more like quitting coffee due to the habituation and very minor health toll of daily caffeine intake. Either way, thanks for your input. It can be difficult to find discussions online that aren't either vape "boosters" or breathless demonizers whose information is limited to gut feelings or dodgy PSAs.
- jerkstate 10y ago
  Yeah, I felt the same way when I was vaping - this isn't a dramatic enough impact on my health to put the effort into breaking the habit. The only reason I quit is I had a baby so my wife and I decided to take out life insurance policies on each other. Equivalent policies are about 5x the cost, if you have nicotine metabolites in your urine.