What Are E-Cigarettes?

E-cigarettes are, in their essence, a safer and healthier alternative to tobacco based cigarettes.

Tobacco is responsible for the deaths of millions of people across the globe. According to one estimate, one in every 5 people in the US dies because of tobacco. Contrary to popular perception, it is not the main ingredient of tobacco cigarettes – nicotine – that is the culprit here. Every cigarette is loaded with tar, ash, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, arsenic, and numerous other carcinogens, all of which can kill any normal human being who is constantly exposed to them. Yet, hundreds of millions of people inhale these chemicals all for the sake of getting their nicotine fix. That’s why e-cigarettes exist.

How Do E-cigarettes Work?

E-cigarettes were invented as an alternative delivery mechanism for nicotine-addicted smokers. The e-cigarettes allowed the ex-smokers to get their daily nicotine fix, without having to inhale all the carcinogens in the process. The first e-cigarettes made use of an electrical coil to heat up and vaporize a speciality liquid, which contained nicotine. The smokers who were trying to quit would inhale these vapours. After years of smoking, the smokers’ bodies are used to the presence of a certain concentration of nicotine. If the smokers try to quit smoking immediately, then that would result in withdrawal effects, which would lead them right back to smoking 20 packs or more a day. On the other hand, e-cigarettes allowed them to inhale nicotine in a way that would allow them to exercise complete control over its concentration. With time, they can slowly taper away from the nicotine concentration and reach a point where they could vape e-liquids that have zero nicotine concentration.

This process is slow, but highly effective, and has a spectacular success rate. In time, the ex-smokers would lose all the nicotine from their body and are able to stay away from smoking forever. Today, there are a wide variety of e-cigarettes, and a lot of them are targeted at the hobbyists who are not necessarily addicted to smoking, but vape only to perform tricks with the vapours. Therefore, they don’t need nicotine in their e-liquids, which is why a lot of liquids feature zero nicotine in them.

But, Isn’t the Nicotine Still Harming the Vapers?

The most important aspect of e-cigarettes is that nothing truly burns in an e-cigarette. So, there is no smoke produced either. Nicotine is harmless when it is in vapour form. It becomes a danger to health only when it is burnt, and inhaled. Even then, most of the dangers to health are caused by a bevvy of carcinogens other than nicotine. Now, since nicotine in not burned in an e-cigarette at all, they pose absolutely no danger to health. This is acknowledged by even the governments across the world.