Why do so many smokers switch to vaping?

If you are someone who smokes, or has smoked in the past, you might notice one thing when you go for a smoke break: the types of smokes people use today are very different. Gone are the days of cigarettes and cigars, now we live in the word of vaping. Australians are switching from traditional smoking to vaping in their droves as the potential benefits become clear.

This is a rising trend, too, with more and more Australians giving up traditional smokes for vapes. So much so, that an official campaign was launched, dubbed Switch2Vaping, that was led by major tobacco harm advocates to get people to change from smoking cigarettes to the modern alternative.

Why, though? Why do so many smokers switch to vaping? What is behind this draw?

Many smokers want to change or give up

Surveys in the past have shown that smoking is a habit that many actual smokers wish they could give up. Indeed, studies in the past have shown that as many as 70% of smokers want to stop. The habit is hard to break, though, and for many vaping can be the first step to changing or stopping. If you smoke cigarettes for a prolonged period of time, the constant chemical cocktail is bound to have a negative impact. By switching to vaping, you can limit the potential long-term side effects.

Reducing the health risks

Another significant benefit of vaping is that it is shown to have less health risks. While studies are still ongoing, the two main health benefits come from what you are smoking and how it is heated. Traditional cigarettes are a chemical combination of hundreds, even thousands, of potential chemicals and toxins. Vaping e-liquid, by contrast, is made up using a simple quarter of natural and otherwise safe ingredients.

The heat is a major part of the reason why smoking can be so damaging to your health, too. Since vaping does not reach anything like the temperature of combustion, it is regarded as safer for your body in the long-term.

The price of smoking cigarettes is unsustainable

Smoking used to be a habit for the everyday person; an affordable way to ease a bit of stress and kill some time. The price of cigarettes today, though, can be more expensive than running a car. Unless you can limit yourself to one cigarette, maybe two, per day? You will find that this habit is extremely expensive. Vaping, by contrast, is much cheaper and costs nothing like the same rate down the line. For those concerned about habitual costs, vaping is the more affordable choice by far.

Vaping is less exclusionary

If you head to just about any kind of club or social venue, you will find that smoking is almost entirely prohibited. Most of the time you will need to go outdoors to have a smoke. Vaping, whilst still banned in many premises, is not known to have second-hand damage to others. As such, it is more socially tolerable to whip out a vape and use it in public than it would be to use a cigarette.