By Jason Foster
In a modern world, with science and modern research more accessible to the common person than ever, we know cigarettes to be, simply put, a cause of cancer, let alone poor health. There is simply no arguing with this simple fact, perhaps you know of a grandparent, or uncle, who has died of cancer, likely caused by smoking cigarettes their entire life.
First, let me state that I am not condoning the inhalation or any sort of substance. Stay away from it all, if you can. But, for many of us, we only must look in our pockets, or the pocket of a friend. Some of us swear we would never take it up, but when out on a Friday night, a vape is the first thing we reach for.
Of the deadliness of smoking, we are aware. And nicotine, the addictive component, is a hell of a drug on its own. Dangerous, to the point a single drop of concentrated nicotine applied to the skin will cause acute poisoning. And, yet, a quiet crisis has arisen among our generation, not with smoking cigarettes, but with handheld, pocket sized vaporizers which deliver nicotine to the user in a much more efficient, pleasant way than to smoke a cigarette. And, as preliminary research shows, these devices are less harmful than traditional smoking.
This may be technically true, but the way these studies are conducted usually examines conditions under similar consumption rates between people who vape, or people who smoke. Vapor does appear to be healthier for you than combustion, for example, but if those are studied in similar amounts, then how much vapor is still a ‘safer’ amount than typical smoke?
Consider how many cigarettes a day you would smoke to get your proper nicotine fix, if vapes suddenly became unavailable. For reference, most cigarettes contain about one to two milligrams of nicotine. In an entire millilitre of a typical vape, so one twentieth or about five percent of the whole thing, there is usually around twenty milligrams of nicotine. For a person whose vape usually lasts them around three weeks, we can assume they inhale about a millilitre of juice a day. Twenty milligrams of nicotine, about the same as half a pack, or a full pack, of cigarettes. Every single day.
But, of course, most people who vape do not really know much they have in a day. There’s no quantifiable measure, no concrete way to tell. Just ask yourself, or anyone who vapes, how many puffs they’ve taken today. Have you? Good. If the answer was anything other than “I don’t vape”, there is no way to know for certain. It is likely a much higher number than would be comfortable to sit with.
The convenience and accessibility of vaping have turned what was originally marketed, ironically, as a method for quitting smoking, into the next delivery method of nicotine addiction unto us, the younger generation. Hell, there aren’t even enough specialized studies out there to tell what kind of effects vaping are going to have on our bodies, long term. We are the guinea pigs of this technology.
This information is not meant to preach at you, or to put you or your bad habits down in any malicious manner. I get it, I’m right there, with you all. As I say, nicotine is one hell of a drug. It is not one which is easy to quit, or pleasant to try. And, as smokers, we are most often the most knowledgeable about its dangers.
Vaping, I firmly believe, is part of our generations culture of instant gratification. Short form content, the death of reading as a pastime, scholarly curiosity being crushed at a young age in favor of standardized testing, and the ability to pick up a vape to get a quick hit of nicotine, anywhere, anytime. How in the world do we overcome this? The vaping, I mean. Well, here is my suggestion, as unorthodox as it is.
Pick up a pack of cigarettes. Go outside, the only place you can respectfully and acceptably smoke a cigarette, and go for a nice, long walk. Put your phone away and look up at the starry sky, or the dark, cloudy sky, warning of rain, as it may be here in Manitoba.
Many of us use nicotine, and continue to do so, because it is so effective at relieving anxiety, and many of us vape because it brings such a quick delivery of that relief. However, this is purely chemical relief. Take some time, breathe deeply, sit at a bench in a park. A cigarette gives you a five to ten minute respite from the world, simply because it just takes that long to finish one. A vape does no such thing.
A good cigarette paired with a nice, long walk around a park, and a subsequent walk to let the wind air out the smell, seems to me much more effective stress relief than puffing on a vape. It is more leisurely, more deliberate, and, when five cigarettes are missing from your pack, you know you’ve had exactly five cigarettes, rather than guessing that you’ve drained around ten percent of you vape, today, and don’t know exactly when you had time in the day to use that much.
It is ironic, I understand, to denounce vaping, but then in the same breath suggest smoking, a known cancer causer. But neither are good for us. Vaping, when you look at it from the lens of overall nicotine consumption, is, at least in my own opinion, much more dangerous than cigarettes ever could be.
If you’ve been moved by my argument, and are ready to try putting down the Geek Bar, then please, give this a try. Go for a nice walk, in a nice park, and watch the world go by for a while, phone in pocket, watching the smoke rise from your lips and dissipate into the skyline. You might even end up quitting vaping, well, one of these days. No judgement.
