Pierrette Mulumba
Electronic cigarettes, also known as vaping, have become the latest ways for smokers to get their kick without the dangers of nicotine. E-cigarettes still use nicotine but in the form of water-vapour rather than burning tobacco. It is because of this that people assume vaping is safer than actual smoking.
Vaping includes much more hardware and so you’d assume that cigarettes are cheaper. However, the total amount of money spent on cigarettes can surpass the amount needed for vaping. This all depends on how many regular cigarettes you’d spoke per day.
Which is safer?
Smoking has many dangers and it can be a hard habit to kick. Aside from the obvious health concerns, there’s also the danger of accidental fires. However, e-cigarettes can be just as dangerous as real cigarettes.
1. The liquid nicotine can be extremely poisonous if it ever comes into direct contact with your body. The liquid can leak if; you overfill the cartridge, don’t hold the e-cigarette properly or inhale too hard. These factors can result in you accidentally getting the e-liquid into your mouth. Swallowing it can be fatal.
2. E-cigarettes use batteries to operate. Those batteries can explode. This can happen whilst the e-cigarette is being charged or for reasons yet to be determined.
3. The flavours involved in vaping contain toxins that can damage a person’s lungs. The liquids contain aldehydes that can kill bronchial cells. Some e-cigarettes also contain formaldehyde and this chemical is known to cause cancer. Some of the products used for vaping are not regulated so there is no certainty of what each product contains.
Nonetheless, very little is known about the true side-effects of e-cigarettes as they haven’t been around long enough.
What about hubbly?
Hubbly Bubbly, also known as hookah, is a common alternative to cigarettes and is often seen as a much safer option.
Hubbly still contains tobacco. Granted it uses shisha but shisha can still be considered as tobacco. It contains all the dangerous elements found in regular cigarettes, such as nicotine.
Smoking hubbly presents the same dangers as smoking regular cigarettes. You inhale more smoke when smoking hubbly than when smoking a regular cigarette. Furthermore, more people smoke hubbly in a home environment so you’re probably going to smoke it for a longer period of time than you would a normal cigarette.
Lastly, the smoke from using hubbly is also dangerous. Hubbly burns charcoal and this can create its own toxins which hold high amounts of carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide can cause heart and lung disease. There’s also the danger of cancer.
Now what?
The best thing to do would be try and kick the habit when it comes to smoking. This is not an easy task so here are a few ideas.
- Spring clean- Clean up the house. Remove the smell of tobacco from your living quarters. Wash your clothes and steam the furniture. The smell of tobacco is strong and this can lure you back into the habit. Throw out all your old ashtrays and lighters to become more committed to quitting.
- Exercise- Exercising releases dopamine and this hormone will replace the one you used to get from smoking. Your health will improve and this new attitude will make it harder to go back to cigarettes.
- Cooking- Try taking up cooking as a hobby. You’ll have an improved sense of smell and taste. Food will taste much better.
- Stress Ball- Smoking might have been your way of dealing with stress. You can invest in stress relief ball and this’ll be your first step in dealing with stress in a healthy way. You can also pick up meditation to not only help with your stress but your nicotine withdrawal. Breathing exercises are also great.
- Less Caffeine- Once you quit smoking, coffee might taste like an elixir. Try not to get too invested in caffeine as it increases your heart rate and makes it harder to deal with stress. Learn to drink water regularly instead. The water will help with the nicotine detox.
