(On World No Tobacco Day, an international health day to mark the deadly side-effects of tobacco consumption, we are re-publishing an older article on myths of e-cigarettes)
It’s easy to quit smoking, I’ve done it hundreds of times.
– Mark Twain
And that’s absolutely true.
Only 10% of smokers who try to kick the butt can actually do so. Perhaps that is why, practically overnight, vaping has become the new “in thing” for young adults world over.
If you think the e-cigarette is only an American phenomenon, then suck on this: in the last 3 years, the e-cigarette market has shot to a $ 3-4 billion industry and US contributes to only a quarter of it.
I like it. It tastes and feels like a real cigarette and has no ash. The regular bar I go to allows me to sit inside and smoke this because it’s not the real thing. It’s way more cooler.
– Ankit, 20, Regular Vaper
20-year-old Ankit (name changed to protect identity), is a second year grad student in Pune. He is aware of the risk of smoking and in a bid to get out of his 4 fags-a-day habit, he picked up the metal stick loaded with a battery, metal coil, propylene glycol, glycerine and nicotine!
He still smokes and vapes almost all the time he is away from parental scrutiny.
So do they help smokers quit or simply make it easier for them to light up? Not much is known.
E-cigarettes are at the centre of one of the most fierce debates in public health. Given that these Chinese products were launched towards the end of 2012, there is very little scientific data on them.