Although electronic cigarettes are not intended as infallible smoking cessation aids, they can help to improve the health in smokers by taking away the most harmful ingredients. Knowing the difference between traditional cigarettes and electronic cigarettes can help individuals to understand why electronic cigarettes do more for their health. Electronic cigarettes have received considerable criticism from nonsmokers for glorifying smoking and making promises that manufacturers cannot keep, however electronic cigarette manufacturers have science to back up their claims.
The biggest benefits of electronic cigarettes is that they remove the tobacco and carcinogens present in traditional cigarettes. When a smoker takes a drag from a traditional cigarette containing tobacco, the smoker ingests harmful advanced glycation end-products. After workers harvest the tobacco, they cure the leaves to prepare them for consumption. During the curing process, the leaves go through a stage of oxidation that cultivates the growth of the advanced glycation end-products known to cause cancer.
Some electronic cigarette manufacturers use tobacco flavoring to achieve a realistic taste, but the majority of manufacturers exclude tobacco completely on principle to create safer, healthier products. As a result, most electronic cigarettes don’t carry the harmful advanced glycation end-products that stimulate the growth of cancer cells. Instead, electronic cigarettes use artificial flavoring to achieve a tobacco taste, making their products safer than traditional cigarettes by excluding the most harmful ingredients.
Electronic cigarettes also produce vapor strikingly similar to the smoke exhaled from traditional cigarettes. Manufacturers achieve a smoky effect by installing an oxidizer that fits snugly into the flavor cartridge in the mouthpiece. When a user inhales, the user draws heat from the battery that travels through the oxidizer to create a smooth vapor. The vapor travels through the flavor cartridge, taking some of the flavor into the user’s mouth to achieve the same heat and flavor of a traditional cigarette without the carcinogens and harmful smoke.
Most electronic cigarette manufacturers give users options regarding flavor, intensity, and nicotine levels. Some electronic cigarettes exclude nicotine altogether – whereas others include controlled nicotine levels to sate cravings. Studies have shown that satisfying nicotine cravings is not enough; smokers need the feel of the cigarettes in their fingers. Electronic cigarettes are not smoking cessation aids, but by providing smokers with healthier alternatives that look, feel, and taste like traditional cigarettes, the electronic cigarette industry may help smokers to cut down and significantly improve their health in the process.
