Hi-ho and here we go, as another jam packed VApril challenge gets set go underway this spring. Calling upon vapers far and wide to celebrate, embrace and share the benefits that vaping can have on smokers lives – let’s take a look at what’s in store this April.

Speak up for Vaping

Know smokers who still think that vaping is some spurious and curious fandangled fashion accessory that poses the same risks as smoking? Studies suggest that 44% of the 7 million smokers in the UK are still unaware that e-cigarettes are considerably less harmful than their tobacco counterparts – which is quite frankly a worryingly high number.

It was way back in 2015 that Public Health England (PHE) published their independent report stating that e cigs are staggeringly 95% less harmful than smoking and that vaping has the potential to help smokers become smoke-free. In fact, according to PHE, vaping may be helping up to 20,000 smokers relinquish the fatal habit of smoking and make the positive switch to vaping which account for estimates of 2.6 million vapers leading altogether healthier lives than they had been doing so previously.

If you’re one of the millions vapers who have felt the positive benefits that vaping has had on your life, why not speak up for vaping and let people know your story. Join the Vapril Campaign and take the challenge to speak up for vaping.

Switch on to Vaping

Still smoking? Not aware that 16% of all adult fatalities in England are caused by smoking related diseases? Where. Have. You. Been.

We know that smoking is a ridiculously addictive habit, which is why funnily enough, e cigs were conceived in the first place. Designed to simulate the act of smoking and providing a delivery of nicotine to your bloodstream – heating e-liquid into a vaporised state at low temperature is in stark contrast to the thousands upon thousands of carcinogenic materials and carbon monoxide you inhale every time you light up.

Why not ditch the cigarettes this April and try taking the Vapril challenge? Switch on to a Vaping plan by simply heading to the Vapril website and get some great advice on how to get your vaping adventure started with 4 simple steps to follow to help you become smoke-free.

Easier than you might think, all you’ll need is a simple Starter Sampler Pack which will include a rechargeable battery, USB charger and a choice of flavoured e-liquid cartridges. Hey presto, you’re good to go!

Seeking expert advice

Deciding to vape for the first time doesn’t need to be a big deal, but it’s feasible that you will have the odd question or two. “What kind of vaporiser should I use?” “Does it matter where I get my e-liquid from?” “I’ve got all the gear and genuinely know idea”.

All valid enquiries that can be addressed at the ever so informative Expert Advice section of the Vapril website.

Good luck and happy Vapril.

The experience you have when you vape will generally be down to two things. One – how decent your e cigarette device is. And two the quality of the e-liquid that you are actually vaping. Let’s take a look at the latter and the importance of buying the best e-liquid you can.

How Do You Know What Quality E-Liquid Is?

We’ve all been there. The sight of a new, colourful e liquid on display at your local shop vying for vaping attention. ‘On Sale’ you notice. ‘Introductory Offer!’ it says emblazoned on the neon sign. ’10 for the price of 1’.

The appealing affordability of the cheap e-liquid at hand might seem like a tempting one. Though it’s important to tread with a little caution if you don’t want to be caught left with a nasty tasting e-liquid.

The rise in popularity of vaping and the lucrative market that it yields has led to some nuisance purveyors trying to get a slice of the action. This leads to choosing to use cheaper, synthetic ingredients to create e juice that isn’t that ‘juicy’.

Leaving a somewhat sinister aftertaste, cheap e-liquids might not be what you’re looking to quit stop smoking and seeking a pleasurable vaping experience.

Ultimately you should source your e-liquid from a well-established, reputable seller who has garnered a host of glowing reviews by real customers.

Look for flavourings derived from natural ingredients that have been suitably tested. Those with nothing to hide will be happy to share with you the ingredients that you can then research yourself.

Should they be a reputable and honest seller, they will follow the Tobacco Products Directive regulations. This will cover all things ingredients and testing before those products becoming available to you the consumer.

Consistent Flavours

When you smoked cigarettes, the consistency of the flavour of your tobacco was never really in question. You would light up, and it would taste the same every time.

Buying cheap imitation e-liquids, more than likely manufactured with cheap ingredients – is never a good start.

The likelihood that you might not always get the same flavour when you vape is also high when you go down that route. Besides, how do you know what’s in it?

By buying e-liquid made from the best possible ingredients you’ll stand a better chance of enjoying a consistent flavour profile every time you vape.

Enjoying the experience and flavour of your vape is key to you remaining smoke-free. Even if it might cost a little more than the e juice found at the petrol station at the end of your road.

A poor quality e-liquid made with cheap ingredients will only result in a nasty aftertaste that may just put you off the idea of vaping altogether.

You Are What You Vape

The annoying sound of your parents declaring “you are what you eat” as you tuck into your fourth bowl of ice cream. These may be the words you used to loathe, but to an extent they were right. From late brunch to a liquid lunch, what we consume naturally plays a significant role in our functions.

Eat too much sugar and you’re prone to diabetes, too much dairy can create dairy intolerances, and too much of anything will have its own set of ensuing consequences.

Vaping e-liquid is 95% less harmful than smoking. However, the technology and use of e cigs simply haven’t been around long. Certainly not long enough for scientists to observe any potential long-term damage.

Avoid e liquids with lengthy lists of synthetic ingredients and ensure the e-liquid you use is fit for your consumption.

A hot topic of discussion this week has seen the United States Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A) seek to impose an imminent ban on the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes and e-liquids. Why? Let’s find out.

 

Combatting Youth E-cigarette Usage

In an unprecedented move that has the potential to significantly impact the e-cigarette industry in the US, predictions suggest that flavoured e-cigarettes and e-liquids are to come under some tight restrictions due to what some are calling an e-cigarette epidemic among the kids of America. Sales of flavoured e-liquids, that some say contribute to the desire among the young to try e-cigarettes, are set to be banned from thousands of store across the country as well as online verification requests for online sales.

In 2018, it was estimated that there were some 3.5 million underage vapers in the US. When you take into consideration that there are just 3.2 million vapers in the UK, the US figure of young vapers seems worthy to warrant the attributed attention, but is a ban on flavoured e-liquid and e-cigarettes a step too far?

Naturally, a consideration to be made first and foremost is how are kids getting hold of e-cigarettes in the first place? Could stricter bans on underage selling be enforced to those licensed to sell e-cigarettes? Could shopkeepers impose a more rigorous line of questioning when it comes to knowing their customer’s age? Can common sense prevail?

 

The Problem with Banning Flavoured E-liquid

In a classic case of one step forward, two steps back, there lies a fairly fundamental error of judgement should the FDA move forward with their plans to ban flavoured e-liquids. Youth culture aside, adult smokers who are genuinely looking to quit cigarettes and use e-cigarettes, flavoured e-liquids and all, to abate their addictions will ultimately be missing out on products aimed at helping them.

 

The Sugar Content in Cigarettes

The addiction to cigarettes is at a bare minimum two-fold; in addition to nicotine, what you might not know is that cigarettes contain roughly half a teaspoon of sugar (20%) which means that when you quit smoking, you endure the unfortunate experience of withdrawing from both substances – fun times.

Indeed, the high sugar content of cigarettes bears the initial premise and thinking behind flavoured e-cigarettes. Fruity concoctions act to aid your withdrawal and to curb your cravings for sugar which in the past, would so often be remedied with a trip to the naughty aisle of their local supermarket, which would then subsequently lead to unwelcome weight gain. Flavoured e-liquids go some way to allay those cravings and should be seen as a contributing factor to encourage more people to ditch the cigarettes and make the move to vaping.

In the UK, Public Health England declares that e-cigarettes are up to 95% less harmful than tobacco and have the potential to help smokers quit. In addition, the UK is second only to Sweden in number of cigarettes smokers, with e-cigarettes playing its part in the continuing drive to reduce the rates of smokers.

Can you overcome the mental barriers to quitting?

Quitting smoking can be extremely difficult. This is in large part because of the addictive nature of nicotine. But it is also because smoking is a major psychological addiction. This means that part of the solution needs to be psychological as well. To ensure that you give yourself the best chance of success, here are our 5 Steps to use your mind to help you stop smoking.

Step 1: Do Your Research

Take some time to thoroughly research the effects of smoking on your health. Talk to your doctor, read support articles, or watch some videos There are some very good smoke-free videos about the harm caused by smoking on the NHS YT channel. This may not be pleasant to do, but it’s important to be informed about the effects your smoking has on your body. Being fully aware of these effects may make you more resolved to quit.

Next, spend some time researching the positive effects of quitting. Quitting smoking can almost immediately lower your risk for many health issues. Remember that there’s a lot of hope for improving your long-term health, and use this as motivation.

Step 2: Reflect

You should also spend some time focusing your attention inwards. Why do you want to quit smoking? Maybe you’ve noticed some negative changes in your health and want to change that. Maybe you have fitness goals that will only be possible without smoking. Maybe you want to do it for your children or other loved ones.

Think about these important reasons, and write them down. You can also write down how you expect your life to improve after quitting; what do you expect to get out of a life without cigarettes? If you feel yourself caving after you quit, reread these reasons to give you some encouragement.

Step 3: Remove Triggers

Once you’ve decided to quit, spend a bit of time thinking about what causes you to smoke. Is it stress during work or after school? Or perhaps you smoke after meals. Do you find yourself smoking around particular friends or in specific social situations? If you can, once you’ve quit, remove yourself from these triggers as much as possible.

Supportive friends will understand if you need to change up your routine a little bit. This is also a good time to remove all smoking-related memorabilia from your home. Clean out packs of cigarettes, ash trays, lighters, and matches from your house, workplace, and car. You’re transforming your home and life from that of a smoker to that of a non-smoker.

Step 4: Substitute Positive Activities

Think of quitting as an opportunity to add something good for your life in place of smoking. This is a great time to pick up a new hobby or skill. Exercising on your own, swimming, or taking classes at a gym is a fantastic way to stay healthy and reduce stress levels.

You could also take on cooking classes or a creative hobby such as painting or crafting. All of these new activities will help you to move your life forward and give you something to do when you need to distract yourself from the craving for a cigarette.

Step 5: Keep things Simple

If you are looking to quit and are using a vape device as support make sure it is a simple and small device. To increase the chances of success you need to replace your cigarette habit using a similar sized device so that you minimise the psychological factors associated with smoking. Don’t go for some complicated oversized vaping mod with a plethora of options that will just feel awkward. There is significant information to suggest simplicity is the best way regarding moving forward with a vape device.

As a stop smoking site I am frequently asked what the best e-cig is and why. I try to answer this question for everyone but recently thought that it would be a lot easier to create a blog that would be publicly available for anyone that is interested.

Obviously the advice that I offer in this blog is accurate based on my opinions at the time of writing and I will try to update it if our opinions change.

The short answer is that I recommend the V2 e-cigs, vape pens and vaporizers but allow me to give you a little bit more information.

V2 e Cigs are quality and they have proper tested e-liquids so you know what goes into your e-liquids – most companies do not give lab reports! V2 also manufacture and design etc. where just about everyone else buys from China and sticks a brand name on the e-cig – I believe there are 2 companies in UK who use their own facilities – V2 is one of them.

Beyond simply knowing which e-cigarette to choose I would also like to give you some other food for thought.

My experience of switching to e-cigs suggests you need to ensure you are fully covered (i.e. no chance of making an excuse to go out in the middle of the night to buy fags because your battery is broken/uncharged hiding itself from you etc.) Have a quality product and ensure you can’t make any excuses to nip out and buy some cigs. You need to have 3 batteries minimum for example if using the smaller cigarette style e cigs, alternatively the V2 Pro 3 vape pen will last all day while you then charge overnight. I use the Pro 3 BUT I still have 2 of the V2 smaller e cigarettes for convenience and back up – just in case! If you work from a pc a lot then also get a power cig, this connects to your pc usb port for all day vaping. If you are out and away from a plug – e.g. travel in car a lot make sure you have a PCC (personal charging case – this charges your e-cig without the need for a power supply) so you can charge batteries wherever you are.

Make sure you get a sampler pack of cartridges so you can find out exactly what taste and strength suits you –normally 18 mg if you smoke regular cigs. Too weak and you will be down the garage buying cigs. Final touch – I like to vary my vaping a bit to keep me from getting bored and so I use cartridges that are prefilled mostly – but now and again I use e-liquid in a self-filling mini-tank. V2 call theirs the ex-blank – here once you know which taste and strength of cartridge you like you can then buy separately the e-liquid equivalent and fill your mini-tank – this method give a similar experience to the prefilled carts but just a little bit more oomph!

Good luck – I have been on e cigs now for over 3 years now and my lungs have cleared – no coughing in the am, massively fitter, and saving money too!

Are you trying to stop smoking?

According to the 2017 NHS statistics there was an estimated 79,000 deaths attributable to smoking in 2015 (up from 78k in 2014).

• This represents 16% of all deaths.
• These deaths were premature deaths. These people did not live a full life span.
• Almost half (47%) of hospital admissions for cancers that can be caused by smoking, were estimated to be attributable to smoking.
• NHS Stop Smoking Services are Under Utilised.

These statistics give a stark reminder of the effects of smoking and could give you the smoker enough reason to quit smoking and become an Ex-Smoker.

One of the proven ways to help ease the process of quitting smoking is to have people support where you can share your feelings and experiences with other people. This can come in the form of family or friends however the NHS also offer a helping hand in the form of the NHS Stop Smoking Services that should not be ignored. This service offers practical steps that can immediately help you on your way to becoming a non-smoker.

According to Dr Michael Apple with the medication offered and the support of these services you are four times more likely to stop smoking successfully.

And the proof is that it works – last year over 200,000 people set a quit date and at the 4-week follow-up half of them had successfully quit.

Seven NHS Services To Help You Stop Smoking

1. See your GP

Your GP is trained to help you quit smoking. They can prescribe nicotine replacement therapy including stop smoking medication, gums and patches. They can also discuss other NHS support including quit smoking clinics.

2. Join your local stop smoking service.

The clinics are there for you and offer help and a friendly service. The National Centre For Smoking Cessation and Training have reported that there is evidence that group treatment maybe more effective than one-to-one treatment and the impact of “buddy support” may vary based on treatment type. There is also support every year during Stoptober, 28 days of encouragement to stop smoking.

3. Get Online Support.

The NHS offer a comprehensive online support service, the Smokfree website is there 24/7 and offers a range of evidence-based support. Ideal for those sticky moments we all have when going through the process. You can always get reminders online of why you are quitting by visiting the NHS YT channel  that has a number of good videos that detail smoking related harm issues.

4. Emergency?

Did you know there is a national Smokefree helpline open 7 days a week – call the number when you are at your weakest and you can talk to a trained adviser, it may just help prevent you lighting up that one single critical cigarette.

0300 123 1044. Use it!

5. Chat online with a sympathetic adviser.

Your thinking about quitting but haven’t done anything yet, you feel that you want to but don’t know where to start. Why not simply have an online chat. Its relaxed and there is no pressure, just someone to talk to that can help. You never know where it may lead. It could be your first step to freedom!

You may be sitting there, a day or a month into the quitting process, things have gone bad at work and you feel weak and the craving starts – before it gets any further chat online, it may make the difference!

6. Consider a nicotine substitute.

The NHS have moved with the times and accept that some people could benefit from alternative nicotine methods including NRT and electronic cigarettes.

Read more from the NHS about e-cigarettes to help quit smoking.

Find Your Local Stop Smoking Service

Help is there, it costs you nothing and it may help you take the first step in your journey to becoming a non-smoker, a year from now how would it be if you simply did not need to buy or smoke a cigarette. Breathe!

7. Get a Free NHS personalized health score.

Want a quick 10-minute quiz to check “How are You?” The NHS can help here too!

More evidence?

Statistics on NHS Stop Smoking Services: England

This is the report from the NHS which monitors the Stop Smoking Services in England.

• 215,645 people set a quit date and at the 4-week follow-up 107,422 people (50 per cent) had successfully quit (self-reported).
• 78,400 (73%) of these successful quitters had their results confirmed by Carbon Monoxide verification.
• Quitting success increased with age, from 41 per cent of those aged under 18, to 56 per cent of those aged 60 and over.
• 46 per cent of the pregnant women who set a quit date successfully quit.
• 77600 (36%) of people accessed Stop Smoking Services through their GP.
• 80 per cent of people used one-to-one support to help themselves quit smoking.

So lots of people are being successful, so you too can stop with proper support.

Still Not Convinced?

1. Children are more likely to smoke if their parents smoke.

2. Hospital admissions

• There were estimated to be around 474 thousand hospital admissions attributable to smoking in 2015/16, which was an increase from 458 thousand in 2005/06.
• As a proportion of all admissions, this has fallen to 4 per cent from 6 per cent in 2005/06.

3. Deaths

• There were estimated to be around 79 thousand deaths attributable to smoking in 2015. This represents 16 per cent of all deaths.

4. E-cigarettes 

• There were an estimated 2.4 million current e-cigarette users in 2016, representing around 5 per cent of adults.

5. Expenditure

• In 2016, tobacco was 27 per cent less affordable than it was in 2006

Other Resources to Help You Quit.

England

Quit. A charity organisation

Tel: 0800 002200

www.quit.org.uk

The NHS Tel: 0800 1690169

www.nhs.uk/smokefree/

Wales

National Smoking Cessation Service Tel: 0800 0852219

National Smokers Helpline Tel: 0800 1690169

Northern Ireland

Smokers Quitline Tel: 0800 85 85 85

Sources:

NCTS

NHS