Switching From Smoking To Vaping Is Not Always Easy, New Research Shows

New research conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Otago, which were led by Dr. Lindsay Robertson with the New Zealand-based university’s Department of Preventative and Social Medicine, has found that not all smokers find it easy to transition over to vaping – a finding which might not come as much of a surprise to some smokers who have attempted to make the transition themselves.

In the study, which was published in the journal Tobacco Control, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 20 vapers who still smoked conventional cigarettes on a regular basis in a bid to understand why they had not yet successfully completed the transition to vaping.

Dr. Robertson, the study’s lead author, was quoted by Medical Xpress as having said among those they interviewed, they found some would become “disappointed when their experiences didn’t replicate smoking, and continued smoking as well as vaping.”

“Many started their quit attempt expecting that vaping would offer them exactly the same experience as smoking. However, they often became disappointed when their experiences didn’t replicate smoking, and continued smoking as well as vaping.”

The researchers behind the study suggested that the issue could be addressed by managing the expectations of smokers more carefully. As per their suggestion, well-trained retailers of vaping products could be useful in managing such expectations. This suggestion seems to fall in line with a recent recommendation from England’s National Health Service (NHS) that the publicly-funded national healthcare system consider working with vape shops to help smokers quit – a recommendation that comes as a result of the advice and guidance that vape shops and their employees often provide smokers who are trying to quit smoking with the help of vaporizers.

Echoing this point, Professor Janet Hoek with the Health Research Council stated that some see vape shop staff “as expert advisers.”

“Participants see specialist vape-shop staff as expert advisers; retailers of electronic nicotine delivery systems could help remind people of the importance of giving up entirely.”

Subsequently, Hoek notes that such expert advice “could be very important because some participants thought having cut down the number of cigarettes they smoked was a successful outcome, and so stopped trying to stop smoking completely.” An outcome which appears to be less than favorable in light of the findings of a recent study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) that found one cigarette a day to carry half the heart disease and stroke risk of a full pack (20 cigarettes) a day.

By Hoek’s account, legislators “need to get the balance of regulation right, to ensure smokers who choose to quit by vaping receive the best support and advice possible, are not encouraged back towards smoking and, of course, to prevent harm to young people.”