Dr KK Aggarwal
Over the last decade, there
are other options for ingesting nicotine which are not only less reinforcing
than nicotine delivered in a combustible cigarette, but do not involve the
high-level release of toxic chemicals.
These have been called safer
nicotine products (SNP) in the report No Fire, No Smoke Global State of
Tobacco Harm Reduction, 2018 and they break down into three main types:
e-cigarettes, heat-not-burn (HNB) devices and an option that is very far from
new but enjoying a renaissance: smokeless tobacco, in the form of snus from
Sweden.
Types of e-cigarettes
There are now many types of
e-cigarette. They range from entry level disposable types, which cannot be
customised and are known as ‘closed systems’, through to mechanical modified
types, or ‘mods’, which the vaper is able to fully customise and are at the top
end of what are known as ‘open systems’. The higher up the device scale you go,
the more control the vaper has over the whole vaping experience.
All e-cigarettes have three
basic elements; a battery, which heats up a coil or atomiser, turning the
flavoured e-liquid or juice into a vapour, which is then inhaled.
E-liquid comprises four
ingredients: vegetable glycerine, propylene glycol, nicotine, and flavouring.
Some liquids can contain no
nicotine.
Vegetable glycerine (VG) is a
thick, naturally sweet liquid that provides the vapour from the liquid.
Propylene glycol (PG) is a
thin liquid, which acts as the flavour carrier. Some people are allergic to PG
and e-liquid without that ingredient is available.
The VG/PG ratio is the ratio
of VG and PG in a liquid.
The higher the VG percentage,
the more cloud and the smoother the vape, but there is less flavour.
Higher PG gives less cloud,
more ‘throat hit’ and possibly more flavour. Throat hit refers to the feeling a
smoker gets when inhaling nicotine. The problem that most smokers switching to
vaping report is the fact that they do not feel the same kind of throat hit
that they would with a regular cigarette.
The flavourings are the same
as used in food and confectionery production and the range of flavours
available for vaping runs into the thousands.
(Source: No Fire, No
Smoke Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction, 2018 (2018). London:
Knowledge-Action-Change)
Dr KK Aggarwal
Padma Shri Awardee
President Elect Confederation of
Medical Associations in Asia and Oceania
(CMAAO)
Group Editor-in-Chief IJCP Publications
President Heart Care Foundation of
India
Past National President
IMA
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