How Vape Flavours Make Quitting Smoking Easier

If you didn’t already know, quitting smoking is one of the hardest tasks that a person can choose to do in their life, and unfortunately, it’s something that a lot of people may not succeed with at the first time of asking. But there are plenty of people out there that have succeeded as the recent statistics show that there are now more adult users of E-Cigarettes in the UK than there ever has been before.

When a person decides to quit smoking, it’s always recommended they use some form of Nicotine Replacement Therapy to help make the quitting process easier. As going the “cold turkey” method when quitting smoking is really not the most advisable thing to do, as the body will be so used to Nicotine to have it suddenly taken away can lead to withdrawal symptoms and these can be quite unpleasant.

E-Cigarettes have been proven to be the most effective form of Nicotine Replacement Therapy, and what partners well with this to keep people abstaining from smoking is flavoured vape juice so they get as far away as possible from smoking as possible.

In this article, I’m going to look at how E-Cigarettes have become the most effective method of NRT, as well as how and why vape flavours can make quitting smoking and why these should be left alone and not restricted which unfortunately is what is happening to them in certain countries. Let’s get into it!

E-Cigarettes Rule The Roost For Nicotine Replacement Therapy

Nicotine Replacement Therapy is essentially what it says on the tin, an alternative form of therapy for Nicotine consumption replacing the usual way people got it which is normally from smoking a cigarette. The more traditional methods of Nicotine Replacement Therapy people have used for countless years are things like Nicotine Patches, Nicotine Gum, Sprays and Lozenges. These normally only contain a small dose of nicotine, around 4mg, and is ingested into the body in different ways, with Patches offering a slow release, gum and lozenges offering a continuous release, and sprays offering a near instantaneous release of Nicotine which helps keeps the cravings at bay.

Many have found these ways to be effective, and these options have been prescribed by Doctors to patients who have shown a desire to quit smoking. And this always makes me think of the sceptics that believe Nicotine to be harmful, if it really was as harmful as they think, would Doctor’s willingly be prescribing it to their patients? I think not.

But there is another form of NRT which seems to be becoming more prominent in choice, and it’s something that is not prescribed by Doctor’s but it is something that a lot of GP’s and Stop Smoking professionals are starting to recommend to patients wanting to quit smoking, and that is an E-Cigarette as well as E-Liquid that contains Nicotine.

Studies have been done using volunteers who used the more traditional methods of NRT listed above, as well as others using E-Cigs with Nicotine vape juice, and others using an E-Cig but with Nicotine free Vape juice, and the results were fascinating with it showing that people who used the E-Cigarette with Nicotine Vape Juice were considerably more successful at quitting smoking, than those using other alternative forms of NRT or Nicotine free Vape Juice.

E-Cigarettes replicate the act of smoking a cigarette as close to the real thing, just without having to smoke a cigarette. Having something to hold in the hand, inhaling/exhaling vapour and getting a Nicotine hit and it absorbing in the same time frame as what happens when smoking a cigarette, it comes as no surprise that it’s becoming the preferred method as well as the most successful method to kick the cigarettes to the curb.

But it’s not just Vape Juice that contains Nicotine that is helping people quit and keep it that way, as flavoured vape juice is also playing a key role in the process as well, which I’ll explain why.

How Vape Flavours Make Quitting Easier

When I quit smoking, I couldn’t wait to get as far away from the taste of tobacco as possible. As I don’t know if it’s just me, but I hated the taste of tobacco, and it was not an enjoyment factor for smoking for me, and I doubt it is for many other people out there either. Smoking gave me Nicotine which I craved and needed due to being a smoker for many years and forming an addiction to Nicotine like what many people who smoke do as well.

When I first started vaping, I used all of the vape flavours I could get my hand on, I felt like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory when I went to my local vape shop with all of this crazy and delicious sounding flavours in front of me; Blue raspberry, Vimto, Sugar Doughnut, Cherry Cola the list was never ending, and the best thing? I could vape all of these, get nicotine and not have to worry about dealing with the taste of tobacco! Why ever would I go back to smoking from here when I can get my Nicotine and enjoy all of these flavours?!

I know I’m not alone here either, as many people admit to enjoying the selection of vape flavours available to them, and it helps them from keeping away from the cigs and continuing to vape. This is backed up by surveys that have been carried out by Action on Smoking and Health who looked at the behaviours of adults who were users of E-Cigarettes.

The survey asked those taking part what vape flavours they were using, and the most common answer given was Fruit flavours, followed by mint/menthol, and finally tobacco flavours in last place. Horray for tobacco being in last place! But still, even if people do opt to choose a tobacco vape juice, there’s nothing wrong with it, because they’re still vaping and this is the most important thing!

Within the survey, people were also asked why they prefer using fruit or other vape flavours, which the general consensus was because it keeps them away from tobacco and stops the temptation to smoke if they get that taste back.

But unfortunately, vape flavours are being attacked left right and centre around the globe with countries imposing restrictions and regulations on these which is causing more of a hinderance than a help like what they believe it is. I’ll look at this in more detail below;

Regulations On Vape Flavours Causing More Harm Than Good

If you didn’t already know, Vape Juice actually is regulated here in the UK. This happened in 2016 when the Tobacco Products Directive was launched which meant Vape juice containing nicotine couldn’t be sold stronger than 20mg or in bottles that exceeded 10ml in size.

Whilst many didn’t agree with these regulations as it was a complete change to how things were, these restrictions/regulations are relatively tame compared to what’s going on in some other countries as their version of restrictions is pretty wild. The main benefit here in the UK is that vape flavours remain untouched and there hasn’t really been any indication that this is going to be something bought forward and picked on, thankfully.

I’ll give you a quick insight to the state of affairs on vape flavours in some countries and you can really see just how tame things are here in the UK;

• Canada banned vape flavours other than tobacco and mint/menthol in 2021
• 7 different states in the United States of America have banned vape flavours other than Tobacco and Mint/Menthol. And a country wide ban has been imposed on pre filled cartridges only being allowed to contain tobacco or mint/menthol flavours.
• Denmark and Estonia only permit Tobacco and Mint/Menthol Vape Flavours
• And Netherlands will be joining these countries as well as of July 2023, with all flavours other than Tobacco prohibited from sale.

See what I mean when I say we have it pretty light here in the UK right?! These restrictions that are imposed really are being more of a hinderance than they are helping. Countries are imposing these bans in a bid to make vaping less attractive and appealing to younger audiences which is totally understandable but they’re not looking at the bigger picture and that is what is doing to adults are are vapers and rely on vape flavours to stop them from reverting back to smoking cigarettes.

In surveys done, the question was asked to vapers about what they would do if a restriction was imposed on vape flavours within their country, and sadly many said it would probably push them to go back to smoking if they cannot get the flavours they so heavily lean on, as well as this, many also said that they would revert to “black market” tactics, meaning they’d source their vape flavours from illicit routes.

I hope this article has given you a bit more of an insight into how vape flavours can help make the process of quitting smoking easier. I think it’s really important to find yourself a flavour that you enjoy and stick with it, or try as many as possible until you find “the one” do whatever you need to when it comes to flavours to keep you from reverting back to cigarettes!

As you may have guessed, I really don’t agree with harsh regulations such as the banning of vape juice flavours as it’s so counterproductive as they’re effectively robbing Peter to pay Paul as the old saying goes. I don’t think these harsh restrictions will come to fruition in the UK, and I hope that many other countries don’t take them on board and join the current countries that are imposing it.