A Brief Travel through Time

Smoking has been around for eons. In fact, tobacco was the first cash crop to be grown in America. The habit caught like fire to dry bush and the proceeds were used to fund the American Revolution against England. The first president of the United Peoples of America even grew tobacco.

Across the pond in Europe, explorer Rodrigo de Jerez is credited for introducing tobacco to the continent. The first time he smoked in front of his Spanish compatriots, people began claiming he was possessed by the devil, and so a big deal was it that it saw him sent to jail for several years.

Just like America though, the Europeans saw potential in the plant and scramble for colonies in the Caribbean and other large tobacco-growing areas began.

Cigarette consumption grew massively in the 1900s, a period when virtually everyone was a smoker. But the habit started slowing down in the 2000s, as the world became more health-conscious and started acknowledging the dangers of smoking.

Today, smoking is no longer considered the cool pastime it once was.

In its place, a new culture has sprouted.

The Shift to Vaping

Electronic cigarettes (used in the context of this post to denote e-cigs, personal vaporisers and mods) are in their most basic form devices that merge a lithium-ion battery and a heating element to vaporise e-liquid.

Vaping is designed to circumvent the combustion of tobacco, where the danger is believed to lie, since some of the by-products of this combustion are harmful substances such as tar and benzene.

And millions are jumping ship to join the vaping bandwagon.

In vaping, the cigarette industry is witnessing its first real innovation since the industrial revolution. Nicotine gum and patches came years ago, but they really didn’t do much in giving the world an effective alternative to ditch the addictive stick.

Until vaping.

What’s The Deal with Vaping?

Experience and research has shown that simply getting nicotine into the body is not enough to help smokers kick the habit. Those who have tried nicotine gum and patches can attest to this.

For best effect, it is important to simulate the act of smoking to convince the mind that you are replicating a smoking experience.

The hand-to-mouth act associated with vaping is virtually similar to smoking, and this simple reason largely explains why vaping is largely effective in helping smokers quit smoking, unlike any other method.

First invented in 1963 by Herbert A. Gilbert and developed in 2003 by a Chinese pharmacist going by the name of Hon Lik, electronic cigarettes do not contain tobacco, tar, or most of those toxic substances present in analogs, aka regular cigarettes.

Rather, the e-liquid that you inhale comprises four major ingredients: vegetable glycerine, propylene glycol, nicotine and food-grade flavouring, all considered safe for inhalation.

Benefits of Vaping in a Nutshell

The following benefits of vaping are why the trend has become so popular, and the reason it is gradually eclipsing smoking:

 Vaping delivers the same amount of nicotine as traditional cigarettes (more or less based on personal preference)

 You have the flexibility to determine how much nicotine you want to take in at any given moment

 There is no tobacco, tar, carbon monoxide or ash to deal with

 There is no second-hand smoke from cigarettes (deemed hazardous) to contend with

 You are spoilt for choice on the flavour department – you are no longer limited to just tobacco and menthol

 There are no foul cigarette smells

 Vaping is very cost-effective compared to smoking and the average consumer can expect significant savings running into the thousands each year

 Your physical wellbeing will improve because smoking makes one look older than they really are

The Future is here

Vaping achieves what smoking does. Only in a better way. There are more options in terms of devices, a houseful of options when it comes to flavours, you have more control over your nicotine intake, there is less mess, and of course, it’s more…21st century.

All this without the bad ingredient in the sauce: tobacco.

There is something futuristic about vaping that makes it so appealing. The sleek hardware definitely has something to do with it, never mind the impressive flavours that come with the e-liquid. And of course, the white plumes are a draw for many a cloud chaser.

But vaping is more than just the flash.

As a first-time vaper, it’s normal to get that lingering crave of an analogue. However, stick in for just a few weeks and it’s only a matter of time until you take to these modern, more appealing devices that get the job done as well.

Vaping has already signalled the apocalypse for tobacco cigarettes. Suffice to say the future of smoking is here.