Is Vaping Good?

Is vaping good? Using e-cigarettes, a common term among vape users is "getting into it," and I would say I am quite deep into it. I've been vaping for eight months now, and after about two weeks of using e-cigarettes, I haven't touched a real cigarette. The amount of e-liquid I use has decreased from 4 to 5ml a day at the start to now 1 to 2ml, while the nicotine content has remained unchanged at 6mg, although I have recently started using 3mg nicotine e-liquid consciously.

Last December, my wife was video chatting with her friend in Beijing, and her friend took a few puffs of an e-cigarette, which caught my wife's attention. She asked what it was, and her friend said it was an e-cigarette, and mentioned that she was an agent for this product, saying that both she and her husband no longer smoked cigarettes and that smoking made them feel nauseous. At that time, I scoffed at the idea, having been a smoker for nearly 20 years, with several attempts to quit, ranging from two to three months to a maximum of one year and two months, only to relapse successfully. I thought, how could there be such a miraculous product? It seemed like a bunch of nonsense.

Three days later, my wife received a package from Beijing, containing a small device (which I later learned was an ego pen), a larger device (which I later found out was a mechanical adjustable pen using a rechargeable 18650 battery), and two bottles of 10ml domestic e-liquid with no Chinese characters, one mimicking Zhonghua and the other a mix of American tobacco. When I asked my wife how much she spent, she hesitated and finally said it was nearly 2,000 yuan. I felt a pang of regret, as that was almost half a year's worth of my smoking expenses (I usually smoked a pack of hard Liqiu at 13 yuan a pack, about a pack a day). But thinking about it, my wife was doing it for my good, so I decided to go along with it.
I opened the mimicking Zhonghua e-liquid and tried it; it had a strong jujube flavor (which I later learned was caramel flavoring). The taste was acceptable, at least not unpleasant, but that huge device was really inconvenient to carry. So I took my wife's small adjustable ego pen. The next day, I consciously didn't buy cigarettes, and when I felt the urge, I took a few puffs of the e-cigarette. To my surprise, it actually satisfied my cravings. By the seventh day, I attended a friend's son's birthday party, where various soft Zhonghua and other cigarettes were laid out, making my mouth water. I finally couldn't hold back my desire and secretly lit up a soft Zhonghua while my wife was toasting others. I realized that smoking was actually so hard to enjoy! It was nothing like the satisfaction and exhilaration I used to feel when I hadn't smoked for a long time and suddenly lit one up.

Now that I think about it, I had gotten used to the taste of e-cigarettes, and coupled with my motivation to quit smoking, I developed a sense of disgust towards the taste of cigarettes due to the guilt and self-reproach of not being able to control my desires! The unexpected gain from this party was that two friends directly placed orders with my wife, one was a female friend buying for her husband, and the other was a male civil servant who was often ridiculed by colleagues for smoking. Since then, every time there was a gathering, friends would ask me what I was vaping, and I would enthusiastically recommend this product, and almost every time there was a sale (my wife gets a commission). Later, even friends recommended other friends to buy from my wife (please don't doubt the level of development in my area, a provincial capital in the western region). At this point, driven by profit, I began to consider the supply chain, and upon entering X treasure, I realized how deep the water was, with various price ranges and flashy products, from dozens to thousands of yuan. Fortunately, the pen I started with was a brand primarily aimed at exports, with solid design and quality. The e-liquid also came from a large domestic OEM manufacturer, which at least did not ruin my perception of the product.
In the process of looking for suppliers, I gradually learned about RDA, RBA, CA atomizers, mechanical regulation, electronic regulation, and now new electronic temperature control regulation, even Bluetooth-enabled battery pens that can be adjusted via a mobile app. During this time, I encountered many patient and sincere merchants, but also many who sold fake products under the guise of real ones. During this Spring Festival, I even visited suppliers in Shenzhen.

Now, after eight months of getting into it, I have had the opportunity to try various products, and I have a general understanding of this product: many newcomers are attracted to the huge vapor produced by RDA dripping atomizers, but imported mechanical pens are often quite expensive and lack cost-effectiveness, so please ignore them if you are wealthy. Domestic products have attractive prices, but quality varies widely, with many imitations. The biggest pitfall is the use of unbranded batteries in mechanical pens that have no circuit protection. However, there are also many high-power electronic regulated pens available now (the American company Evolv has even crazily released a 200W chip solution), which can easily meet the needs for large vapor production when paired with an RDA dripping atomizer or a tank atomizer.

But for most people, the original intention of using e-cigarettes may be similar to mine, either to quit smoking or as a daily substitute. If the sole purpose is to replace smoking, a quality adjustable pen paired with an excellent tank atomizer with replaceable coils is sufficient to meet the body's nicotine dependence after long-term smoking and also satisfy the psychological need for cloud chasing.

Of course, e-liquid is key, which can be said to be the soul of the product. A reliable e-liquid directly affects the taste you inhale and your perception of e-cigarettes. Good e-liquid can bring you enjoyment, while poor-quality e-liquid will only kill your expectations and confidence in e-cigarettes! There are many unscrupulous domestic merchants, and due to the lack of sound laws and regulations, many merchants are utterly unscrupulous. You never know if the e-liquid priced at a few yuan per bottle is actually gutter oil. Based on this, spending a little more on imported e-liquids can be considered a psychological comfort, as foreign regulations on this product are relatively strict. Of course, I am not trying to disparage domestic e-liquids, but based on my experience, many domestic e-liquids I have encountered are truly unworthy of praise, at least in terms of flavoring levels and taste. As for the assurance of production materials, that is even more uncertain. However, there is good news recently that e-liquids can now be certified by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Regarding whether e-cigarettes are harmful to the body, there is currently no authoritative institution that has made a conclusion. After all, this product is still a newborn compared to the history of cigarettes. Currently, there are voices criticizing e-cigarettes as well as those defending them, which is essentially a battle of interest groups behind the scenes. I personally believe that e-cigarettes are definitely less harmful to the body compared to cigarettes. One reason is combustion, which is a violent chemical reaction; during the burning process, cigarettes produce numerous substances. The other is atomization, which is a physical change with relatively simple components.

Since I stopped smoking, my morning cough and chronic bronchitis symptoms have disappeared. A friend of mine even told me that after using this, his nasal inflammation symptoms that had troubled him also improved. However, there are also adverse reactions; some friends say that using this causes diarrhea, while not using it resolves the issue. Others say that their cough is worse than when they smoked. I suspect it might be an allergy to PG (propylene glycol). Whether this is good or not, I think it varies from person to person. It’s a matter of weighing the lesser of two evils. Your body changes after using it will tell you; first, not being exposed to tar and carbon monoxide, the two killers of blood oxygen levels, will make your condition much better than when smoking.

However, since it is a chemical component entering the body, I am not a medical expert, and I cannot know what long-term effects it will have on the body. I just hope that friends using e-cigarettes treat it as a tool to assist in quitting smoking, and do not let withdrawal symptoms become too painful. Gradually reducing the nicotine content of the e-liquid used until you can finally throw away the e-cigarette is the ultimate goal!!!