Are IQOS e-cigarettes harmful? Can IQOS help you quit smoking?

I have been smoking cigarettes for about fifteen to sixteen years in total. I quit once when I was 11, but only lasted a year and a half before I started again, and I haven't quit since. I wasn't planning to quit smoking, but recently I came across IQOS, did some research online, and found that user feedback was quite good, so I bought one to try. Are IQOS e-cigarettes harmful? Can IQOS help me quit smoking?

IQOS is referred to as an e-cigarette online, but I personally think it shouldn't be broadly categorized as such because there are significant differences in design principles—e-cigarettes release nicotine through distillation, while IQOS uses a water vapor heating method to release nicotine. So what is the difference between these two processes?

Are IQOS e-cigarettes harmful? To be precise, distillation is called "atomization"; it uses a chemical method to evaporate the nicotine aroma from tobacco, resulting in a much lower tar content in the released vapor compared to the tar released from burning cigarettes. This is one reason many smokers have switched to e-cigarettes. Water vapor heating is a relatively new technology and is the biggest highlight of IQOS. As the name suggests, water vapor heating uses electronic devices to heat water vapor, raising the temperature of the tobacco to the preset ignition point for nicotine, allowing it to release aroma without open flame combustion. This way, it achieves the effect of reducing tar release like traditional e-cigarettes while providing a warm smoke sensation that is closer to the experience of real cigarettes, making it easier for long-time smokers like me to accept.

Can IQOS help me quit smoking? So at first, I adapted quickly to using it, and gradually, as I used IQOS more, I found that regular cigarettes didn't seem as enjoyable as before. The intense satisfaction was gone, and when I smoked more, I felt a greasy taste in my mouth, which was quite uncomfortable. I think this situation might be related to the tar content in tobacco. The tar content in regular cigarettes is very high, especially when they are incompletely burned, the amount released is incalculable, while IQOS has a relatively low tar content, providing a richer flavor without the overwhelming tar taste of regular cigarettes. I am quite satisfied with this because everyone wants to quit smoking for a "healthier" option, and IQOS offers significant health assurance for smokers.

Because I initially found regular cigarettes less enjoyable, I gradually unconsciously reduced the number of times I smoked them. By the second month, I hardly touched regular cigarettes. Now, I have been cigarette-free for several months, and I also don't use IQOS much anymore. After quitting regular cigarettes, I am reducing the frequency of IQOS use, and the results are quite good.