London Promotes Vaping

Stop Smoking London has launched a new website which gives evidence-based advice on how best to quit and vaping plays a key role in its recommendations. It wasn’t that long ago that only one quit service in the country supported smokers using vapes to quit – but it is a measure of how firm the evidence is that Stop Smoking London states “vaping to be 95% safer than smoking tobacco”.

Stop smoking services took a long time before they began supporting smokers who wanted to switch to vaping. It took some pioneering work by Louise Ross at Leicester’s service to begin encouraging them to take the step. Initially a sceptic, Louise became convinced that vapes could have a key role to play following conversations with university researchers and vapers who had escaped from the clutches of tobacco.

Stop Smoking London’s new website is a symbol of how welcomed electronic cigarettes are now: “Vapes come in different styles and flavours but they all work by helping to fight your nicotine cravings – and they carry a small fraction of the risk of smoking cigarettes.”

“Vapes are widely regarded by healthcare professional, charities, and tobacco pressure groups as a convenient way to cut down on the number of cigarettes you smoke, or to quit smoking altogether,” it says.

Stop Smoking London points out that public health experts are fully behind vaping, including:

• Public Health England (now the UK Heath Security Agency)
• The Royal College of Physicians
• The National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training
• The Royal College of GPs
• And charities including Cancer Research UK

Pointing out that nicotine in eliquid is “relatively harmless”, Stop Smoking London points smokers to the informative Impact of smoking vs vaping demonstration video made by PHE/UKHSA UK Health Security Agency

The Service says that the reason ecigs work so well for smokers is that they contain nicotine, feels like smoking when used (due to the entrenched habit of smoking and exhaling), and keeps your hands occupied like when using a cigarette.

Also, it highlights that because vapes come in a range of strengths and flavours, it is possible to tailor the experience to the individual – therefore there will be something that works for you. That said, Stop Smoking London say: “You’re probably going to have to try a number of products until you find the one that’s right for you.”

The Service gives out a number of suggestions on things like the best way to store your e-liquid and how to charge them safely, as well as stating: “You will save a lot of money by quitting smoking and switching to vaping. That’s just one more way that quitting will improve not only your standard of living but also your standard of life.”

You can find out more about Stop Smoking London’s advice here.