The studies surrounding the dangers and potential benefits of e-cigarette use have repeatedly found three things: vaping is safer than smoking, vaping is still incredibly harmful to users’ lungs, and using vaping to quit smoking may not be a great idea. This last point is largely due to the fact that many who use vaping to quit smoking find themselves doing both rather than quitting the traditional method. In fact, a recent study found that ex-smokers who tried vaping were at least four times more likely to relapse.

Vaping Health Risks

First, it’s important to note that even if a person successfully uses vaping to quit smoking cigarettes, they are still putting themselves at significant risk of lung issues, and possible heart disease risk. A study conducted by Stanford Medicine found that even vaping flavoring alone can damage blood vessels, much less vaping common nicotine juices. The study found that menthol flavoring was one of the more damaging types, however menthol and tobacco flavors are currently the only legal flavors on the market in the U.S.

Smoking flavoring alone isn’t common, however, and there are many other health risks associated with vape use. For instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a spike in e-cigarette or vape use related lung injuries (EVALI) in September 2019. These injuries were likely caused by THC-containing products bought on the black market. There were 68 deaths linked to this issue. And the issue of vaping lung disease still puzzles doctors.

Vaping vs. Cigarettes

While vaping is risky, it’s not as deleterious to your health as cigarette smoking. According to Time, vapes don’t contain as many carcinogens as cigarettes, and those who smoke cigarettes are at a 2.5-times higher risk of developing a respiratory disease than those who don’t smoke at all. Compare this to vape users who face a 1.3-times higher risk than those who use no tobacco products. These numbers are based on a study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine on the comparative risks of vaping and smoking cigarettes.

“If you’re going to do one or the other, in terms of these respiratory effects you’re probably better off with an e-cigarette,” the study’s co-author Dr. Stanton Glantz told Time.

However, using vaping to quit smoking may not be easy. One important finding of the study was that nearly 60 percent of adult vape users also smoked cigarettes.

Can I Use Vaping to Quit Smoking?

The science has shown that, if you can use vaping to quit smoking, you should do so. But this isn’t a solution that’s been helpful to many – the risk of vaping addiction is there. While vape users are less likely to develop respiratory diseases than cigarette smokers, those who do both are at an even greater risk, around 3.3-times higher, than those who don’t use tobacco.

The risks faced by those who start vaping to quit smoking may be different than those faced by vapers who later pick up smoking. According to the study, this means that vaping to quit smoking and failing could cause risks to multiply rather than just increase.

The study showing that vaping is safer than smoking cigarettes may also have another flaw: according to the author, it simply wasn’t long enough. “Based on what we know about the biological effects of e-cigarettes, my guess is that if we followed these people for 20 years, the e-cigarette effect would be similar [to those associated with smoking],” Glantz told Time.

However, other studies have been conducted showing the potential life-saving effects of switching from smoking to vaping. One study found that if smoking is “largely replaced by vaping over a 10-year period”, 6.6 million deaths could be prevented. It’s worth noting that, under this model, all or most efforts to use vaping to quit smoking would need to be successful for the number to be accurate.

A new study published in JAMA Network Open further questioned the efficacy of using vaping to quit smoking. That study found that ex-smokers who experiment with vaping are more than four times more likely to relapse. The study found that just sampling nicotine is enough to trigger a relapse or urge for more.