How Vape Flavours Can Help You Quit Smoking

Quitting smoking is one of the hardest tasks that a person can attempt to do, and more often than not people do not succeed at the first attempt. But this doesn’t mean it’s an impossible task that will never be achieved as the numbers show more and more people are now successfully quitting smoking, and this is being achieved by using a form of Nicotine Replacement Therapy with further statistics showing that E-Cigarettes are being proven to be the most useful tool in helping people quit.

But what else can help make the process easier is flavoured vape juice, as this can steer people away from the taste of tobacco and help their taste receptors change so the taste of tobacco will become something they do not enjoy.

In this article, I’m going to look at why vape flavours are crucial in the process to help people quit smoking, and why some countries that are banning flavoured eliquid are potentially hindering the success of people quitting smoking.

E-Cigarettes become the most successful tool to quit smoking

Nicotine Replacement Therapy is the name given to the tools what people use when quitting smoking. These are exactly what they say on the tin…Nicotine Replacement options.

When people quit smoking, it’s always recommended that some form of NRT is used, as if you went straight cold turkey method and opted not to have any form of Nicotine whatsoever, you may face some adverse side effects that won’t be pleasant from the Nicotine withdrawals.

“Traditional” Nicotine Replacement Therapy options that have been around for years are things like Nicotine Patches, Sprays, Gum and Lozenges. These are what are prescribed by a Doctor if you visited them saying you want to quit smoking, and will give you a small dose of Nicotine in whatever form you opted to use, to keep your cravings at bay and to stop you from wanting to smoke.

But what has now entered as an option, and an option that is proving to be very successful is an E-Cigarette. These currently are not available on prescription, although I am hopeful they may be in future (one can hope!) but instead GP’s and Stop Smoking services in England are recommending these to people as their first port of call to quit smoking due to the resounding success that has been happening with them.

Recently, Cochrane made a comprehensive study which looked at the results of 78 different studies to do with adults smoking and what forms of NRT they used to help them quit. The total amount of adult smokers involved in all of these surveys was 22,052 and the studies looked at people who used things like Nicotine Patches or Gum, Prescribed medication, E-Cigarettes without Nicotine and E-Cigarettes that contained Nicotine to help them quit smoking.

And the results of this report showed that people are more than likely to quit smoking for at least six months using nicotine containing E-Cigarettes than using other forms of Nicotine Replacement Therapy or E-Cigarettes without Nicotine. And using Nicotine containing E-Cigarettes may help people who do not have access to continued support throughout their quitting process or only behavioural support which normally comes from Stop Smoking services.

Why vape flavours can help make quitting easier

Now I don’t know about you, but I really didn’t enjoy the taste of tobacco when I smoked cigarettes. And practically jumped at the opportunity to not have to endure that taste anymore, but still get my nicotine fix and this came in the form of flavoured eliquid.

I started vaping back in 2016, and this was around the time that Vaping was still kind of in it’s earlier stages, and whilst the flavour selection wasn’t exactly limited, the options available then certainly were not anywhere near what they are today.

I opted for a Vanilla custard flavour as my first ever vape flavour, and whilst it wasn’t the best, it was a sure shot better than the tobacco taste I was having to endure. I eventually moved on to more fruitier flavours after finding that’s what I enjoyed the most, and it’s what I’ve stuck to even to this day. And never looked back at wanting to smoke as I get plenty of Nicotine from my E-Cig and E-Liquid.

I know I do not stand alone with this stance and opinion, as there are like millions of like minded vapers out there that will be in the same boat as me, standing by the fact that vape flavours made quitting easier, and also stops them from wanting to revert back to smoking also. This belief is also backed up by surveys that have been carried out by Action on Smoking and Health who looked at the behaviours of adults who were users of E-Cigarettes.

The survey asked those taking part what vape flavours they were using, and the most common answer given was Fruit flavours, followed by mint/menthol, and finally tobacco flavours in last place. They were also asked why they prefer using fruit flavours, which the general consensus was because it keeps them away from tobacco and stops the temptation to smoke if they get that taste back.

This is how vape flavours can help people quit smoking, and why it is absolutely imperative that they remain untouched and free from any restrictions or regulations being imposed on them, but sadly this is not the case in some countries as vape flavours have started to be limited, meaning people are not free to access what they heavily rely on to help them keep off cigarettes, let’s take a look at this in more detail shall we?

Restrictions on Vape Flavours are harming Vapers

Whilst we have restrictions on vape juice here in the UK under the Tobacco Products Directive, it only affects the size of the bottles, as well as the nicotine content and thankfully the flavours remain untouched and unregulated as well. But unfortunately, this isn’t the case in other countries around the world.

• Canada banned vape flavours other than tobacco and mint/menthol in 2021
• 7 different states in the United States of America have banned vape flavours other than Tobacco and Mint/Menthol. And a country wide ban has been imposed on pre filled cartridges only being allowed to contain tobacco or mint/menthol flavours.
• Hungary does not permit any flavoured vape juice at all
• Denmark and Estonia only permit Tobacco and Mint/Menthol Vape Flavours
• Finland, Lithuania, Ukraine and Slovenia only permit Tobacco vape flavours to be sold. NO Mint/Menthol is permitted.
• And Netherlands will be joining these countries as well as of July 2023, with all flavours other than Tobacco prohibited from sale.

This is so disheartening to see so many countries, as well as provinces and states in USA prohibiting the sale of flavoured vape juice from sale, as this could be really harming the vapers within these countries who so heavily rely on vape flavours to keep them away from relapsing and going back to smoking.

There has been several surveys and studies done amongst the residents of these countries, most notably within the USA, and most have said that they will simply resort to black market tactics to obtain the vape flavours they have previously been used to being able to obtain.

And sadly some of them have even said that they will just go back to smoking if they can’t get what they previously relied on to keep them away from cigarettes, which is so counter productive it’s unreal really!

Conclusion

I hope this blog has given you some insight as to why and just how much vape flavours are a crucial part of the process for people who are wanting to quit smoking and then the process of keeping away from cigarettes as well. And it really does pain me to see countries having such a harsh approach towards vaping by making the choice to prohibit the sale of vape flavours.

Their reasons for doing it may seem understandable, with the large majority of them opting to make the cull to protect the youths within the country from wanting to pick up an e-cigarette, but they don’t look at the bigger picture which is the harm they’re causing to adult users of E-Cigarettes who have already overcome the biggest obstacle of quitting smoking by using E-Cigarettes and flavoured vape juice.

By them removing one of the most essential tools in successfully quitting smoking, it’s just going to cause uproar and upset, and then people will revert back to smoking which just doesn’t make sense.

I will be keeping a close watch as always on other countries around the world and the decisions they make and update you in future blogs, and I sincerely hope that something like these prohibitions of sale on vape flavours is not introduced here in the UK.