How Popular Is Vaping Among People Who Have Never Smoked?

How Popular Is Vaping Among People Who Have Never Smoked?

For many people, vaping is a means for them to quit smoking, reducing their dependence on nicotine while they try to break their cigarette habit.

However, a growing number of people are buying vape kits who have never actually smoked before, showing that e-cigarettes are not just a smoking cessation tool.

Why are vapes used to help people quit smoking?

Due to the multitude of health risks that come with smoking, it is imperative that regular smokers do what they can to break their addiction. If they don’t, there is a greater chance of developing cancer, heart disease, strokes, type 2 diabetes, poor reproductive health, and lung conditions.

That is why vaping was marketed as a less harmful way for smokers to still satisfy certain habits while reducing these health risks.

The NHS recommends the electronic devices, as they enable the user to still inhale nicotine without all the thousands of other harmful chemicals found in cigarettes.

E-liquids, which also contain propylene glycol, vegetable glycerine and flavourings, come in varying nicotine strengths. This means that users can start on a dose of nicotine they are used to from smoking cigarettes and gradually wean themselves to a lower strength.

Another reason they help smokers is they provide the same hand-to-mouth action that they have become used to with cigarettes. They also experience the ‘kick’ at the back of the throat when inhaling, which is similar to smoking, so they are unlikely to miss their usual cigarettes as much when swapping to vapes.

This is why it is much easier than going cold turkey, as breaking their habits and their nicotine addiction can be very difficult. In fact, only eight to nine per cent of quit attempts are successful, and some people try to give up smoking 30 or more times before they manage to do so.

This is despite nearly 70 per cent of smokers saying they want to ditch their habit. Despite wanting to change their lifestyle, most people still find it difficult to fully commit.

However, vaping can help, with the NHS saying smokers are twice as likely to be successful if they use a nicotine vape in comparison with other vape replacement therapies, such as patches, gum, sprays or lozenges.

The number of people who have taken up vaping to quit smoking

Research has shown that between 2013 and 2024, there was a big jump in the number of people who used vaping as a smoking cessation therapy.

The use of e-cigarettes to help smokers quit went from 26.9 per cent in October 2013 to 41.4 per cent in May 2024.

The study revealed: “Vaping prevalence increased substantially among adult ex-smokers in England over the past decade, particularly at younger ages.”

It also noted: “There was also evidence of increased uptake of vaping among those who had been abstinent from smoking for many years.”

This could have been because they were tempted to start smoking again, and vape kits stopped them from picking up a cigarette as they satisfied their craving, or it could just be that they wanted to try vaping.

Vaping numbers among people who never smoked

While vaping has been advertised as a good smoking cessation tool, it is also popular among those who have never picked up a cigarette in their lives.

According to findings published in The Lancet, the number of non-regular smokers who turned to vaping increased significantly between 2021 and 2024.

One in 200 people who didn't smoke regularly were vaping in 2021, increasing to one in 28 by April 2024. This was mostly driven by young people aged 18 to 24, with one in seven in this age group.

The findings also revealed more than half of never-regular smokers who vaped in 2024 did so every day, and 81.7 per cent had been vaping for at least six months.

While vaping carries some risk, particularly e-liquids with a high concentration of nicotine, the study concluded it is less dangerous for those who would have, otherwise, taken up smoking.

“If these individuals would otherwise have smoked, vaping will have a harm reduction effect by diverting them towards a less harmful nicotine product,” it stated.

The report concluded: “With e-cigarettes offering an attractive, less harmful alternative to combustible tobacco products, it is likely that more people will start vaping without ever smoking.”

As the government aims to make Britain smoke-free by 2030 by phasing out the sale of tobacco to those born after 2009, more people are likely to turn to vapes in the future rather than cigarettes.