Is vaping a gateway to cigarettes?

With more and more people vaping, concerns over these devices continue to rise. One key issue is on the table. Do vapes lead to cigarette smoking?

Here, we look at the dangers of vaping and how they may act as a gateway to tobacco cigarettes.

Vaping happens when vapour is inhaled, or ‘vaped’, through an electronic device called a ‘vape’ or ‘e-cigarette’.

Vapes have become more popular over the last several years, and they’re often seen as an alternative to cigarette smoking. But, as many vapes contain nicotine themselves, people can become addicted to them too.

Typically, a person might to choose to vape over smoking a cigarette for a variety of reasons, including vaping’s:

• relative affordability
• perception of being safer and more acceptable than cigarettes
• popularity on social media
• convenience.

However, like cigarette smoking, vaping runs a number of serious health risks. These include:

• nicotine addiction
• breathing problems
• permanent lung damage
• persistent coughing
• vomiting
• nausea
• chest pain
• mouth and airway irritation
• poisoning and seizures
• harm to brain development for younger vapers
• injuries from exploding devices (such as burns).¹

The vapour produced by an e-cigarette is made with a gel-like liquid, known as ‘e-liquid’ or ‘vaping juice’, which is heated up inside the device. This liquid is either sold on its own or pre-loaded into a disposable device. While most contain nicotine, some don’t.

Vape and e-liquid branding is often bright and colourful, and can come in a variety of sweet flavours like watermelon or bubble gum. In many cases, this is designed to appeal to younger people.²

However, since 2021, it has been illegal to buy nicotine-based vaping products (at any age) in Australia without a prescription.¹

Yet, despite these restrictions (and the known dangers of vaping), e-cigarette use among people 14 years and older has nearly tripled in Australia since 2019.³

Perhaps the most concerning vaping trend is its growing use among young people.

Out of the 308,000 Victorian adults who reported using e-cigarettes in 2022, more than half were aged between 18 and 29 years of age.⁴ And studies ;have shown that e-cigarettes are reaching people younger than 18 and now even appearing in primary schools.⁵

Recent research reveals that nearly 80% of New South Wales teens who have vaped found it easy to access e-cigarettes from multiple illegal sources.⁶

As Cancer Council Public Health Committee Chair Anita Dessaix said in a statement: “Whichever way teenagers obtain e-cigarettes, they are all illegal, yet it’s happening under the noses of federal and state authorities.”⁷

While a small number of cigarette smokers may benefit from vaping as a last-line cessation tool (with a medically prescribed vape and under a doctor’s supervision), for most other people, vaping runs a serious risk of leading to cigarette smoking.

In fact, people who vape are 3 times more likely to go on to smoke tobacco cigarettes.⁸

This is troubling given that in 2023, it was announced that more than 77,000 Victorian adults who’d previously never smoked had taken up vaping sometime over the 3 preceding years.⁹

The trend is even more troubling when considering the high rates of under-18 vapers.

As Quit Director Matthew Scanlon said in a statement: “We have watched in horror as [vaping] use by young people in Victoria has rapidly increased. Just when smoking rates among teenagers were approaching zero, we have seen a new vaping epidemic take off like wildfire.”¹⁰

Quitline can provide more information about the health benefits of stopping smoking, and tips to help you quit. Visit them online or call 13 78 48.

National Alcohol and Other Drugs Hotline is available 24/7 and provides free and confidential counselling and advice on 1800 250 015.