Ask HN: Any long term vapers here? Need advice

You have to look at several factors here.

There's the nicotine factor, which means that vaping is just as harmful to the heart and brain as smoking in that regard.

There's the tar factor, where smoking is far, far worse than vaping due the hundreds of carcinogenic compounds that are left in your lungs from the tar.

There's the Carbon Monoxide factor which you get from the burning of combustible substances that occurs in smoking. I found that this had the most harmful effect on me. A day or two after I restarted smoking, I felt as though I had no energy and had to 'drag myself about'. On the other hand when I stopped smoking again, it took about a week or so for the lethargic effect to dissipate.

There's the synthetics factor. A lot of flavorings and other substances in vaping products are quite harmful too.

The bottom line is, as far I can tell:

If you are a smoker, either stop smoking completely or switch over to vaping if you can't kick the nicotine.

If you're a non-smoker, DO NOT START EITHER SMOKING OR VAPING. Particularly, DO NOT START TO SMOKE.

If you're a vaper, try to stop that as soon as possible.

Me? Oh, I had to stop smoking when I had a triple bypass.

I've been vaping for going on 11 years now. I smoked cigarettes for about 6 years, some of that overlapping with the vaping. I might have the occasional cigarette once every year or two now just for nostalgia.

They haven't existed long enough for us to know the long-term effects. You'll occasionally inhale burnt cotton, and it wouldn't surprise me if there weren't a bunch of random secret chemicals in the vape juice. There's also the nicotine itself, which isn't the most harmful thing but can cause certain problems if you do it for years, like constricted blood flow.

But compared to smoking, it's a hell of a lot better. You don't get tar buildup on your lungs. If you vape at reasonable settings it doesn't burn either. It doesn't smell bad, but of course that subjective and some people still don't like it.

I vape and mostly stick to unflavored juice. I notice that my cardio is slightly worse than before, but mostly offset by playing cardio sports 1-2 times per week. It's more noticeable when doing extended cardio activities, like hiking -- when doing sprinting sports (tennis or racquetball for example) I feel fine.

One thing to note about juices: the basic composition of most is some amount of vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol, nicotine, and flavoring additives. Unflavored juices are just VG/PG+nicotine, and both VG/PG are food-safe substances widely used in medicine, food, and skin care products. Though of course, inhaling aerosolized VG/PG is worse than inhaling clean air. Nicotine has some adverse effects like vasoconstriction (my fingers/feet get cold more easily these days) but is offset for me by its positive effects on alertness and mood.

The nice thing about vaping unflavored juices (make sure you check the ingredients list) is that you skip the flavoring additives, which are less researched in terms of health effects and less regulated. Also, there is no smell. Obviously a creamy or sweet vape will smell better than cigs, but the scent can still be overpowering or unpleasant for people around you.

Overall I agree with the other posters: vaping is better than smoking, and not doing either is best.

Weird thing about vaping is there's no cut-off. You smoke one cigarette and the cigarette is out. You vape and ... when do you actually stop?

When the cartridge is out? -- that's 20 cigs worth of nicotine? Personally, I quit because vaping gave me chest pains.