Cargando…

When Less is More: Vaping Low-Nicotine vs. High-Nicotine E-Liquid is Compensated by Increased Wattage and Higher Liquid Consumption

(1) Background: Previous research (Van Gucht, Adriaens, and Baeyens, 2017) showed that almost all (99%) of the 203 surveyed customers of a Dutch online vape shop had a history of smoking before they had started using an e-cigarette. Almost all were daily vapers who used on average 20 mL e-liquid per...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Smets, Jorien, Baeyens, Frank, Chaumont, Martin, Adriaens, Karolien, Van Gucht, Dinska
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6427796/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30823395
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16050723
_version_ 1783405292896124928
author Smets, Jorien
Baeyens, Frank
Chaumont, Martin
Adriaens, Karolien
Van Gucht, Dinska
author_facet Smets, Jorien
Baeyens, Frank
Chaumont, Martin
Adriaens, Karolien
Van Gucht, Dinska
author_sort Smets, Jorien
collection PubMed
description (1) Background: Previous research (Van Gucht, Adriaens, and Baeyens, 2017) showed that almost all (99%) of the 203 surveyed customers of a Dutch online vape shop had a history of smoking before they had started using an e-cigarette. Almost all were daily vapers who used on average 20 mL e-liquid per week, with an average nicotine concentration of 10 mg/mL. In the current study, we wanted to investigate certain evolutions with regard to technical aspects of vaping behaviour, such as wattage, the volume of e-liquid used and nicotine concentration. In recent years, much more powerful devices have become widely available, e-liquids with very low nicotine concentrations have become the rule rather than the exception in the market supply, and the legislation has been adjusted, including a restriction on maximum nicotine concentrations to 20 mg/mL. (2) Methods: Customers (n = 150) from the same Dutch online vape shop were contacted (to allow a historical comparison), as well as 274 visitors from the Facebook group “Belgian Vape Bond” to compare between groups from two different geographies and/or vaping cultures. (3) Results: Most results were in line with earlier findings: Almost all surveyed vapers were (ex-)smokers, had started (80%) vaping to quit smoking and reported similar positive effects of having switched from smoking to vaping (e.g., improved health). A striking observation, however, was that whereas customers of the Dutch online vape shop used e-liquids with a similar nicotine concentration as that observed previously, the Belgian vapers used e-liquids with a significantly lower nicotine concentration but consumed much more of it. The resulting intake of the total quantity of nicotine did not differ between groups. (4) Conclusions: Among vapers, different vaping typologies may exist, depending on subcultural and/or geographic parameters. As a consequence of choosing low nicotine concentrations and consuming more e-liquid, the Belgian vapers may have a greater potential to expose themselves to larger quantities of harmful or potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs) released during vaping.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6427796
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2019
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-64277962019-04-10 When Less is More: Vaping Low-Nicotine vs. High-Nicotine E-Liquid is Compensated by Increased Wattage and Higher Liquid Consumption Smets, Jorien Baeyens, Frank Chaumont, Martin Adriaens, Karolien Van Gucht, Dinska Int J Environ Res Public Health Article (1) Background: Previous research (Van Gucht, Adriaens, and Baeyens, 2017) showed that almost all (99%) of the 203 surveyed customers of a Dutch online vape shop had a history of smoking before they had started using an e-cigarette. Almost all were daily vapers who used on average 20 mL e-liquid per week, with an average nicotine concentration of 10 mg/mL. In the current study, we wanted to investigate certain evolutions with regard to technical aspects of vaping behaviour, such as wattage, the volume of e-liquid used and nicotine concentration. In recent years, much more powerful devices have become widely available, e-liquids with very low nicotine concentrations have become the rule rather than the exception in the market supply, and the legislation has been adjusted, including a restriction on maximum nicotine concentrations to 20 mg/mL. (2) Methods: Customers (n = 150) from the same Dutch online vape shop were contacted (to allow a historical comparison), as well as 274 visitors from the Facebook group “Belgian Vape Bond” to compare between groups from two different geographies and/or vaping cultures. (3) Results: Most results were in line with earlier findings: Almost all surveyed vapers were (ex-)smokers, had started (80%) vaping to quit smoking and reported similar positive effects of having switched from smoking to vaping (e.g., improved health). A striking observation, however, was that whereas customers of the Dutch online vape shop used e-liquids with a similar nicotine concentration as that observed previously, the Belgian vapers used e-liquids with a significantly lower nicotine concentration but consumed much more of it. The resulting intake of the total quantity of nicotine did not differ between groups. (4) Conclusions: Among vapers, different vaping typologies may exist, depending on subcultural and/or geographic parameters. As a consequence of choosing low nicotine concentrations and consuming more e-liquid, the Belgian vapers may have a greater potential to expose themselves to larger quantities of harmful or potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs) released during vaping. MDPI 2019-02-28 2019-03 /pmc/articles/PMC6427796/ /pubmed/30823395 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16050723 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Smets, Jorien
Baeyens, Frank
Chaumont, Martin
Adriaens, Karolien
Van Gucht, Dinska
When Less is More: Vaping Low-Nicotine vs. High-Nicotine E-Liquid is Compensated by Increased Wattage and Higher Liquid Consumption
title When Less is More: Vaping Low-Nicotine vs. High-Nicotine E-Liquid is Compensated by Increased Wattage and Higher Liquid Consumption
title_full When Less is More: Vaping Low-Nicotine vs. High-Nicotine E-Liquid is Compensated by Increased Wattage and Higher Liquid Consumption
title_fullStr When Less is More: Vaping Low-Nicotine vs. High-Nicotine E-Liquid is Compensated by Increased Wattage and Higher Liquid Consumption
title_full_unstemmed When Less is More: Vaping Low-Nicotine vs. High-Nicotine E-Liquid is Compensated by Increased Wattage and Higher Liquid Consumption
title_short When Less is More: Vaping Low-Nicotine vs. High-Nicotine E-Liquid is Compensated by Increased Wattage and Higher Liquid Consumption
title_sort when less is more: vaping low-nicotine vs. high-nicotine e-liquid is compensated by increased wattage and higher liquid consumption
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6427796/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30823395
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16050723
work_keys_str_mv AT smetsjorien whenlessismorevapinglownicotinevshighnicotineeliquidiscompensatedbyincreasedwattageandhigherliquidconsumption
AT baeyensfrank whenlessismorevapinglownicotinevshighnicotineeliquidiscompensatedbyincreasedwattageandhigherliquidconsumption
AT chaumontmartin whenlessismorevapinglownicotinevshighnicotineeliquidiscompensatedbyincreasedwattageandhigherliquidconsumption
AT adriaenskarolien whenlessismorevapinglownicotinevshighnicotineeliquidiscompensatedbyincreasedwattageandhigherliquidconsumption
AT vanguchtdinska whenlessismorevapinglownicotinevshighnicotineeliquidiscompensatedbyincreasedwattageandhigherliquidconsumption