Do you know that the e-cigarette, a seemingly trendy gadget often referred to as vaping, enjoys a history of nearly a century? Back in the past, the e-cigarette made its debut as early as 1927, when Joseph Robinson applied for a US patent for the first electric vaporizer, a device he claimed to serve as medicinal compounds. [1]. Later, in 1963, Herbert Gilbert applied for the first US patent for a smokeless product. Sadly, despite him touting “the device’s tremendous potential in preventing disease and death from tobacco use.” no manufacturer was willing to put his invention into mass production then [2]. It wasn’t until Hon Lik, a Chinese inventor inventing his e-cigarette in 2003, that modern e-cigarettes were officially commercialized, and introduced to not just the market in China, but the rest of the world [3].
But heated tobacco, often mistaken for the e-cigarette, is another page of the story. In 1998, Philip Morris began selling the Accord cigarette, a battery-powered non-burning system that lowered visible smoke and ashes generated from a cigarette, as a substitute for the traditional cigarettes. Accord cigarette can be regarded as the predecessor of heated tobacco today.
Heated tobacco and the e-cigarette share some resemblances, though, the differences between them are huge. To clear the confusion once and for all, this article will take a closer look at traditional tobacco supplies, heated tobacco products, and the e-cigarette /vape.
What Can be Expected from Traditional Tobacco
Okay, let us start with traditional cigarette/ tobacco supplies, our most familiar products.
Traditional tobacco supplies ignite and burn the real tobacco leaves, generating ash, smoke, and other residues that may stain the users’ fingers and make their mouths stinky. It is well known that cigarette contains nicotine, an addictive chemical along with hundreds of other harmful substances that could lead to a variety of health issues, even lung cancer.
What is Heated Tobacco
Just like its traditional counterpart, heated tobacco also uses real tobacco leaves. However, as its name suggests, heated tobacco heats these specially reconstituted tobacco leaves to a certain temperature, instead of burning them.
Due to its uniquely designed system, no burning is involved, thus no ash or smoke is produced. The smoke-like material emitting from the heated cigarettes is not smoke, but aerosol, a suspension of fine liquid and solid particles in a gas (usually air). Without the smoke, not only may it benefit non-smokers, who might have inhaled the secondhand smoke produced by traditional burning tobacco otherwise, but also beneficial for the environment and atmosphere. Also, heated tobacco does not stain the users’ fingers or make their mouths stinky, an extra bonus coming from its special heating mechanism.
However, since nicotine exists in the tobacco leaves, heated tobacco products reduce nicotine, but they cannot completely eliminate nicotine and other harmful chemicals. They still release a nicotine-containing tobacco vapor. For this, heated tobacco products are considered risk-reduced products for smokers but not 100% harmless alternatives.
What is the Vape/E-cigarette
Unlike traditional tobacco supplies or heated tobacco, the e-cigarette/vape quits using tobacco leaves completely. E-cigarette turns to an e-liquid solution derived and extracted from tobacco leaves, containing flavorings, other ingredients and nicotine as well.
Vape also revolutionizes the heating way, by vaporizing the e-liquid solution, thus gaining its name.
Words in the End
Heated tobacco and the e-cigarette have a lot of similarities, both between themselves, and with their oldest predecessors, the cigarette. Still, they are different from each other, both in terms of fillers, heating manners and tastes. When Herbert A. Gilbert first concocted the vapor flavors, he did not forget his personal favorite cinnamon, among mint, rum and 10 others. Today, the selection range is naturally wider. For example, NUSO heated tobacco enjoys a set of colorful flavors, from the classic ones full of nature and pure aroma, to the enhanced editions with exquisite and inspiring experiences.
Once again, for those seeking safe, clean and healthy substitutes for traditional tobacco supplies, sorry to disappoint you. Heated tobacco or e-cigarettes are not safe. They are cleaner than traditional tobacco supplies, with no ash and smoke to bother yourself or others. Yet, they are not 100% harmless, containing nicotine and potentially harmful constituents. Therefore, the best option for the smokers is, and always will be, to quit cigarettes and nicotine completely.
References:
[1] History of Vaping
[2] Plans for the First E-cigarette Went Up in Smoke 50 Years Ago
[3] The wild history of vaping, from a 1927 ‘electric vaporizer’ to today’s mysterious lung injury crisis
Comments
