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It turns out that all those vape shops you see popping up all over the place are not just selling e-cigarettes and thousands of e-liquids, but are acting as a sort of one-stop support shop for people desperately trying to quit smoking. That's according to new research from the University of East Anglia, which we'll get to in a moment.
First, to get an idea of smoking's hold over people, it's worthwhile knowing that, on average, it can take up to 10 attempts, sometimes more, before a smoker has managed to take their last puff. As many of us know, it's a terribly hard habit to break and it's not just the physical addiction to nicotine, but the routine of smoking at various times of the day, too. Many people who are trying to quit, for instance, don't know what to do with themselves when they have a drink and suddenly don't have the accompanying cigarette they're used to. It can drive you to total distraction.
Then there's the so-called emotional support that cigarettes are often said to provide smokers. They especially use this "crutch" at difficult times in their lives, such as when a shock event happens and sends them rushing for the nearest cigarette in an attempt to calm down and feel better. All of these reliances on tobacco make for a kind of triple whammy that can be hard to escape from. But, at least now we know it's a far easier task to quit smoking with vaping gear — you still get the nicotine but nothing else (and it's not nicotine that's the health problem).
How British Vape Shops Are Helping to Stub Out Smoking
Our vape shops do more than just sell vaping gear.
It turns out that all those vape shops you see popping up all over the place are not just selling e-cigarettes and thousands of e-liquids, but are acting as a sort of one-stop support shop for people desperately trying to quit smoking. That's according to new research from the University of East Anglia, which we'll get to in a moment.
First, to get an idea of smoking's hold over people, it's worthwhile knowing that, on average, it can take up to 10 attempts, sometimes more, before a smoker has managed to take their last puff. As many of us know, it's a terribly hard habit to break and it's not just the physical addiction to nicotine, but the routine of smoking at various times of the day, too. Many people who are trying to quit, for instance, don't know what to do with themselves when they have a drink and suddenly don't have the accompanying cigarette they're used to. It can drive you to total distraction.
Then there's the so-called emotional support that cigarettes are often said to provide smokers. They especially use this "crutch" at difficult times in their lives, such as when a shock event happens and sends them rushing for the nearest cigarette in an attempt to calm down and feel better. All of these reliances on tobacco make for a kind of triple whammy that can be hard to escape from. But, at least now we know it's a far easier task to quit smoking with vaping gear — you still get the nicotine but nothing else (and it's not nicotine that's the health problem).
Vape Shop Heroes
Clearly, anything that can be done to get people off deadly cigarettes is an amazing thing. As research by Dr Emma Ward of the University of East Anglia discovered, vape shops often go the extra mile in giving smokers a helping hand with quitting. Dr Ward said staff working at vape shops were able to offer advice to get smokers off cigarettes and, crucially, keep them off them. “We found that vape shops provided effective behavioural support to help quitters stay smoke free. Shop assistants were really keen to understand customers’ smoking preferences and give tailored advice about the most appropriate products. And they were an ongoing point of contact for practical help," she said. Dr Ward suggested that the NHS should partner with good vape shops as part of the health service's stop-smoking efforts, because if smokers switched to e-cigarettes but were unable to use them properly, they might soon return to tobacco. So it was critical, she said, to get initial advice about, for instance, what kind of vaping gear — such as from the popular Smok Vape range — is best suited to someone, as well as clear instructions on how to use it. “An unsatisfying vaping set-up, device malfunction, or a lack of access to vape supplies can trigger a smoking relapse,” she said. “But support from vape shops can help sustain smoking abstinence. We found that shop assistants troubleshoot with customers if they had relapsed and try and find a solution, such as fixing their device or upping their nicotine strength.”Never the Twain
The study, which was funded by Cancer Research UK, also found that vape shops were interested in working with health professionals to get people off cigarettes, and they weren't purely motivated by commercial reasons. One third of vapers the researchers spoke to said that having taken up vaping instead of smoking, they were aiming at some point to give up vaping, too. This is all stellar news in the ongoing battle against tobacco and related illnesses that claim some 100,000 lives across the UK each year. No-one is going to argue that smoking is good and then take issue with vaping when they opt for e-cigarettes to quit. At Electric Tobacconist, we applaud all those many people who have won their own struggles with cigarettes by vaping, as well as those who are in the process of doing so. As legendary American writer Mark Twain once said, “Quitting smoking is easy; I've done it thousands of times.” If only there’d been e-cigarettes back then. Come into Electric Tobacconist’s great online vape store and discover a wondrous world of vaping gear that’s not only simple to use, but great value as well. Try one of our e-cigarette starter kits, which can help smokers get off tobacco and stay that way. We’re always here for any questions you may have about giving up smoking and switching to vaping, so feel free to get in touch.Related Posts
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