Are Elf Bars & Other Disposable Vapes Bad for You? why the vape disposables are the best choice!
Elf Bars are well-liked single-use electronic cigarettes, or “vapes,” offered in diverse sizes, tastes, and levels of nicotine. A disposable vape is a one-time-use electronic cigarette that is discarded when finished. Owing to their user-friendliness, flavor diversity, and convenience, disposable vapes have surged in popularity in recent times.
Is it harmful to use Elf Bars? Though Elf Bars are considered 95% safer than traditional cigarettes, they are not entirely harmless. However, they present a significantly safer alternative for adult smokers.
To assess the health implications of disposable vapes or Elf Bars, it’s necessary to compare vaping with cigarette smoking. Vaping devices were developed as less harmful substitutes for cigarettes, and this comparison is critical since the majority of vapers are either smokers or former smokers.
Let’s examine some research about vaping to determine the potential health risks of Elf Bars and other disposable vapes.
Public Health England’s research is quite clear, stating “vaping is at least 95 percent safer than smoking,” and vapes “are significantly less harmful to health than tobacco and have the potential to help smokers quit smoking.” The Royal College of Physicians’ groundbreaking 2016 study on vaping — which first identified the link between smoking and lung cancer — concluded similarly.
Most vaping studies contrast e-cigarette use with smoking, and the above-mentioned research suggests that vapes are 95% less harmful than cigarettes. Interestingly, a 2017 study followed the health indicators of a group of non-smoking vapers for 3.5 years.
The researchers meticulously tracked cardiac, pulmonary, and circulatory health markers and contrasted them with a control group of non-vapers who had also never smoked. The results were overwhelmingly positive, showing no significant health difference between vapers and non-smokers, even among heavy vapers.
The authors concluded, “Although it cannot be excluded that some harm may occur at later stages, this study did not demonstrate any health concerns associated with long-term use of [vapes] in relatively young users who did not also smoke tobacco.”
In summary, if you’re a smoker attempting to quit, Elf Bars and other disposable vapes offer easy-to-use alternatives that could potentially help you permanently abandon smoking. However, if you’re a non-smoker, it’s not advised to start vaping or using Elf Bars.
Are Elf Bars more harmful than cigarettes? Dispelling false information A recent Tiktok video comparing an Elf Bar 600 to 48 to 50 cigarettes has gained millions of views and spread misinformation among large online media platforms.
UK-based dentist, Dr. Onkar Mudhar, stated in his Tiktok video that consuming an entire Geek or Elf bar equates to about 48 to 50 cigarettes, as both bars contain two milligrams of nicotine salt, or the equivalent of 20 milligrams of nicotine.
However, this statement is misleading and incorrect.
According to tests conducted at Penn State University, the average nicotine content across all cigarette brands tested was 10.2 mg per cigarette. Therefore, an average pack of cigarettes contains 204 mg of nicotine (20 cigarettes X 10.2 mg).
In the UK, an Elf Bar can contain up to 2% nicotine, equal to 20 mg/mL. Considering an Elf Bar 600 (the most sold model in the UK and Europe) contains 2 mL of e-juice, the total nicotine content equals 40 mg per Elf Bar (20 mg/mL x 2 mL). Without taking nicotine absorption rates into account for both smoking and vaping, one Elf Bar is roughly equivalent to four cigarettes in terms of nicotine content.
However, the comparison stops here. Cigarette smoke contains a lethal mix of carcinogens and lung-damaging substances due to combustion, while the vapor from an Elf Bar or any e-cigarette contains a minimal amount of potentially harmful chemicals. In contrast, cigarette smoke contains more than 70 of over 4000 identified chemicals that are known carcinogens.
Do Elf Bars & other disposable vapes have side effects? While e-cigarettes are not medical devices, they can still cause side effects for users. Unfortunately, studies focusing on vaping’s side effects are scarce, with most focusing on the general health impact of vaping. Instead, Google keywords and search traffic data, along with social media posts and threads on vaping forums, were used to determine the most commonly searched side effects.
Common side effects from vaping (including Elf Bars) include:
Dry mouth Dizziness or headrush Feeling tired and fatigued Sore throat Coughing Headaches Weight loss/gain Nausea Chest pain Many of the reported side effects from vaping are actually due to nicotine usage, and several of these effects are shared with FDA-approved nicotine replacement therapies like gum and patches.
However, some of these side effects are unique to vaping. It’s important to note that vapes are not health products, but they are a much safer alternative when compared to smoking.
For the millions who use vaping as a smoking substitute, the mild side effects of vaping should be considered in comparison to the extreme hazards of smoking cigarettes.