Why did we do this study?
Replacing smoking with
vaping is highly desirable because it is much less risky. The potential of
e-cigarettes to replace conventional cigarettes depends to a large extent on
how good they are in delivering nicotine in the way smokers want. We wanted to
find out how well different types of e-cigarette delivered nicotine compared to
regular cigarettes.
What did we do?
Twelve participants who
both smoke and vape (use e-cigarettes) came to our lab on 10 occasions, at
least one week apart, and used their own brand of cigarette or one of nine
different e-cigarette brands. We took blood samples from the participants
before they started using the product, and then 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 30 mins later.
What did we find?
None of the e-cigarettes delivered
as much nicotine as regular cigarettes, and they did not deliver it as quickly
as regular cigarettes either, but for some products, nicotine delivery is not
far behind cigarettes. Moderate differences in e-liquid strength had little
effect on how much nicotine was actually delivered to the user; device
characteristics were more important. Using similar strength e-liquid, refillable
(‘tank’) e-cigarettes provided better nicotine delivery than ‘cig-a-likes’,
e-cigarettes that look like conventional cigarettes and do not need filling up.
What does this mean?
Refillable e-cigarettes deliver
nicotine more efficiently than cig-a-like brands. Smokers who are finding
cig-a-like style e-cigarettes unsatisfactory should be advised to try more
advanced, tank systems.
This study was published
in Psychopharmacology. You can read the full article by clicking here (opens in a new window).
We would like to thank
the participants who took part in this study.
