A growing number of cigarette smokers are turning to vaping to kick the old habit. But as MPB's Ashley Norwood reports, how effective is it?
Mike Jefcoat owns Magnolia Vapes in Ridgeland. He says he smoked cigarettes for 37 years.
"And when I had a friend introduce me to the vaping, I stopped within four days from combustible tobacco and I've worked myself down to, I'm on like a zero-point-three, so there's very very little nicotine in the product I use," said Jefcoat.
E-cigarettes, or vaping, is a habit on the rise as people are trying to toss the old-fashioned cigarette. An electronic cigarette doesn't produce the tar associated with tobacco smoke that could lead to lung cancer. However, the amount of nicotine in an e-cigarette varies.
Dr. Rick DeShazo is with the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
"If adults who are smokers get into vaping and then cut back on the concentration- there are different viles of nicotine solution that you can put in these devices. If they cut back on those over time that can be very helpful," said DeShazo.
Vaping now is an epidemic among high schoolers: millions to be exact, according to a 2016 National Youth Tobacco Survey.
DeShazo says teens who vape using nicotine are at risk.
"A substantial number of those kids are going to end up transitioning to tobacco. The regulations that are going to come out are not going to be adequate to decrease the use of this and we will have yet another health problem in the long-term," said DeShazo.
DeShazo says new studies on the health risks and benefits of vaping are still being studied. Ashley Norwood, MPB News.
