For those wondering whether electronic cigarettes and vaping are the same thing, the answer is: close but not quite. Vaping, short for vaporizing, is what you’re doing when you use an e-cigarette. So when you see someone take a puff off a vape, what they’re doing is vaping, which is inhaling the vapour or aerosol produced by a vape.
What’s the point?
The point is to inhale the vapour that the device produces. In some cases, the vapour contains nicotine as the liquid that’s being heated to the point of vaporization contains nicotine. These liquids are called e-liquids and vape juices. They come in nicotine-free (no nicotine) and nicotine-infused options, although not all e-juice companies offer their juices in both varieties.
For former smokers, vaping serves as a means by which to get nicotine in a fashion similar to smoking, only likely less harmful according to a growing body of scientific evidence. Don’t take our word for it, take a look at Public Health England’s e-cig evidence review, which says that vaping is likely 95% less harmful than smoking.
Conclusion
Vaping is not the same as an e-cigarette. An e-cigarette is a device used to produce vapour and vaping is the act of using an e-cig. The Merriam-Webster dictionary’s definition of the word vape is “to inhale vapour through the mouth from a usually battery-operated electronic device (such as an electronic cigarette) that heats up and vaporizes a liquid or solid.”
