Smoking, Tobacco and Vaping

Tobacco Products

Tobacco can be processed, dried, rolled and smoked as:

• Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS): nonburning tobacco products, including e-cigarettes (vapes).
• Cigarettes.
• Cigars.
• Bidis: thin, hand-rolled cigarettes imported from Southeast Asia.
• Clove cigarettes.
• Kreteks: cigarettes imported from Indonesia that contain cloves and other additives.
• Loose-leaf tobacco: smoked in pipes or a hookah, an Asian smoking pipe with a long tube that passes through a water urn.
• Smokeless tobacco: chewing tobacco and snuff, finely ground tobacco placed between the gum and lip.

Most smoking and tobacco use has decreased, but for those who use tobacco, the health effects are devastating. One in every five deaths each year is caused by prolonged smoking.

Sobering Facts

• Smoking and secondhand smoke kill more people than AIDS, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, car crashes, murders, suicides and fires combined.
• Smoking and tobacco use not only cause cancer, but may cause other diseases, including sudden death when the heart does not beat properly (ventricular arrhythmias).
• One in three teens who are “just experimenting” end up addicted to tobacco by the time they’re 20 years old.
• Cigarettes contain over 2,000 poisons – including toxins found in nail polish remover, rat poison, battery acid, insecticides and rocket fuel.
• If you’re under age 18, smoking is illegal. If caught, you’ll pay a heavy fine.
• Nicotine, the main chemical in tobacco, is just as addictive as heroin or cocaine.
• On average, smokers die 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.
• Smoking doesn’t just affect the person smoking. Secondhand smokers are also at risk. On average, secondhand smoke causes 3,400 deaths from lung cancer and 46,000 deaths from heart disease every year.
• Smoking causes birth defects when pregnant women are exposed to it (firsthand or secondhand smoke). Some birth defects may be premature birth, asthma and cleft lip.

Electronic Cigarettes (Vaping)

Electronic cigarettes are also known as:

• E-cigs
• Vape pens or vapes
• Mods
• Juuls (a brand name)

E-cigarettes can look like regular cigarettes, but they can also look like pens, highlighters, flash drives and other common objects. They operate with a battery, which converts liquid nicotine into a vapor. When inhaled, the vapor enters your lungs and is absorbed by the blood.

Are Electronic Cigarettes Unhealthy?

E-cigarettes are a nicotine delivery system and are addictive and harmful. As of 2016, they are regulated by the FDA and must include the required nicotine addictiveness warning statement (like cigarettes do).

Are Electronic Cigarettes Safer Than Cigarettes?

No. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), e-cigarettes are not safe for youth, young adults, pregnant women or adults who currently don’t use tobacco products.

How Popular are E-cigs Among Teens?

Electronic cigarettes are now the most widely used form of tobacco for U.S. youth. According to the FDA, from 2017 to 2018:

• Vaping increased 78 percent among high school students.
• Vaping increased 48 percent among middle school students.

In 2018, 1 in 5 high school students and 1 in 20 middle schoolers (more than 3.6 million youth) used e-cigarettes.

To make them more appealing to young people, manufacturers make e-cigarettes in assorted colors, shapes and candy flavors. Four out of five kids who vape nicotine use flavors, according to the National Institutes of Health. Ninety percent of long-term smokers begin smoking under the age of 18, so the e-cigarette manufacturers are targeting teens with this product.

Last Reviewed: November 2018