Vaping to Quit smoking

Nicotine vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking. It’s also one of the most effective tools for quitting smoking. Public Health England conducted an independent review in 2019 and found that vaping is around 95% less harmful than smoking in the short and medium term. 

Vaping is not completely harmless and is only recommend it for adult smokers, to support quitting smoking and staying quit.

Below you will find the facts on vaping, based on scientific evidence and research, plus advice on how to use vapes (sometimes called e-cigarettes or e-cigs) as a tool to quit smoking.

Vaping to quit smoking – NHS website

Swap to Stop

“Swap to Stop” is a national scheme offering a free vape to residents who are 18 years or older and who currently smoke.

Swap to stop webpage

Myths About Vaping

How to recycle your vapes

All our vapes are reusable. When you no longer need them, simply put them into plastic bags to keep them together and place them into your green recycling box with glass bottles, jars and paper. Alternatively, you can take your vapes to a local recycling collection point. You can find your nearest one here.

For more information on recycling please visit the South Gloucestershire Council Waste and Recycling page.

How to quit vaping when you feel ready

Once you have been vaping for a while and feel confident you will not go back to smoking, you should aim to quit vaping too. Whilst we know that vaping is far less harmful to health than smoking in the short to medium term, there is nothing better than breathing fresh air.

If you would like to stop vaping, here are some tips:

• gradually reduce the strength of nicotine in your e-liquid (if you are using a disposable vape, you could switch to a refillable device to do this).
• Increase the periods of time between vaping sessions and gradually reduce the number of puffs you take when using the device.
• Limit your locations where you vape and when you vape, for example only outside of the home or only on breaks at work

Do not rush this process. Only reduce your vaping frequency or nicotine strength when you feel you will not go back to smoking and do not have to puff more to compensate.

Remember, if you have stopped smoking completely you have already achieved a huge step in protecting your health, so don’t worry if it takes you a while to stop vaping.

You are more likely to quit smoking by mixing and matching motivational support from an advisor with stop smoking aids or medicines. These can help you manage withdrawal symptoms such as cravings, headaches and trouble sleeping.

Nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) -including patches, gum, lozenges, microtabs, inhalators and nasal sprays- are available from the NHS with a prescription and can also be bought from pharmacies and other shops (such as supermarkets) without a prescription.

Information about NRTs

• NRT gives you some of the nicotine that you would have received from cigarettes, but without all the harmful substances like tar, cyanide and carbon monoxide.
• A full course of treatment usually lasts for 8-12 weeks, but because NRT is so much safer than smoking, it can be used for longer periods if it helps you to not smoke.
• All licensed nicotine-containing products are effective treatments to help you stop smoking, however no single NRT product is better than any other, and there are a number of options.
• Because NRT gives you a lower dose of nicotine than you get from cigarettes, many people use the patch to give a background dose of nicotine and one of the other products, such as the gum or the lozenges, to top this up.

For more details on the different types of NRTs available and how to use them, visit the NHS website.

NHS website - NRTs

Pharmacies accepting Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) vouchers

For pharmacy opening hours please visit: NHS Choices website. Below is a list of pharmacies who accept Nicotine Replacement Therapy vouchers. Click on the location headings to expand the list and see all the options in your area.