Reduced Risk Alternatives: Exploring Vaping and Heated Tobacco Products

Although the best option is to quit smoking, those who are unable to do so have new options that can help reduce the damage caused to their health by cigarette consumption.

In recent years, tobacco companies have embarked on a transformation process, investing in innovation programs, technology, and scientific research to develop products that can offer adult smokers alternatives with reduced potential risk.

How they work and how they differ

Among the various options available on the market, vaping, also known as e-cigarettes, and heated or non-combustible tobacco stand out. And although surely all smokers have heard of these alternatives to cigarettes, do they really know about these products? Do they know what they consist of and how they work?

On one hand, vaping devices are based on a system that heats a liquid, which may or may not contain nicotine, to generate an inhalable vapor. This system eliminates tobacco combustion and reduces toxic levels by up to 95% compared to conventional cigarettes. The reason? It eliminates the smoke produced by burning traditional cigarettes. Therefore, these products have a potential reduced risk for smokers.

Another unique feature is that they eliminate bad odors. Most of the liquids used contain water, propylene glycol, glycerol, and flavors.

There are open, closed, and disposable systems. The main difference between the first two is that closed systems already have a pre-established pod, and users can choose from a range of flavors. As for open systems, the user has to manipulate the liquid, which is then filled into the tank, and it can also have different flavors. In the case of disposable devices, everything is integrated into a single unit: mouthpiece, battery, and liquid-heating atomizer.

Both vaping and heated tobacco are the result of years of research.

On the other hand, there are heated tobacco or non-combustible tobacco products that use the "heat not burn" technology. These are devices that heat specially designed tobacco units.

In this case, the tobacco is only heated to a temperature of up to 400°C without needing to reach high temperatures for burning (there is no combustion). This generates an aerosol that does not contain the solid particles found in cigarette smoke.

What do they have in common?

Although both alternatives to cigarettes eliminate tobacco combustion and are classified as options with reduced potential risk, they are not exactly the same products. However, in both cases, there is no combustion, which means there are no ashes or other residues, and they eliminate bad odors.

In the case of liquids, most of them contain water, propylene glycol, glycerol, and flavors, so they do not produce the unpleasant smell of traditional cigarettes, and the vapor aroma does not linger on hair or clothes. Similarly, heated tobacco products eliminate cigarette smoke, resulting in fewer persistent odors.

But most importantly, both options offer adult smokers alternatives to traditional tobacco consumption that can help, in many cases, to switch from the habit of smoking to the consumption of products with reduced potential risk.