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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think vapes need consigning to the history books?

212 replies

GoldAndSilverBells · 09/03/2026 14:10

As above.

They are ridiculous things that add massively to landfill, and after this disastrous fire in Glasgow it's been proven how dangerous they are!

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/16014837/glasgow-vape-shop-blaze-tears-through-iconic-city-centre/

The original point of them was to help people give up smoking. The idea was that you use vapes for a few months, lessening the nicotine in them every few weeks, until your cravings have subsided.

People start vaping now just for the hell of it. Including teenagers, because they have them in sweet and appealing flavours!

Time to stop making these things!

Glasgow vape shop blaze destroys iconic city centre buildings

More than 60 firefighters were battling a blaze in Glasgow last night which erupted after an “explosion” in a city centre vape shop. They tackled flames which were sweeping towards the …

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/16014837/glasgow-vape-shop-blaze-tears-through-iconic-city-centre/

OP posts:
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5
catshatsandchats · 10/03/2026 23:18

TheKittenswithMittens · 10/03/2026 23:07

You haven't quit your nicotine addiction, though.

But she's quit smoking, which is the main thing.

CrackInTheGlass · 11/03/2026 00:35

I vape because I can’t afford to smoke any more. Never used disposables. I walk past smokers and love the smell. I have had the odd ciggie since thinking what a treat but the taste is horrible to me now. I like the different flavours and the ease of use. Easy to get 18mg for £1. 20 10ml bottles last me around 2-3 months and I consider my vaping as fairly heavy usage. When I’m in public I act the same way as I did when I smoked, I stay away from people and if someone does pass close I don’t do it or if unexpected I hold it in and let it out when they’ve passed. I used to cross the road if I had a lit ciggie and people with small kids or pushing a pram were going to cross my path. I have CPTSD. I’ll take my vice happily as while it’s obviously going to be revealed to be damaging, it’s only me I’m hurting.

CrackInTheGlass · 11/03/2026 00:38

I’ve also never been in a vape shop. I order online.

catscatsdogs · 11/03/2026 00:59

TheKittenswithMittens · 10/03/2026 23:07

You haven't quit your nicotine addiction, though.

Which is pretty much the same as a coffee addiction. The nicotine isn’t the issue, it’s the tar and all the other stuff in cigarettes. I am also slowly reducing my nicotine strength as I mix my own liquid

Discofiasco · 11/03/2026 06:53

Some of the replies on here are massively OTT.

Yes the landfill factor is really bad, and it’s probably not great that so many teens are vaping (much less damaging than the Silk Cut we used to smoke at the end of the sports field at school though!)

I don’t like standing behind a cloud of cherry cola flavoured smoke either - but there are lots of far worse things people do that I don’t like. So I just don’t feel the need to get hysterical about it…

Pricelessadvice · 11/03/2026 06:58

I look at people with them and think they look pathetic.
If they were just used for a short period of time to get people off cigarettes, that would be fine, but they aren’t. Teens have latched on to it as the new ‘cool’ thing. Even grown adults who never even smoked take it up as a ‘cool’ habit.

Give it another 5-10 years and we will start seeing the long term effects of them on the body.

Discofiasco · 11/03/2026 06:58

KitTea3 · 09/03/2026 22:21

Interestingly on the other side of the coin there are limited health benefits...for some brains

Studies have shown in brains of individuals schizophrenia that nicotine actually has positive cognitive effects on areas like working memory , attention and information processing
Allevation of negative symptoms via less social withdrawal, decreased lack of motivation and blunted emotions
Normalisation of brain activity
Also shows a reduction in medication side effects

All of which contributes to the statistic of 60-90% of individuals with schizophrenia being smokers. And also the sadly increased mortality rate in part due to smoking related deaths.

And unfortunately highly addictive. However they are looking into nicotinic agonists instead (produces the same effect as nicotine but without the additive component). Which not only could be used to treat schizophrenia but also ADHD and Alzheimer's.

Edited

Also a bit confused by this point re schizophrenia @KitTea3 . If nicotine has positive effects on the brain, why would the majority of schizophrenics be smokers? Or do you mean the risk is higher when they give up?!

DeftGoldHedgehog · 11/03/2026 07:00

If it were up to me, I'd have only made them available through pharmacies as a stopping smoking product like nicotine patches.

dinglebat2 · 11/03/2026 07:04

These threads always go the same way. People seem incapable of giving a balanced view without resorting to personal, nasty comments - they look pathetic, they look chavvy and the personal favourite off the bingo card…they look like they’re sucking a dummy. Yawn.

There are far far worse things people could be doing. They are helping people stop smoking and the overwhelming evidence suggests they are much safer than smoking. They have been around since the early 2000s so while there are no very long term studies, they aren’t exactly new either.

If you don’t like it, fine. I wouldn’t want to inhale someone else’s cloud of cherry fizz either. But there are benefits whether you like it or not and I don’t understand the need to be so hysterical and generally unpleasant about the choices of others.

LostFuse · 11/03/2026 08:23

GoldAndSilverBells · 10/03/2026 14:54

It is though. Not only do they have higher nicotine levels than cigarettes, but we also don't know the long term effects/harm that is going to come from them.

You keep trying to convince yourself vaping is fine by all means, but if you are vaping for ANY OTHER REASON than trying to give up smoking, then I feel sorry for you, because you are deluding yourself...

Keep vaping if you must, but do not try and convince me that they're perfectly safe, because they're not. NOT for long term use.

The vape fangirls on this thread are embarrassing themselves by tripping over themselves in their desperation to defend long term vaping.

If you are trying to give up smoking then it's fine to use them, for the short term. You should not be using them indefinitely. And why people start vaping when they have never smoked just baffles me.

As I have said, (and many posters agree!) vapes need banning, and making prescription only, for people trying to quit smoking. And then they should only be given for 7-8 months. 12 months at the most.

.

Edited

I didn't say they were perfectly safe but your statement that they are no safer than cigarrettes is simply not true.

Fizbosshoes · 11/03/2026 08:28

I wouldnt make any judgement on former smokers using them, instead of cigarettes (and i think it's not necessarily possible to give a timescale eg you should only use them for x months)
But i do judge manufacturers who have veered away from the original purpose of them (to assist people giving up smoking) to a stand-alone, addictive product deliberately aimed at a young audience, who have never - and potentially never would have- started smoking in the first place. The colours, the flavours, the cost , the availability etc all mean they are attractive and accesible to kids/teens .

03cg73 · 11/03/2026 16:25

TheDogIsMine · 09/03/2026 14:41

I vape and I think they’re stupid things. I’m grateful not to be stuck on cigarettes.

I do however wonder how this one shop had an incident out of all the millions of vapes lying around in houses, warehouses etc.

something doesn’t sit right with me, I can only assume it was a dodgy knock off vape.

This. My dad lives in Glasgow and the story that’s going round there is that they were selling cheap fake vapes as a front for money laundering. So the vapes were untested and a fire hazard

Could obviously be completely false but something about this whole thing seems strange.

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