RESEARCH ALERT
Some vapes use added chemicals to create a cold or icy feeling. New research has raised concerns about three of them: WS-23, WS-3 and WS-5. We do not yet know how common they are in Wales.
Information / Vaping vs smoking
Vaping vs smoking: what is the difference in risk?
Smoking is far more harmful than vaping. Cigarettes burn tobacco and create thousands of chemicals. Vapes heat e-liquid instead, so people are exposed to fewer toxins and at lower levels.
Vaping is not risk-free, and the long-term effects are still being studied. If you do not smoke, there is no health benefit in starting to vape. Our 2026 public-attitudes research shows a sizeable perception gap: among adults aware of vapes, 40% believed vaping was as harmful as smoking and 14% believed it was more harmful. Only 28% regarded vaping as less harmful. These are public-perception findings, not a clinical assessment of risk. Read the full 2026 survey.
Last reviewed: 30th September 2026
QUICK ANSWER
For someone who smokes, switching completely to vaping reduces harm.
NHS guidance says nicotine vaping is less harmful than smoking. The biggest benefit comes from stopping cigarettes completely, rather than smoking and vaping together.
What do you want to know?
Is vaping safer than smoking?
Yes. Current NHS guidance says vaping is less harmful than smoking. It exposes people to fewer toxins and at lower levels than cigarette smoke.
Is vaping harmless?
No. Vaping is not risk-free, and the long-term health effects are not yet fully known. People who do not smoke should not start vaping.
What if I smoke and vape?
Using both can mean you keep much of the harm from smoking. NHS guidance says you only get the full health benefit of vaping if you stop smoking cigarettes completely.
What if vaping helped me quit?
If vaping is keeping you away from cigarettes, do not rush to stop if you think that could lead you back to smoking. Staying smokefree comes first.
The latest Cochrane living review found high-certainty evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes increase quit rates compared with nicotine replacement therapy. That evidence is about adults who smoke and are using regulated nicotine e-cigarettes to quit; it is not a reason for people who do not smoke to start vaping.
Vaping in Wales: current use is not the same as ever-use
The latest National Survey for Wales gives a national snapshot for people aged 16 and over. It is important to keep “currently use” separate from “have ever used”.
10%
of people aged 16+ said they currently used e-cigarettes
18%
said they had used e-cigarettes at some point
16% · 9% · 3%
current use among ages 16–44, 45–64 and 65+ respectively
What these figures do not tell us: the National Survey reports smoking and e-cigarette use separately, so these percentages should not be used to estimate how many people both smoke and vape. The 2024–25 survey also had a smaller sample than planned; national estimates remain useful, but subgroup estimates are less precise.
Why smoking is more harmful
Cigarettes work by burning tobacco. That combustion creates smoke containing thousands of chemicals. Many are toxic and some cause cancer.
NHS Better Health states that most of the harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke, including tar and carbon monoxide, are not present in vape aerosol.
This difference in exposure is why switching completely from smoking to vaping reduces the risks linked to cancer, lung disease, heart disease and stroke.
The key difference is combustion
Smoking: burns tobacco and produces smoke.
Vaping: heats e-liquid to produce an aerosol. It does not burn tobacco.
Nicotine: can be present in both. It is addictive, but it is not the main cause of smoking-related cancer, lung disease or heart disease.
Smoking and vaping side by side
Exposure to harmful chemicals
Smoking: very high exposure from tobacco smoke.
Vaping: fewer toxins and generally at lower levels.
Tar and carbon monoxide
Smoking: produced by burning tobacco.
Vaping: not produced in the same way, since tobacco is not burned.
Cancer and lung disease risk
Smoking: a major cause of cancer, COPD and cardiovascular disease.
Vaping: lower risk than smoking, but not risk-free.
Nicotine dependence
Smoking: usually delivers nicotine and can create strong dependence.
Vaping: nicotine vapes can create or maintain dependence.
What about long-term vaping?
Vaping has not been used for as long as cigarettes, so there is less evidence about effects over many decades. NHS guidance states that vaping is unlikely to be completely harmless and that long-term risks are not yet clear.
That uncertainty does not mean vaping and smoking carry the same risk. Current evidence shows smoking is substantially more harmful.
The answer depends on whether you smoke
The useful question is not simply whether vaping has risks. It is whether someone is moving away from a much more harmful product, or starting nicotine use when they did not smoke before.
If you smoke
Switching completely from cigarettes to a nicotine vape can reduce your exposure to harmful chemicals and can help you quit smoking.
If you smoke and vape
Aim to stop cigarettes completely. Continuing to smoke means you continue to be exposed to tobacco smoke and its major health risks.
If you do not smoke
Do not start vaping for health reasons. Vaping can lead to nicotine dependence, and it carries risks of its own.
Want to move away from cigarettes or vaping?
If you smoke, the priority is to stop smoking. Help Me Quit provides free NHS stop-smoking support in Wales.
If you already stopped smoking and now want to stop vaping, use our quit-vaping guide to plan it without putting your smokefree progress at risk.
NEW RESEARCH • 2026
New Wales research on vaping perceptions
In the 2026 ASH Wales/YouGov social-housing report, 57% of social-housing respondents believed vaping was as harmful as, or more harmful than, smoking. The wider public-attitudes report also found substantial misunderstanding of relative harm among Welsh adults who were aware of vapes.
These are perception measures, not clinical risk estimates.