Many Industry leaders would assume that vaping is no different from smoking as they both deliver nicotine into your bodies, well, in fact, the two are different from one another. Smoking is an act of delivering nicotine into your body by burning tobacco while vaping delivers nicotine by the use of heated liquid. Vaping in a way is much less harmful to your body and less disgusting and unbearable compared to smoking.

Last April 22, the indoor smoking and vaping ban were passed by the New Orleans City Council. Like New Orleans, many other states passed an ordinance prohibiting the usage of tobacco in indoor public spaces. This is made to be beneficial to help the citizen’s health in the long run and we could not be any more grateful for this ordinance.

However, this is not the case with vape users as they end up having the same restriction as smoking. Indoor smoking and vaping were bans with the exemption of smoke shops and cigar bars, but not with vape shops. Vape users took this ordinance in a harsh approach towards vaping. Another fact that had made vape users disappointed is that vapes were believed to be just as harmful as cigarettes.

Vape users became even more disappointed during the Saints-Falcons game where fans were encouraged to step outside the dome when smoking or vaping. An area was put up as a designated smoking area for those who want to smoke. The area was covered by an overhang which makes the smoke curl downward, swirling around the other vapers and smokers. Vapers had complained about how unbearable and disgusting the smoke from the cigarettes is. They added that the E-cigarette’s vapor does not cause reactions like watering eyes and burning nose and throat.

E-cigarettes do not produce any smoke and do not contain tobacco making it very different from cigarettes. The only common thing that Cigarettes and E-cigarettes have is that they both contain Nicotine. Researchers had already considered nicotine to be no more harmful than caffeine. This comprehensive review made by the U.K’s Department of Health had proven that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking and is a great way to cure tobacco withdrawal.

Many smokers had already shifted from cigarettes to vapes due to the sole reason that it is incredibly unhealthy for their bodies. Many also think that second-hand smoking can lead to more fatalities than being a smoker. The fear that their loved ones could inhale the smoke from cigarettes and suffer future health problems is also one of the reasons why they switched to vapes.

This is why they cried out that the ordinance about smoking and the vaping ban should not be treated as one as they are entirely two different things. Vape users could not also bear it when they would be in the same smoking zone or area along with cigarette users. The New Orleans City Council may have unintentionally sent a dangerous message that vaping and smoking are entirely the same when they are not. Rather than restricting new ideas to reduce smoking rates, the council should have an open-mind and re-consider these new products.