Let's face it: no-one likes a smoker. Not even smokers themselves like what they do all that much. They're caught in a nicotine trap they can't get out of and they're losing their health and lots of money along the way.
And then there's the whole anti-social side of it. By now, we're all aware that secondhand smoke also kills, even if you've never had a cigarette in your life. The World Health Organization says that of the approximately 7 million people who lose their lives to tobacco-related illnesses each year, close to 1 million of them are people who merely inhaled smokers' smoke.
With Christmas now upon us and smokers attending parties, gatherings and everything else over the festive period, they're always on the lookout for a opportunity to duck away and have a smoke. It's terrible to be a slave to the cigarette, especially when you really don't have to be.
Sleighing Smoking
Now, thanks to a growing body of medical research and evidence, it's emerging that there's one simple and effective thing smokers can do to leap from their addiction with relative ease. They still get their nicotine hit, but with none of the many dozens of toxic chemicals that can make people sick and even kill them. It's the e-cigarette, and they're available everywhere — from the mall to a good online vape shop.
So how great would it be to help a smoker out this Christmas by gifting them with a vaping device, and seeing if they'll try and get off tobacco for good? In the UK, the health service has recently recommended e-cigarettes as a definite way for people to kick their unhealthy smoking habit. During the annual Stoptober campaign it organises to try and get people to quit cigarettes, the NHS — and for the first time — advised smokers who are desperate to stop smoking to take up vaping instead.
“E-cigarettes are a great way to help combat nicotine cravings and carry a fraction of the risk of cigarettes... E-cigarettes are particularly effective when combined with support from local stop smoking services — people who choose this route have some of the highest quitting success rates," the campaign said.
You'll Feel Alive Again
Where should you start if you want to give a smoker you know and love a vaping device for Christmas? Head to a vape shop, either online or in the physical world. Many have starter kits that would make an ideal Christmas gift for a smoker. In them, the smoker will find everything they need to get going with vaping and hopefully get off cigarettes.
You can browse what's available at an online vape shop, where prices are typically low — and some include free e-liquids with their starter kits. You could also add a variety of fun flavors of e-liquid to the gift; they now come in a mind-boggling array, from vanilla custard to pineapple, mango, and also traditional tobacco flavor. Plus, they’re available in varying nicotine strengths, including no nicotine at all — just the flavor. This can be helpful for smokers who want to wean themselves off nicotine altogether, by gradually reducing the amount in their e-liquid.
Long-term smokers who finally manage to stop often speak about how they feel alive again. They have lots more energy, more money in their pocket, and feel a vitality for life they thought they had lost and would never regain. It’s almost as though, free from the shackles of tobacco, they feel reborn. Isn’t the prospect of that healthy transformation happening to smoker you know the best possible gift this Christmas?
