Vape aerosol is not water vapour. The main ingredients in vapes are substances like propylene glycol, vegetable glycerine or glycerine.

Vapes can contain over 200 chemicals, some being found in cleaning products, nail polish remover, weed killer and bug spray. These chemicals are not labelled on the packet but can be harmful to users. 

While vapes comes in a range of appealing shapes, sizes, colours and flavours, a majority still contain highly addictive nicotine. The nicotine in one vape product can be the equivalent of 50 cigarettes. Young people who vape are also three times more likely to also take up smoking cigarettes. 

Vaping products have been marketed in a range of different shapes and sizes and sometimes replicate items such as pens or highlighters which make them difficult to identify.

Vapes have evolved in their look from a disposable vape which resembled a cigarette all the way through to refillable ‘tanks’, which are a lot larger, and more recently to disposable, prefilled ‘pod mods’.  

Unlike cigarettes, vaping products do not emit a strong odour and can have a number of sweet smells that align with the flavouring (eg. watermelon, strawberry and mango). 

When referring to traditional smoking, this is in the form of a cigarette, cigar or pipe which contains tobacco. 

The teenage years are the most common to take up or experiment smoking. In 2023, 8.2% of secondary school students had smoked a tobacco cigarette in the past year. This percentage was 2.1% for smoking a tobacco product in the past week. Older students were significantly more likely to have reported smoking during these periods.