Smoking and Vaping – A Step Towards Quitting

A new study funded by Cancer Research UK suggests that dual use—smoking and vaping concurrently—can act as a transition phase, often leading to accidental quitting. Contrary to common criticism, this research highlights that many smokers gradually shift towards vaping and reduce their cigarette consumption over time.

Dual use not a bad thing

A new study shows that dual use is a transition period between only smoking and only vaping and can often lead to accidental quitting by smokers who had no intention of doing so.

‘We know that quitting cold turkey is not easy, so it is just common sense that there be a transition period during which people gradually reduce the amount they smoke,’ explains Dr Marina Murphy, Senior Director of Scientific Affairs at Haypp Group.  ‘Dual use is always going to be better than exclusive smoking, as long as you are smoking less.’

The study, which was funded by Cancer Research UK, looked at survey data collected between 2016 and 2024 from 128,588 adults (18 and over) in England. Dual use, when people smoke and vape concurrently, is often criticised by opponents of vaping and cited as proof that vapes don’t really help people quit.

Shift from Smoking to Vaping

Lead author Dr Sarah Jackson, University College London said: ‘In our study, we found a shift in the behaviour of dual users away from more frequent smoking to more frequent vaping.’ This is good news, she said, as dual users can reduce the harm they are exposed to by vaping more and smoking less.

The team also found that dual users who mistakenly believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking were less likely to vape every day.  This is important, because smokers who also vape every day are more like to quit smoking.

Nearly half of dual users (44%) wrongly believed that vaping is as harmful or more harmful than smoking.

Long-Term Vaping and Smoking Reduction

People who had been vaping for more than a year were found to be most likely to be vaping every day but not smoking every day. The researchers say that is consistent with previous observations that when smokers start vaping, this can lead to a move away from smoking, even when they hadn’t intended to stop smoking.

Professor Jamie Brown, UCL, said: ‘Accurate messaging about the relative harms of smoking and vaping is needed so that people can make informed decisions about the products they are using. Mass media campaigns should play a key role in this. Government investment in campaigns is critical to realising the potential of the smoke-free generation policy.’