What is Juul? How does it compare to vaping and is Juuling safe? Everything you need to know

All you need to know about the trendy vape
Juuling has become incredibly popular
AFP/Getty Images
Tom Herbert13 February 2019

It's the new vaping trend you may or may not have heard of, but e-cigarette brand Juul has become something of a phenomenon.

Popular among teenagers for its discreet looks, sales of the device in the US jumped from 2.2 million in 2016 to 16.2 million in 2017.

But what exactly is Juul - and what do people mean why they say the are "Juuling"?

What is Juul?

Designed by two Stanford graduates in an attempt to stop smoking, Juul e-cigarettes are a vaping product which use nicotine salts for nicotine delivery instead of freebase nicotine like other brands.

The vaping pen works like other e-cigarettes in that it releases a cloud of flavoured vapour containing nicotine.

However, unlike other brands, it looks like a sleek USB pen instead of a cigarette, and is charged by plugging into a laptop. It's this discreet look which means students are able to easily hide it in school.

What are Juul pods?

The cases look like cigarette packets
Getty Images

Unlike other e-cigarettes, it can't be refilled with normal vape liquid - instead, customers have to use the Juul-pod, a capsule that delivers the flavoured "smoke" and nicotine.

This capsule, which contains 1.7 percent nicotine, comes in flavours such as Alpine Berry, Golden Tobacco, Mango Nectar and Apple Orchard and is slotted into the pen.

The Juul is then smoked as you would a cigarette, with no need to press any buttons, and many believe the smell it emits isn't as strong or the cloud as visible as others.

Why is Juul so popular?

Woman smokes a Juul e-cigarette
REUTERS

One of the reasons to explain why Juul has become so incredibly popular is its ease-of-use and discreetness - not only do they not look like cigarettes but they also produce less smoke - and flavours have also all been cited as to why their use is on the up, especially among teens.

Juul is designed for adult smokers who want to cut down, but the high nicotine content of the e-cigarettes could cause people to become addicted to cigarettes in the future.

A number of celebrities are known to vape, including Johnny Depp, Katy Perry and Leonardo DiCaprio, who was spotted vaping at the SAG Awards ceremony last year.

Celebrity "Juulers" include comedian Dave Chappelle and model Bella Hadid, who announced that one of her New Year's resolutions was to "quit Juuling".

Vaping's popularity among the famous goes some way to explain why e-cigarettes are so popular at the moment.

Is Juuling safe?

There are questions over whether vaping is safe or not 
Shutterstock

A Juul device is still an e-cigarette, and research suggests vaping may cause lung diseases later in life.

Despite this, Public Health England says e-cigarettes are 95 per cent less harmful than smoking and have helped three million smokers to quit or reduce their cigarette use.

Allen Carr’s Easyway centre, in Raynes Park, said the UK has among the highest levels of e-cigarette use in Europe and while vaping is helping get smokers off cigarettes, it still keeps them hooked on nicotine.

Vaping may also still expose users to harmful chemicals, but since there is little research into the topic it is unclear how it affects users long term.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH, told us: “Vaping is not completely risk free, and so it is not recommended that non-smokers take up vaping.”

But the British Heart Foundation says e-cigarettes are not harm-free, pointing out the vapour can include carcinogens and irritants.

And while it is at a much lower level than conventional cigarettes, these emissions are still harmful.

Long-term use of e-cigarettes has not yet been studied since they have only been on sale since 2007.

But experts believe that they can act as a "gateway" to smoking normal cigatettes, and the BHF advises non-smokers against smoking them.

Georgina Hill, from Cancer Research UK, said: “Research so far shows that vaping is far less harmful than smoking tobacco and could help people to stop smoking.

"E-cigarettes contain nicotine which is addictive, but it’s the cocktail of many different chemicals released during smoking tobacco that damages our DNA and can cause cancer.

"E-cigarettes are relatively new so ongoing research is important to monitor their long-term effects. Smokers are most likely to quit using support from Stop Smoking Services – and many are e-cig friendly too.”

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