Everybody knows by now that smoking is bad for you, but a new experiment has revealed in horrifying reality of just how awful it is for your lungs, and how that compares to vaping.
If you're yet to kick the habit, a YouTuber may just inspire you to with their video displaying a timelapse of what really happens in your lungs when smoking as opposed to vaping.
However, he does not encourage anyone to take up vaping if they don't smoke already, and many people are choosing to quit both after some terrifying studies.
Chris Notap set up an experiment using two jars full of cotton wool, connected with tubes to a machine which 'smoked' 30 packs of cigarettes while the other machine vaped.
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According to the creator it took three days for the machine to smoke all of the cigarettes and the same again for the vape.
He explained that he set the machines to try and mimic the real life consumption: "Each cigarette was smoked 3/4 of the way to reflect real world smoking allowing a quarter of it to just burn away while talking or thinking."
As the timelapse progresses, the cotton wool balls in the smoking jar quickly turn brown and black as the tar content of the cigarettes begins to build.
The inside of the jar soon turns brown as well, with a thick layer of sludge forming.
In comparison, the vape jar builds up a white layer on the inside, with some minor discolouration to the cotton balls.
The creator explained: "If all the smoke had been blown back through the cotton, like real smoking, the results would have been even worse!"
He cut open the tubes to reveal the smoker side was completely congested with tar too, while the vaping side had some clear liquid build up.
Chris advises: "The average vape user vapes 60 - 120ml per month, and a total of 120ml of vape juice was vaped for this video. The average smoker smokes a pack a day. 30 packs were smoked for this video."
However, he was keen to stress that this isn't a pro-vaping video and urged people not to start vaping if the have never smoked, instead he said to use it only as a means to ditch smoking.
Having seen the results, he said: "I think everyone agrees we must do our part to give kids a good start in life and do our best to prevent youngsters from taking up these very poor habits including vaping.
"If you are one of those people that smokes tobacco, cannabis or vapes, never let children or kids see you do it."
He added: "Just remember this one simple rule and you can't go wrong....your lungs were only meant for one thing, and that's air."
Commenters rushed to reply with the impact the video has had on them.
One confessed: "I’m 39 years old and have smoked since I was 14, Sir you just scared some sense into me. Thank you!"
Another added: "I think a lot of people forget the point of vaping, its not supposed to be healthy, cool, or fun, you aren't supposed to start vaping, you're supposed to switch to it from smoking. Your message at the end explained it well."
One former smoker replied: "After seeing this I'm SO pleased 7 years ago I got rid of my 30yr cigarette smoking habit in favour of vaping. Although I can't repair the damage I can definitely feel the difference in so many positive ways...& this confirms it."
This commenter agreed that vaping should only be a temporary measure over smoking: "I smoked for 11 years. I switched to vaping in 2015 after advancements in the market. I decided it was time to quit, so I switched to zero nic in December of 2019, and was vapor free by the end of January 2020. Have been clear of both ever since. You can do it too."
Someone else added: "Conclusion: if you smoke, start vaping. If you don’t vape or smoke, don’t start vaping."
Jen Thomas