By LiQuid
More and more UK residents, and indeed people all over the world, have started ditching cigarettes in favour of vaping. While being made to smoke outside in most places is expected these days, the fact that e-cigarettes don’t typically leave a foul smell or any tar residue behind like their combustible counterparts makes it very tempting to use them indoors. This goes double for our own homes, where even national smoking bans don’t extend, and we have the freedom to do as we please.
If you are a vaper and are tempted to start puffing in your home, take note – the experts at leading UK vaping brand LiQuid explain the key things to be mindful of when vaping at home, or in any enclosed space for long periods of time, and how these effects compare with those of smoking indoors.
Smoke-Stained Walls
It’s hard to escape the fact that cigarette smoke has a detrimental impact on the inside of the home. Nicotine in the smoke can stain the inside of your home as it settles and cools on walls and surfaces, much in the same way it can stain the fingernails and teeth too, and this is usually referred to as ‘nicotine staining’. Cigarette smoke also contains other chemicals that linger without proper airflow in the home and in turn, stick to the walls to form a layer of scum that can be difficult to clean.
Will Vaping Stain My Walls?
Thankfully, no. Although some vapour does contain nicotine, the nicotine is vaporised as opposed to combusted and for this reason, it dissipates more easily. E-cigarette vapour also contains 95% less harmful additional chemicals than cigarette smoke (as stated by Public Health England). Therefore, it does not leave the same thick layer of dirt on surfaces that cigarette smoke can.
That does not mean that it has no effect, however! While they won’t stain your walls with a nasty yellow/orange tinge, exhaled e-liquid clouds can settle on your walls and windows and leave behind a slight residue. This residue is predominantly water vapour but does contain small amounts of nicotine and flavouring too. This is not typically in a high enough concentration to actually stain anything, but if you vape regularly in a small space, you may need to wipe clean any surfaces this residue settles on to keep everything clean.
Vapour residue is more noticeable on smooth polished plastic, metal or glass surfaces, which can become dulled by the presence of vapour residue (like glass-top tables or your TV). Windows in particular can become visibly foggy if not regularly cleaned of vapour residue.
The good news is that this residue can, in most cases, simply be wiped away with a clean, dry cloth. Try to ensure the cloth does not leave behind fluff or bits – a good microfibre cloth is recommended for the job! If you regularly clean as part of your routine anyway, it is not likely that you will ever notice a buildup of vape residue at all.
Smoke & Fire Alarms
If you’re vaping in the comfort of your home, the last thing that you want to happen is for the fire alarm to be triggered. The noise, the panic, the rush for a chair to stand on to press that annoying little button – it’s far from relaxing. Cigarette smoke can quite easily set off a fire alarm in high enough concentration in enclosed spaces, just like burning toast.
Will Vaping set off my fire alarm?
Sometimes, but it depends on the type of alarm. Heat detectors shouldn’t ever be set off by e-cigarette vapour alone, as it is far cooler than cigarette smoke. In fact, we fitted our LiQuid HQ with heat detectors so we can test all our new e-liquid flavours without the fear of summoning the firemen!
Smoke detectors, however, are a different story. Vaping can cause these fire alarms to go off due to the detection of a change in particle density. Fire alarms are extremely sensitive to the presence of airborne particles and if you blow excessive vapour while near the fire alarm, this may be enough to trigger it.
Take care, especially in rented homes where you have no control over the type of alarm fitted – smoke and particle detectors are far more common than heat detectors.
Your chosen vaping device can massively impact the risk of setting off the fire alarm and causing a racket. High-power sub-ohm vapes producing massive clouds in a small room are almost always going to result in an alarm going off. Smaller devices carry less risk, but can still have the same effect if used to excess.
Ensure you have proper ventilation and airflow, while being mindful of the size of your clouds. Doing this will mean you have a better chance of vaping inside without triggering an alarm.
Smoke & Soft Furnishings
Along with the staining we have already mentioned, soft furnishings are sponges for foul odours. Cigarette smoke in particular can be trapped in upholstery in your home and cause it to take on a stale smoky smell, which is difficult to get rid of once it has set in.
Will Vaping Damage My Upholstery?
Thankfully, vaping will not leave this nasty smell in any of your soft furnishings, but it is not free of risk. While not as much of an invasive issue as vape residue, or setting off the alarms, your upholstery and even clothes are actually at risk from staining. In this case however, it’s probably going to be your own fault!
What we mean is, if you are a regular in-home vaper, you are inevitably going to top-up, clean your device, or swap coils while sitting around in your favourite chair. This opens you up to a risk of staining from the e-liquid itself.
While e-liquid won’t typically leave a nasty, bright coloured stain, it actually stains very much like grease. If you spill raw e-liquid or it leaks onto your clothes or soft furnishings, it will almost always leave a dark smudge, a bit like a damp patch that just won’t dry up!
While this will almost always wash out of clothes, it is much more difficult to remove from an expensive cushion or couch cover, which will often require specialist or dry cleaning. Save yourself the cost and mitigate the risk by doing any messy maintenance on a kitchen counter or with plenty of paper towels covering any upholstered surfaces.
Keep One Step Ahead
So, while vaping in the home doesn’t carry as much risk as cigarette smoke, there are certainly things to be aware of to ensure you don’t end up making a mess. Take care, be sensible and follow the advice above to ensure you stay one step ahead of your clouds and vape residue. After all, your home is your castle, and nobody likes a castle that’s covered in vape juice!
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