The sun is a passerby in these parts, often making a scheduled stop off in England a few times a year before heading off to the more exotic parts of our little round planet. When we are lucky enough to be in her presence we all come flocking from our usual warm havens that keep us warm during the usual bleak and cold days to spent time with friends and family out in the sunshine.

The fields can be seen packed with people playing football and other outdoor sports, laughter can be heard echoing the streets as children take to them on their scooters and bicycles and cafes, pubs and bars are overflowing.

One of the latest trends to hit British bars and cafes is the social activity of sharing a shisha pipe. I remember my very first time puffing away on the Turkish waterpipe, back in the younger days where your rep was everything and you would do anything to impress your friends. See the thing was even though shisha pipes weren't exactly the worst thing I could have done for me it was a big thing, having never even had a puff on a cigarette. The moment my lips were wrapped around the mouth piece on the pipe and I inhaled I instantly became a rebel...well in my mind anyway. These pipes are often seen as a harmful way to smoke however this could not be further away from the truth.

As Harmful As One Hundred Cigarettes

The World Health Organisation has warned that single hour shisha session has the potential to be as harmful as smoking 100 cigarettes. Yes, 100 cigarettes!!! At first when I read this information I was a little skeptical, how could it really be that bad? The reason however makes perfect sense. If we look at average amount of puffs on a cigarette a smokers usually takes which is anywhere between 8 and 12 they inhale around 0.5 -0.6 litres of smoke. Now if we compare this to an hour long shisha session, smokers may take up to 200 drags which is an approximate 0.15 to 1 litre of smoke each.

Hidden Danger

What is Stoptober?

Well it’s nearly that time of year again when thousands of people across the whole of England are joint by a common goal, to quit smoking.

Remember the charity event Movember? I am sure there will be one or two of you reading this who became Mo Bros last November in an attempt to help raise awareness about male health issues.

Well Stoptober works by a similar principle - it challenges people during 28 days of October to quit smoking for good. The national stop smoking challenge that was launched for the first time in 2012 in October managed to help 160,000 stop smoking last year.

How Does It Work?

With the marvels of modern technology there has never been a better time to quit, the Stoptober support that is available includes an online/Smartphone app, a free starter pack, a 28 day stop smoking text support programme and further support though the use of social media on the Smokefree Facebook page.

The free pack that will be received upon joining includes a range of facts, tips and tools to help a smoker through the 28 days Stoptober. There is information on the preparation needed to quit smoking along with a day to day support program that will last the full 28 days.

Should I Join?

Yes, yes, yes!!! Although to be 100% honest if you need to ask yourself this question then I think that you know the answer already. Stoptober and all the free information/support that comes with it is a great way to quit but you have to be one hundred percent committed in order for it to work.

Where Do I Sign Up?

Ok so you have decided that you want to quit, so what now? Well firstly get yourself over to https://stoptober.smokefree.nhs.uk and follow the 3 easy steps.

And that's all there is to it. Honestly its that simple. If you are a smoker and you are reading this make sure t

When it comes to government schemes in trying to get younger people to quit smoking I can’t help but feel we are heading in the wrong direction. Sure the packets of cigarettes that show graphic images of people with tumours and cancerous organs are not the prettiest of sights but do these really deter the youth of today from smoking?

It Will Never Happen To Me...

The problem we have is that young people are being more and more desensitised from such images as they have grown up in a world where the media is constantly bombarding them with images of war, terrorism and street crime that far out pass any of the images we see on cigarette packets. Humans by their very nature are people that constantly tell themselves that “It will never happen to me”. Young people know the risks of smoking but as we all know from being young something in which we didn't give much thought to was the future. In truth many of us thought that we were invincible. There was always many years left ahead of us to worry about our exams and A levels and as for getting a job and starting a career, well that was a lifetime away. What matters to them is the here and now – does smoking make them look cool and fit in at school? It sure does and this is a key reason why many of them start on their smoking journey. Just to make things clear here I am in no way saying that smoking is cool, I was merely pointing out the reasoning why teenagers start smoking. If we look at the results from a study that was undertaken by the University of Stirling, which involved over 2,800 children between the ages of 11-16, they found that the images located on the front of cigarette packets had almost no effect at deterring them from picking up a cigarette.

Time To Rethink Our Strategy?

So what next? How do we break this warped sense of what it is to be cool? I think the way forward to tackle this issue head on is to point out the positive aspects of not smo

Getting ready to kick the smoking habit once and for all? If so, you’re likely feeling a bit of anxiety to go along with this decision. While almost everyone knows that it’s a very smart move to stop smoking nicotine based cigarettes if you want to optimize your health and prevent disease, it’s much easier said than done.

Not only are you going to be combating against the urge for a cigarette with cravings too hard to ignore, but most people also suffer from increased food cravings as they make the transition to quitting and can end up packing on quite a bit of additional weight.

If you start gaining weight because of your decision to quit, this could just be enough to make you start up again.

The solution to both of these problems lies with eliquids.  Eliquids are to be used to ecigarettes and are going to not only help you quit smoking once and for all, but can help curb that sweet tooth as well.

Let’s look closer at this topic.

What Are Eliquids?

Eliquids are essentially what makes ecigarettes so effective. They are the fluid that fills up the ecigarettes that will provide the nicotine solution to help you quit smoking and improve your health.

Eliquid is the vapor that you exhale that will give you the feeling as though you are smoking a cigarette even though you aren’t putting the very strong dose of nicotine right into your body as you would with traditional cigarettes.

You are able to alter the total nicotine dose of your eliquid, therefore controlling just how much nicotine you are potentially taking in and even at the highest levels, it’s still going to be nowhere near as damaging as what you would take in with a regular cigarette.
Because of this customizable experience, this also means that you are able to wean yourself off of nicotine as time passes, reducing the strong urge for a cigarette that typically arises.

If you are a smoker then it’s likely you will have heard of the latest product available on the market, electronic cigarettes.  If you haven’t yet come across one then in short, electronic cigarettes are shaped like regular cigarettes but they are powered by batteries and provide the smoker with a hit of e-liquid, a concoction which contains a dose of nicotine.  It isn’t as much as in regular cigarettes but enough to provide the smoker with a hit.  As electronic cigarettes work by producing a vapour which in inhaled, therefore not producing any smoke it is known as ‘vaping’ and not ‘smoking.’

The habit of holding a cigarette between your fingers is hard for some people to shake off, which is why e cigarettes are so popular. They even light up at the end like a real cigarette!

Electronic cigarettes are being called the healthy alternative to smoking, as the vapour inhaled contains only the nicotine and not the other harmful elements of a regular cigarette.  As experts tend to agree that there is nothing too damaging in nicotine other than it’s addictive nature, they are also said to be useful for anyone who is looking to quit smoking and needs a cheap and simple quitting aid. A smoker can gradually wean their nicotine habit by purchasing eliquid with different strengths until a very low strength is required.

With the success of the smoking ban in the UK and the overall de-glamorisation of regular cigarettes, many people believe electronic cigarettes will receive a surge in popularity.  A number of celebrities have also been seen using electronic cigarettes in recent months.

Another reason for the popularity in e cigarettes is the variety and choice it offers users. This includes in both the strength of nicotine in the eliquid (which includes zero, if you want this) as well as the flavour of the eliquid itself. You

In recent months companies have seen a huge rise in the sale of electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes for short.   With the smoking ban in full force in the UK, many smokers have been looking for alternative ways to get their nicotine ‘hit’ and e-cigarettes fit the bill perfectly.

Known as the ‘healthy’ alternative to smoking, they contain an e-liquid and allow the smoker to inhale nicotine vapours but not the harmful materials contained in a normal cigarette.  This makes them a popular option with people who are trying to kick the habit and recent statistics show that 25% of those who are trying to quit smoking are opting to use e-cigarettes to help them do so.

This figure makes the e-cigarette the most popular quitting tool in the UK.   

Of course people who enjoy smoking and do not want to quit also use e cigarettes on a long term basis with far less anticipated side effects than traditional smoking. This is because it contains no tar or carbon monoxide than normal cigarettes. The vapour is also far healthier than traditional cigarette smoke as it is simply a water vapour.

So why the increase in sales of late? It is being suggested that the reason behind the increase in sales recently is the promotion electronic cigarettes are receiving at the hands of celebrities, literally.  Johnny Depp was seen holding an electronic cigarette in one of his recent films, and he has been rumoured to use one in real life too.

Not only have some big named celebrities been seen making full use of e-cigarettes but there are also a number of televised adverts for electronic cigarette brands which feature well known faces.  Electronic cigarette brands do not have to comply with the 50 year long ban on advertising cigarettes on television and they are taking full advantage of this, seemingly to their great benefit.

Also considered a quitting aid to help you wean yo