Regular Cigarettes vs E-cigarettes... Which is More Addictive?

[Financial News]  There are people who reach for a cigarette as soon as they wake up in the morning. The habit of inhaling nicotine within just 5 minutes is a typical sign of addiction. However, research has shown that the proportion of e-cigarette users is higher than regular cigarette users in this 'highest dependency group'.
Korea Smoking Cessation Movement Association announced in a report on the 8th that 30% of liquid-type e-cigarette smokers said they smoke within 5 minutes of waking up. For heat-not-burn e-cigarettes, it was 26%, and for regular cigarettes, it was 18.5%. Contrary to the image promoted by tobacco companies as "less harmful", new types of cigarettes actually make users cling to nicotine more quickly.
The study was conducted on 800 smokers nationwide aged 20-69 (400 exclusive cigarette users, 100 exclusive heat-not-burn e-cigarette users, 100 exclusive liquid-type e-cigarette users, and 200 dual users).
When looking at daily smoking amounts, 45.8% of regular cigarette users said they smoke '11-20 cigarettes', whereas 51.0% of heat-not-burn e-cigarette users reported the same. For liquid-type e-cigarette users, 63.0% responded '10 times or less', but the usage method differs, making simple comparisons difficult.
As such, the diverse usage patterns of new types of cigarettes reveal limitations in accurately diagnosing addiction levels with existing smoking cessation evaluation tools (such as the Fagerstrom Test). The research team emphasized the urgent need for a separate standard evaluation index, stating, "Unlike cigarettes measured by sticks, new types of cigarettes have many variables such as usage frequency, time, and nicotine concentration."


jjw@fnnews.com Jiwoo Jeong