Wellness vapes have emerged in recent years as a favorite among health-conscious consumers. Some are looking for healthier alternatives to vaping products like nicotine vapes. Some want help giving up cigarettes. Others are intrigued because many vapes contain ingredients touted as beneficial.
But are non-nicotine wellness vapes truly “healthy vapes?” Do they live up to the hype?
Let’s examine wellness vapes, the options available, and the claims manufacturers make to determine whether these vapes are right for you.
At a glance:
What Are The Different Types Of Wellness Vapes On The Market?
As you'll see below, there isn't just one type of vape that can be categorized as a wellness vape. Instead, there's an entire universe of nicotine-free vapes that could fall into this category.
Let's look at some of the more common types of wellness vapes.
Vitamin Vapes
A vitamin vape is exactly what it sounds like — designed as a nutritional supplement diffuser and used to deliver vitamins directly to your bloodstream via your lungs.
The specific vitamin being delivered will change depending on the vape juice’s manufacturer and formulation, but two of the most common vitamins in wellness vapes are vitamin B12 and vitamin C.
Recommended brand: VitaminVape
Caffeine Vapes
Caffeine vapes are marketed as an alternative to coffee and energy drinks. They're designed to deliver a dose of caffeine directly to your brain for an instant energy boost. Our recommended vape in this category is one we make ourselves: HELO, which previously topped our roundup of the best caffeine vapes.
Recommended brand: HELO
Melatonin Vapes
Melatonin vapes are the other side of the caffeine coin. They're intended to replace melatonin supplements like gummies, tablets, or capsules and are mainly marketed toward people who need help relaxing or falling asleep.
Our MELO melatonin-enhanced vapes top the list of best nicotine-free vapes, and the line was also selected as the best melatonin vape.
Recommended brand: MELO
Herbal Vapes
Herbal vapes are the second-largest category of wellness vapes (after vitamin vapes). Many different herbs and essential oils can be included in herb-forward e-juices.
For example, you can use lavender for relaxation, chamomile for sleep, peppermint for focus and energy, and dozens of other combinations.
You'll also find some herbal vapes containing extracts from plants known for their therapeutic properties — such as ashwagandha or ginseng — generally recognized as adaptogenic tonics that support your overall well-being.
Recommended brand: Ripple+
CBD Vapes
Depending on how you feel about CBD, this category of vapes may be considered a wellness vape, or it may be a group of vapes to avoid.
Whichever camp you fall into, there's no denying that CBD has been gaining massive popularity in recent years for its purported ability to help with everything from pain relief and anxiety reduction to improved sleep quality.
Recommended brand: CBDfx
“Non-Vape” Vapes
Finally, there’s a category of devices that aren’t vapes but are intended to contribute to overall wellness by helping regulate breathing patterns.
These devices are designed to mimic the rhythmic in-and-out breathing pattern that comes with vaping but without actually delivering anything to your lungs. Instead, they use regular air to create resistance, which helps to regulate breathing patterns.
Recommended brand: Füm
FAQ
What Are Some Of The Most Popular Wellness Vape Brands?
This one is easy! See our list above for our top pick in each category.
Can Wellness Vapes Help You Quit Smoking?
While the overall answer to this question is a qualified yes, it's important to point out that wellness vapes are not now, and never have been, classified as smoking cessation tools.
Some people use them that way, and some indeed say that they helped them kick the habit, but there's no official designation of wellness vapes for this use.
That being said, here are some of the ways people who have used these devices to help them quit smoking say they’ve helped:
As a behavioral replacement. Smoking isn’t all about nicotine. Yes, nicotine is a considerable part of the reason why people smoke, and it's the compound that gets you physically addicted. But it's not the only thing that smokers have to give up when they quit.
The other component of quitting smoking is breaking the habit that some call the “ceremony” of smoking. That refers to the repetitive hand-to-mouth action and the rhythmic inhaling and exhaling of smoke, which combine to form a powerful habit that's hard to break. There’s also a strong social component to the smoking ceremony.
Because wellness vapes allow you to keep practicing those same behaviors and meeting with peers without inhaling nicotine, they can be a huge help in tackling this part of the cigarette habit.
With stress management. Quitting smoking is stressful — just ask anyone who's ever had to do it. If you choose a wellness vape that contains ingredients that make it easier to relax, that vape should probably help blunt the stress of giving up cigarettes.
One of the vapes mentioned above — our MELO diffuser — can be an excellent wellness vape ideally suited to this purpose because it contains melatonin.
Melatonin is a well-known and naturally-occurring hormone that helps with relaxation. A vape like MELO can help soothe the irritability that often accompanies nicotine withdrawal.
As a solid alternative to inhaling nicotine. In recent years, many people have turned to vaping with nicotine to help them quit smoking.
While there's some solid reasoning behind this idea — namely that it allows one to avoid the more than 700 chemicals in cigarette smoke, 70 of which are proven carcinogens — you’re still just trading one addictive nicotine delivery device for another when all is said and done.
Wellness vapes, on the other hand, don’t carry this problem. They replace nicotine with ingredients that are good for you. They’re certainly not harmful to you in the way that nicotine is.
Are Wellness Vapes Safe For You?
Wellness vapes are generally going to be as safe for you as any other non-nicotine vape and are safer than nicotine vapes that contain an addictive chemical.
Also, most experts will tell you that wellness vapes are much safer than cigarettes because these vapes don't contain the hundreds of harmful chemicals found in cigarette smoke.
That said, it's impossible to say that any vape — no matter what it contains — can be considered entirely safe. No studies have looked at the long-term effects of inhaling the ingredients found in vape juice.
With that in mind, here are some reminders about safety:
Allergic reactions: Remember that you can always be sensitive to — or even allergic to — specific ingredients in any vape. As a general rule, if you try to avoid a substance outside of vaping, you should avoid it when you see it in a vape.
Interactions with prescription medications: Wellness vapes are intended to be functional. They include ingredients that produce a physiological effect on the body.
If that effect happens to compound or negate the effects of any medication you may be taking, you need to be aware of it.
Potential side effects: This is the perfect segue into our section below on the potential side effects of wellness vapes. In general, remember that wellness vapes come with the same list of possible side effects you'll face using any nicotine-free vape.
What Are The Potential Side Effects Of Wellness Vapes?
As mentioned earlier, the potential side effects of wellness vapes are generally going to be the same as those you'd expect from using any non-nicotine vape. Here are a few more common ones to watch out for:
Throat and lung irritation are always possibilities. Even though you're not inhaling cigarette smoke or a vapor that includes nicotine, you're still inhaling a vaporized substance, and that always has the potential to cause some side effects.
Symptoms can range from coughing and wheezing to shortness of breath or throat irritation — the same side effects that you might expect from any vape, no matter what it contains.
As mentioned above, there's always the potential for an allergic reaction. Again, this can be avoided by avoiding using vapes that contain chemicals or compounds that you're allergic to.
However, if this is your first time using a particular vape, there may be ingredients in it that you don’t yet know can trigger your allergies. If you experience the common symptoms of an allergic reaction, like skin rashes, itching, or swelling of the lips or tongue, stop using that vape immediately.
Other common side effects include headaches, dizziness, and lightheadedness. Suppose you're sensitive to the ingredients in a particular vape.
In that case, when you overuse it, inhale too deeply, or have a reaction to specific ingredients, there's always the potential to experience side effects like headaches, dizziness, or lightheadedness.
However, these effects are more prevalent among people who overdo it. You can lessen the likelihood of side effects like these by following the manufacturer’s directions for usage.
What Are Potential Alternatives To Using Wellness Vapes?
Assuming that you're not using wellness vapes just for the heck of it, and instead, you're looking to achieve some sort of effect on your mind or body, there are dozens of potential alternatives to wellness vapes, depending on what you're trying to accomplish.
Let's go over a few of those:
Aromatherapy. Vapes are essentially personal aromatherapy devices. Some manufacturers don't even call their devices vapes; they call them aromatherapy diffusers.
If one of the main reasons that you’re using a wellness vape is for the scent it produces, you can always replace that vape with something like an essential oil diffuser, scented candles, or incense to get the same or similar effects.
Supplements. If you’re using vapes to get more of a specific vitamin, you could always just take the vitamin in capsule or tablet form and skip the vape.
Herbal teas. Just about any herbal infusions in vape juice can be found in other forms. You can find many of the same herbs from vapes in tea, pills, and capsules.
Chamomile is an extremely popular tea, as are peppermint, ginger, and any number of herbal infusions on any grocery store shelf. Depending on the effect you're after, you can likely find tea packed with an herb that provides it by the cup full.
Meditation, mindfulness, and breathing exercises. As mentioned above, many people become dependent on the habit of vaping in large part because of the rhythmic breathing that's a part of it.
You can, of course, practice that same sort of breathing without vaping. When such breathing is combined with meditation and mindfulness exercises, you may find that these activities produce similar effects to a wellness vape.
Exercise. Exercise is one of those catch-all categories that's recommended for a variety of ills. Regular physical activity has been shown to boost mood, energy levels, and an overall sense of health and well-being.
What's great about exercise is the endless variety of forms it takes. Strap on your sneakers and head outside if you like running or walking. If that's not your cup of tea, lift some weights, ride a bicycle, or participate in a team sport. You get the picture.
You can enjoy unlimited activities that do not involve vapes of any kind and for which your mind and body will thank you.
Make Smarter Vaping Decisions!
Wellness vapes have evolved rapidly over the last few years, and there’s no doubt that more change and innovation will come. Stay tuned to this blog, and we’ll continue to update you on the latest trends so you can make more informed vaping decisions.
Leave a comment