Sign up to the Quit plan
Electronic cigarettes ('e-cigarettes') use batteries to heat up nicotine, water and propylene glycol or glycerine with flavourings. This creates a vapour that lets you inhale nicotine without smoking or using tobacco. This is known as 'vaping'.
An e-cigarette should be authorised by the Health Products and Regulatory Authority (HPRA) if it is marketed or promoted for a medical purpose like stopping smoking.
If the HPRA does not authorise this, the manufacturers, importers and distributors are responsible for the safety and quality of the e-cigarette.
There are no e-cigarettes authorised by the HPRA in Ireland.
Using e-cigarettes to stop smoking
E-cigarettes are still fairly new, so we don't yet know how safe they are or if they help people stop smoking. Because of this, we don't recommend e-cigarettes to help you quit smoking.
We recommend:
- using stop smoking medicines like nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and varenicline (also called Champix).
- getting support from a stop smoking advisor to help you quit.
Quitting this way is safe and will increase your chances of becoming smoke-free by more than 3 times.
Getting support
If you want to stop smoking, we can help. If you're already using an e-cigarette to help you stop smoking, we can also help.
Sign up to a Quit plan for tailored support to help you stop smoking.
If you're worried about e-cigarettes, contact one of our trained advisors.
