Reference

Vaping & quit-vaping glossary

Definitions for every term used across the PuffPause blog, the chemistry, the devices, and the behaviour-change vocabulary. Each entry links to the deepest related guide.

1-800-QUIT-NOW

The single US phone number that routes callers to their state's free quitline for coaching, quit plans, and (in most states) free NRT.

Funded by state health departments and the CDC. Confidential and covered under HIPAA.

Abstinence violation effect

The all-or-nothing reaction after a single slip that turns a slip into a full relapse.

Naming this effect out loud after a slip is one of the most protective things a quitter can do.

Acetylcholine

The endogenous neurotransmitter that normally binds nicotinic and muscarinic receptors; nicotine is a foreign molecule that mimics it at nicotinic sites.

The 'nicotinic' family of acetylcholine receptors is named after nicotine because nicotine was the first molecule found to selectively activate them.

Aerosol

The suspension of ultrafine liquid droplets a vape produces; not 'water vapour' in any meaningful sense, and the correct technical name for the exhale.

Vape aerosol carries nicotine, flavour compounds, and heating by-products; the ultrafine particle size is why it deposits deep in the lungs.

Allostasis

The process by which the brain resets its baseline in response to repeated drug exposure, so 'normal' now requires the drug to feel okay.

Allostasis explains why long-term vapers feel flat, irritable, or unfocused off nicotine: baseline has shifted, and recovery is the shift back.

Bupropion (Zyban / Wellbutrin)

A prescription antidepressant repurposed as a cessation aid; reduces cravings and blunts withdrawal.

Bupropion suits people with concurrent low mood or ADHD; it is contraindicated in seizure disorders and eating disorders.

CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy)

Structured talk therapy that identifies craving triggers and rewires the thoughts that follow them.

CBT is the behavioural backbone of most evidence-based cessation programmes; a handful of sessions is enough.

Cessation

The clinical term for stopping tobacco or nicotine use.

Cessation research is where most of what we know about withdrawal timelines and quit success comes from.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

A structured, short-term therapy that maps triggers, teaches craving-management skills, and rehearses replacement behaviours. First-line psychological treatment for nicotine dependence.

Usually 6-10 sessions. Combined with NRT it roughly doubles quit rates versus willpower alone.

Cold turkey

Stopping nicotine completely on a chosen day rather than tapering.

Cold turkey has a shorter total withdrawal window but a harder first week; both approaches have comparable long-term quit rates.

Combination NRT

Using a long-acting patch together with a short-acting form (gum, lozenge, or spray) for breakthrough cravings.

Combination NRT outperforms single-form NRT in Cochrane meta-analyses and is the first-line approach in NHS Stop Smoking Services.

Cotinine

The main metabolite of nicotine. Detectable in urine, saliva, and blood for two to three days after the last exposure.

Cotinine is the marker labs use to confirm nicotine use because it clears more slowly than nicotine itself.

Craving

A short, cue-triggered urge to vape. Individual cravings peak and pass in three to five minutes.

Frequency is what changes over time, not craving intensity itself.

Cue / trigger

A person, place, feeling, or action the brain has learned to pair with vaping: coffee, a car, stress, a phone unlock.

Most first-month relapses are cue-driven, not withdrawal-driven. Changing the cue often works when willpower does not.

Cue reactivity

The measurable physical and mental response (heart rate, attention, craving) that a learned cue triggers.

Cue reactivity fades with repeated cue exposure without vaping. This is the mechanism behind "urge surfing."

Cue reactivity

The learned physiological and craving response to cues (places, people, times) previously paired with nicotine use.

Cue reactivity is why the first coffee, the first drink, or the drive home can trigger cravings weeks after the last vape.

Cytisine (Tabex)

A plant-derived partial nicotinic agonist, similar mechanism to varenicline. Available OTC in parts of Europe.

Cytisine has one of the best cost-per-quit ratios in the WHO analyses. Not yet FDA-approved in the US as of 2026.

Diacetyl

A buttery flavour compound linked to bronchiolitis obliterans ("popcorn lung") when inhaled at industrial levels.

Diacetyl was found in early e-liquids and has been largely removed from regulated markets, but is still worth checking on grey-market disposables.

Disposable vape

A single-use device with battery, coil, and e-liquid built in. Typically 20 mg/mL nicotine salt, 600-5,000 puffs.

Disposables are the format that pushed daily nicotine intake sharply up for many users in the last five years.

Dopamine

The neurotransmitter released in the mesolimbic reward pathway when nicotine binds nAChRs.

The nicotine dopamine hit is small compared with cocaine, but its short cycle and reliability are what make it habit-forming.

Dual use

Regular use of both cigarettes and vapes, rather than fully switching.

Dual users lose most of the harm-reduction benefit of switching; cessation guidance treats it as a transitional state, not an endpoint.

E-cigarette

The regulatory and academic term for any battery-powered device that heats a nicotine-containing liquid into an inhalable aerosol.

'E-cigarette' is the label used in FDA, CDC, and NHS guidance; 'vape' is the same class of device in everyday English.

Elf Bar

The dominant disposable vape brand of the 2020s, sold in puff counts from 600 to 15,000+, most versions containing 5% (50 mg/mL) nicotine.

Almost every fruit-flavoured Elf Bar sold in US retail is unauthorised by the FDA; the brand pivoted to refillable formats after the UK's 2025 single-use ban.

EVALI

E-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury. A cluster of severe lung injuries first identified in 2019.

Investigations traced most EVALI cases to vitamin E acetate in illicit THC vape cartridges, not nicotine e-liquids from regulated markets.

Extinction

The learning process by which a cue stops predicting a reward, weakening its power to trigger a craving.

Extinction is why the third week is usually easier than the first, the cue-craving link is decaying.

FDA PMTA

Premarket Tobacco Product Application, the FDA process a vape product must pass to be legally sold in the US.

Very few flavoured disposable vapes hold current PMTA authorisation. Most of what is sold in US convenience stores is unauthorised.

Formaldehyde

A carcinogen that can form when e-liquid is over-heated on dry or high-power coils.

Formaldehyde levels in normal-use vaping are far below combusted tobacco, but rise sharply with dry hits and sub-ohm chain vaping.

Freebase nicotine

The older, unprotonated form of nicotine used in most refillable tanks. Harsher at high strengths, which naturally capped how much users inhaled.

Most 3 mg/mL and 6 mg/mL bottled e-liquids are freebase; disposables and pods are almost always nicotine salts.

Freebase nicotine

The unprotonated, alkaline form of nicotine used in older e-liquids and combustible cigarettes, harsh to inhale above ~2% concentration.

Freebase is the reason first-generation vapes stayed below 24 mg/mL; salt formulations replaced it to allow cigarette-strength dosing at 5% and above.

Freshstart

The American Cancer Society's free four-session group tobacco cessation program, run at hospitals, workplaces, and community centres.

Group counselling roughly matches one-on-one counselling for quit rates and is often the cheapest human-support option.

Half-life

The time for the body to eliminate half of a dose. Nicotine's half-life is roughly two hours.

Short half-life is why craving cycles feel so tight, the brain is asking for the next dose two hours after the last one.

Harm reduction

A public-health approach that prioritises lowering damage from a behaviour when full abstinence is not immediate.

Switching a heavy smoker to vaping is harm reduction; staying on a lower-strength vape indefinitely is a common harm-reduction endpoint but not the same as cessation.

HPHCs (harmful and potentially harmful constituents)

The FDA's list of chemicals in tobacco and vapour products that pose a known or suspected health risk.

Vaping produces far fewer HPHCs than combusted tobacco, which is the basis of most harm-reduction claims for switching smokers.

Juul

A pod-based e-cigarette launched in 2015 that used 5% nicotine-salt e-liquid in a USB-shaped device, credited with triggering the US teen vaping surge.

Juul is now restricted to tobacco and menthol flavours in the US after the FDA's 2022 marketing denial and subsequent settlement.

Kindling

The pattern where each successive quit attempt and relapse cycle makes withdrawal more sensitive, not less.

Kindling is why the fifth quit attempt can feel harder than the first; it argues for committing fully rather than testing a quit.

mAh

Milliamp-hours, a rating of battery capacity, not nicotine.

A 550 mAh disposable roughly matches its e-liquid capacity; a much higher mAh number rarely means more nicotine.

Mesh coil

A perforated metal strip used in place of a coiled wire, with more even heating and more vapour per puff.

Mesh is why modern disposables deliver noticeably more nicotine per draw than older wire-coil devices at the same strength.

Mesh coil

A thin metal mesh used as the vape heating element instead of a coiled wire, exposing more surface area of e-liquid to heat per puff.

Mesh coils are why modern disposables deliver more aerosol and nicotine per puff than older cotton-wick pod devices.

Mesolimbic pathway

The brain reward circuit running from the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens. The main site of nicotine's reinforcing effect.

Every addictive drug converges on this pathway; nicotine is unusual in how briefly and repeatedly it activates it.

mg/mL vs %

Two ways to label nicotine strength. 20 mg/mL and 2% are the same concentration.

The US usually labels vapes in %, most of Europe and Australia in mg/mL. Multiply % by 10 to get mg/mL.

MHRA

The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, which registers e-cigarette products in the UK.

The MHRA notification list is the closest thing to a public registry of legal UK e-liquids and devices.

Motivational interviewing

A counselling style that uses open questions, reflective listening, and affirmations to help someone resolve their own ambivalence about change.

Motivational interviewing is the evidence-based backbone of adolescent substance-use conversations and outperforms confrontational or lecture-based approaches.

nAChR (nicotinic acetylcholine receptor)

The receptor nicotine binds to. Drives dopamine release in the reward pathway and shapes how dependence forms.

Chronic nicotine multiplies these receptors; recovery is largely the receptor count returning to baseline over 3-4 weeks.

Nicotine

The addictive stimulant found in tobacco and most vapes. It binds to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and triggers a small dopamine release.

Nicotine itself is not what causes cancer in cigarettes, combustion is, but it is what makes both vapes and cigarettes addictive.

Nicotine dependence

The clinical diagnosis for compulsive nicotine use despite a desire to stop, coded F17 in ICD-10 and 305.1 in DSM-5.

Vaping-only nicotine dependence uses the same diagnostic criteria as cigarette dependence; both are treatment-eligible conditions.

Nicotine poisoning

Acute toxic reaction to ingesting or absorbing a high dose of nicotine, causing nausea, vomiting, tachycardia, sweating, and in severe cases seizures.

Concentrated e-liquid bottles and disposable vapes are the leading cause of nicotine poisoning in young children; poison-control calls involving vapes rose sharply with the disposable era.

Nicotine salts

A protonated form of nicotine (usually with benzoic acid) that is less harsh to inhale at high concentrations, letting vapes deliver much more nicotine per puff.

Nicotine salts are the reason modern pod and disposable vapes routinely contain 20-50 mg/mL, several times what early e-cigarettes delivered.

NRT (nicotine replacement therapy)

Regulated nicotine products: patches, gum, lozenges, sprays, and inhalers, used to blunt withdrawal without inhaling.

NRT roughly doubles quit success in smokers; the same clinical evidence base is now being used for vapers.

PG (propylene glycol)

One of the two main solvents in e-liquid. Carries flavour and produces the throat hit.

Higher PG ratios feel sharper in the throat and produce less visible vapour.

Pharmacotherapy

The use of medications, either NRT or prescription drugs like varenicline, bupropion, or cytisine, as part of a quit attempt.

Pharmacotherapy roughly doubles long-term quit rates in the smoking literature; the same effect size is now being documented in vapers.

Placenta

The organ that develops in the uterus during pregnancy and connects the fetus to the maternal blood supply for oxygen and nutrient exchange.

Nicotine constricts placental blood vessels; sustained maternal nicotine exposure is associated with reduced placental perfusion, lower birth weight, and higher risk of abruption.

Pod

A refillable or replaceable cartridge that attaches to a small battery. Popularised by Juul.

Pods run cooler and typically use nicotine salts, so a small device can still deliver a high nicotine dose.

Pod system

A vape device that accepts pre-filled or refillable pod cartridges snapped into a rechargeable battery, sitting between disposables and full mod systems in complexity.

Refillable pod systems like Uwell Caliburn and Vaporesso Xros are the standard hardware for tapering nicotine strength downward while quitting.

Post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS)

The tail of subtle mood, sleep, and craving symptoms that can persist for weeks or months after the acute withdrawal window closes.

PAWS is why some quitters feel 'off' at week six even though the physical peak passed at day four; it fades with continued abstinence.

Postpartum relapse

The resumption of nicotine use in the weeks or months after delivery by someone who quit during pregnancy.

40-60% of pregnancy quitters relapse within six months postpartum, driven by sleep deprivation, hormonal shifts, and the removal of the pregnancy motivator.

Premarket Tobacco Application

The FDA regulatory pathway a new tobacco or nicotine product must pass before it can be legally marketed in the US, requiring evidence that authorisation is appropriate for public health.

As of 2026 the FDA has authorised only a small number of tobacco and menthol e-cigarettes; every fruit-flavoured disposable submitted has been denied.

Priming

A single puff after quitting sharply increases the probability of another puff within 24 hours.

Priming is the pharmacology behind the abstinence-violation effect: the nicotine dose itself makes the next dose more likely.

Quit date

A pre-committed calendar date on which nicotine use stops.

Setting a date within 2-4 weeks outperforms both "someday" and "tomorrow," the interval is what predicts follow-through.

Quitline

A free, telephone-based counselling service for people quitting tobacco or vaping.

The US quitline is 1-800-QUIT-NOW; the UK equivalent is the NHS Smokefree helpline. Both offer free NRT in many regions.

Quitline

A free phone service staffed by trained coaches that helps people quit nicotine. In the US, 1-800-QUIT-NOW routes to state quitlines.

Most US state quitlines mail free NRT (patches, gum, or lozenges) in addition to coaching, and every state quitline serves vape users.

Receptor upregulation

The brain's response to chronic nicotine: more nicotinic receptors, more sensitive to it.

Upregulation is what makes early withdrawal feel worse than expected; it normalises within about a month of not vaping.

Relapse

Returning to regular vaping after quitting. A single slip is not the same thing.

A slip becomes a relapse when the next cue is treated as permission to keep going. Naming that moment is the intervention.

Secondhand vapour

The aerosol exhaled by a vape user and any device emissions that enter the shared air of a room, containing nicotine, ultrafine particles, and flavouring compounds.

Secondhand vapour is not the same as secondhand smoke, but it is not benign — nicotine and fine particles are measurable in the air of homes where indoor vaping occurs.

SmokefreeTXT

A free text-message quit program run by the National Cancer Institute at smokefree.gov. The vape-specific track is DitchVape (text DITCHVAPE to 88709).

Messages are timed around the user's chosen quit date; keywords CRAVE, MOOD, and SLIP trigger on-demand support.

SmokefreeTXT / This Is Quitting

Free daily-SMS behavioural support programmes from Truth Initiative and the US National Cancer Institute.

This Is Quitting is the most-studied vape-specific text program, with published effect sizes in young adults.

Stealth vape

A vape device disguised as another object — a hoodie drawstring, smart-watch band, USB drive, pen, or phone case — designed to be used unnoticed.

Stealth vapes exploded after school anti-vape policies escalated; they are one reason parents and teachers can miss regular use for months.

Taper

Gradually reducing daily nicotine, through lower-strength liquid or scheduled puff reductions, before stopping.

A structured taper works best when it is shorter than four weeks and enforced by a schedule, not by feel.

TGA

Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration. Regulates nicotine vapes as prescription-only in AU.

As of 2024, adults in Australia need a doctor's prescription to legally buy nicotine e-liquid, and only pharmacies dispense it.

Thirdhand aerosol

Residual nicotine and vape chemicals deposited on surfaces, clothing, upholstery, and skin after vaping has occurred in a space.

Thirdhand residue matters most in homes with infants and small children, who mouth surfaces and clothing exposed to a vape user.

This Is Quitting

Truth Initiative's free anonymous text-message program for 13-24-year-olds quitting vaping. Text DITCHVAPE to 88709 to enroll.

A 2021 randomised trial in JAMA Internal Medicine found a 40% higher 30-day quit rate versus control at 7 months.

Throat hit

The scratchy sensation at the back of the throat when inhaling nicotine. A behavioural cue as much as a physical one.

Losing throat hit is one of the underrated triggers in the first quit week, the mouth expects a sensation that never arrives.

Tobacco harm reduction (THR)

A public-health framework that accepts continued nicotine use in adults who will not quit, and steers them to lower-risk delivery than combusted tobacco.

THR is the reasoning behind UK 'swap to stop' schemes; it is contested in the US, where regulators emphasise the youth uptake risk.

Tolerance

Needing more nicotine to get the same effect. Builds within days of regular use.

Tolerance is why casual weekend vaping so often turns into daily use inside a month.

TPD (Tobacco Products Directive)

The EU regulation capping e-liquid nicotine at 20 mg/mL and tank size at 2 mL, and requiring safety notifications.

TPD is why UK and EU disposables usually top out at 20 mg/mL, versus 50 mg/mL in unregulated markets.

Truth Initiative

The largest independent US non-profit dedicated to ending tobacco and nicotine addiction, best known for running the This Is Quitting text-message quit programme.

Truth Initiative funds and operates the free parent-facing and teen-facing text programmes referenced across US paediatric cessation guidance.

Varenicline (Chantix / Champix)

A prescription partial agonist at the α4β2 nicotinic receptor. Reduces both cravings and the reward from a slip.

Varenicline has the largest effect size of any single monotherapy in cessation trials. Prescribers monitor mood and sleep in the first weeks.

Vasoconstrictor

A substance that narrows blood vessels, reducing blood flow to the tissues they supply.

Nicotine is a fast-acting vasoconstrictor, which is why it raises blood pressure acutely and reduces placental blood flow in pregnancy.

Ventral tegmental area (VTA)

A midbrain structure whose dopaminergic neurons project to the nucleus accumbens and form the origin of the mesolimbic reward pathway.

Nicotine excites VTA dopamine neurons directly via α4β2 nAChRs, which is why every puff produces a small, reliable reward signal.

VG (vegetable glycerin)

The other main e-liquid solvent. Thicker than PG and responsible for most of the visible vapour cloud.

High-VG blends are smoother but need more power to vaporise.

Vuse

The Reynolds/BAT e-cigarette brand and current US market leader, best known for the Alto pod system in tobacco and menthol flavours.

Vuse Solo was the first e-cigarette to receive FDA marketing authorisation via the PMTA pathway in 2021.

Withdrawal

The physical and mood symptoms that follow stopping nicotine after regular use: irritability, restlessness, poor focus, poor sleep, headaches, appetite change.

Withdrawal typically peaks on days two to four and largely resolves within two to four weeks.