Kendal vape shop owner dismisses new research

The finding was presented at the world’s largest cardiology conference in Rome and followed trials which found that a typical vaping session caused similar effects to the main heart artery as smoking a cigarette.

However, Suzannah Green, the owner of Vapepod in Blackhall Yard, Kendal, said she had seen lots of 'success' stories thanks to vaping.

"We have a lot of customers who are smokers or have chest problems and we have helped them," she said. "I have been in the care profession since I was 15 and for me, if it's helping people and people are giving up - sometimes from 60 a day - then that's all I need to hear."

The Vapepod shop opened two years ago and since, Suzannah said, they have helped many people give up smoking.

She said that she has seen the popularity of her shop boom in a short period of time.

Although some customers are long-term vapers, many are smokers looking to give up who will then go on to give up vaping too.

The trial involved a group of adult smokers, whose hearts were monitored while they vaped, and when they smoked ordinary cigarettes.

Researchers said a a typical 30 minute vaping session had a similar impact on stiffness of the aorta - the main artery into the heart - as smoking one regular cigarette.

Colin Cox, director of Public Health at Cumbria County Council, said: "E-cigarettes are still a new technology and new evidence about their effects is emerging all the time.

"The findings add weight to the idea that if you don’t currently smoke or vape, you shouldn’t start. However, most evidence suggests that vaping is much safer than smoking tobacco, so people who currently smoke may want to consider switching to e-cigarettes instead."

Last year Public Health England (PHE) said that vaping was 95 per cent safer than smoking but Rosanna O’Connor, director of Alcohol and Drugs at PHE, said it is unable to comment on the study as it is unpublished.