E cigs: What You Need to Know if You Care for Patients with COPD Challenges in COPD Safer Than Smoking? Vaping Tied to Alarming Rise in COPD Cases Discover Magazine What COPD Patients Should Know About Vaping and E Cigarettes LPT Medical Smoking cigarettes has long been proven to cause severe lung damage, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, and lung cancer. Over time, cigarette smoke destroys lung tissue, fills airways with tar, PDF) An RCT of acute health effects in COPD patients after passive vape exposure from e cigarettes E cigarette vaping with nicotine appears to hamper mucus clearance from the airways, according to a study.