# Can You Vape In Non-Smoking Areas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605 "2013-08-30T19:38:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/41 "2013-09-02T10:21:00Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I would think the opposite - the stuff being in a dispersed vapour would be stinkier, because dispersed vapours are precisely what our noses detect as ‘smell’. You don’t smell the volume of something - you smell the vapour coming off it. Good point. I started thinking about that after I posted it. If I took the cap off a perfume bottle, I’d have to hold it under my nose in order to smell it. However, if I were to spray it a couple of times, the smell would fill up the room. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/42 "2013-09-02T14:12:48Z")
At the restaurant I work at, they let the cooks use e-cigs while they work in the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/43 "2013-09-02T15:26:40Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Good. So next month when I make my final “step-down” to nicotine free liquid, I assume you’ll have no problem with my vaping in public, as it’s not delivering a drug? As long as you’re not puffing out noxious sustances in enclosed public spaces and just exhaling “water vapor”, fine. > [@](#): > > So appealing to FDA authority may fly in a few months or years, but at the moment, it doesn’t. I was responding to the “it’s a free society, I can do what I want” argument. The fact that regulation is on the way should dispel that belief. > [@](#): > > I try not to be a jerk in reality. If it’s making people uncomfortable, I will either refrain, join the smokers, or provide education as to what that weird looking thing is That’s reminiscent of what smokers have always assured us - they’re so extremely polite and always refrain from smoking whenever anyone asks, so no need for antismoking laws. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ombre12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d26b3c/32.png) [@ombre12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ombre12)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/44 "2013-09-02T15:41:30Z")
Maybe if they were called vaporizers instead of e-cigarettes, there wouldn’t be a problem. I can’t stand the smell of noticeable perfume, but I wouldn’t suggest a law against it. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/45 "2013-09-02T15:59:23Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I’m highly suspicious of people claiming they can smell E-cig vapors. I’m an ex smoker who took up “vaping” like 2 years later (meaning I had my sense of smell back) and the one I smoke, at least, definitely has a smell. First I was smoking the “tastes like Camel” stuff with nicotine, then the same flavor with no nicotine, and now vanilla, and they all smell like pipe smoke. About 100x less potent than an actual pipe but they do smell. I can smell it in my office when I come in in the morning if I’ve been smoking the e-cig the night before. My mom said she could smell it when I was vaping in the car next to her (and she has a bum sense of smell from living with a smoker). Now, there are milllions of combinations of liquids and atomizers/catromizers/whatevers so maybe some combinations stink more than others. But you can’t say that none of them stink. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/46 "2013-09-02T16:23:13Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > I personally do not want someone blowing their non-smoke nicotine into my breathing space anymore than I want to smell cigarette smoke. Ditto > [@](#): > > There is no difference, take your drug addiction outside. I wouldn’t go that far. There is a difference. The e-cigs are less obnoxious, but since they’re harder to detect, might be more dangerous (higher undetectable exposure to nicotine). Nicotine makes my asthma worse. So do cats. I wouldn’t outlaw cats, but I don’t want any in the cubicle next to mine at work. > [@Mangetout](#): > > Is it just water vapour? How so? It seems highly unlikely that the lungs of the person using it are scrubbing all of the other components out of it and just leaving the water vapour. Right. When you start vaping pure water, that’ll be OK. Well, it would if there was a good way to tell that what you have in there is only water. The evidence is clear that nicotine (regardless of smoke) is a health risk, so the burden should be on those who promote e-cigs to prove that their use doesn’t release nicotine into the atmosphere. If someone was using sarin gas nearby in some new way, wouldn’t you expect them to demonstrate that it wasn’t releasing it into your air? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/47 "2013-09-02T17:13:18Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Here’s the thing: You used to smoke until 5 months ago. Now you use e-cigarettes. You have thoroughly desensitized yourself to the smell. It’s no different than the person who bathes in perfume and insists that if they can’t smell it, no one else can either. Exactly. Plus one. This. What he said. I’ve managed to live with smelling annoying perfume without insisting that it be banned by the government. I also missed out on all that sweet righteousness. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/48 "2013-09-02T18:03:49Z")
> [@ombre12](#): > > Maybe if they were called vaporizers instead of e-cigarettes, there wouldn’t be a problem. I suspect that if you had a cold, brought your vaporizer to the restaurant or workplace, added a little eucalyptus oil and plugged it in, your neighbors might not be pleased. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/49 "2013-09-02T18:13:25Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > There may be no second hand smoke but they do stink. Similar to **obfusciatrist** , I recently was at a concert where someone was using one. I wouldn’t have noticed at all had it not been for the stench. It wasn’t as strong as cigarettes, but still noticable from two or three rows away. I’ll take people’s word for it that some products smell. I have often been right next to someone using it and I’ve never smelled anything. And I’m a former smoker so I’m tuned into it. If you were at a concert and smelled something from that far away it might not have been an ecig. Vaporizors have been used for illicit substances for years. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/50 "2013-09-02T18:29:08Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I’m highly suspicious of people claiming they can smell E-cig vapors. > > I’ve opened entire bottles of E-cig liquid and was barely able to smell it. Someone saying they could smell it from some guy vaping several feet away sounds like crazy talk to me. > > And even crazier, is the assertion the E-cigs do not reduce health risk or reduce the urge to smoke. Health wise, I can tell you, I feel 20 years younger since I gave up cigarettes for E-cigs some 5 months ago. Since that time, there hasn’t been a single day where I woke up with the coughing fits. Before then, it was a daily occurrence. > > Jesus man, you’d think decent people would be happy now that millions of people have found a healthier option to their addiction. But nope, they’re more content to hate. Go figure. I don’t smoke, and HATE the smell of cigarettes, so I really love the e-cigarette. My mother, a 2+ pack-a-day smoker for ~50 years, finally quit smoking thanks to them. January 1st, a couple years back, she threw away her cigarettes and jumped right into e-cigarettes, with no withdrawal at all. She took to them far better than I ever expected - I never thought I’d know a day when Mom didn’t constantly have a burning cigarette in her hand. They do have a smell, at least some of the ‘juice’ does. When she uses her e-cigarette, it smells like Juicy-Fruit gum to me. After all those decades of that stale cigarette stench emanating from her, the juicy fruit smell is _more_ than welcome. I buy her e-cigarette supplies for her. Many sites sell the unflavored/unscented juice for you to mix with your favorite flavors. If someone really wanted to go the extra mile in certain situations, they could use the plain juice to get their nicotine. If anyone complains about the vapor then, well, there’s no pleasing some people. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/51 "2013-09-02T18:41:44Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I suspect that if you had a cold, brought your vaporizer to the restaurant or workplace, added a little eucalyptus oil and plugged it in, your neighbors might not be pleased. :dubious: Funny you say that…i add a drop of eucalyptus eo to my vape juice when I’m congested! Breaks up the gunk better than any OTC cold med. And yes, it does smell…like a cough drop. No worse, no better. People keep asking me if I can spare a cough drop. 😃 I honestly don’t care much if it smells. People smell. There’s a guy on this airplane who could really use a shower. There’s a woman with an awful perfume overdose three rows ahead. The plane itself is putting out literal pounds of stinky exhaust. I’m going to land in a state where diesel trucks are exempt from emissions testing. Very few people genuinely give a shit about air quality. Arguing this turns us into dancing puppets. This isn’t an argument about smell, or toxicity, this is a centuries old argument about the Sins of the Flesh and Drugs Are Bad (even if there are no drugs.) ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/52 "2013-09-02T20:26:35Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I’m highly suspicious of people claiming they can smell E-cig vapors. Lots of discussion anyway but since I started it I figure I’ll comment. I have no idea if all ecigs produce and odor as if 98% of them don’t I probably wouldn’t have known it was behind me. But I’ve definitely smelled at least two. That said, I do’nt much care. I like the smell of cigarettes. I don’t mind second hand smoke in single-cigarette densities. One person smoking an actual cigarette on a BART car wouldn’t bother me (though 70% of the people doing it would). And the last time I had a cigarette was when I was 7 years old so it isn’t just some “oh god I miss cigarettes” vicarious kick. So to the extent I care about anybody introducing the odor into a confined space it is essentially the same as any other odor. Someone brings their leftover curry onto the train and I’ll think “ooh, that smells good but it is mildly rude to impose on everybody like that since some people probably don’t like it. But people share the planet.” And when someone boards who has apparently been trying all the perfumes at Macy\*s I think “That stupid idiot is the spawn of hell for bringing such horror into my worldspace and I’d be ok with it if a stray meteorite knocked her out of this train and somehow we ran her over.” While someone else is probably thinking 'oh, that’s nice I should ask her what she’s wearing so I can get it." The world aint fair. I just judge it without assuming that my judging carries and real weight. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/53 "2013-09-02T20:43:35Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I’m highly suspicious of people claiming they can smell E-cig vapors. My wife vapes and I can definitely smell it. The brand of liquid she uses smells vaguely like cotton candy. If she is on the couch vaping I will notice if I am in the living room with her but not if I am in the kitchen 6 or 7 feet away. I will also notice if she has just been vaping in our bedroom with the door closed but the odour dissipates within minutes of her stopping. It is absolutely no where near the level that a cigarette rises to. ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/54 "2013-09-02T21:00:44Z")
Despite the fact that earlier posters have alluded to smoking e-cigs on planes, doing so is not actually allowed. Most airlines have [policies against it](http://www.businessinsider.com/you-cant-smoke-e-cigarettes-in-planes-2013-2). The Department of Transportation proposed an outright ban back in 2011, but I can’t tell if anything came of it. ---
**Author:** ![thatguyjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6de8d8/32.png) [@thatguyjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thatguyjeff)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/55 "2013-09-03T16:52:51Z")
One must consider 3 things: 1. the law 2. commercial rules/policies of specific spaces/businesses; and 3. the culture. Laws vary. In MN - for example - there is no smoking allowed indoors anywhere, save tobacco shops and your own home pretty much. The law does not include ecigs. That means one could use an ecig pretty much everywhere and be compliant with the law. Then you have businesses that don’t allow them in their establishments. Businesses can ask you to leave for any or no reason. So there’s that. My employer specifically bans them (along with all tobacco) anywhere on the property including outdoor spaces. If anyone wants to vape where I work, they have to stand in the street with the smokers. And then - if you’re in a space/place where it’s not against the law, and the business owner has no problem with it, you still have the culture - meaning are others around you going to object? And ignorant/entitled people will object to anything. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/56 "2013-09-03T18:30:19Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > If anyone complains about the vapor then, well, there’s no pleasing some people. Yeah, there’s just no pleasing people who fear they might incur an elevated risk of cancer thanks to your e-cig. > [@thatguyjeff](#): > > And ignorant/entitled people will object to anything. Good post, but I take exception to this last bit. Rational people will object to being exposed to an ingredient that has been proven to be associated with a significantly elevated risk of cancer. One doesn’t need to be ignorant or have a sense of entitlement to object to e-cigs. I grant that for most purposes, e-cigs are a big improvement on smoking. For one thing, you avoid the smoke, and my guess is that breathing smoke is probably worse for you than the nicotine. It also doesn’t smell as bad or cause as much grime build-up. But, as I said above, it may still be harmful, and due the fact that it’s not easily detectable, might even be more harmful (than 2nd hand smoke) in some cases. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/57 "2013-09-03T18:54:17Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > This isn’t an argument about smell, or toxicity, this is a centuries old argument about the Sins of the Flesh and Drugs Are Bad (even if there are no drugs.) It’s weird that we still this hangover of smokers’ belief that non-smokers envy them over the pleasure of ingesting carcinogens and other toxic substances, as well as the “cool” factor of reeking of smoke, having yellow teeth, wasting tons of money on smoking products and having an increased risk of heart and lung disease and cancer. Enjoy your drug and by-products. Wear nicotine patches or suck on nicotine lozenges, just make a little effort not to expel smoke and vapors over other people. And believe it or not, it is possible to work towards better overall air quality without just looking at smokers. \*on an airplane once, I had to get a cabin attendant to do something about a stupid woman in the opposite row who thought a commercial flight was a perfect opportunity to use acetone nail polish remover. Probably not an immediate health hazard, but it stank like hell. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/58 "2013-09-03T20:04:28Z")
[Discrete](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discrete) vs [discreet](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discreet). I hope you are doing it both ways. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/59 "2013-09-03T21:12:05Z")
I think that answering the original question is a hijack at this point, but what the hell. I work for a county in SC, and all forms of tobacco are verboten on county grounds. We are “allowed” to designate smoking areas outside of each county location, but we are also encouraged \*\*not \*\*to do so, because most of the cities we’re in are working on blanket tobacco bans anyway. They re-wrote the regs about a month or so ago to specifically include “vaping” in the ban. What’s even more interesting is that all forms of tobacco use are regulated for employees - EVEN PATCHES! I mean, no one is going looking for them, but if you are an employee, and using any form of tobacco, you have to have a note in your file from your doctor that the doctor is aware of your use, and you have to pay a higher insurance premium, and you have to go to a few anti-tobacco seminars every year. If you aren’t willing to do all that, then there’s the door. It’s made quite a few people really upset, but my co-worker did quit smoking because it was such a giant pain in the ass, so I suppose it technically works. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605/60 "2013-09-03T22:29:05Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > Yeah, there’s just no pleasing people who fear they might incur an elevated risk of cancer thanks to your e-cig. This objection is absurd. I fear I might incur an elevated risk of cancer thanks to your car, so stop driving it. I feel I might incur an elevated risk of cancer thanks to your chimney emissions, stop heating your house. Whatever it is that you’re doing that can potentially in any way harm me, stop doing it. No need for evidence, my feelings on the matter will suffice. You feelings have no bearing on the matter. None. Evidence has bearing on the matter. While pure nicotine in sufficient concentration may be carcinogenic, it is not the primary, secondary or tertiary cause of cancer via second-hand smoke. Why, then, do you think that it will suddenly be the cause of second-hand cancer now? Preposterous. The only objection to e-cigarettes is that the people who use them are “smoking”, and anti-smoking zealots just rode the wave over to e-smokes. Just admit it, you’ll feel better for coming clean. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-vape-in-non-smoking-areas/667605.md?page=4)