Yes, this is another one of those threads where someone doesn’t understand/approve what someone else is doing.
Basically they are an electronic pen-cigarettes containing flavoured propylene glycol. Not a controlled substance and one that is used as an anti-freeze to de-ice planes. In smaller quantities it is considered food-safe and can be found in salad dressing.
But what is the attraction of these things, particularly to young adults and teens, arguably the target audience of these products?
Is there some new sub-culture that wants to avoid the dangers of nicotine and tobacco, isn’t into pot related products, but just wants to suck (‘smoke’) some strawberry flavoured vapor? Why not just suck on some lifesavers?
Or am I just being naive about this not being related to some aspect of pot culture?
I vape, but simply as an alternative to smoking (I was a heavy smoker for many years.)
I don’t know about teens and young adults specifically, but apparently some people some people do it for weight loss/appetite control. Can’t find the thread right now but there was a long thread on the ECF forums about that. And a non-smoking friend of mine, whose husband got into vaping to cut down on his smoking, tells me that she takes hits off of his device sometimes when she is craving a snack but knows she shouldn’t really be snacking.
I think it would be sort of a shame if e-cigs became just a cool thing for kids to do; because I think they can be a very effective tool for smokers wanting to quit, or at least harm reduction and other uses muddy the waters.
As an aside, I know the owner of two brick and mortar stores locally, and also patronize some online vendors. They are very emphatic about not catering to the Young and Curious.
I have a re-fillable “vaper” that I happen to fill with non-nicotine juice. I buy my stuff from the smoke shop just like all the other e-cig smokers except I say “nicotine-free, please.”
But I am an ex-smoker who still would love to smoke, so I do it for all the same reasons I smoked real cigarettes, just avoiding as much of the bad stuff as possible.
Why you would go from not smoking to vaping non-nicotine juice, I do not know. But I also don’t know why you’d go from not smoking to smoking, and I did it myself when I was 17. So it’s gotta be similar reasons.
Does it though? Is that a thing? Power of advertising, I suppose. The ads I see for it remind me of 70s ads for smoking - sultry/macho/hip/attractive people vaping.
I’m an avid vaper now (better than being an avid smoker I believe) and even I think it looks dorky as shit.
So as a way to wean yourself from smoking, these things probably make sense. As a diet aid might make sense as well. But for non-smokers/dieters, a hit of flavoured vapor just doesn’t seem like a significant enough of a reward. Does it?
I’ve never been a smoker. Sure, I tried it a few times when out with friends and a few too many drinks and just for the novelty and effect (affect?). Anyway, it never caught on with me but I do understand the effect of nicotine and why it can be addictive.
But this vaping thing seems like a complete affectation for those not trying to quit tobacco addiction. And it does reek (pardon the pun) of pot culture. At least that’s my impression.
I have seen ads for hookah-like e-devices in medical marijuana magazines (for some odd reason I get them in the mail addressed to the former occupant) but from my experience, there’s a different vibe and different products/brand names. At any rate the stuff I’ve seen advertised in those magazines are completely different from the devices I see advertised on e-cig devotee sites. However, I could be wrong since I haven’t been part of any drug culture, pot or otherwise, since the late 1980s.
I guess if there is an up-tick in younger folks taking up vaping as an affectation of some sort, it would be driven by the hip advertising and easy availability in gas stations and so on. I buy neither my juice nor my devices from anywhere that advertises or sells at gas stations and liquor stores so I’m probably tragically un-hip.
There are several other Dopers who vape, maybe someone else will have better answers.
QuickSilver, are you personally aware of young people who are vaping non-nicotine devices or have you only heard of them?
I’ve been vaping since the Ruyan, the first commercial ecig, but the only places I’ve heard that “young people” are doing it are the same places that spread the “it’s used in antifreeze” scare story. (Thanks for noting that PG is also used in food. It is also in many of the products in your bathroom and in inhaled medicines.)
The pot culture users are a completely different group than those of us vaping nicotine as cigarette replacement. The biggest ecig forum doesn’t even permit drug use discussion.
I’m not an alarmist and I’m aware it’s not a controlled substance. It appears to be safe for human ingestion in small quantities (<1g, I believe). But no research exists on habitual inhaling of the stuff. So not sure I’m prepared to dismiss it as completely harmless at this point either.
I’m concerned one may lead to the other, but I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking the questions that I’m asking. Simply sucking on some strawberry vapor seems benign enough but without much reward in it. So is there more to this culture than I understand without it necessarily leading to pot? Maybe there is. I’m just trying to understand what that is and not over-react if some flavoured vapor is all that there is to it.
Since those of us who use nicotine ecigs appear to be unaware of such usage, I suspect the people who are doing it are simply young people doing something they think is cool. I was in San Francisco with flowers in my hair in 1966 but I am not familiar at all with what the young and hip are doing these days … can’t imagine how it could possibly lead to drug use … that just seems like silly scare tactics to me.
As for long-term inhalation of PG, it has been used in asthma inhalers and other inhaled medicines for over 50 years. It’s the liquid the actual drug is dissolved in.
IMHO, the most likely real and true answer is going to be that vaping a candy flavored ecig is on par with eating a Lifesaver when it comes to the danger level.
What the fuck for?! Just for the pleasure of sticking something in your mouth and blowing out some flavoured vapour into fancy shapes?
Is this some sort of developmentally delayed oral fixation that’s become prevalent in teens and young adults for some reason?
ETA: I guess those questions are a bit rhetorical.
I have never heard of non-smokers who have never smoked using no nicotine juice in a vaporizer, I have no insight into this sorry.
However I have heard of former smokers of cigarettes who switched to vaporizers with the intention of quitting nicotine who eventually work their way down to 0 nicotine juice, in their case it is the final step before quitting nicotine altogether. Basically they are still going through the motions and satisfying a psychological addiction before stepping off altogether.
That’s the sort of thing I was most concerned about. But vape pens that support interchangeable cartridges run a few bucks… $70 and up.
The vape pen I’m dealing with is the disposable type for under $10. I imagine if there’s a hack for these to allow them to use THC oil, the kids would have figured it out by now. :dubious:
I think you might be a bit out of the loop, so to speak.
You can buy a full kit EVOD clone online for less than ten dollars, this includes a battery, USB charger, and clearomizer. Some even come with some nicotine liquid, or you have to buy it separately. That is all you need to start vaping, there are THC or research chemical analogues of THC available but they are not sold openly except on the darknet TOR markets(think Silkroad clones).
I don’t use them myself(don’t care for THC) but they are available but rare, most likely whoever you are talking about is just using nicotine.
EDIT: Disposable electronic cigarettes cannot be refilled, period. They simply cannot it is a sealed system that can’t be accessed to fill with your drug of choice, but on the flip side I’ve never seen one with 0 nicotine.
Do a search for “vapegod” and “vapegawd” in YouTube. There is a whole scene involving performing and videoing trick smoke shots. And as with any scene, there will be tons of hanger-ons with little or no talent but vape anyway in order to be associated with it.
Actually that is one of the ‘scenes’ that I initially came across. I suppose, if no nicotine or drugs use is involved, at worst it’s just a vapid affectation.
