Disclaimer: I am a long-time [ex]-smoker, who now smokes e-cigarettes.
One would think that on the face of it e-cigarettes are a good compromise for the now, perhaps rightly, much maligned smokers. After all, with e-cigs, smokers can still smoke - but for a fraction of the price and with fewer health complications for them and those around them. I mean, what is there not to like?
What’s the deal, here? Why the hate? Even my grand-mother, who is 80+ years of age, remarked on how uncool I was for smoking an e-cigarette - this has really gone mainstream…
A few reasons, off the top of my head…
‘Vaping’ represents some kind of loathsome hipster culture of men-with-very-large-beards; it is symbolic of something bigger which is cool to hate. It isn’t vaping itself which is unattractive, it is the people who do it.
The whole thing which was cool about smoking (for some, at least) was that it is bad for you - smoking ‘real’ cigarettes implied not giving a fuck. Vaping suggests the opposite. In short, it is a weak-ass compromise between ‘all-out smoking’ and ‘not being a smoker’. Either one is fine, but sitting in the fence is lame.
Those who vape do so more publicly (and less shamefully) than those who smoke. This irks non-smokers - who would prefer that the whole thing be as ostracised as possible.
It’s not as disgusting as actual smoking but it’s still pretty unpleasant. Add to this the attitude “I can do this where and when I want with impunity” and the hate comes naturally.
For some reason, a large percentage of Vapers give off a very noticeable hipster-douchbag-exhibitionist vibe. The whole production of using the silly thing (especially the ones with the LED) just screams “Look at me, I’m cool! Watch me make a huge cloud of sweet stench!"
I made the mistake of vaping indoors at work and my manager came in a few minutes later and knew immediately. Perhaps some vape liquid doesn’t have a scent, but I would guess most of it does.
I don’t like people blowing clouds of anything into my face – smoke, water vapor, halitosis, you name it. So I don’t like the way that some people (not all people, but an annoying few) seem to take pleasure in ostentatiously blowing out clouds of chemicals in places where smoking isn’t allowed.
If e-cigarette users just swallowed all of their “harmless” vapor instead of expelling it, I wouldn’t have a problem with it.
EDIT: And now I learned a new term: “cloud chasers”. Hurray.
I don’t really care, but there is an amusing we get it; you vape vibe to many of them. Though it concerns me a bit when I see clouds of vapor wafting out of a car; surely that might obstruct their vision.
that’s my take on it. some of these vape things are so ostentatious they seem designed to broadcast what they are. so it screams “douchiness.” There are some which resemble a normal cigarette which don’t.
I have no real evidence for the following implication. But given that the industry in question has never had any shame whatever about doing absolutely whatever it takes to keep people smoking tobacco, ask yourself this question:
who stands to gain if vaping is uncool and smoking tobacco is cool?
