What is vaping? The meaning and definition of "vaping"
Definition/meaning of "vaping": the act of inhaling vapor produced by some form of e-cigarette or personal vaporizer. E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat a coil inside an atomizer, which transforms "e-liquid" (or e-juice) into vapor. The e-liquid (or e-juice) that enters the atomizer is a mixture of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin, usually with water-soluble food flavorings. Nicotine is optional and can be added in the desired amount.
Vaping is a hot topic today. It has sparked one of the biggest public health debates ever and is discussed in almost every newspaper and TV news program. Currently, there are at least 10 million Americans who vape, and more than two million of them have completely stopped smoking cigarettes. The global number is difficult to estimate, but there are probably 30 million or more vapers.
Vaping has an interesting history. A perfect example of true free-market capitalism, or the consumer's response to a health crisis that could not be solved through government intervention, or a technological revolution driven forward by users. It may be all three things!
As vaping's popularity has skyrocketed, smoking has declined faster than anyone could have imagined. But increased visibility also brings public doubt and fear. It is an easy target for anyone who wants to profit from good, old-fashioned moral panic.
Vaping, vapers and e-cigarettes
Some vaping products look like cigarettes (usually called "cigalikes") and some are larger. Many people initially choose a cigalike because they are often available in the same stores where cigarettes are sold, they look familiar and they have a fairly low initial cost.
The term electronic cigarette (also called e-cigarette, electric cigarette or e-cig) does not necessarily refer specifically to small cigalikes, although some people use it that way. E-cigarette can refer to any vaping device. Other common names are personal vaporizer (sometimes abbreviated to PV), vape or mod. The term mod originated with early users who modified their primitive e-cigarettes so they would work better or converted other products (such as flashlights and laser pointers) into vaping devices. Whether large or small, disposable or refillable, e-cigarettes essentially do the same thing.
Vaping means different things to different people. For smokers who have made desperate attempts for many years to find a way to quit smoking, vaping can be a miracle that improves or even saves their lives. For some in public health - especially the anti-nicotine fanatics in the tobacco control field - e-cigarettes are a threat to the status quo they have worked so hard to establish. Enjoying nicotine without health consequences is, to them, like sinning without the threat of hell.
We call e-cigarette users vapers. Vapers discovered early on that using sweet flavors such as candy and fruit was perfect for moving away from the experience of burning tobacco. So although politicians shout that vaping flavors are the tobacco industry's way of making children addicted, the truth is that all vapers like good flavors. I am 57 and I am vaping lemon cake right now. It tastes good too!
Who is vaping for?
Most vapers are former or current smokers - some are still trying to quit smoking and others use e-cigarettes to get the nicotine they like when it is inconvenient to smoke. There are some vapers who have never smoked, but they make up a small part of the vaping world.
We know from survey results that vaping has increased in recent years, while smoking has declined to record-low levels. And despite claims that vaping is a gateway to smoking for teenagers, the number of young people who smoke has declined even faster than the number of adults since vaping made its entrance.
Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor at Boston University, states that "As vaping has become increasingly popular among young people, it has displaced cigarette smoking and contributed to the denormalization of cigarette smoking."
Teenagers experiment with things. They always have and they always will.
No one is suggesting that children should start vaping, but the fact is that almost all teenagers who use e-cigarettes are already smokers or have quit smoking. Among teenagers who vape regularly, fewer than one percent have never smoked.
When you see a scare story about youth vaping, you should take a closer look to see whether the authors are looking at "ever use" or "use in the past 30 days." Conducting a survey about something teenagers may have done once in the past 30 days, or once in their lives, says nothing about their usual habits. Teenagers experiment with things. They always have and they always will. But the number of people under 18 who regularly vape is actually small.
Is vaping as dangerous as smoking?
Vaping does not cause the same physical damage as smoking because it does not involve combustion. Regardless of how non-smokers may see it, smoking and vaping are very different. When you smoke a cigarette, you set fire to dead plant material and inhale the smoke. Breathing in smoke - all forms of smoke - is dangerous.
Combustion products are devastating to the lungs and cardiovascular system. Thousands of chemicals and compounds are inhaled, including more than 70 known carcinogens. In addition to the risk of cancer, smoking can cause extensive damage to the heart and circulatory system, leading to heart disease and potentially causing heart attack and stroke. It also damages the lungs, which can cause emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
As far as we can tell, vaping does not cause any of these things. There may be some risks associated with vaping (which we have previously examined in more detail), but so far no evidence of serious health risks has been found. After reviewing all available scientific literature on vaping, the Royal College of Physicians concluded last year that it is "unlikely that vaping would exceed 5% of the harm of smoking tobacco."
Most of the debate about vaping stems from a simple disagreement. Should vaping be judged by its unproven risks or by its proven benefits? American health authorities tend to regard absolute risk as the benchmark. They worry that some health risk might emerge out of nowhere. British health organizations, on the other hand, support the idea of harm reduction – offering users of dangerous products safer (but not necessarily absolutely safe) choices. Vaping is safer than smoking. It reduces the harm caused by smoking.
If you are neither a vaper nor a smoker, you may not have a real opinion about the health risks and benefits of e-cigarettes and vaping. Perhaps you should. After all, everyone has friends or family members who, despite everything we know about the real harms of cigarettes, continue to smoke.
About half of long-term smokers die prematurely from smoking cigarettes. The World Health Organization estimates that one billion people will die from smoking during this century. What would happen if we could get most of these smokers to switch from cigarettes to a product that carries only a very small fraction of the risk - or perhaps no risk at all?
Reducing or eliminating the harm caused by burning tobacco would not only save many lives, it would also make it possible to use the billions of dollars now spent on treating preventable smoking-related diseases elsewhere. Reducing smoking would save both money and lives.
How did vaping begin?
It all started in China
In 2003, a Chinese pharmacist named Hon Lik developed a device that made it possible for smokers to have a "smoking" experience without actually inhaling burned tobacco. Hon's father had died of lung cancer, and he himself was a smoker who wanted to quit. He patented his device, and the company he worked for changed its name to Ruyan (which means "like smoke"). You can read more about the history of e-cigarettes here.
There had previously been attempts by other inventors and even tobacco companies to develop a "smokeless cigarette," but for various reasons none got as far as actually manufacturing and selling a commercial product. After Hon Lik launched the Ruyan device, it took approximately three years before e-cigarettes made their debut in Europe and the United States.
By 2007, there were several online stores in the United States and a growing number of kiosks in shopping malls where passing smokers could buy starter kits with rechargeable batteries and refillable cartridges that screwed onto the batteries. For around $150, you could buy what now costs less than $30.
The early products did not work very well, but for many smokers who wanted a way out, they worked well enough. Others saw the potential but were determined to find new ways to improve the experience. The batteries did not last long enough, the throat hit was not strong enough, and the cartridges did not supply the coil with liquid very well. Could these problems be solved by… tinkering?
Meet me on the forum
The first vapers found one another online. Among the first meeting places was E-Cigarette Forum (ECF), created by a young British vaper named Oliver Kershaw. The enthusiastic new "e-smokers" (one of many early names that did not survive) talked about what worked, what did not and what they wished they could change. ECF was not the only forum either. The vaping world continued to grow.
Without the internet, it is difficult to see how e-cigarettes could have survived. The products were not widely distributed and users were scattered. Online forums created a real community where every new member was welcomed and given advice and encouragement. Everyone had been a smoker. Everyone was happy to quit smoking. Everyone knew it was difficult to do. Everyone was aware that they were part of a kind of revolution.
Vapers made a major contribution to the design of the products they used.
In 2008, the World Health Organization condemned e-cigarettes, and governments around the world followed suit. In 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered the seizure of shipments from China, explaining that e-cigarettes were illegal medical devices. Two American companies, including Sottera (which manufactured NJoy e-cigarettes), sued the FDA, and in 2010 Judge Richard Leon issued an order preventing the FDA from regulating the products as medical devices. An appeals court upheld Leon's decision, and the FDA decided to change its strategy and regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products.
Meanwhile, new types of products were developed and innovation took an unusual path. There were many Chinese manufacturers, but with few local vapers to provide feedback, they turned to American and European vapers for help. What users discussed on forums such as ECF or UK Vapers was incorporated into subsequent generations of Chinese products. And new generations kept arriving, sometimes after only a few months - or even weeks. Vapers made a major contribution to the design of the products they used.
Modders and YouTubers
At the same time, some vapers in the West began making their own devices. These semi-professional "modders" created designs that were sometimes used by mass manufacturers in China but were often sold directly to vapers looking for new things. Usually known only by their aliases, early modders such as Trog, Cisco, Zen and Raidy invented products that are still in use, or introduced ideas that spread quickly and took hold. Some of them are still doing it.
Another important online gathering place for the growing army of vapers around the world was YouTube. Early vapers shared their opinions on products and, with the help of the era's substandard webcams, highlighted everything that was good, bad and ugly. Some of the first vaping YouTubers are still active. Scott Bonner (igetcha69), Nick "GrimmGreen" Green and Phil Busardo (PBusardo) still make videos and have hundreds of thousands of fans.
In addition to forums and YouTube, much of the conversation about vaping today takes place on social media. With the help of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, vapers around the world find new ways to connect, talk about gear, tips and techniques, and organize campaigns against authorities and lawmakers.
The domestic market flourishes: e-juice and vape shops
After the FDA lost against NJoy in court, many vapers began starting their own businesses. They had been helped by this incredible miracle – so why not share it with other smokers? Two things drove the rapid growth of vaping after 2010. First, many online stores began selling American-made e-liquid. They offered a wide range of different flavors and quality levels. Some were simple single-flavor blends, while others were sophisticated and artistically crafted. Vapers who bought online had to take a chance that they would like the flavor, since they could not try it first.
The e-juice boom naturally led to an explosion of vape shops. Before the increase in the availability of e-liquids and vaping devices that occurred after 2010, vapers purchased almost exclusively online. But when the group became too large for the virtual world, vapers began withdrawing their retirement savings, quitting their jobs and opening shops that became real meeting places for vapers.
The legal battle to keep vaping products available to American adults continues.
Some vape shops created their own lines of e-liquids. Others sold hundreds of new brands that appeared across the country. With the ability to try flavors in a shop before committing to a purchase, vaping grew stronger. But growth also brought visibility and legal challenges. Cities and states wanted to tax vaping products, ban "kid flavors" and regulate where vapers could vape.
Vaping can change your life -- if you give it a chance
Sometimes when I am pessimistic about vaping's future, I take a look at CASAA's testimonials page. There, thousands of vapers tell their own stories about how they quit smoking. They are ordinary people like you and me. They smoked and struggled to find a way to quit smoking.
Then they found a way.
"I have smoked since I was 13 years old. I am now 42. I tried to quit smoking many times with the help of Zyban, Champix, etc. I always returned to smoking. I have been vaping for the past 3 months and will never go back to smoking regular cigarettes again. I no longer cough, I sleep better and my persistent heartburn has disappeared. My children are happy because I don't smell like an ashtray. But I must say that I never smoked in my children's presence or in the home. Vaping has had a major impact on my health and quality of life."
"I smoked since I was 14. Most people in my family were smokers and my husband was also a smoker. We have both quit smoking thanks to vaping. It was a gift from God. We tried so many other things and nothing worked. Patches, pills, Chantix, cold turkey, NOTHING. Thanks to vaping, we haven't smoked in almost 3 years!"
CASAA is a consumer organization fighting for our right to vape. They depend on donations to do their work, but anyone can join for free. Once you have become a member, tell your story too. The voices of over 200,000 CASAA members are a powerful reminder to opponents that vaping saves lives.
What is vaping...for you?
Vaping means different things to different people. There are people who will never see anything resembling smoking as something to celebrate. To them, nicotine is an addiction and inhaling vapor (or smoke) is a weakness that indicates a terrible moral failing. They may even prefer that we continue to smoke, because it aligns with the puritanical belief that all pleasure should have consequences. These people seem to be rather unhappy.
Most people who have never smoked or vaped do not necessarily hate it; they simply do not understand why we do it. Fair enough. For me, after smoking for many years and wishing throughout all those years that I could quit smoking, vaping was the only thing that helped me. It worked because it imitated smoking well enough for me to trick myself into using it as a substitute. But soon I actually came to prefer it! I do not want to smoke anymore.
The different types of devices, the thousands of flavors, the vapers who were so helpful to me, the desire to keep vaping alive and healthy so that other smokers can do what I did - these are the things that define vaping for me.
What about you? We would love to hear your comments. What is vaping?
OK, I want to try vaping. Where should I start?
What should I buy?
If you want to give vaping a try, you can start by buying a cigalike at a gas station or convenience store. Many vapers have started that way, and some continue to use disposable e-cigarettes. But it gets expensive to spend five dollars on something that probably provides fewer puffs than a cigarette does (regardless of what its packaging claims).
If you like the idea of a cigarette-sized device, there are refillable and rechargeable cigalike devices that become more cost-effective over time than buying disposables.
That is where vape pens or mods come in. They offer larger batteries, which last longer and can deliver more power. Regulated devices, such as those described in our guide to vape starter kits, offer adjustable power and have built-in safety features to prevent the kinds of battery accidents recently reported in the news. And with refillable tanks, it becomes easy to choose the flavors you like best.
Remember that nicotine is not the dangerous thing in cigarettes!
Another option is a pod device (also called a pod mod). Pods offer something of a cross between cigalikes and larger vape pens or mods. They are more powerful and provide a stronger throat hit than cigalikes, but offer fewer opportunities to customize the experience than regular mods and tanks.
Try different brands and flavors of e-liquid until you find a combination you like. A vaper's taste preferences can change as the taste buds heal after quitting smoking, but fortunately we have an almost endless variety to choose from as our preferences change. It is also best to start with a fairly high nicotine strength, such as 18 or even 24 mg/ml. You will not vape more than you need, but it is possible that you will get liquid with too little nicotine - which means you will have to vape constantly to get what you crave. Remember that nicotine is not the dangerous thing in cigarettes!
