As a kid, Michael Wilson was fascinated with the world of fantasy and the rings of smoke released by dragons in movies. After seeing people do similar tricks online with vape pens, he was intrigued.
Wilson, 28, has been vaping for a year as a hobby and a way to de-stress. Though not a cigarette smoker, he has dabbled in smoking with a hookah, a stemmed instrument made for vaporizing and smoking flavored tobacco, with friends on occasion.
Vaping is a form of nicotine intake through an electronic kit known as a vaporizer. These kits are filled with coils and batteries that heat up flavored juices that are then pushed as water vapor.
“Everyone on my mom’s side of the family smoked, so it’s a miracle that I haven’t gotten into it, but I’ve been around it my whole life, so I kind of know what it can do to you,” Wilson said. “It’s taken the lives of two of my relatives, so I told myself I’m going to stay away from this as much as I can.”
Wilson decided to go to a vape shop in Tuscaloosa to discuss the pros and cons with an employee. After learning about the differences in vaping and what goes into the vaporizer itself, he bought a starter kit.
Wilson said that a basic vaporizer costs around $60 to $70, but additional parts could increase the cost to upwards of $100. Those interested in modifying their kit can upgrade coils and batteries to increase voltage and intake, but FDA regulations have arisen to counteract the potential risks.
Before the new regulations, Wilson could walk into a local store to get repairs and buy parts. Now he buys juices and parts for his vaporizer online.
Reports from CNN and The New York Times have shown accidents that have arisen from improper building, in one case an exploding vaporizer that burned a man’s tongue.
“If you build too high or too low, that’s where it gets really dangerous, and that’s where you hear about the batteries exploding,” Wilson said. “Someone most likely had a defective model, or they built it wrong or their battery was too low. There’s a ton of different variables.”
The juices inside contain various flavors and levels of nicotine. Wilson tends to go towards flavors that generally have a juice or custard-like taste.
“With mine, you can’t really do much with it,” said Carter Chiselko, a senior majoring in international business management. “There’s new mods out there that give you more power, which gives you more vapor with less time trying to just inhale it all.”
Chiselko began vaping after smoking hookah regularly at Big Daddy’s Mediterranean Grill downtown. After a high school friend took him to a Birmingham shop to buy his first vaporizer, he became interested in vaping and learning about modifying his kit.
Chiselko said regulations are hurting the industry by making it more difficult for shops to bring in new supplies, but the regulations could stop hardware malfunctions that could cause fires. For him, modifying his vaporizer is a hobby.
“If you’re a hardcore smoker, it’s easier for you to start off with a box mod or something like that,” Chiselko said. “If you’re just getting started and just want to see what it is, you can get a little stick that looks like a laser pointer, and it comes with a small tank and a little bit of juice, or depending on what mod you get, but it doesn’t hit as hard as other mods. You’ll get a little vapor, but it isn’t overbearing, and it’s cheaper and easier for someone who wants to get into it without spending a ton of money.”
For Chiselko, vaping brings a sense of community with friends and relaxation as he tries new tricks and inhales the flavored vapor. Despite enjoying the feel and taste of vaping, he said he still had doubts about its safety.
“You can say it’s water vapor, but there are people that are still allergic to it,” Chiselko said. “I’ve told people multiple times and they’re usually like ‘Oh, ok, go for it,’ but I still have that consideration. I’m not going to go inside a Walmart and just start vaping.”
Currently, the smoking ban on campus and within most of the city of Tuscaloosa includes the use of vaporizers, both indoors and outdoors due to risks of secondhand smoke exposure. Katie Garrison, a senior majoring in biology, said the rule against vaping was a step too far, due to a safer output from the kits.
“There’s almost literally no byproduct to it, but it’s a lot of that ‘someone told me this was bad’ mindset to it,” Garrison said.
Garrison started vaping as a way to safely switch to a nicotine replacement. Though she was never a habitual smoker, she would smoke when out with friends or when she felt stressed. The vape kit, for her, has been a successful substitute.
“When I was a little kid, I had some breathing problems, and the glycerin in a vape is actually the same glycerin as in an inhaler for people that have asthma,” Garrison said. “If I ever feel my throat getting constricted or anxiety over a test or something, it actually helps to relieve that whereas, obviously, cigarettes only make something like that worse.”
Despite the stigmas and concerns many have against smoking and vaping, Wilson, Chiselko and Garrison said their friends have garnered a positive community. The three have occasionally discussed different juices and new mods with their friends.
“Just like anything, it’s possible to make things dangerous, but it’s also possible for it to not be dangerous,” Garrison said. “You just have to do it correctly.”
Resource: http://www.cw.ua.edu/article/2016/09/tuscaloosa-vape-culture
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