Dropping the Packs for Drops: Why Vaping Is Trending More Than Ever

Smoking has been on a decline for the last decade. One of the interesting players in this shift is vaping. Vaping introduced a similar but wholly different alternative to smoking. Users receive their nicotine ‘fix’ but with pleasant tastes, smells and far fewer carcinogenic properties. Many users and studies find vaping a healthier option to traditional cigarettes.

Let’s look at the different factors closely to see why so many are dropping the pack for drops.

Nicotine Delivery

Electronic cigarettes vaporize e-juice, delivering flavor and nicotine through the vapor.

These liquids have variable nicotine levels:

• 0mg
• 4mg
• 6mg
• 12mg
• 18mg

Your typical cigarette contains 12 mg of nicotine. E-cig users have the option to lower their nicotine intake. This lets many pace their intake helping them quit if they’re determined — much like nicotine patches and gums.

Likewise, some e-liquids give users both flavor and nicotine levels, letting them adjust the liquid profile how they want/need it. This option creates an attractive alternative to the all-or-nothing decision of smoking a traditional cigarette.

Flavors

The ban on flavored cigarettes saw many brands pulled from shelves. This decision aimed to curb youth smoking — and it worked. But, it left many current smokers with only two options: traditional tobacco or menthol flavors. Vaping picked up greatly after this ban because it provides variety.

Today, there are hundreds of e-liquid flavors available through both online delivery and in stores. E-cig users can try sample boxes to find new flavor profiles and even concoct their own with DIY e-liquid kits.

The flavors, combined with the variable nicotine options, helped many swap traditional cigarettes for vaping.

Customization

Vaping created a sub-culture of modders and tinkerers. This isn’t any different than what one would find with custom car modding or hardware hacking of computers and devices.

Modders have several hackable components creating a seemingly endless array of options. They can tweak tank and battery sizes, coil voltage, component colors/skins and lights.

Modding created a sub-culture within vaping and also led to vaping competitions. At these competitions, e-cig users show off their mods and try to create the biggest “clouds”. In fact, this modding has spurred conferences and tradeshows!

Everyone loves being a part of a group and community. Vaping gave many individuals this option.

Costs

Consider the price increases for traditional cigarettes and you can see the allure of vaping immediately.

Here is a comparison of the two using Florida prices:

• Average cost per cigarette pack: $5.50
• Typical cost per 15ml e-liquid bottle: $5-$8

At first glance, they are comparable but 15ml e-liquid bottles may fill vape tanks 3-5x. A pack-a-day smoker would spend nearly triple on traditional cigarettes during the time a vaper goes through their e-liquid bottle.

Then, one could factor in the time cost saved from taking a few draws from an e-cig versus a 5-10 minute smoke break away from work. This allows a person to keep at their work, ultimately being more productive and making more money.

Smell/Taste

Smell and taste returns after about a week of quitting traditional cigarettes. This reintroduces smokers to many flavors and smells they have missed since they started — enough for many to stick to vaping which doesn’t create these nasty negatives.

All-in-all, smoking is in decline in part to policies, litigation and better alternatives to ditch the habit. We still don’t fully understand the long-term impact of vaping. But, if it helps people quit or at least avoid the tobacco carcinogens… that’s good, right?