Rude And Obnoxious Cloud Chasers In Public Places

Options are good. There are so many options out there today for somebody looking for different sorts of vaping hardware. Some people might be happy with a little 808 kit and other people might be happy with a $500 custom mod. As long as whatever each individual is using is working for them, then great! I wouldn't judge any fellow vaper based on their hardware, but I have to admit that I remain suspicious of cloud chasers. I also admit that I don't know that much about it, and maybe that's why I'm making this post.

Besides making big clouds, what benefit does cloud chasing give somebody?

I read that in some cloud chasing competitions, the contestents use 100% VG unflavored. So it's certainly not the taste that these people are after.

So, is it all just about blowing big clouds and showing off? Basically being a poser?  

Tonight I took my Mom grocery shopping, and as we were walking down the cereal aisle of Meijer (large chain supermarket in michigan, a little more upscale that walmart) this guy, probably late 20's early 30's comes around the corner with his girlfriend/wife, holding a box mod of some sort in one hand and a bottle of juice in the other, then proceeds to take a huge hit and blow a huge cloud, fogging out part of the aisle for a few seconds. There were a couple other shoppers in the area and I didn't see their reaction, but I was a little disgusted- not at the vapor, which smelled like vanilla or something as we walked through it, but that he didn't even try to hide it. I mentioned to my Mom a few minutes later that "those" kind of people are going to ruin it for everybody. Not an appropriate place for blowing clouds- not that there are any rules against it, but still, have some courtesy for others. Not everyone likes walking through clouds while shopping. I didn't object, however I had left mine at home after taking a few hits, and was fine until we got back- about an hour and a half. If I had gone by myself, I would have vaped in the car, but left it above the sun visor in the locked car while I shopped. No need to take it inside, even though mine isn't capable of producing thick clouds. The whole time we were in the store he carried it around in plain sight, even when he wasn't hitting it. Just an observation. No, there is no secondhand smoke, no horrid smell, and no messy ash, but it looks like smoke. That's all it takes for some people to complain.  

So I'm on my drive home the other day, minding my own business vaping out of my smok m80 mod with a freemax starre 0.25 ohm on it. About 20 mins into my drive I start to feel a hole burning into the side of my head as if I'm getting the death glare from my wife so I turn to look and theres this lady in another car just staring at me. I give a little wave and continue driving assuming shes just confused by the amount of smoke I'm producing. Nope. She drives along side of me for a few blocks and flags me to open my window, so as to not be too rude, I opened my window. She stares at me and asks me what I'm doing .. obviously driving home from work. "No not that, why are you doing drugs on the road?" Hah .. drugs .. kids and their crazy-- wait what? So I try to explain to her that it's vaping. Its not smoking, I'm not doing drugs .. I'm vaping. "Well whatever it is, I'm sure you cant be doing this vaping drug. Just a courtesy warning to you, I've phoned the police and given them your license plate no. and the road we're on."


Really ...? Did you really just phone the police? Yep, she did. 2 blocks from my home and I get pulled over. Cop comes up to my window and looks at me and says "Son, have you been doing anything I should know about?" So I show him my mod, looks at it and laughs. "You know the Arctic tank is better right?" Man .. I just started laughing as he pulled out his Sigelei. I've never laughed that hard over vaping to this day.

Just thought I'd share my story. Not everyone with the law is against vaping.  

Hi there!

Ive noticed a bit of a backlash against chasing clouds from a few posters. I wonder why that is? While i do prefer a more powerful and flavorful vape alongside relatively robust clouds, im not particularly interested in the cloud chasing hobby. I like my nicotine and i like tasting my juices. Beyond the novelty of blowing huge plumes of vape, i dont see myself as a cloud chaser.

But i dont have anything against them.

For me, vaping is both hobby and necessity to avoid analogs. Im an addict. Im not ashamed of that. But i can appreciate the purely hobbyist approach to vaping. But why, o' leavened and unleavened masses of the forums, is there ANY backlash against cloud chasing?

I mean, is it so bad to spend the equivalent of a mortgage payment on vaping equipment?  

So I thought I'd share this....

Everyday on my lunch break (really a breakfast break since my shift starts at 5am and break around 10am) I enjoy a nice bowl of oatmeal and an apple. After eating I like to go out to my truck to have a vape while checking emails, FB, IG, forums, ect.
I had a particularly proper build running today and was giving the chevy a nice fogging. windows were up because it was a little chilly and after about 5-10 minutes I honestly couldnt see the steering wheel while sitting in the driver seat

I hopped out and went back to work for about an hour or so. While I was taking my morning inventory I felt a tap on my shoulder and heard a stern voice anounce my full name... a police officer to my suprise!
"Do you mind if I have a talk with you outside sir?" he asked.
"Not a problem officer," I replied a bit worried as I thought perhaps someone had hit my car in the parking lot or maybe someone I knew had gotten hurt or in trouble... Not the case however.
"Is that your truck sir?" he questioned, pointing to my truck with what looked to be a cumulonimbus still lingering on the the interior.
"Yes it is"
"You got anything in there?"
Puzzled I replied "Anything as in...?"
He raised his eyebrow and gave me a stern look. "Anything I should know about?"
I understood. "Oh you mean, like...?"
He stopped me. "well sir we had gotten a phone call earlier from a woman saying that someone might have been sitting in there smoking ....."
I loled as I handed him my work setup. (an IPV3 and the Hobo v2.1)
"Its a personal vaporizer sir." I stated still laughing quite uncontrollably.
"And what kind is this? What do you put in here?" still implying that it was drug related and possibly a '.... vaporizer'
"Its a box mod, Its for nicotine." I pulled my juice from my pocket and held it up for him to see.
He was so confused. Baffled really. Just then a second officer walked up looking even more stern.
"you know we have a k9 here. You're sure you dont have anything you;re not supposed to? you weren't smoking any .....?"
"Not at all sir. Like I have just explained and showed you, it's a vaporizer. I use it for nicotine. Haven't smoked a cigarette in a year..."
"Oh like a vape pen!?" exclaimed the second officer.
"Yes like a vape pen..."
They apologized for the mistake and walked away.
And Im just standing there, in 2015, wondering why they know what a ..... vaporizer is but not an actual PV?

Has anyone had any similar experiences with law enforcement and vaping?  

I have no quarrel with those that cloud chase or those that do not. I do think cloud chasing should be avoided in a crowed area as I dislike someone blowing a huge cloud in my face same way I disliked someone blowing smoke in my face. Moving on, after no significant cloud chasing and no new gear for almost a year I decided it was time for a toy. Grabbed a IPv4 and a little boy rda. Once I adjusted my coil build technique to accommodate so much extra power gotta say I'm really enjoying it. So the point of my rambling, besides the fact I can, is I have always hated 0nic liquid. Seemed so depressing and missing my TH which is important. But with the right build a 0nic liquid has just enough TH to make me think it's possible to go to 0. Not saying I want to go to zero but it was never an options before due to it being unsatisfying. So to anyone who does want to give up nicotine you may want to consider a setup that chucks out more vapor.  

I've been away from ECF for awhile but due to the influx of new devices, I recently returned (and got a bunch of new vape gear, but that's another story ).

Was just browsing the New Members forum and I am very disturbed by the amount of posts being made by people who have never smoked asking for advice on how to "blow clouds", "get into vaping" or even "get a better buzz" from vaping.

Of course, the vast majority of replies in these threads are from knowledgeable and helpful ECF'ers telling these poor, ignorant folks that it's probably a bad idea to start vaping 36mg juice in a sub-ohm device if you've never smoked...and that is great!

I just can't help to think that all these young (I'm assuming) non-smokers taking up vaping and "blowing clouds" can't be good for our cause and I find it quite disturbing.


FULL DISCLOSU I currently vape on an SX Mini / Goliath @ .4 ohms and can blow some pretty good clouds, but that's not what it's all about for me...it's about staying off the ciggies.  

I remember when I started vaping 3 years ago, the transition was hard and I had many relapses. I started with stick style batteries which were far and different than smoking a cigarette. It was like sucking through a straw for 7+ seconds, with little vapor and throat hit/satisfaction at the end. It worked for a while then I relapsed back to cigarettes. I tried Ego-Batteries with 1.0-1.5ohm cartos/tanks, it came close but so many dry hits, and it still wasnt much like a cigarette so I relapsed again, then towards the end of last year, I picked up a vaporshark and started vaping <1.0ohm coils in tanks/RDA's and it got me hooked, it was very much like smoking a cigarette. 2-4second drags, throat hit, and nicotine delivery.

which comes to my second question, I know there is this whole thing of 'cloud chasers' and 'tootle puffers', but what kept you on vaping and didnt make you relapse? For the cloud chasers, was it the visual aspect? The hobby of vaping, the want to get more and bigger visuals out of clouds, or more throat hit and similarity to smoking with clouds just as a side effect? And for the tootle puffers, did you just get used to taking longer drags compared to smoking, have you tried subohming at high wattage and just found longer less direct throathit was more satisfying to you when compared to smoking?

it makes me wonder how people come to their desired vaping setups, if they came by them by trying to find something similar to smoking, or just fell into something completely new that they enjoy even more.

when I think of how I ended up at subohming on mechs, from starting on egos/30-40w devices. I believe it has to do with me chasing that way i used to smoke, 2-4second drags on newports. For those of you that subohm or low watt vape, what type of cigarettes did you use to smoke before you switched? this could be helpful information for people reccomending setups to those who want to make the switch to vaping.  

I was out of town visiting a friend who, like me, owns the provari P3. We were talking about the update they recently came out with for the P3 and was discussing perhaps sending them back to Provape for it.

He had a local shop nearby that was listed as a provari dealer. We gave them a call asking if they could download the update for us. They told us the guy who could do it would be in later the very same day.

We decided to go over and check them out, all the while keeping our expectations low.

We're two older guys, a little rough around the edges, weather beaten if you will. We walked into a store that was packed with vapers of various ages, and I do mean packed to the hilt.

I figured this will be a long wait if we get helped at all. They had a small group of people playing a video game on a large screen TV, vape was heavy in the air.... but I felt at home.

Within seconds of walking in the door we had an associate come to us. We told him what we were there for and he directed us to a guy in the back, who was talking with other customers. As soon as we approached he stopped talking and asked us if we needed help. We asked about the update, and he apologized saying he left the software at home, however, if we didn't mind waiting he could download it to his laptop within 10 minutes.

No prob.

Less than 20 minutes later we had our mods back in our hands with latest bells and whistles. We asked the guy how much, and he shook our hand and said, "have a nice day!".

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. So my friend and I bought $75 worth or juice instead.

My only issue with the place is I wish they were closer.

Skeebo  

Let me start off, I've seen numerous threads about vaping in public, mainly where smoking isn't allowed. This isn't really the topic about this thread, but a topic about the input of store management and their opinions on it!

So let's start off. To begin, I'll go ahead and let the cat out of the bag: the store managers input will be mine, the store I manage (a big box retailer, which I WON'T release the name of), and 2 others from my two good friends who also are on management teams.

So let's begin, shall we?

I'm very lenient on vaping in my store, obviously! I do it myself. I can understand why you would do it. I'll reveal one part of my job, and that's a pharmacy (doesn't really narrow anything down, most stores do!). We have a ton of older folks coming through and getting medicines and prescriptions, and other various groceries and items. Believe it or not, older folks are the majority of the vapers I see coming through!

But they are also ones more likely to complain, since a lot of them aren't aware of what it is.

So lets say you are walking around, shopping and checking items out. You're more than likely gonna be confronted by me for 2 reasons.

1. You are blowing decent sized clouds, not trying to be stealthy. A customer has seen this, and has complained.

Or

2. I happen to notice you doing it.

Now, both of these scenarios are gonna play out the same. I'll walk up to you, make sure your shopping experience is top notch, and then I'll ask you about your vape. I love seeing vapers in the wild! I'll ask about juice, your mod, ect. I may even mention this site but after we exchange friendlies, I'll let you know that you need to be stealthy to avoid bad attention. I'll pull out my gear, and show you I'm not your enemy, but in case you get enough complaints, I'll unfortunately have to ask you to stop completely. I've had some bad experiences with this, I'll tell later on.

So that person will be completely (hopefully) comfortable using their vape more discreetly. This is 99% of my encounters. However, there are some bad ones.

But as you can see, I'm not out to get anyone. And I've talked to a lot of other managers at my meetings from other stores, and they are the same way. They'd much more like if you asked a member of management before you start, but more than likely it won't be a problem. There are a few uptight managers, so watch out for those.

Now I mentioned my friends who are also managers. They work the same way as me! We are all different ages (22-38) and as long as you are nice, and respectable, they won't have a problem either.

So let's talk about my bad experience. This guy was definitely a rotten apple. He was chucking huge clouds straight up, and you can definitely see them over the isles. I had (I counted) 4 different complaints from different people. So I went over to him and gave him the usual talk, but he was negative about it completely. He told me he wasn't smoking, he was vaping, before I could even reveal I was one of him! He shrugged me off and walked away. I told him if I get enough complaints I'll have to ask him to leave. What did he do?

He walked back to be about 2 feet away, took a toot on his rda, (it looked like a doge, can't be sure!) and blew it straight into my face. It tasted like gummy bears.

This particularly irritated me, so I told him one last time to be more discreet, but before I could finish he cussed me out, and threw up some gestures that left a taste in my mouth worse than his gummy bears.

I told him if he doesn't leave, I'll call the police to escort him out. He basically shrugged it off, and continued shopping. So I called the police. Within a few minutes they were there, taking him out to write up an official banning from the property. I went out there to sign papers and he told the officer I kept telling him he was "smoking" and he had to stop.

Wwwwweeellll I pulled out my gear and basically started vaping quietly as I signed papers. I asked him if that's sure what I said, and help up my mod.

I'm hoping to share my experiences and my opinions with you guys and gals from a vaper, and retail manager. As well from some of my friends opinions, and they don't even vape! Most store workers (through these store chains) don't even mind as long as you aren't getting a ton of attention from other customers.