The Invisible Vaping Community

Hi ECF,

I've been a member here on ECF for nearly 4 years now, and one thing that keeps me coming back is the positive atmosphere and sense of community. There are many helpful, knowledgeable, and kind people here that go above and beyond when it comes to helping out fellow vapers, and for this I am extremely grateful. Unfortunately, for some time now I've noticed an increasing trend of being judgmental and condescending towards other people's vaping style and preferences.

Whether vaping with an eGo battery at 7 watts or a .2 ohm build on a 150 watt box, we are all still vapers. We all made an extremely positive change from smoking cigarettes (well, most of us) to the fun and enjoyable world of vaping, but it seems some people are forgetting our common interest and accomplishment and instead focus on the differences, and use those differences to deride others.

Not everybody needs a high-powered device, plenty of people are perfectly happy with a more moderate vape and they aren't any less of a "real vaper" than those with high power or high-end setups. Alternatively, not everyone is satisfied vaping at lower power levels or with cheaper gear, and it does not make someone an immature showoff because they seek out higher performance and/or higher end equipment.

I have seen more examples than I can even begin to remember of thinly veiled insults aimed at people looking for bigger clouds or more power, just as I have seen plenty of useless suggestions when people pressure someone into a piece of equipment that they have made perfectly clear they have no interest in.

So I make a humble request of my fellow vapers here on ECF:

Please show respect towards the vaping style/preference of others.
​

Thanks for your time  

Vaping is a hot-button issue that has been appearing in the news with alarming frequency, especially over the past couple of months. The problem is that it is all coming from the perspective of big tobacco, rabid anti-smoking advocacy groups and the like. Nowhere am I seeing or hearing the voices of the people who are actually at the heart of this controversy - vapers themselves.

Let's face it. The vast majority of us are ex-smokers who are very used to being silenced, vilified and marginalized. When the topic was about cigarettes, it was very difficult to come up with a response because cigarettes ARE just as bad as everyone says they are. That's really not the case with vaping, but it is still hard to find that missing voice.

I want to tell the story of vaping from the perspective of vapers themselves. I want to talk to the people who were the very first to develop this idea: creating vape mods from batteries, wire and altoid tins, to the front porchers: people who are sitting in their rocking chairs enjoying bubblegum candied cherry vape, to the brand spanking newbie who has just arrived and is trying to make sense of this acronym filled universe, the DIYrs who make it all themselves and finally, to the industry leaders who design and develop everything from the devices we use to the flavors we love, how they got started, what being in the business means to them and what losing their business would mean for them.

I thought about doing this a few years ago, but I think that there is no better time to do this than right now. A book like this could help to turn the tide of public opinion. I want to give vapers back the voice that they lost as smokers. We have terrified industry giants into full on seek and destroy mode and we need to fight back. This book will be marketed to the general public and I want it to be eye-opening, thought provoking and revealing.

Are you interested? If you are hit me up. If I generate enough interest, I will set up a kick starter campaign so I can fund this project. I am looking for people to interview for this project and any vaper qualifies! Designers, developers and business owners, most welome!

Let me know what you think.  

Hi Vapers,

As some of you know I have started a consumer campaign group called We Vape to spread the word about the importance of vaping in the UK. I am a Vaper and Snus user myself and the aim is to make sure vapers get heard during the upcoming consultation on vaping. It would be great to have your support and i've designed a T Shirt and had them printed. So I am going to give away some to 10 lucky people that sign up to We Vape on the get involved page on the website, which I am not allowed to link to but if you search google for you will find it.

Signing up is really important so I can keep people informed about what is happening and how they can help out by responding to consultations and contacting their MP. It will also give me more impact with the media with more members so I can get our voice heard.

Here is the T shirt:

 

I would like to clear up the terminology used among those who vape. A vapor is the cloud of vaporized e-liquid heated by the coil. A Vaper is the person who vapes. The issue with this is that if we as a community should speak or write intelligently on this subject, we should all agree to our patterns of speech. I understand that to many people this will appear like a waste of time but we are at a time in which t's must be crossed and i's dotted. If we can't convince others that vaping is a healthier choice, we will be spending $50 for 15ml of juice and hundreds of dollars for gear. Some of us already spend exorbitant amounts of money already but I for one want the choice, not because some bureaucrat decided it for me. I've said my piece so have at me but I just got tired of people writing "I'm a vapor who likes tasty vapers".  

just feeling harrased for vaping in public. I have no choice but to vape in public since im basicly staying at a hospital right now in cali with .y husband. He has some health issues and we were flown down here. Anyways Im a very polite vaper or I try to be. I go where no one else is and o done blow it at people. Im not trying to force anything on anyone but people give me dirty looks and say "theres no smoking" say that in ur most annoying voice btw lol. Its funny sometimes people cough cus they dont see its vapor. So its kinda funny people are subconsciously choking on smoke thats not there. Best smelling smoke ive ever smelled! Anyway let me know if any of you have experienced this. Thanks for letting me vent a little.  

So, I think there has been a lot of back and forth as to whether vaping is really safer than cigarettes. We as Vapers know that it is safer because we have done the research. But I think in the eyes of smokers and non-smokers, they really don't know if it is safer. Sometimes it even has me questioning whether vaping is healthier. But then my sanity takes over.

This post was sparked by watching a video from Grimm Green just now. The first person I've ever seen to finally say that vaping is 95% safer than smoking. And quit with all the Bull Shi it, listening to anyone who tells you otherwise.

It's a shame that only vapers know it's safer. Everyone else can't be bothered to do the research. They just listen to all the mainstream BS! "Yea, vaping is just as bad, people are dying cause of vaping." "Yea, they're banning vape mail because it's the same thing as tobacco."  

I was thinking the whole situation in many countries that vaping is straight up banned or illegal....and also countries like USA that is not that extreme but still many regulations going on and anyways we all know the big tobacco companies and what they try to do.

I am sure tho that vaping won't be stoped...u can't stop vaping and all the big tobacco do is to try buy some more time for them cause they know that cigarettes are in their end..

I don't know how long this will last but I am sure vaping will make cigarette smoking obselete and it will go very big...

Europe claims they have a plan to end tobacco use until 2032 or something like that for example....maybe that happens and it would be good cause it's for everyone's good.... but u can't just fight vaping and let smoking still exist...

Vaping will be back and for good....the people slowly start accept it and learn it cause honestly imagine how many smokers are out there and how many vapers...while vaping is much more enjoyable objectively...

We the people didn't support vaping enough...
ok maybe we the vapers did but I mean the majority out there don't......people are scared and they don't like to change their habits easy....even if it's for their own good.

I know politics are corrupted and all that....but some of us live in democracies maybe not perfect but still....if all people wanted to stop smoking and switch into vaping to make their life better then they couldn't stop us...
Worst case they would do it to get votes like they usually do with everything they do... not that they care for us...

So yeah vaping will go very big the next year's..
 

I was surprised by this chart that I recently came across.

It shows that the USA is the biggest market by far for vape products.

There are still over a billion, old fashioned tobacco smokers in the world. Vaping has been around for many years already, yet there are only slightly over 40 million vapers in the world, of which I am proud to call myself a part of that wise group.

With all of the anti-vape propaganda and nonsense taking place, it seems that there is a movement out there to keep those billion+ cig smokers hooked on their cigs and also to deny the 40+ million vapers out there the freedom and the choice to remain cig free.

I guess it's better that millions of people die from cancer, because vaping is just pure evil and the work of satan, or something like that. Oh, and think about the kids. Nevermind the kids who would previously just start smoking plain old regular cigarettes before vaping ever existed. That was never a big deal.

Here is the chart I found showing the top vape markets in the world.

And notice how there are no third world countries on the list? Isn't vaping banned in India? That's insane. That country has a huge population. How stupid of them. Their actions are contributing to the deaths and diseases of an awful lot of people.


And here is a link to the article which the chart came from:

How many people vape?  

I live on the East Coast USA.

Walking down the street, it's hard to notice that vaping is taking off in any meaningful way, because most people that I see still smoke analogs, that includes both young people and older people too. I'm not going to judge them, because it wasn't that long ago that I was still puffing on an analog, and I had failed to see the awesomeness of vaping.

Besides myself, I don't really see too many people vaping outside on sidewalks. I vape outside in the same way that I'd smoke analogs before, so that means practically all of the time, and especially when I'm walking outside. I'm using a thin e-cig, so I don't usually get too many strange looks. I can imagine what kind of looks somebody walking down the sidewalk must get if they're using one of those big, fancy and shiny looking mods to vape with.

Just 6 months ago, there were no vape shops at all in the immediate local area where I live, and now there are 4 that have opened up, all within a very short walking distance of me (10 minutes or less). I'm pretty sure that a lot of non vapers who live here are walking past those stores every day and wondering, what the hell kind of store is that and why are so many of them opening up in this neighborhood?

One of those four stores will probably fail though, because their sign says tobacco/vape store, while the other 3 are dedicated to vaping only. A store can't be both in my opinion. That's a bit of a contradiction and a stupid combination to put it bluntly.

I've been to a couple of the vape stores so far, and in the short time that I was in those stores there were always new customers there who were smokers who were looking to start vaping.

So while I might not notice how popular vaping is by walking on the sidewalks, I think that it's safe to say that vaping is taking off big time with so many small vape shops opening up, and the amount of people vaping will only increase, because there's still a lot of smelly smokers out there who haven't yet given up on their cancer sticks.

And if this is happening where I live, then I bet that similar things are happening all across the country. Every small town should have at least one dedicated vape shop! I like the quick and easy access to all sorts of liquids and brands.

Just today, I was reading online about some premium liquids, and instead of ordering it online (I didn't want to wait), I had acquired a bottle of that exact liquid five minutes later, after sampling it quickly, and I was already at home and vaping it 10 minutes later.  

I want to say thank you to some of the ECF members that work to help keep the rest of us vapers here up to date on what is happening in the vaping world.

Thank you for what you do, it means alot. Whether you post studies, articles in the news, or videos, the information you provide has helped to educate and keep me up to date on the state of vaping. I think I'm not the only one that feels this way.

So here's to you, vape on, and thanks for what you do people.

@Puff2K @Baditude @iVapeDIY @zoiDman @bombastinator @Vapntime @classwife

If anyone has more people they would like to link to that would be great, I know I'm forgetting a bunch