Why do we still call our vapes e-cigarettes:

[David Wolf]

I apologize in advance because I know I have seen the explanation here, but I cannot find it now that I am having a discussion about it. My husband wants to know why I am not upset by this. I told him that I see the term e-cigarette as a bridge to help those still smoking feel that they are going at the quit thing slowly. I also told him that many people use the terms vape, PV, or one of my favs to chuckle about P.E.N.I.S (I know, but it is fun to act 7 now and again). So my question is in hopes to find a better explanation as to why we do not change the use of the term e-cigarette. Just as a side note, he is a dual user but is not a member here. Apparently this is the first time he noticed the name of the forum I spend so much time on. Help me out good folks.

I think I'll start calling it a DV, digital vaporizer. I already tell my smoking friends that they're smoking analogs

 

[Thrasher]

I'm just not seeing anything BUT cigalikes called "ecigs" yea I'm being cute but where is it you are going that people refer to advanced vaporizers as ecigs? This is either a very uninformed group or really out of touch with the current devices.


Ecigs are just that, and our APV's are an advanced personal vaporizor.



The pic I posted is one of the first ecigs commercially available in 2009 and what I started with
@oberon if you could link information about the term being used for a consumer product before then I would enjoy reading it.

 

[stevegmu]

I have been asked numerous times about my ProVari, by tourists who thought it was the other stuff and wanted to know where to get one. I always just say it is e-nic or an electronic cigarette...

 

[VCross]

When people say e-cig, I think of one of those cigalikes like Blu or whatever other brands exist now. If it's an APV I just call it a mod.

 

[BostonJim]

Why do we still call them cellular phones when we switched from cellular technology to digital technology in the 1990's?

We do we call them Band-aids when that is a company name and not the name of the individual self adhesive bandage.

Its simple, once there is a recognizable name for something then thats it, thats its name. Even if the product evolves, the name doesn't.

 

[HauntedMyst]

Why do we still call our vapes e-cigarettes:

I don't call it an e-cig. I call it my Glorious Thunder Stick of Steaming Goodness.

 

[stevegmu]

Why do we still call them cellular phones when we switched from cellular technology to digital technology in the 1990's?

We do we call them Band-aids when that is a company name and not the name of the individual self adhesive bandage.

Its simple, once there is a recognizable name for something then thats it, thats its name. Even if the product evolves, the name doesn't.

I tried calling my mobile my digital when cellular technology went digital, but it didn't stick...

 

[BostonJim]

And the reason that we (vapors) call it something else is because we're in the loop. Outsiders and insiders (us) both know the term e-cigarette.

 

[stevegmu]

And the reason that we (vapors) call it something else is because we're in the loop. Outsiders and insiders (us) both know the term e-cigarette.

I think for some there is a great animosity to cigarettes and smoking. Look at how many can't even bring themselves to use the word cigarette. Analog, really?...

 

[BostonJim]

I tried calling my mobile my digital when cellular technology went digital, but it didn't stick...

Thats what I mean. The product changed but the name stuck

 

[jordan85]

I don't think there's any specific reason. IIRC there was an Asian gentlemen and his father died of cancer from smoking. He decided he was going to invent a safe smoking alternative that would satisfy all the basic cravings a cigarette does (hand to mouth, visible smoke, nicotine, throat hit, etc.) without any of the carcinogenic effects. What he came up with as a solution was an electronic cigarette.

So it makes sense it is called an electronic cigarette. He was trying to create a new alternative cigarette. And that is the nomenclature that began to be used and spread. And at this point, like many have pointed out, it is such a common term to outsiders that it is much more easy to just say electronic cigarette and have them kind of understand rather than try to explain it to them.

Disclaimer: I could be making parts of, or this entire thing up haha

 

[Jode]

I'm just not seeing anything BUT cigalikes called "ecigs" yea I'm being cute but where is it you are going that people refer to advanced vaporizers as ecigs? This is either a very uninformed group or really out of touch with the current devices.


Ecigs are just that, and our APV's are an advanced personal vaporizor.



The pic I posted is one of the first ecigs commercially available in 2009 and what I started with
@oberon if you could link information about the term being used for a consumer product before then I would enjoy reading it.

I got my answer and I really appreciate all of the comments but wanted to say again why I was asking. My husband was looking over my shoulder as I was reading here on ECF. He said out loud "Electronic Cigarette Forum, Hmmmm", then inquired why we still use the term. I, of course explained that most do not say e-cig when referring to our vapes. We call them all sorts of things depending on what we feel comfortable with. I was asking why the term still was used at all. It is widely used in the media and I knew there was a reason for that. I just could not remember nor find the best explanation. I am not out of touch, nor uniformed about todays technology. I use all sorts of PV's. I still use the term e-cig to help a smoker make that relationship though because they have heard that term the most in the media. Maybe someday we will get to a point where PV, mods, vape are all widely used and the term e-cig will only be used to describe the cig-a-likes but that is not where the general population is yet.

 

[Jode]

Took me a little while to locate this, but here it is. Why It's Called An 'E-Cigarette' And 'E-Smoking'

Why It's Called An 'E-Cigarette' And 'E-Smoking'

Thanks to you both. Great article!! I thought, however that I had seen a thread here covering the reasons but I tried and tried to find it and could not. Guess I am not terribly search savvy.

Why do we still call them cellular phones when we switched from cellular technology to digital technology in the 1990's?

We do we call them Band-aids when that is a company name and not the name of the individual self adhesive bandage.

Its simple, once there is a recognizable name for something then thats it, thats its name. Even if the product evolves, the name doesn't.

Love this explanation. Simple and to the point. Thanks!!

 

[Jode]

I don't call it an e-cig. I call it my Glorious Thunder Stick of Steaming Goodness.

Fun name!! I love to hear the different funny things people call their vapes.

 

[Jode]

I think for some there is a great animosity to cigarettes and smoking. Look at how many can't even bring themselves to use the word cigarette. Analog, really?...

OMG Steve, I not only agree with you this time, but I really like what you said in completion. I don't have a problem at all with the name e-cig although it does not describe my equipment very well, it is the term that I searched on a year or so ago to learn about it. I was a smoker that smoked cigs and hated the shame that came with it, so I would never want to make somebody else feel that. I also told him the term analog and he gave me this funny look. Could not believe people actually used it until I showed him.

 

[jdrewry]

If I'm talking to fellow vapers, I call our devices "mods". If I'm talking to anyone who doesn't vape, I call my device an APV; at that point, I can then start to break down what it is I'm actually using. I also take that moment to start educating them as to the real differences between analogs and vaping, and not to believe 90% of the article they read about vaping on the Internet...

 

[fishj]

I vape on my vape.

 

[bigrf85]

i think the reason we still have people referring to our vape gear as ecigs is a product of habit similar to the way we still call our gas pedal a gas pedal in our car even though now a days with the negation of a carburetor the "gas" pedal is really an air pedal. just what the original term was and it just stuck.

 

[bluecat]

Never mattered to me what we call them. I call them just about anything. I don't think it matters if we call them ecigs, vapes or whatever.

 

[Robino1]

Jode, you probably remember one of the many threads we've had on ECF about this.

Smokers looking to quit, and searching the Internet for information, are going to do a search for ecigarette. I certainly would hate for those searching to only come up with the Blu type. It's better for this forum to be named what it is currently. It brings it to the front of those searches. Then people get in here and start learning what the differences are.

It took a while for people to say vaping instead of smoking. This section wasn't always the General Vaping Discussion. That has only been in place for a couple of years. This used to be named the General E-Smoking Discussion.

Things s l o w l y evolve over time. I'm amazed that the term vaping is now mainstream. At least I have people talking about how I'm vaping my e-cigarette.

We'll get there. One baby step at a time