Do You Miss Having a Designated Area??

[girlsaint]

I know that part of the reason some people vape is because you are supposed to be free to do it just about anywhere, but I miss having a cordoned off area where it is absolutely okay for me to indulge in my hand-to-mouth ritual that feeds my nicotine habit. I like the idea of having that big sign that says SMOKING AREA (vaping area would even be okay) that makes it off limits for the militant non-smoking crowd to say ANYTHING to me.

A giant sign that says "do not agitate the vaper" would probably even be okay.

When I went to Vapestock in June, I stealth vaped in JFK airport, in Miami, and again in Philly airport, but the degree of anxiety I felt from vaping in public far outweighed any satisfaction I got from it.

In Cuba back in March, they had smoking rooms in the airport, and even though they were stinky, they had a table to sit at and enjoy a coffee while I vaped.

So, do you miss having a designated area where it is okay to relax and be yourself, or are you an in-your-face-world kind of vaper?

For me, I would love to have a place to go with no question about being challenged.... besides home that is

 

[Uncle Willie]

So you want a specific area for e-cig users that is separate from analog users .. ??

 

[girlsaint]

nope. I am just saying that when they used to have smoking areas, there was kind of a "no being offended" zone that allowed me to indulge without guilt. I just wondered if anyone else missed that...

 

[Sandrita]

Hmm I think I would prefer to have an area to vape in airports for example because the looks you get off people can be quite annoying sometimes

 

[Ladypixel]

I actually do miss smoking areas because it was, as you say, a place to sit, relax, and indulge in my preferred habit without recrimination. However, I think I miss them more because it was a place to go sit.

 

[sailorman]

Nah, I don't miss them. But I guess you'd consider me an "in your face" vaper, even though I'm not really.

I have lost the feelings of stigmatization, guilt, self-loathing and all the other baggage the anti-tobacco radicals have been heaping on smokers for the last 30 or 40 years. For some vapers, it happens quickly. For some, it takes a little time. For others, it may never happen at all and they'll go for years thinking of themselves as smokers. They'll sneak and hide and cower and apologize. They can kick the cigarette, but they can't kick the mentality.

Dirty looks are relatively rare and easily dealt with. Hostile attitudes and questioning can be handled with the magic words, "medical device". But those are pretty rare too. Most people are curious and I welcome the opportunity to make a convert, or at least correct the misconceptions spread by the propaganda of the FDA and the anti-tobacco militants.

I will never hide or "stealth vape" unless it's necessary due to the law or policies of a certain location. If I feel it's necessary, I'll ask permission. If not, I'll vape wherever it's not specifically prohibited or likely to cause a confrontation with a militant, including airports.

The more people vape in public, the sooner it becomes an ordinary thing, the less people will think it's inherently offensive to them and the less support the tobacco nazis will be able to raise for their agenda. When we act as if we're smoking, the non-smoking unenlightened public will naturally associate vaping with smoking, and the militants will be able to recruit them and lie to them even easier.

 

[Maestro]

Vaping aside, I love the idea of a "no being offended" zone. We live in such a hyper-sensitive, politically correct society that we need a place to unload. And anyone who's offended is fined. And if the fine offends them, fine them again.

 

[sailorman]

Vaping aside, I love the idea of a "no being offended" zone. We live in such a hyper-sensitive, politically correct society that we need a place to unload. And anyone who's offended is fined. And if the fine offends them, fine them again.

I just ignore them. That's the worst punishment. They'd rather be fined than ignored. If they're offended by being ignored, I ignore them harder.

 

[erictho]

i really don't enjoy those at all. if anything cordoned off areas always make me feel a little bit like livestock.
sometimes i feel a little twinge of "maybe i should not vape in this nonsmoking section". i then remember there's nothing illegal or disruptive about it and vape on.
i have yet to be in a place where my vaping has been refused, so that's pretty awesome for me. i also am learning the art of stealthing. i do daydream about one day having my own vapor cafe, but it's probably just a daydream. it'd be awesome if a place existed in my area though.

 

[the wind]

i don't know how people could put up with the smell i used to produce.you must be more tolerant to smoke than me.

 

[DedTV]

I talked to a customer of mine (I build custom media clients/servers) who works at Six Flags in Missouri (in the business office) if they allowed it at the park and he said they (Six Flags corporate) were considering adding designated vaping areas to the park as they've had some people confused by people vaping openly in the parks but they also don't want to force vapers into smoking areas where they'd be subjected to second hand smoke. Their current "unofficial" policy is that you can vape anywhere except in the kiddie areas of the park unless someone complains which for now will get you sent to the smoking sections.

So we may get designated areas in some places.

 

[Trilly]

My office doesn't, like all in the UK, allow smoking indoors, there is a disignated area outside the carpark. When I started vaping, even though my boss had checked with our landlords and ok'd me to vape at my desk I still went outside to the smoking area. For me it was social, there were comments and interest about my pv but nothing ever bad was said to me. It was only when the weather turned bad that I stopped going outside, it took me a few weeks to feel comfortable vaping in the office but now I don't bat an eyelid, nor do any of my colleagues, the only time I have been asked to refrain is when we have customers or directors visiting (neither of which is very often).
I agree with a general consensus here, the more we vape in public the more it will become acceptable and the less negativity so having designated vaping areas would have people perceive vaping as a bad thing that most be seperated from society. Looking back now I realise the only reason I kept going to the smoking area was habit and for the social aspect, I hated having to interupt what I was doing and getting soaked in the rain, I don't hide anymore be it indoors or outside.

 

[Petrodus]

I've always considered outside designated smoking areas to be degrading.

Smoking outside is one thing...Telling people that they can only smoke if
grouped together in a small restricted boxed area is degrading.

I switched to vaping 4 years ago and still think small boxed outside
smoking areas degrading (period)

EDIT:
The size of the outside "smoking area" is not the point.
Being herded into any size corral (box) is the point.

I refuse to vape in designated smoking areas.
I'm no longer a smoker and thus I'm no longer a part of the "smoking crowd"

 

[tinajfreeman]

I vape openly in public, I got over the nervousness pretty quickly when I found most of the curiosity generated was by smokers and family of smokers who were interested in whether it actually works! I don't do it if it is a REALLY crowded place though and I'm likely to get "clouds" in people's face. Otherwise, I vape.

I absolutely don't go to smoking areas, nor do I want to, because I have gotten to the point that I really don't like the smell of second-hand smoke. I am finally free of all that, I don't want to inhale any more of it than I already subjected my poor lungs to in 20+ years of smoking.

 

[chuckpo]

Being smoke free for a week, I can attest the smell of the "herding corral", as it was put, turns me off.

That being said, I take the breaks with my smoking friends, hang out with them in the box, and answer questions (as best as I can, still being new) about my PV and my choice and send them this way. I try not to be that guy who used to smoke for 20+ years and then become the "you smokers are nasty and need to be eradicated" guy. I tend to think that would be somewhat hypocritical of me, and I relish the time with my friends.

There's my somewhat opinionated reply.

 

[tinajfreeman]

Being smoke free for a week, I can attest the smell of the "herding corral", as it was put, turns me off.

That being said, I take the breaks with my smoking friends, hang out with them in the box, and answer questions (as best as I can, still being new) about my PV and my choice and send them this way. I try not to be that guy who used to smoke for 20+ years and then become the "you smokers are nasty and need to be eradicated" guy. I tend to think that would be somewhat hypocritical of me, and I relish the time with my friends.

There's my somewhat opinionated reply.

Same here, I avoid smoking areas, but not my smoking friends and I have converted two of them! I don't think any of us should bash smokers, since most of us switched to PV's because other methods of quitting didn't work for us!

 

[DedTV]

I don't mind going to the smoking areas at all. To me, it's a chance to get more people aware of and interested in vaping.

I was at a work site today and had to use their smoking area outside (Can't use a PV in a datacenter. Water vapor is just as bad for a server as smoke). Standing there puffing away on my black Volt X2, with a blue clearomizer on it and a cool looking blue light glowing every time I took a drag got several people asking me what the hell I was smoking (in a good way!). When I told them my "cigarette" tasted like Strawberry Cotton Candy and had nicotine to curb my nic fits, and that there are hundreds of other flavors to choose from, I had a dozen people wanting to know where I got it. And it's no where near the first time I've had that happen.

I'm gonna have to ask a few vendors for a stack of business cards as I burned through all the ones I had today and had to write down URLs for everyone I didn't have a card for.

 

[tinajfreeman]

Way to spread the love, bro!

 

[Lethalp]

This is a hard one for me I guess

On one hand I did like having an indoor smoking area, not having to go outside in the cold was always a plus. But man o man did u wreak of smoke with everyone packed in there like sardines. (This was at the airport in Vegas when our plane had to go back because they needed to fix something on the plane befor it could fly. Every single person got off the plane and either headed for the smoking section or the bar, proli thinking when we got back on the plane we were all gonna die!! Ok that's for another thread). Smokers more or less stuck together, gave a light, gave a cig, whatever. U understood what that person was going through. With vaping, since we are all "vaping every where or stealth vaping so it looks like we are vaping no where" it's harder to have that sort of togetherness that smoking forced us to have. Does that make sense?

On the other hand I think as vaping gets to be more and more accepted and ppl get used to seeing them, more and more ppl with become more comfortable with seeing them and I believe more smokers will start to feel like maybe it's time for them to try it. If we are all vaping in some designated "vaping area" that's less likely to happen.

I know some of u live in areas where vaping is more common, but as I have said before I am the only vaper in my town that I know. (I do thnk I saw someone using a cig sized pv in a car the other day tho ) so I still get really funny looks when I am vaping away on my woodie, but no one has ever said anything either way to me. What really chaps my ... is the members of my family who ask me about my vaping and before I can even say anything I get dismissed. piss on um I say. I can keep my lil hobby all to myself.

So as I said I am on the fence, so I vape in public when I feel like it, and I stealth vape in public when I don't wanna be bothered by dumb ppl. Does that help? Lol

 

[Petrodus]

I smoked 2-3 packs a day for over 40 years ... so I speak from experience.

Those herded into designated smoking areas all have 1 thing in common.
All are "social outcasts" banned to a visible area which can be monitored
by the opposition to insure no one steps outside the boundaries while smoking.

These smoking areas are also the topic of discussion because many smokers are
known for throwing their cigarette butts on the ground instead of using the
designated containers.

In most cases (since "they are nothing but smokers") ... The outside smoking corral
is not protected from the weather ... Why should "They" spend any money to
make "smokers" more comfortable when "they" (in many cases) were just pressured
into having a designated smoking area.

More and more businesses today find it easier to just have a no smoking on their
premises rule.

Most of us who miss the designated smoking areas ... just miss the comradeship and
friends we meet there. Smokers for the most part are a tight knit group and can depend
on each other ... Not only to bum a smoke or a light ... but for conversation since the
reason for the gathering is for a common purpose. Designated smoking areas are kinda sorta
like a "members only" club.

Before I retired ... I was forced into the corral and experienced not only meeting with
friends but the ridicules coming from management and the looks, smiles, and sarcastic
comments from non-smokers who walked by and those who were in charge of monitoring
the corral.

Even when I smoked I considered the smoking corral to be a social embarrassment.
Today when I see smokers in the penalty box ... I can relate to them and feel a
sense of embarrassment for them.

I am NOT a "Typical" Reformed Smoker
If you smoke cigarettes...You are NOT a Smoker...You have a Name. If you tried to
quit smoking in the past and returned to cigarettes...You're NOT just a weak minded
smoker with no will power!

E-cigs are a life-saver for many of my friends who smoked. Many including myself
enjoy the habit of smoking (not inhaling the burned smoke and chemicals) and e-cigs
provide us with a much safer alternative ... Its called "harm reduction"

Designated smoking areas provide an opportunity to do the show-n-tell thing regarding e-cigs.
Those who choose to go to the corral for that purpose should be commended.

PS:
If you have some spare time on your hands and interested
in some humour ... One of the longest running funniest threads
on the ECF is in the "Health, Safety and E-Smoking" forum:
Click Here