Is vaping worth the trouble of concealing it from your family?

[sonicdsl]

The bickering back and forth needs to stop. Learn to ignore each other or take it to PM or the Outside, or elsewhere.

 

[Ryedan]

Not so much "insane," as "irrational." I have felt that *feeling* myself, seeing a bunch of non-smokers doing the cloud-chasing thing, "who are you to usurp my lifeline?" But then I actually THOUGHT about it -- and THOUGHT is the enemy of the irrational. Rational THOUGHT would tell us that if someone starts vaping who has never smoked, then it's entirely possible that a) that person MIGHT have started smoking, at some point, and b) vaping may PREVENT them from ever smoking, OR, it may make any eventual trial of actual tobacco so distasteful that they never take it up as a full-time endeavor. I'd call either of those potentialities a major win -- I know you dispute the actual deadliness of smoking, but I think it's unquestionable that for the greatest number of those who smoke habitually, there is SOME compromise of health involved, so if they never become a habitual smoker, that's a big improvement.

I understand the irrational wish to keep vaping for those who "truly need it," but that doesn't make that wish any less irrational.

Andria

This is the best post on this topic I've ever read. Kudos Andria

 

[Jake710]

I think you should probably just vape and tell them you vape, do your research before telling them about the reasons they are safer than cigarettes, I myself started smoking cigarettes at that age and just now went to vaping. if Vaping now will stop you from ever trying cigarettes then thats what you should do. Im a new member to this site but have gone in and out of vaping for a few years and have visited the forums many times. many old schoolers here who all started from cigarettes and moved to vaping, i feel they dont understand that vaping could now also just cut cigarettes out of the equation. Dont turn him away from vaping or he could end up smoking cigarettes for 1-50 years before he moves to vaping.

 

[AndriaD]

This is the best post on this topic I've ever read. Kudos Andria

Thx. I wondered if anyone even saw it, with all the bickering.

Andria

 

[Chip H.]

Part of becoming an adult IS making decisions for yourself that will potentially piss off the people in charge. And trying to judge the peer pressures and/or cultural influences of the young adults in the world from middle age and beyond is like trying to follow a movie in a foreign language with no subtitles. You can follow a lot of it, but other aspects will be utterly beyond the viewer's comprehension.

I was not permitted to smoke as a teen. I did it anyhow, and I covered it up until after I was 18 (actually outed myself while still high as a kite after I got my wisdom teeth extracted and they were asking me if I smoked because of the risk of dry socket and my mother was in the room lol). Were my parents disappointed? Absolutely. Did I keep on smoking? Hell yes. And even today knowing all the damage I did to my lungs, exacerbating my asthma, etc., I don't feel I would necessarily implore young me not to do it because those bad decisions are as much of making me the adult and parent I am today as the good decisions I made.

So, my first bit of advice is not to necessarily listen to the "their house, their rules" or the "not telling them is morally equivalent to adultery" posts. We all lived in a grey area during our young adulthood. Our parents meant the best for us, but they weren't gods. What makes us the adults we are later in life is seeing where we were right and where we were wrong in our youth when we knew "better" than those old fogies giving us their best advice. Someone who never questions or outright defies authority in their youth is not someone who is likely to ever be particularly sophisticated about their judgments.

I remember in my early 20s starting to see my parents weren't so crazy after all, and then by my mid to late 20s wondering how it was they didn't just drown me in a lake as a teenager because I had been such a blooming idiot. It's all very well and good to quote chapter and verse of the "my house, my rules" maxim we are all so thrilled with as adults, but that's because we are on the side of holding all the leverage. The vast majority of us never followed it all the time when we were on the other side of it, so why should be we be so glib about telling it to this generation as though it will hold any more weight today, particularly when we aren't this young man's family? He needs to make his own decision and then accept whatever consequences follow.

Whether it is "worth it" to take up vaping as a hobby for the young never smokers is something none of us are qualified to give an absolute answer about. We are all creatures of our habits and attachments. We took up smoking in our youth because there was a culture built around it, and we enjoyed it, full stop. I "fell into" vaping after being tobacco free for more than a decade because all it took was a little "harmless experimentation" with my brother's starter Ego kit for me to light up all those suppressed pathways in my brain dedicated to the habit of smoking. For most of us, vaping is an analog to smoking, and that is our point of reference.

If your point of reference to vaping is as a less harmful, less expensive alternative to a tobacco habit, it is imprecise, at best, to make value judgments on how the youth of today will approach it never having been smokers. For better or worse, vaping is going to be part of the youth culture absent the tobacco replacement aspect. So, to the OP, life in your teens and early 20s is about trying new things and seeing how they fit you. If there is a vaping element in the peer culture you're a part of, it's ultimately up to you whether you take part.

Since, in spite of the implications by some posters in this thread, not vaping is NOT going to give you enough extra cash to travel the world or woo a princess, there is little financial harm in experimenting with some form of a starter setup from your friend. It is even up to you whether to experiment with nicotine. Yes, it's likely to cause a dependence/addiction, but that's not inherently a negative. I've been dependent on caffeine since middle school and have no plans to ever quit or cut back. The drug is relatively benign, cheap, and easily accessible in forms that I really enjoy partaking of. I'm also pretty damn dependent on my internet connection and my satellite TV and not planning on cutting back on those either (and they're way more expensive than smoking ever was for me ). And I don't intend to eliminate nicotine from my vaping habit until/unless I want to quit vaping. I *like* the focus nicotine gives me, I *like* the appetite suppression, I *like* the sensation of relaxation and pleasure I get from it, and, for now, nicotine is readily available in relatively benign form of delivery that I enjoy. There is as much objective reason for me to go nicotine free as caffeine or internet free in the current world.

Anyone who says you shouldn't take up vaping so you don't become a slave to a habit is either a Buddhist monk or a bit of a hypocrite. It's not a question of if we will be slaves to our habits, it's making sure we do our best to be aware of those attachments and make the right choice for ourselves. Be aware of your attachments and the limits they place on your freedoms. In particular regards to vaping, be aware of just how hard of a habit to break nicotine is (and, even if broken, how easy it is to take right back up again).

-----

Now, all of that said, I am now going to speak as a parent:

Only you know how judgmental, reactionary, and/or prone to genuine disappointment your folks are. In particular, only you know how much of a breach of trust them finding out you were vaping will be. This is the crux a lot of well meaning people have tried to make without phrasing it as such.

To use an example raised earlier, not telling your wife about your mistress is in no way the same as lying, because it is actually far worse. Lying about and/or omitting the affair is incidental to the actual issue: the breach of trust. Trust is a really quirky and ephemeral thing, and once it's destroyed, it's nigh impossible to ever build again. I've been with my wife for nearly 22 years. The relationship has had its ups and downs, but the one thing that has not been altered is the basic trust between us. No matter how flawed we are as humans, no matter how many choices the other makes that annoy the bejesus out of the other, when it comes to the important stuff, we trust one another absolutely (or, at least I think we do ). I doubt very much I could commit adultery no matter how great the temptation because I am acutely aware of what breaking that nigh 22 year record would do to our relationship if she ever found out. That's a track record that can NEVER be recreated, and it's far more valuable to me than any transient excitement and pleasure I could get from an affair. Heck, even if I never was caught, I would know I'd broken that trust, and just that would permanently alter my approach to the relationship.

So, when it comes to your family, you really do have to weigh just how serious of a disappointment you vaping would be for them. You have an 18 year old relationship with these people that is unlike any other relationship you are ever going to have. As a parent, I expect my children will eventually make choices that will disappoint me; it's part of the package deal when you bring other sentient critters into this world. But, there is a world of difference between a choice they make that is not a choice I would want them to make and disappoints me versus a choice that will harm or outright destroy the trust between us.

If, for some reason, finding out you've become a vaper will cause them to react like a fundamentalist Christian who found their son sacrificing babies in the basement to Beelzebub, I will say flat out there is no way that vaping or ANY truly unnecessary and optional activity is worth it. On the other hand, if all you are worried about is the sort of disappointment your parents would have if they found you were dating a person they strongly dislike, or failed a class at college, it really is up to you. As adolescents and young adults, we all disappointed our parents from time to time. But, the disappointment from the parents isn't because we see our kids as failures, but merely because we love them so much and hold them in such high regard. Parents get over that, and they forgive that, and in the space of time, such disappointments fade into memory and change nothing of importance.

It's your life, you have to live it. Your parents want the best for you, but they do not and cannot live your life for you.

-----

And, with all of that in mind, I will leave you with this bit of wisdom from age: IF you take up vaping and stay with it as "a hobby", is is purely a matter of when, not if, your parents will find out. You may successfully conceal it for a while, but you will not conceal it forever. At some point they're going to find a spent coil or empty juice bottle or you'll drop your vaporizer out of your pocket. *Something* will out you at some point, so make your choice with that in mind.

 

[Ryedan]

Thx. I wondered if anyone even saw it, with all the bickering.

Andria

The sad part is once the bickering starts the participants become defensive and that pretty much ends any chance of anything productive coming out of the discussion. Then again, you also need an open mind to avoid that scenario and I think a lot of those people just think and move on or fix up some and enjoy the show.

 

[Scotticus93]

Part of becoming an adult IS making decisions for yourself that will potentially piss off the people in charge. And trying to judge the peer pressures and/or cultural influences of the young adults in the world from middle age and beyond is like trying to follow a movie in a foreign language with no subtitles. You can follow a lot of it, but other aspects will be utterly beyond the viewer's comprehension.

I was not permitted to smoke as a teen. I did it anyhow, and I covered it up until after I was 18 (actually outed myself while still high as a kite after I got my wisdom teeth extracted and they were asking me if I smoked because of the risk of dry socket and my mother was in the room lol). Were my parents disappointed? Absolutely. Did I keep on smoking? Hell yes. And even today knowing all the damage I did to my lungs, exacerbating my asthma, etc., I don't feel I would necessarily implore young me not to do it because those bad decisions are as much of making me the adult and parent I am today as the good decisions I made.

So, my first bit of advice is not to necessarily listen to the "their house, their rules" or the "not telling them is morally equivalent to adultery" posts. We all lived in a grey area during our young adulthood. Our parents meant the best for us, but they weren't gods. What makes us the adults we are later in life is seeing where we were right and where we were wrong in our youth when we knew "better" than those old fogies giving us their best advice. Someone who never questions or outright defies authority in their youth is not someone who is likely to ever be particularly sophisticated about their judgments.

I remember in my early 20s starting to see my parents weren't so crazy after all, and then by my mid to late 20s wondering how it was they didn't just drown me in a lake as a teenager because I had been such a blooming idiot. It's all very well and good to quote chapter and verse of the "my house, my rules" maxim we are all so thrilled with as adults, but that's because we are on the side of holding all the leverage. The vast majority of us never followed it all the time when we were on the other side of it, so why should be we be so glib about telling it to this generation as though it will hold any more weight today, particularly when we aren't this young man's family? He needs to make his own decision and then accept whatever consequences follow.

Whether it is "worth it" to take up vaping as a hobby for the young never smokers is something none of us are qualified to give an absolute answer about. We are all creatures of our habits and attachments. We took up smoking in our youth because there was a culture built around it, and we enjoyed it, full stop. I "fell into" vaping after being tobacco free for more than a decade because all it took was a little "harmless experimentation" with my brother's starter Ego kit for me to light up all those suppressed pathways in my brain dedicated to the habit of smoking. For most of us, vaping is an analog to smoking, and that is our point of reference.

If your point of reference to vaping is as a less harmful, less expensive alternative to a tobacco habit, it is imprecise, at best, to make value judgments on how the youth of today will approach it never having been smokers. For better or worse, vaping is going to be part of the youth culture absent the tobacco replacement aspect. So, to the OP, life in your teens and early 20s is about trying new things and seeing how they fit you. If there is a vaping element in the peer culture you're a part of, it's ultimately up to you whether you take part.

Since, in spite of the implications by some posters in this thread, not vaping is NOT going to give you enough extra cash to travel the world or woo a princess, there is little financial harm in experimenting with some form of a starter setup from your friend. It is even up to you whether to experiment with nicotine. Yes, it's likely to cause a dependence/addiction, but that's not inherently a negative. I've been dependent on caffeine since middle school and have no plans to ever quit or cut back. The drug is relatively benign, cheap, and easily accessible in forms that I really enjoy partaking of. I'm also pretty damn dependent on my internet connection and my satellite TV and not planning on cutting back on those either (and they're way more expensive than smoking ever was for me ). And I don't intend to eliminate nicotine from my vaping habit until/unless I want to quit vaping. I *like* the focus nicotine gives me, I *like* the appetite suppression, I *like* the sensation of relaxation and pleasure I get from it, and, for now, nicotine is readily available in relatively benign form of delivery that I enjoy. There is as much objective reason for me to go nicotine free as caffeine or internet free in the current world.

Anyone who says you shouldn't take up vaping so you don't become a slave to a habit is either a Buddhist monk or a bit of a hypocrite. It's not a question of if we will be slaves to our habits, it's making sure we do our best to be aware of those attachments and make the right choice for ourselves. Be aware of your attachments and the limits they place on your freedoms. In particular regards to vaping, be aware of just how hard of a habit to break nicotine is (and, even if broken, how easy it is to take right back up again).

-----

Now, all of that said, I am now going to speak as a parent:

Only you know how judgmental, reactionary, and/or prone to genuine disappointment your folks are. In particular, only you know how much of a breach of trust them finding out you were vaping will be. This is the crux a lot of well meaning people have tried to make without phrasing it as such.

To use an example raised earlier, not telling your wife about your mistress is in no way the same as lying, because it is actually far worse. Lying about and/or omitting the affair is incidental to the actual issue: the breach of trust. Trust is a really quirky and ephemeral thing, and once it's destroyed, it's nigh impossible to ever build again. I've been with my wife for nearly 22 years. The relationship has had its ups and downs, but the one thing that has not been altered is the basic trust between us. No matter how flawed we are as humans, no matter how many choices the other makes that annoy the bejesus out of the other, when it comes to the important stuff, we trust one another absolutely (or, at least I think we do ). I doubt very much I could commit adultery no matter how great the temptation because I am acutely aware of what breaking that nigh 22 year record would do to our relationship if she ever found out. That's a track record that can NEVER be recreated, and it's far more valuable to me than any transient excitement and pleasure I could get from an affair. Heck, even if I never was caught, I would know I'd broken that trust, and just that would permanently alter my approach to the relationship.

So, when it comes to your family, you really do have to weigh just how serious of a disappointment you vaping would be for them. You have an 18 year old relationship with these people that is unlike any other relationship you are ever going to have. As a parent, I expect my children will eventually make choices that will disappoint me; it's part of the package deal when you bring other sentient critters into this world. But, there is a world of difference between a choice they make that is not a choice I would want them to make and disappoints me versus a choice that will harm or outright destroy the trust between us.

If, for some reason, finding out you've become a vaper will cause them to react like a fundamentalist Christian who found their son sacrificing babies in the basement to Beelzebub, I will say flat out there is no way that vaping or ANY truly unnecessary and optional activity is worth it. On the other hand, if all you are worried about is the sort of disappointment your parents would have if they found you were dating a person they strongly dislike, or failed a class at college, it really is up to you. As adolescents and young adults, we all disappointed our parents from time to time. But, the disappointment from the parents isn't because we see our kids as failures, but merely because we love them so much and hold them in such high regard. Parents get over that, and they forgive that, and in the space of time, such disappointments fade into memory and change nothing of importance.

It's your life, you have to live it. Your parents want the best for you, but they do not and cannot live your life for you.

-----

And, with all of that in mind, I will leave you with this bit of wisdom from age: IF you take up vaping and stay with it as "a hobby", is is purely a matter of when, not if, your parents will find out. You may successfully conceal it for a while, but you will not conceal it forever. At some point they're going to find a spent coil or empty juice bottle or you'll drop your vaporizer out of your pocket. *Something* will out you at some point, so make your choice with that in mind.

This is what I was trying to say earlier but with far fewer words and less wisdom. This kinda plays off what andria says and what I believe even tho I myself am only 22 so your wisdom exceeds mine. I agree with the parents thing. But the issue has come up in the forum a thousand times. Should non smokers ever vape. I say like y'all said. If it prevents them from ever smoking absolutely yes. I had so many friends in college who would bum cigs off me at parties and granted some only did it while drinking but that's how I got started smoking and how many others did as well. Im imagining a world in the future where everyone brings a mod to a party. And passes those around (I know a little unsanitary but some people are your friends and a lot are drunk lol). Me and my roommate even talked about having a vape party at our apartment tho i don't think we ever did cuz the semester ran out. I cant remember.If vaping continues how it is and the fda doesn't screw it up. Vaping very well could become the new smoking for my generation. So when some college kid wonders what nicotine is all about like I did. They will go get a mod from a vape shop rather than a lighter and pack of smokes at a gas station.

 

[Voltoxic]

I used to smoke, I switched to 0 mg eliquid instantly and helped me quit. If you want to do it even if you didnt smoke, its fine. Just please do not use nicotine e liquids as there is no need. It will make you addicted and you really dont need it. You can get flavours such as strawberry, butterscotch and chocolate. Jack Daniels and Cola if any of those things interest you. Vaping is very fun.
Remember, its your life nobody can tell you to or not to vape.

 

[John_MAB]

I mean I smoked occasionally before. I'd buy a pack every now and then. It wasnt an all the time thing for me though. My family never knew. I went to vaping mainly because I would still get the cravings. I still hide it. But I live on my own now so I only have to hide it when around family. Its really up to you.

 

[AndriaD]

Actually.. I need to correct this very erroneous impression that nicotine is addictive to never-smokers -- there is ABSOLUTELY ZERO evidence of that. The addiction to nicotine is formed from SMOKING tobacco, and is a direct result of the catalytic action of all the other chemicals in cigarette smoke, especially the MAOIs, and perhaps also the ammonia.

When never-smokers used patches, in a trial of nicotine for some other condition(s), not one of those never-smokers developed addiction to the nicotine.

Andria

 

[Coldrake]

Actually.. I need to correct this very erroneous impression that nicotine is addictive to never-smokers -- there is ABSOLUTELY ZERO evidence of that. The addiction to nicotine is formed from SMOKING tobacco, and is a direct result of the catalytic action of all the other chemicals in cigarette smoke, especially the MAOIs, and perhaps also the ammonia.

When never-smokers used patches, in a trial of nicotine for some other condition(s), not one of those never-smokers developed addiction to the nicotine.

Andria

Unfortunately, no matter how many times it's been said, some people are unable to comprehend this.

 

[AndriaD]

Unfortunately, no matter how many times it's been said, some people are unable to comprehend this.

Apparently. They still seem to think that because THEY (a former smoker) are addicted to nicotine, that nicotine is always addictive to everyone. If one has ever been a smoker of any kind of tobacco, then their experience is worthless as applied to never-smokers.

But even former-smokers' "addiction" is really only a "dependence", not an addiction -- addiction is to CIGARETTES, but once the cigarettes are gone and withdrawal is over, then it's merely dependence -- no one is going to go rob a bank or mug somebody to afford nicotine. Not sure that anyone would do that even to afford cigarettes, though I suppose it's possible -- I know some smokers have gone so far as to smoke butts found on the pavement or in public ashtrays.

Andria

 

[ReigntheGamer]

You're really in the exact position as me. The only difference is that your parents are aware that you vape. I don't currently have a job, but that's because I'm a full time college student (14 credit hours, classes 5 days a week) at the moment and a job could simply never fit in my schedule. I do take up at least one summer job every summer though so I still have some form of income, though temporary. Lastly (and obviously), since I'm in college, that would mean I'm at the legal age to smoke/vape.

Hmm let's see. Lie to your parents to vape and then turn around and take their money for your secret vape supplies 9 months out of the year. Seems like a good plan. Whether your of age or not and no matter how many college hours you're putting in that is SHADY AS (interesting expletive).

Do I mind if non-smokers vape? Hell no. But I can't condone or advise anyone to be a liar and a mooch. Harsh maybe, but asking if those practices are acceptable the answer should always be absolutely not.

 

[Chip H.]

Actually.. I need to correct this very erroneous impression that nicotine is addictive to never-smokers -- there is ABSOLUTELY ZERO evidence of that. The addiction to nicotine is formed from SMOKING tobacco, and is a direct result of the catalytic action of all the other chemicals in cigarette smoke, especially the MAOIs, and perhaps also the ammonia.

When never-smokers used patches, in a trial of nicotine for some other condition(s), not one of those never-smokers developed addiction to the nicotine.

This is a pipe dream used by what I can only call "extremist" vapers without a shred of common sense, evidence, or biology behind it.

What few seem to realize is that there is no such thing as a 100% addictive substance. Most so-called addictive substances are only around 10% addictive, with the particular causation of the addiction from individual to individual not fully understood.

The gist is that you can take 100 people, let them all use nearly any drug known to have addiction issues, and let them use as much as they want for any sufficiently long enough time period. Now, cut off their supply. About 90 of them will walk away without an issue. But about 10 of them are going to have a hard time of it, complete with withdraw, etc.

Nicotine is the only substance we know of where the formation of long term dependence/addiction <insert your word of choice> has a roughly 30% "victim" rate. It is, quite literally, the most addictive substance we know about.

So, don't kid yourself that it's not addictive absent smoking. That oft linked page on the e cig politics website is a load of BS large enough to bury a small town under. They know jack about experimental design, physiology or how to read scientific literature. They cherry pick a handful of studies where the number of never smokers is a couple of dozen in total, the dosage relatively low, and the length of the study mere weeks. Finding a lack of nicotine addiction issues after such length of time and in that sample size is not surprising. Meanwhile, they out of hand disregard decades of research into nicotine addiction as "non applicable" because it involved smoking, something that is not a scientifically valid exclusion at all.

What is surprising is that anyone adding isolated pure nicotine to their ejuice and getting the same pharmacological sensation as they did from smoking is gullible enough to engage in that sort of wishful thinking, and yet I see that article linked all over the place and it's ridiculous claims repeated as though they have been verified scientifically.

Before anyone decides to try and make a claim that flies in the face of many decades of research with thousands of peer reviewed papers and even the tobacco industry's own actions, they ought to consider what would be necessary to actually make their claim, and merely on-faith declaring you can't use any study of tobacco addiction where the mode of delivery was a cigarette is not it

When someone completes a twelve month study where 200 never tobacco users are split into two cohorts, one receiving a time released nicotine delivery of 15mg over 24 hours, the other placebo, and both cohorts are then cut off and they are shown to be statistically indistinguishable then, and only then, would there be any basis to make the claim nicotine is not addictive sans smoking.

 

[LMS62]

Not so much "insane," as "irrational." I have felt that *feeling* myself, seeing a bunch of non-smokers doing the cloud-chasing thing, "who are you to usurp my lifeline?" But then I actually THOUGHT about it -- and THOUGHT is the enemy of the irrational. Rational THOUGHT would tell us that if someone starts vaping who has never smoked, then it's entirely possible that a) that person MIGHT have started smoking, at some point, and b) vaping may PREVENT them from ever smoking, OR, it may make any eventual trial of actual tobacco so distasteful that they never take it up as a full-time endeavor. I'd call either of those potentialities a major win -- I know you dispute the actual deadliness of smoking, but I think it's unquestionable that for the greatest number of those who smoke habitually, there is SOME compromise of health involved, so if they never become a habitual smoker, that's a big improvement.

I understand the irrational wish to keep vaping for those who "truly need it," but that doesn't make that wish any less irrational.

Andria

I have to say, in my humble opinion, this is one of the best posts I have seen on ECF in a while. It is saturated with practical common sense, which unfortunately, isn't so common any longer. In short, Andria freakin' nailed it!

 

[Coldrake]

This is a pipe dream used by what I can only call "extremist" vapers without a shred of common sense, evidence, or biology behind it.

What few seem to realize is that there is no such thing as a 100% addictive substance. Most so-called addictive substances are only around 10% addictive, with the particular causation of the addiction from individual to individual not fully understood.

The gist is that you can take 100 people, let them all use nearly any drug known to have addiction issues, and let them use as much as they want for any sufficiently long enough time period. Now, cut off their supply. About 90 of them will walk away without an issue. But about 10 of them are going to have a hard time of it, complete with withdraw, etc.

Nicotine is the only substance we know of where the formation of long term dependence/addiction <insert your word of choice> has a roughly 30% "victim" rate. It is, quite literally, the most addictive substance we know about.

So, don't kid yourself that it's not addictive absent smoking. That oft linked page on the e cig politics website is a load of BS large enough to bury a small town under. They know jack about experimental design, physiology or how to read scientific literature. They cherry pick a handful of studies where the number of never smokers is a couple of dozen in total, the dosage relatively low, and the length of the study mere weeks. Finding a lack of nicotine addiction issues after such length of time and in that sample size is not surprising. Meanwhile, they out of hand disregard decades of research into nicotine addiction as "non applicable" because it involved smoking, something that is not a scientifically valid exclusion at all.

What is surprising is that anyone adding isolated pure nicotine to their ejuice and getting the same pharmacological sensation as they did from smoking is gullible enough to engage in that sort of wishful thinking, and yet I see that article linked all over the place and it's ridiculous claims repeated as though they have been verified scientifically.

Before anyone decides to try and make a claim that flies in the face of many decades of research with thousands of peer reviewed papers and even the tobacco industry's own actions, they ought to consider what would be necessary to actually make their claim, and merely on-faith declaring you can't use any study of tobacco addiction where the mode of delivery was a cigarette is not it

When someone completes a twelve month study where 200 never tobacco users are split into two cohorts, one receiving a time released nicotine delivery of 15mg over 24 hours, the other placebo, and both cohorts are then cut off and they are shown to be statistically indistinguishable then, and only then, would there be any basis to make the claim nicotine is not addictive sans smoking.

Thanks for proving my point.

 

[Jman8]

Part of becoming an adult IS making decisions for yourself that will potentially piss off the people in charge. And trying to judge the peer pressures and/or cultural influences of the young adults in the world from middle age and beyond is like trying to follow a movie in a foreign language with no subtitles. You can follow a lot of it, but other aspects will be utterly beyond the viewer's comprehension.

Best post on this thread, IMO. And this opening paragraph contains second best analogy of this post.

If, for some reason, finding out you've become a vaper will cause them to react like a fundamentalist Christian who found their son sacrificing babies in the basement to Beelzebub, I will say flat out there is no way that vaping or ANY truly unnecessary and optional activity is worth it.

And this is best analogy in the post. One that cracked me up. But also, I concur. If parents are going to react like this, then vaping is certainly not worth it.

On the other hand, if all you are worried about is the sort of disappointment your parents would have if they found you were dating a person they strongly dislike, or failed a class at college, it really is up to you. As adolescents and young adults, we all disappointed our parents from time to time. But, the disappointment from the parents isn't because we see our kids as failures, but merely because we love them so much and hold them in such high regard. Parents get over that, and they forgive that, and in the space of time, such disappointments fade into memory and change nothing of importance.

It's your life, you have to live it. Your parents want the best for you, but they do not and cannot live your life for you.

I also agree with this, and IMO gets at the heart of the matter for what this thread is really about.

I don't know OP as we have not met in person. For sure don't know OP's parents. But OP has given some indication what the parent's disappointment would be like. Even OP might not actually know what it would be like. Heck even the parents might not know in this moment how'd they react.

Someone earlier suggested just telling them now beforehand, and do the best you can via research to make the case for why you wish to take vaping up right now. I concur with that more than hiding it. HOWEVER, if your parents aren't likely to treat it like the son sacrificing babies in the basement of Beezlebub, then I would think fellow vapers would be able to tell you that vaping non-nic liquid is really a tame thing. As tame as if you chose to listen to classical music while your parents have rule of "only goth in this house." And because it is so tame, then even if it were the beezelbub situation, it would best to just hide it, and play the game of "don't get caught" by their house, their rules game that is always in play.

And, with all of that in mind, I will leave you with this bit of wisdom from age: IF you take up vaping and stay with it as "a hobby", is is purely a matter of when, not if, your parents will find out. You may successfully conceal it for a while, but you will not conceal it forever. At some point they're going to find a spent coil or empty juice bottle or you'll drop your vaporizer out of your pocket. *Something* will out you at some point, so make your choice with that in mind.

I also concur with this. Best if you want to hide something to have mindset of, they probably will find out sooner than later, and/or I'll probably do something that outs myself. Perhaps they never find out, but this other mindset is being way more realistic than thinking you've designed some scheme that is foolproof and no one could ever find out.