I just got my 1st PV, a Volt, in the mail today and have been having a blast with it so far. I have a couple more questions though. With the great advice from members here I got the Volt and the 3 different "sampler" packs that they offer.
1- what's the common courtesy of using a PV in public? Do you use it in places where "smoking" isn't allowed...such as in a store, restaurant, etc? I don't want to be "that guy".
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IMO, we ALL need to be "that guy", because the anti-vapers are setting the agenda and demonizing e-cigs with their lies and propaganda campaigns whether we are "that guy" or not. We don't have multi-million dollar PR machines like the tobacco companies, the pharmaceutical companies, the FDA, ACS, AHA and ALA. All we have is ourselves to introduce vaping to the public, one person at a time, and to normalize it before the alphabet-soup can convince the public that it's just as dangerous as smoking. That's what they're trying to do and, if you stray from ECF, you'll see evidence of their successes all over the net. Just google "e-cigarette safety". You'll see the results of their campaigns of lies and disinformation, the same disinformation that's largely responsible for existing bans encompassing e-cigs in many cities and several states already. If you don't vape in public, expect that, soon, you will not be allowed to vape in public.
That doesn't mean we have to be "in your face" about it. But we can't afford to hide. If we don't want e-cigs to be thought of the same as cigarettes, we can't act like we're smoking cigarettes. We can't sneak around and presume that they are prohibited everywhere just because cigarettes are. Respect bans, but don't encourage them by assuming they exist by default.
I vape in restaurants, stores, doctors offices, hospitals, bars, theaters and public buildings. I don't blow vapor in anyone's face and I almost never ask permission. Only once have I ever been challenged and that was by someone who didn't see my PV and mistook my vapor for smoke. Meanwhile, the interest my non-cig looking PV has attracted allowed me to immunize many people from the lies and disinformation spread by the anti-nicotine zealots. Nobody I have talked to will be posting something like I saw recently from a smoker who swore that e-cigs were so dangerous that he would continue to smoke. I had to wonder how many vapers who didn't want to be "that guy" that poster had encountered. How many of them had a chance to talk to him and possibly save his life, but they were hiding or "sneak vaping" because they were afraid to be "that guy".
Common courtesy doesn't require you assume vaping is prohibited unless informed otherwise. If it's not included in your local indoor air rules, then there is nothing discourteous about assuming it is allowed. You are not smoking. Smoke and vapor have about as much in common as fog and forest fires.
Don't blow vapor in someone's face. Don't vape in church. Don't obscure someone's view of a movie screen. That's all the common courtesy anyone can reasonably ask for. Expecting you not to vape because it "looks like" you are smoking is not asking for common courtesy, it's expecting submissiveness. It is not reasonable or rational and no self-respecting person should sacrifice their dignity to comply with irrational and unreasonable demands from random strangers.
This subject comes up about every week or so. Here's the latest thread on the subject.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...18-vaping-public-places-indoor-do-you-do.html
There is also an entire forum entitled "vaping in public". You may notice that the people who have been vaping longest are the least hesitant to do it in public. They have shaken off the mindset they had when they were smokers. After having it beaten into your head for years that you are a shameful pariah worthy of being ostracized by society, it may take some time to internalize the fact that you are finally a non-smoker. Then, the challenge is to be accepted as a non-smoker. You only make it harder on yourself if you slink around with your tail between you legs, acting like you're doing something dirty or illegal or shameful or that you need to ask someone elses permission to do.
