@SmokeyJoe E-cigarettes were not commercially available until the 21st century, so it is counterintuitive that the word
vape dates to the early 1980s. Its earliest known use is in an article, “Why do People Smoke” in
New Society in 1983. The author, Rob Stepney, described a hypothetical device being explored at the time, “an inhaler or ‘non-combustible’ cigarette, looking much like the real thing, but…delivering a metered dose of nicotine vapour. (The new habit, if it catches on, would be known as vaping.)” Thus, it seems that vaping the word existed before vaping the phenomenon.
Is this the correct answer?