Still uncomfortable vaping in NO Smoking areas! What do you do?

[Demoness]

OK- here is a really strange one for you all!

This is my dilemma- I guess I am sooo programed NOT to smoke in certain places I still feel REALLY uncomfortable vaping in those places! I feel like if I pull it out and vape someone is going to be screaming at me or kicking me out!

How many of you have experienced this? And what do you do?

Do you just say eh- eff it and start vaping and wait for someone to say something or ask questions?

I'm interested in hearing about your deprogramming experiences

 

[Almond]

It just happened naturally with me. My college is a smoke free campus so I'm used to only smoking in the parking lot. When walking between classes, I would stealth vape, even though I was OUTSIDE. Today was the first day back, and with out even thing about it, I vaped in class and while walking in between classes! Just give it time until it feels natural =]

 

[ropetrick]

I simply can't. Right or wrong, it feels disrespectful and weird, and I'm a pretty self-conscious person to begin with.

Also, I think it damages the relationship between vapers and the larger community, and the reputation of vaping in general.

The time will probably come when it's better understood, and people won't become so alarmed by it. Until then, I step outside or stealth vape somewhere inconspicuous.

Almond, on a completely smoke-free campus, I think I'd do exactly what you do. There are no options for you, and this isn't smoking anyway, so they've kind of backed you into a corner.

 

[MrsJaaxx]

I just try to do it inconspicuously. Not exactly stealth vaping, but I will blow the vapor down toward my feet and not blow giant plumes into the air. Some people might look and be curious, but only once has anyone asked me not to. (That was at Buffalo's Cafe, and I blame it on the lighting.. It's a dark place with lights hanging over each booth, so it's like spotlights with vapor in them!) I find that if I look like what I'm doing isn't a big deal, and I'm not being douchey about it, nobody has a problem. Another thing that I do that may or may not have something to do with people not having a fit is to put my finger on the end of the e-cig periodically while using it. Clearly if it was lit and burning like a cig I couldn't do that, so it may help to firm up in people's minds that it isn't a cig.

P.S. Evidently Buffalo's does have a policy specifically against e-cigs and they ask you to go do it in the enclosed bar area with the smokers. No thanks!

 

[lowboy]

I have given this some thought. I work at Wally World and no sure how they will take me vaporing inside. I got a funny story about this tho.
Me and my wife took my mother-in-law out to supper. We get up to the counter and start to pay mil whips her's out and starts to use it. Guy looks at her real funny. Ask what is that. I knowing more about the e-cig jump in and explain it. He begins to yell for another employee(in Chinese). He comes up there and they begin to talk. He then tells us he is a chain smoker and wants us to talk to him. Understand he does not speak English. The guy is translating everything I say. The employee gets all excited. They talk a little more and the employee reaches for my e-cig. I jumped back and started waving my hands saying no way dude. He processed and I say NO you are not touching my e-cig. The owner calms him down. I givr him the addy here and told him to look the site over.
I was freaking out when he tried to get my PV.

 

[MrsJaaxx]

I was freaking out when he tried to get my PV.

HA! Totally understandable! There is another thread floating around here about sanitary ways to let people try your e-cig. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/tips-tricks/140414-you-want-try-my-pv-sure.html

 

[lowboy]

HA! Totally understandable! There is another thread floating around here about sanitary ways to let people try your e-cig. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/tips-tricks/140414-you-want-try-my-pv-sure.html

Have to look at that.

 

[zoiDman]

I simply can't. Right or wrong, it feels disrespectful and weird, and I'm a pretty self-conscious person to begin with.

Also, I think it damages the relationship between vapers and the larger community, and the reputation of vaping in general.

The time will probably come when it's better understood, and people won't become so alarmed by it. Until then, I step outside or stealth vape somewhere inconspicuous.

Almond, on a completely smoke-free campus, I think I'd do exactly what you do. There are no options for you, and this isn't smoking anyway, so they've kind of backed you into a corner.

I feel this way also. I have no problem NOT vaping in a No-Smoking area. Just like when I was a smoker, if I needed a hit, I walked to the parking lot or where ever and took a hit.

If I ever get to the point where I don't have enough controll to not vape where people can't smoke, I'd know that I have a problem.

 

[fallon74]

I'm still not deprogrammed I also feel weird vaping in certain areas. I was at the doctors yesterday and found myself hanging out with the smokers outside. You can't smoke anywhere here so it makes vaping feel uncomfortable. I do vape in some bars I have to explain what I'm using and after I go through the whole spiel they don't seem to mind. I've heard of some people vaping in doctors offices and in grocery stores I haven't gotten the nerve for that yet.

 

[Vermonster13]

If you stealth vape, you are sending out the message that what you are doing is wrong on some level. If we want it to be accepted, do it in the open and explain what it is and how there is no second hand smoke threat for others. It is water vapor. Otherwise no vaping signs will become as common as no smoking ones, warranted or not.

 

[eGo Maniac]

I was always a self-segregating smoker, so I try not to force my vaping on anyone, either. If I do vape indoors in a public place, I try not to be too near to any strangers so as not to alarm them. Plus, if I treat it like a cig and go out with the smokers to vape, they ask me what the hell I'm doing and I tell them. They're the ones who need most to hear about it!

 

[MrsJaaxx]

If you stealth vape, you are sending out the message that what you are doing is wrong on some level. If we want it to be accepted, do it in the open and explain what it is and how there is no second hand smoke threat for others. It is water vapor. Otherwise no vaping signs will become as common as no smoking ones, warranted or not.

On the other end of the spectrum, if there is a gigantic cloud of vapor over your table, people from all the way across the restaurant will complain, making going out to dinner a pain in the bootay instead of pleasant and enjoyable. That's why I choose to not be SNEAKY about it, but just be low-key and not cause a scene or mass complaints every time a new patron comes into the establishment. Just blow it downward, toward the feet, and someone might notice but they're less likely to pitch a fit if you're not sitting under a giant puff of fog.

 

[Vermonster13]

I never said to go blow it in someone's face or try to draw attention to yourself, just don't act like it is something that needs to be hidden. Everyone should be respectful of others personal area but it can also be an opportunity to educate other folks. It's not just smokers who need to understand what vaping is and the benefits.

 

[Godzilla]

I feel the same way. I just stealth vape, or go to the bathroom. My wife really hates it when I do it in publc anyway, so I actually have to hide it from her when I vape in public.
I just hold it in a bit longer, and blow it down rather than up in the air.

 

[cigarbabe]

I just vape and if someone has a problem they can come up to me and ask me what I'm doing which is what usually happens. I vape at all my doctors offices and they have continued to give out my COV cards that I carry by the dozens, because they want their smoking patients, of which there are many to try it. Only once have I had an elderly couple give me dirty looks but I continued to vape since they were paying customers like me and the managers and waitresses didn't have a problem with it. One dance studio where I take classes doesn't want it in there but she hasn't approached me. It was relayed from another instructor so I suspect she is uninformed about what vaping is considering the bad press from the FDA which many opposed to ecigs cite to me. I allow others to use my device and I usually bring two pv's just in case, it seems to help turn more people towards vaping in my experience when they can try it. I just use alcohol wipes for the tips.
I'm not upset if they ask to try.
C.B.

 

[cigarbabe]

I never said to go blow it in someone's face or try to draw attention to yourself, just don't act like it is something that needs to be hidden. Everyone should be respectful of others personal area but it can also be an opportunity to educate other folks. It's not just smokers who need to understand what vaping is and the benefits.

Exactly!
C.B.

 

[Vermonster13]

Exactly!
C.B.

It's a New Englander thing. lol

 

[Koman]

I don't vape on those occasions

 

[Lauralie]

I still follow the "no smoking" rules where ever I go. I don't want to give the E-cig a bad wrap. We are already on wobbly grounds as it is - don't need to p!$$ anyone off. But that's just me.

Also - if I go to the "smoking" sections where ever I may be I get lots of questions about my pv and I give them this website and tell them to read, read, read before they make a decision. So by sticking with the "no smoking" rules I tend to convert more people.

 

[Vermonster13]

Well I quit smoking and really don't want to be around it anymore when possible.