Students! Stop vaping in class!!!

[big_sizzla]

Alright, by now you've probably read the title and thought... "this guys an idiot! i got my e-cig to vape ANYWHERE!"

...


BUT, theres a valid reason as to why i say this. Read on.......

I am a student of two post secondary institutions in Toronto: Ryerson University and Centennial College. Enrolled in two different programs simultaneously... which has allowed me to test waters at both campuses. I am a 21 year old male, who is trendily dressed, fairly well spoken, and a high academic acheiver. (Sorry to sound pompous.. but its important to the story.) As a result of my feild testing... I have found a pretty strong bias against ppl like me at BOTH institutions.

Adults who are unaware of the whole e-smoking trend, (especially professors who like to think they're smarter than you...) tend to think that your an idiot... regardless of who you are or your genetic makeup. Im a 3rd year civil engineering student at Ryerson, and second year architectural technician student at Centennial... and i've converted several of my friends to vaping, all of which generally fit my characteristics above, and they've felt it too.

Even though its safe to vape, even though it has virtually no scent, even though it shouldnt bug anybody... its still (or will be) labelled by most profs as a 'DISTRACTION', either to you or your peers that are dumbfounded by vapour pouring out of you nostrils while your avidly taking notes in your lecture.

What scares me is that more and more people will convert to vaping, (thats not the scary part,) and more and more people will start vaping in classes producing more nostril vapour pouring to the point where your lecture hall will be full of vapour.

Eventually some wise-... professor will bring it up in a meeting, and they will be as harsh with it as they are with your cell phone ring on LOUD, playing an incredibly annoying and repetitive techno song while your in a lecture.

All i'm saying is.. VAPE WISELY, I know its legal to vape indoors, and if your like me, you probably got this thing for the sole purpose of vaping indoors... But profs and TA's will more often than not label you, and probably anybody else who does it during class as a 'class disruptor.'

If you vape in class, please consider taking a deep inhale after your drag.. so no vapour comes out on your exhale... or 'stealth vape.' Or go for a walk and vape your heart out in a hallway, or go to a washroom and take a nice, vaping leak!

Remember guys, its OUR responsibility to keep safe vaping possible in schools. And at colleges and universities world wide WE are the face of vaping. So please, dont be abnoxious with it.

Thanks for reading, anybody with me?? Please let me know.

 

[Luma]

I would agree with this. You shouldnt sit and eat a meal in class either. Same thing.

People just like to test the limits and some are just ignorant.

 

[Michelle M]

That's a very good point. Goes for not only vaping in class, but vaping anywhere where there's a high probability that doing so will cause someone to issue an edict outlawing it from that point forward.

As they say: Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.

Or something like that.

 

[big_sizzla]

Im glad you guys agree.. I hope this becomes a sticky so that people wisen up a bit.

 

[Kurt]

As a professor myself, I would not want people vaping in my class, or at least not obviously. Distractions are distractions, whether it is vaping, eating, talking, texting, phoning. Anyone using the excuse that it is "not against smoking codes" does not get the point at all. I love vaping, and would without a doubt not want crazy vaping in my class.

Now if someone in the back of the room was using PG, with less vapor, holding their breath and not allowing obvious vapor out, then it would be no worse than chewing on a pen. But if someone was flaunting it, regardless of the legality, then they would be given the choice to stop or leave. Its my class, my room, my rules. Period. Teaching chemistry is hard enough without yahoos with an agenda.

Perhaps someone could find a safe and effective vaping vehicle that produces no vapor, for such delicate times. Seems it would be a useful venture.

 

[DaMulta]

I would vape in class if I was still in school. I think I would stealth vape tho.....

Really I think people would get used to it after a few days. As long as no one was blowing out smoke rings across the room.....


Kurt There is one company that sells liquid that produces no vapor, but the name of the company escapes me right now.

 

[bornagainst]

I'm a student here in Toronto as well, and I stealth vape in class all the time....and not one person has even given me a look.

I'd never dare blow out a huge cloud of smoke, that's the work of a dumb ....

I agree though....keep it subtle people.

 

[angelique510]

I would vape in class if I was still in school. I think I would stealth vape tho.....

Really I think people would get used to it after a few days. As long as no one was blowing out smoke rings across the room.....


Kurt There is one company that sells liquid that produces no vapor, but the name of the company escapes me right now.

Modern Vapor has a "Stealth B&H" juice.

~A

 

[whistlrr]

This kinda goes along with another thread I just responded to, but 'on the other side' of it. (the other thread was about somebody by the description, nearly perfectly seeking an opportunity to 'confront' and turn a friendly educational session out of it (an opportunity they finally found in a Walmart).

I think first of all one needs to have the right sort of personality for introducing/educating the public about PVing. I really don't think a cocky wise-*ssed personality, one who 'struts' (most every human being knows and has encountered the type I mean and if you haven't, then check yourself because it might mean you might BE one then - not that the OP is one of the aforementioned types, just sayin') -- especially in a setting where a person may have already been pegged/identified as such

especially when in situations involving persons of authority (say for example, a professor holding lecture) -- is going not going to get the job done well at all, and is almost certainly destined to actually create problems.

I can see why the modest PV users wouldn't be so inclined to be hassled, body language, tone of voice (and even what you're thinking, if you think you're smarter than the professor and above it all' its going to be clear enough) while somebody who's whole mentality might be more "look, we're having a test, tests are stressful and I'm just doing my little thing here to get by and cope with stress so don't mind me I'm not here to cause trouble I just want to get through this" might be more readily overlooked and met with a bit of compassion/empathy.

Personally I never made huge plumes of smoke with my analogs either (I just smoked the things, no grand production involved, function over form I guess) so I don't know why I'd need to make a production with my PVs, so I don't.

I'm actualy kind of shy about it (as I was with analogs too since to be perfectly honest I felt like an idiot any time I had to reveal to the world that 'here, look I was such a dope that I picked up this idiotic [smoking] habit" -- I was ashamed of it.

I started out trying to 'vape' in public more but due to its shape and nature it still tells the world that I at least had a smoking habit, it put a strain on a long term friendship with the manager of a place I frequent, plus shortly thereafter I found snus, nasal snuff and have come up with a few even more stealthier ways to get my nicotine when in public (ways that mostly look like I'm treating a cold/allergies) and so I use these when out and about and I mostly just leave vaping for at home now.


Educating the masses needs to be done, but it needs to be done in the right manner and by the right type of person (which I acknowledge I'm not that type of person either, but there are those that are.. you just have to be insightful enough to know if its you or not).

 

[whistlrr]

weird double post thing happened and can't delete this one only edit it, don't know how the double posting happened, sorry

 

[Snarkyone]

There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to vape in class as long as your doing it in an adult manner as the professor said. It's not a big deal if it's not disruptive, but if the person is acting the fool and making a production out of it then perhaps they shouldn't be in an adult learning setting to begin with but that's another discussion. It's a shame you can't just stop that person from vaping but allow the adults in the class to vape at will.

I won't hide what I'm doing from anybody, but I won't be an jackass about it either. I don't give a rat's patootie what others think of my habits I don't live my life to please others or to meet their approval that only leads to a life of unhappiness trying to conform to others ideas of the person you should be. I have yet to run into any issues with my vaping in any setting from Krogers, to my daughter's school. More often than not I end up giving a mini lecture on what it is, how it works and allowing anyone who wants to try it a time or two. I really am thinking hard of ordering a couple of dozen kits from China on the cheap, I could sell 2 kits easily every time I left my house if I had them with me.

 

[big_sizzla]

@ whistlrr Just to clear things up, I in no way think im smarter than a professor, im sorry if i implied this but i was referring to most professor's pretentious way of treating their students as if they are idiots. Many of the profs that i have have the tendency to belittle their students, for no apparent reason, just because they are in a position of power over them, TA's especially.

and @ Kurt I appreciate your views regarding this matter, its nice to hear from the other end of the issue. What i intended with this post was to halt the obnoxious confrontational attitude that some vapers exhibit, and rather instill some modesty in the matter. And i agree with you, it is disruptive. I just think its a blessing to be able to vape in class, but im warning other students to be modest. Stealth vaping is the way to go.

I personally, like whistlrr, am shy about vaping too.. but unlike whistlrr i smoked because i thoroughly enjoyed it, from the crackling burning sound when you took a drag to blowing O's and expelling smoke. Mind you i wasn't abnoxious with it, i wouldnt go and show off to others, or be confrontational regarding smoking... and I started vaping primarily because I study for long periods of time and its a pain in the .... to go out into -30 degree weather, knee deep in the snow from the 9th floor of a library to go have a smoke every 45 minutes. Now i see that, as a trend over the last month that i have given up smoking altogether, because i thoroughly enjoy vaping, even more so than smoking because of the reduced health effects.

I have had many opportunities to explain my PV to others and while at first it was great giving hope to other smokers who'd like to give up their habit.. it has become quite repetitive doing it over and over again.

Its also difficult to study in the school library without attracting unwanted attention. Not necessarily among the interrogating, defensive security patrol.. but among other students who just want to know what it is I'm doing, because it 'looks cool' and smells pleasant. I find that i have to go to quiet, barely noticeable corners to study and vape, or get up and vape in a stairwell... Not as much of an inconvenience, but necessary.. for me atleast.

 

[bladeangel87]

I'm in college as well, and I always smoke or vape while studying, I believe it helps me concentrate and retain more. I know it could be a distraction, but if you sit in back and talk to teacher before hand and its not bothering anybody I would enjoy vaping while in class. However I haven't vaped in class yet for the sole reason that noone has even heard of e-cigarettes and I wouldn't feel like explaining to professor and half people in class what it is how it works etc. I'm not too shy, but still.

 

[amandaroseq]

I'm in college as well, and I always smoke or vape while studying, I believe it helps me concentrate and retain more. I know it could be a distraction, but if you sit in back and talk to teacher before hand and its not bothering anybody I would enjoy vaping while in class. However I haven't vaped in class yet for the sole reason that noone has even heard of e-cigarettes and I wouldn't feel like explaining to professor and half people in class what it is how it works etc. I'm not too shy, but still.

Same here, I'm in college at Penn State University, and have yet to see or hear about anyone else who uses a PV. It obviously depends on your demographics. But it did come up in one class for me, and my professor was curious about it. When I pulled my pink 510 out of my purse he jumped back so I naturally said, "What? You don't have to be afraid of it." He then said "No, it's just that I don't know if school policy allows you to have that on campus".. Even though there is no such policy, I had no plans of vaping in class, only outside on breaks and in the bathroom to avoid the task of answering questions from 65-70 people at a time in classes. And not only that, but I know it would be a distraction for other students, even if just for the first day they saw it. Everyone is different, but that's the way I am. What I loved though, was even after I explained in depth how a PV works to that same professor, he said today out of the blue in class "Be careful with that electronic cigarette, Amanda. Penn State has a new no tobacco policy as of January 1st, remember?" I sighed, smiled, and said "Dr. ______, it's not tobacco, remember?" -- The way I see it, is that he's just one person, and I truly don't have the time to explain it to as many people as would ask. I'll just wait until more people hear about them or see more of them. I am definitely more concerned with my studies than answering the questions I would get, and since I had to go through even my longest class (8 hours) without smoking, I'm sure I can go through all of my classes without vaping. So you won't find me disrupting class. That's my .02 about college and vaping.

 

[dubnluvn]

I vape in class. Not because I need to vape at every waking moment but because its the only way I can stay focused in that damn forsaken class. I just hold it in so I don't exhale huge clouds of vapor, although last week I accidentally had a good sized puff blow out. Luckily no one noticed, or no one said anything. I try to be respectful, I wouldn't want to be a distraction. The cool thing is that the 510 easily passes for a pen, especially when one end is in your palm.

 

[Annastasia]

Just to play devil's advocate...didn't people smoke in classrooms and the workplace for years, back in the day? Was it considered a distraction then?

I wouldn't vape in class, either, but only because right now so few people know what PVs are that the questions *would* be a distraction.

 

[SheerLuckHolmes]

I graduated from high school in 1969. We had a smoking area outside in the back of the school. No way was there ever any smoking allowed anywhere inside the high school. My senior year we had to go to a local Jr College to take our SATs. We were sent into a lecture hall for the test. And low and behold there about everyother seat, right in front of me.... Ash trays!!!! ASH TRAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I smoked right through the entire test. I thought I was in heaven. Couldn't wait to get to college. I mean Ash Trays right in the lecture halls. That was Cool!!! And so I get to college and no smoking in any of the buildings, only outside. No, wait, you could smoke in the student union and certain closed smoking study rooms in the library. And of course in your dorm room.

My how times have changed.

 

[big_sizzla]

Wow... imagine... smoking in a designated study room in your library. Wouldnt that be fun...well.... and not to mention chokingly toxic

 

[P3rplexity]

I don't vape in class, or see a reason to... I doubt anybody's nicotine addiction is so strong that they can't take a bathroom break, or just wait till class is over with. I myself take 110 minute classes and have no problems, and I'd consider my nic. addiction an 8/10.

Anyways, Story time! - I was vaping right after my last class on friday, just walking in the hall and this RUDE on-campus police officer walked past me, yelled "EXCUSE ME" So I turn and say "Yes Sir" and he makes a bee line towards me like he is going to swing at me or something. Then he proceeds to ask me "What the hell do you think you're doing??, there is absolutely no smoking allowed in this building" I politely informed him of the circumstances and that it isn't actually smoke, it's carcinogen free, and it has no odor. He then gets angry and points to a sign that says "No Smoking" And says "I don't care what your puffin on, no smoking means no smoking, next time mommy and daddy buy you a new toy tell them to read the rules to you."

This part particularly ...... me off because I've been self sufficient since I was 15 years old and I really don't think his behavior was warranted, even if I had been a spoiled brat. Anyway I really wasn't looking to dig deeper into the argument, and by this point everybody sitting waiting for their class was getting an excellent show, so I just said ok and walked off. I memorized his badge ID but I don't even think the administration would do anything lol.

The story, comes with a question. What am I supposed to say to someone who totally flips out like that? I'm sure he was having a bad day or something (not that it matters) But the signs don't say no tobacco, they just say no smoking. I could have wasted 30 min to an hour making this guy eat his words but that's just not in my nature. So is there any kind of nice little response I could have pre-made for such incidents?

 

[Stranger]

The best thing you can do in that situation is leave. Yea it sucks but college is a place that you have to pay to be treated like a toddler. The fact that he was a cop greatly increases they "You can't win factor".

Reminds me of a story, a guy took a pic of a train, I think it was an Amtak, NYPD cop starts reading him the riot act "9/11 national security, bla bla".

It is not illegal to take a photo of an Amtrak train. The guy taking the pic showed the cop the law on his blackberry. This resulted in him being handcuffed to a post until a supervisor got there and then had him arrested.

They have not charged him with taking pics of the train, becasue they can't, it is not illegal. But he is charged with blocking access to a public area and some sort of assault of the police officer because the cop did not like they guy's tone.

This was a taxpaying citizen doing something that not only is there no law against, but there is a specific policy indicating that it is ok. In your case as a student, you can't win. If you took it to court and won on legal grounds, the college would just expel you or take some other retaliation.

It would have been awesome if PV's had been invented back when the whole county was a "designated smoking area". The only places you could not smoke were for fire safety reasons. The PV would have taken care of that in most places. Now we are all criminals not for what we are doing but for what it looks like we are doing. Never mind that smoking bans were supposed to be about 2nd hand smoke. We are a minority and are stepping out of what is considered "acceptable behavior" .

But it is not all gloom and doom. Right now you know and I know you are not breaking any law. So go to the bathroom or some private place inside and vape your brains out.

I am reminded of another story from my younger years. I lived in a college town at the time. I bought some gas and paid for it on my Visa card. For some reason it would not read on the terminal inside (back before pay at the pump). So, horror of horrors, the attendant had to type in the CC #. After those painful seconds of back breaking typing, the clerk gruffly states. "Your card is F*&Ked up. You need to call Mommy or Daddy and have them send you a new one. I shouldn't have to type it in."

The funny thing was I not only had already graduated college and was working full time, I have been on my own since I was 17, and not only was the card my own account, at the time my parents did not even have a credit card.