What if....e-cigs were legal

[jazdale]

The big concern right now is whether the gubmint will choose to outlaw e-cigs.

But...what if e-cigs were deemed legal?
Would there be a little vapor clouds in aisle 3, 5, and 7 in walmart?
Would the airplane with 400 passengers have 10 or so vapor addicts puffing away?
Would you be one of the proud vapers vs a sneak vaper?

It appears to me that most (if not all) vapers are ex-smokers. In light of recently passed anti-smoking laws , I think we are an incredibly considerate group that doesn't want to be lumped in with smokers and their continued loss of freedoms and over-taxation.
When in public, we tend to sneak instead of proudly displaying our freak flag.

Do you think your closet habits would change if the law favored your e-cig rights?

 

[Valsacar]

Closet habits? I'm not ashamed of quitting smoking. I'm not ashamed of vaping. I hide nothing, and when asked I proudly tell people what it is. Nothing illegal about what I'm doing, so why should I be ashamed of it and try to hide it?

 

[firefox335]

My closet habits have waned considerably in recent months. I've only gotten 1 negative comment from someone because she thought I was smoking. When I explained what it was and gave her a card, she was very interested in buying a pv for her dad. It's all how you come across. I vape just about everywhere I go. Most people ignore it or say "Ain't that one of them steam cigarettes?" The only time I'll hold off is when I'm around kids. I don't think most kids really have a grasp of "vaping" yet and I don't want to encourage them to smoke.

 

[Rhapsodies Fire]

I agree with valsacar. I fly my "freak flag" all the time. With respect, of course. Not so much in your face as doing what I normally do. I figure if I act normally, then folks will tend to perceive it as normalcy.

*edit...and I never smoked around children...so I don't really vape around them either.

 

[Nomoreash]

I am a proud vaper vs a sneak vaper and don't sneak around. Sneaking around gives the impression we're doing something wrong and that's not the impression I want the people that see me vaping to have. I don't know how many if any of them I've converted but many many conversations have been struck by me vaping in public and many said they were going to give it a go.

I'd recommend putting a card with links of valid information along with business cards from respected vendors in your wallet or purse and passing them out when the subject comes up instead of trying to hide it and just feed what the fda is dishing out to the masses.

 

[intriqken]

I still kind of stealth vape.
While in the waiting room for an oil change I had 5 or 6 puffs on my PV but I also held them in longer than normal so that the vapor was much less than you would normally see, The manager looked real hard at me but didn't say anything (probably wondering what it was that I was using) and none of the other 6 or 7 customers in the room even looked up,
At the movies I put a black cap from a 901 cartridge over the LED so no light escapes at all (works really well, by the way and fits perfectly).
I generally take a last long drag before entering a store and then exhale as I am entering. Occassionally I will take a puff or two during an extended shopping trip in Walmart but never the grocery store,
I'm new at this and still don't want to 'offend' anyone but I am getting more relaxed in my vaping as time goes on,
I, too, want to see acceptance for my habit,,,,and I don't think anyone should or has the right to object to it, Unlike smoking, this habit doesn't affect anyone other than me.
Yet the world is slow to change and I would like to have them come along with me rather than force myself on them and risk them banning me altogether like they did with smoking,

 

[abby182000]

I pretty much vape everywhere and don't try and hide it. I have only been told twice that I couldn't use it. Once in a pool hall in Colorado and I told the guy that his kitchen produces more steam than my little ecig and the other time was at the movie theatre while standing in the lobby, because of the abundance of tweens/teens present which I completely understood. I don't use it in doctors offices or hospitals or in school (unless it's the bathroom or outside). Grocery stores, Walmart noone seems to even care. I've never had a manager or anything ask me to put it away. Sometimes I do get asked what it is and I show them and give them information on where to get one and a recommendation on a certain model.

My favorite is when I go to the mall and when walking past the smoking everywhere kiosk (usually my pv is in my pocket) they will ask me if I smoke, and if I've heard of the ecig. I whip out one of my mods and they ask what IS that? I laugh and tell them it's an ecig and the battery lasts over a day when fully charged and produces tons of vapor. Most of them have never seen anything like it..... CLASSIC Most of the time I want to tell them that those little cigarette looking ecigs with puny vapor production and less than quality batteries are a rip-off. In fact when people want info on them I usually steer them away from them since they are way overpriced. I got my friend a really nice mod for about the same price that out performs 10x.

 

[jlarsen]

As far as I know, they ARE legal.

 

[jlarsen]

I still kind of stealth vape.
While in the waiting room for an oil change I had 5 or 6 puffs on my PV but I also held them in longer than normal so that the vapor was much less than you would normally see, The manager looked real hard at me but didn't say anything (probably wondering what it was that I was using)

He probably thought you were taking a hit off of a "sneak a toke." LOL

 

[aspj111]

As far as I know, they ARE legal.

Thats what I thought.....

 

[JupiterV]

Yep, not Illegal means Legal in my book.

 

[jlarsen]

The only time I'll hold off is when I'm around kids. I don't think most kids really have a grasp of "vaping" yet and I don't want to encourage them to smoke.

I don't hold off in front of my 10 year old son. Of course my wife and I explained to him what they are. He's glad we don't smoke stinky regular cigarettes anymore, but he's also way to interested in our e cigs.

He wanted to know if it was OK for kids if there was no nicotine in the liquid, we told him no. He asked if we'd buy him one when he's 18, we told him no. We had to tell him that while they are healthier than regular cigarettes, they still taste a bit like tobacco and are an "acquired taste" that only people who used to smoke cigarettes would care for, and that he wouldn't like them, and shouldn't be so interested in them.

I finally agreed that when he was 19 he could have his own e cig with 0 nic juice. I figure that buys me nine years before the subject comes up again.

I still get the feeling that he's probably telling kids on the playground "My dad smokes a Halo with Menthol Ice in it." So I'm expecting a call from the school someday or to at least get a question from a teacher at the next parent-teacher conference.

I guess as long as the D.A.R.E. officer doesn't come over to the house to see who's dad is smoking MEnTHol out of a skinny black pipe, I'll be lucky.

 

[jlarsen]

I'm not ashamed to vape, and despite the fact that there is no smoke, I don't feel it is appropriate to vape anywhere that smoking was already banned, by management, before any state or city bans of recent years. That's why I don't vape in grocery stores or similar places. I don't consider that stealth. But then again, I've never been as addicted to nicotine as most smokers. Even at half a pack a day, I could work an 8 hour shift with only one smoke break or even go all day without one if I forgot to bring them. Two hours in the grocery store, and I don't even think about it.

Even the mall and bowling alley here banned smoking about 12 years before any legislation against it. So I wouldn't vape in those places. One exception being a separate room within the bowling alley that has a bar/casino - where smoking was allowed between the time it was banned in the family area of the bowling alley and when the statewide smoking ban took effect - I would vape there, if I could afford to go anywhere.

 

[slumdog]

Complain..Complain,Complain............Until there is more data readily available this will be the common response of the sheep, the FDA will see to that, it's the only way to achieve their agenda and what their getting paid to do "their job".... unless you are in an area of younger people, I live in south Florida, so, i stealth vape most places. Some places i walk around blowing big clouds as i do my shopping, i do respect others..I go to the lobby, or the very back if its too good to miss, at the movies, i go to the bathroom on a plane, this one is a must unless u wish to get arrested because the pv is not illegal but using it on the plane is but, it cant be detected by smoke detectors...........its not smoke........so bathroom time works for me......i understand your plight, just remember and learn from the skateboard revolution of the eighties, if you act like a punk you will be labeled as a punk and be treated as a punk and the word will spread and then we will all be punks, so act accordingly, smile, and explain... then if the proprietor says," please don't do that," then smile, put away your pv, and apologize for whatever inconvenience you may have caused and go about your business with confidence, because, you know the world will catch up to us eventually..the bible even states that all things will come to light....

 

[ctourtelot]

I go to the bathroom on a plane, this one is a must unless u wish to get arrested because the pv is not illegal but using it on the plane is but, it cant be detected by smoke detectors...........its not smoke........so bathroom time works for me

FYI, watch the massive vapor clouds around detectors. Some test for more than just smoke and some have vision sensors. A couple of people have noted setting off detectors, although it took large plumes directed right at it. The bathroom on an airplane is a good option, but I wouldn't fog it up..so to speak lol

 

[grandmato5]

Since e-cigs aren't illegal now my habits of when and how I use mine wouldn't change much in the future if that status were to continue into the far future. The only thing that would change should those that wish to eliminate e-cigs were to stop their rediculous assult on e-cigs would be that I would have less of a stash of what I like becuase I'd be assured I could purchase whatever I wished long into the future. For now, when I find something that works well for me I simple make sure that I have enough to continue vaping for a good long time if that's what I wish to do.

 

[slumdog]

FYI, watch the massive vapor clouds around detectors. Some test for more than just smoke and some have vision sensors. A couple of people have noted setting off detectors, although it took large plumes directed right at it. The bathroom on an airplane is a good option, but I wouldn't fog it up..so to speak lol

of course not,,and thanks for including this..because it is an important point...USE WITH GREAT DISCRETION IN PLACES WHERE YOU KNOW IT IS ILLEGAL....airplanes government buildings..courthouses and such....

 

[DarwinUser]

Well, it's not illegal, so it's kinda like legal, isn't it?
That said, if e-cig industry were to be regulated, we could definitely see some improvements in the products out there. Today, there is no such regulation, so quality control is somewhat lacking. E-juices with inconsistent flavors, attys that burn out too quick, cartos that leak, etc. These are some of the unknown quantities that vapers have to contend with these days.

 

[DuncanDisordely]

*Innocent Until Proven Guilty* is the same as *Legal Until Made Illegal* in my book, and should be the case with anything on this earth. It's not illegal to shave your eyebrows in public, but you wouldnt do it if embarrassed - why are we embarrassed about something that's Saving Our Lives?

That said, all of the other points about not p*ing people off and making a nuisance etc, added to the "why make it a problem" argument, are completely sound and common sense. Let's not make ourselves hated figures.

Happy Vaping!

 

[OldDragon]

The only thing I can say about this is that a few years ago Cigarettes use to be legal to smoke anywhere. Still are, just not everywhere and most likely nowhere outside of your home. There are just too many people out there who don't want us to enjoy anything that they don't enjoy.