Do you vape?

Yes, obviously. The culture surrounding it at the time was very much focused on stopping smoking, big tobacco was generally portrayed as the enemy. Now big tobacco owns lots of vape companies

and if they said “no” you’d say “well im not selling it to you”

was it your shop?!

No but it was fine with the owner who felt the same way. They're also no longer in the business either btw

That's ok, I can believe that many vape users wouldn't believe that vape manufacturers are dumb enough to deliberately market to school children. It suits the narrative to be dumb but, it's not the manufacturers guilty of that.

Big Tobacco. Heard of that? They are the tobacco companies and they are losing cigarette and pipe smokers in absolute droves. That's due to deaths (old age or illness), government intervention by restricting access - leading to supermarkets tightening up selling practices, advertising and many other actions.

Those are the companies behind vapes. Gotta keep their punters... at any cost.

OneTC probably could answer this better but vapes can be bought and used without nicotine. Ex-smokers would probably want the nicotine liquid but who then is buying the vapes without the nicotine, and why?

If you’re not addicted then just stop

no need for it at all then

I smoked for years. I tried so so hard to give up and when I was finally able to
give up I made sure to never ever smoke again

however after 13 weeks of giving up I became like the devil and got addicted to those nicotine sprays. They were more way way more expensive but after 9 years using them I was able to give those up (much easier than smoking)

because of all of that I wouldn’t ever touch vaping and there’s studies starting to come out now of the damage it does.

The argument that vapes are used to stop smoking cigarettes though is being thoroughly debunked as people who've never smoked cigarettes - and children who've never been able to buy them - are buying and using vapes.

These are just separate arguments. People who have started vaping might conceivably have started smoking.

Tapering off any addictive substance is a proven method of beating addiction.

The advent of 20mg nic salts was an incredibly cynical move but an obviously dead end industry though because then it became about keeping people vaping not about stopping people smoking

It's your opinion that they're marketed towards children. I really don't believe that these companies are dumb enough to deliberately market to school children.

No one is going to want something that tastes like crap. Vaping has had the success it has because it isn't purely functional. People enjoy the experience, which is crucial in making the swap from cigarettes to vapes.

and if they said “no” you’d say “well im not selling it to you”

was it your shop?!

so every time you sold it you’d ask the customer “are you a smoker?”

genuinely curious!

Because it was always my first question.

Some people might have lied I guess.

This was about10 years ago, the majority of people interested in it were life long smokers and people struggling to give up. It was a social electronics hobby scene that also helped you stop smoking. Kids hated it and it was the preserve of the desperately uncool.

If people in my shop said they didn't smoke that was the end, they can buy it somewhere else. If people were very light smokers I normally advised them that taking up vaping would probably increase their intake and to think twice about starting.

With the rise in nic salts and the shift in focus from cessation to maintaining a customer base I got out of the industry. That wasn't what it was all about. Now it's dominated by tobacco companies and big business

That is the argument being used and it's working. It absolves the vape producers nicely as 'adults like nice flavours'. You wouldn't get 'brococoli and gravel' flavour as quite rightly, who would want that? I've said in my post above, what used to be available was functional and I'm sure that it's had its success. Nobody but nobody who never smoked would buy and use these products though.

The argument that vapes are used to stop smoking cigarettes though is being thoroughly debunked as people who've never smoked cigarettes - and children who've never been able to buy them - are buying and using vapes.

I've said, I don't give a toss what adults do but when that crosses over to impact children then I mind. It is down to the government, no argument about that.

OneTC, if vapes had been around when I was giving up smoking I definitely would have used them. I stopped one year before the ban came in. There were only nicotine patches, some sort of spray and lozenges, all horrid tasting/smelling, but they have a function.

I can see the appeal, they don't smell nearly as bad as cigarettes do and that would have been a huge benefit for me.

Nothing in life comes without risk but adding a risk you didn't currently have, doesn't make much sense. OP, there is no way your children won't find out that you're both vaping, they're already surrounded by peer pressure to vape. Yours and your husband's vaping gives them a 'go ahead' message. One that we'd never want to give any child.

It isn't marketed at children. Adults like nice flavours. You don't hit 18 and suddenly only want broccoli and gravel flavour.

out of interest

how did you possibly know whether they were non smokers or not?

Vaping is a great tool for stopping smoking.

I used to sell them and flat out refused to sell them to non smokers. It's crazy to start when you don't smoke!

i don’t think vaping looks “low class” 😆
i don’t think it looks “ridiculous”

i do think it’s odd to just start it up when there’s been SO much coverage about how shit it is for you
and i do think you are being wildly optimistic in thinking that soon to be teens won’t smell it or see it when their parents vape in front of the tv in the evenings

for someone who says they suffer from health anxiety

you seem pretty chilled and gung-ho about vaping OP!

so you get your vape out at 9pm
and they never come out of their rooms for any reason once gone to bed
and definitely never smell it
and what happens when they start to go to bed later? they’re 11/12? secondary school in september, that 8/9pm bedtime will be later

op be realistic. give up now before you are addicted or dave the reality that pretty soon at least two of your children are going to discover both their parents vape

Never bothered myself too much with what others think.

Then why have you posted? I don't care whether people vape or not, no skin off my nose. It's your body, your health.

I do care that this product is being so heavily marketed to children though. That is everybody's business and since the government has shown scant regard in allowing this product to enter the UK without any sort of restriction, it's worth mentioning and lobbying for protection for children. If adults are sad about that, it's just too bad. Children can't consent.

The posters bleating on about banning cheese and so on are just deflecting. I hear fear whenever I see 'othering'. Cheese doesn't have lithium battery attached, isn't addictive (however delicious), doesn't have the myriad other dis-benefits either. I don't care what nonsense you post.

I think the demonisation of smoking plays more of a part. It isn't that vaping is worse for you than smoking, it's that it's an unknown quantity - as smoking once was. My grandmother, in the 1940s, was advised to take up smoking by her doctor as an antidote to war nerves.

Smoking is far from the only thing that is bad for your health or risky that some people do on a daily basis, but it's been hugely singled out over the last 20 years.

Dementia/alzheimers is the leading cause of death in the UK at the moment. As someone watching my (non-smoking) father go through this, I'd rather die of a smoking-related illness before that stage.

I've never been pregnant (my choice) so thankfully never had to consider that issue.

This is a viewpoint I struggle to understand. I worry that the demonisation of vaping is to blame here.

I know someone who smoked all through a pregnancy because she thought better the devil she knows. But one devil absolutely contains carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, tar, and other toxic chemicals.

I'm not comparing you to someone who smokes during pregnancy and I'm not judging you. It just really worries me that people would rather smoke cigarettes. There would have to be a very serious revelation about vaping for me to conclude that it was worse than smoking. There's some pretty stiff competition for it to win that race.

No, I don't vape - only proper cigarettes are worthwhile to me. Aside from that, I would rather the devil I know with smoking related illnesses, than the unknown of vaping - vaping has only been a thing for the last 20 years, if that - it isn't long enough to assess the health effects.

Yes because obviously people who vape don't also do that
I have a nicotine addiction, it's not my means of relaxing, I use cleaning and exercise to relax

It does look ridiculous and very low class, which people on here will no doubt jump on but it does.

The thing is about people like yourself saying it looks ‘low class’ is that it’s loaded with the idea that you believe yourself to be a ‘better class’ of person simply for not having this particular habit. Describing anyone as ‘low class’ in this day and age is really low class in itself, what in particular makes a person ‘low class’ in your eyes beyond making a personal decision to vape?

Hate vaping. It does look ridiculous and very low class, which people on here will no doubt jump on but it does. Like adults or teenagers sucking a dummy. I don’t know anyone in my group of family / friends that does it. And I have a huge
friend group spanning several countries. I have moved around a lot. Medical evidence is starting to show that it’s not benign and is a health risk and increases cancer risks. Better than smoking. But better to do neither. Smoking doesn’t look as ridiculous but I don’t know any smokers now either. Everyone gave up.