People Think Vaping Is Douchey and Smoking Is Sexy And It Makes Me Want To Scream

“But really, Big Vape, here’s something you have yet to consider: Maybe people don’t like vaping because they think it’s lame. I mean, nothing can replace a classic cigarette, especially when clutched between the fingers of a teen who’s dying to look cool. If vaping is going to flourish, it needs to re-brand into something sexier than the original thing.”

This is a direct quote lifted from a Gizmo article titled “Sorry, No One Likes Vaping”. A better title would be, “Non-Vapers Don’t Like Vaping” or “Don’t Understand Vaping” or “Inhaling Tar And Carbon Monoxide Is Sexier Than Healthy Alternatives," because that really is what this lacking article is trying to say.

The article begins by stating that “Big Vape” is in trouble because the large US based E-Cigarette company NJoy filed for bankruptcy. Now some of you may have just dropped your jaws because you had no idea. And that's because NJoy steadily worked their way out of bankruptcy, and are now continuing to be a leading US E-Cigarette manufacturer.

Ironically, the reason they lost a good amount of business and had to file for bankruptcy, may dismay the author of this article. NJoy saw profits drop after increased spending on marketing for brand recognition, and the extremely poor response to a product they spent too much money re-designing and pushing onto the market.

That product… A cig-alike known as The King which bore extreme resemblance in look and feel to traditional cigarettes. Traditional cigarettes that the author claims are so much sexier than vaping devices ultimately lead to the temporary downfall of E-Cig giant Njoy. Imagine that. If “nothing can replace a classic cigarette” why didn’t the classic cigarette style device take off? There are thousands of traditional cig-alike products out there, and you hardly ever see them. Maybe because traditional cigarettes aren't that sexy after all?

Njoy’s top selling products today are ultra-portable refillable tank devices and slim disposable E-Cigs that bare no resemblance to traditional cigarettes.

The author of this disparaging Gizmo article mentions that Phillp Morris is in development of a new product for users to get their nicotine fill that aren’t vapes or E-Cigarettes. She claims that this new device could be the solution to the “no one likes vaping” case she is trying to make.

The flaw here is that this device Philip Morris is pushing currently in the UK, still has traditional tobacco in it, and is just as unhealthy as regular cigarettes. The only difference between it and real cigarettes is that it looks like an E-Cig. So if traditional cigarettes are “so much more sexy” than vaping… why is Phillip Morris, the largest cigarette company in the world, trying to emulate the appearance of vaping?

So it seems to me like the only standing she has on what makes cigarettes so much cooler than vaping… is that it’s unhealthier? As if it is cool to hold a big-ole “F You!” to the world saying that you don’t care what you put into your body. You’re a cool teenager who doesn’t give a heck… Other than that you’re “dying to look cool”. Which is cool?

Vaping doesn’t claim to make you appear cool. In fact many E-cig manufacturers warn against vaping if you are not looking for a healthier alternative to tobacco.

The point of vaping is to decrease the amount of people who seek to satisfy nicotine cravings with harmful tobacco. Vaping doesn't want “teens dying to look cool” with “cigarettes clutched between their fingers”. The whole argument that E-Cigarettes are douchey and lame is a terribly harmful rhetoric for those who desperately are trying to find alternatives and can’t find satisfaction or solutions in patches, gum, or prescriptions.

This idea that vaping needs to be re-branded as “sexy” is absurdly hilarious to anyone familiar with the vaping community. I’ve seen more old, crotchety, nasty-smelling people smoking cigarettes than young, sexy, happy, healthy people engaging in the bad habit. I’ve definitely seen some WILDLY sexy photos and videos of vaping models all over the web. I would so much rather see a nice bikini clad girl with a Juul or a mustachioed cloud chaser with a heavy mod than any sullen, mopey teen smoking a cigarette in a coffee shop trying to look cool. That’s not sexy, that’s sad.

 Dare I say, it's borederline pathetic. The fact the author is pushing this is frankly depressing.

Seeing young, of-age, people vaping is a positive and healthy sign that young people are more aware of the dangers of smoking than their elders who are struggling to quit, or worse, don’t want to switch to vaping because of the negative opinions of people like this author who only see vaping as a douchey fad. Young people of legal smoking age who have made the switch to vaping is a huge step in the right direction to eradicate cigarettes reaching teenagers due to the fact that this generation is actively aware, and can teach young people to never start smoking cigarettes in the first place.

I will admit I did smoke to look cool, and also fit in with my friends at high school parties sitting around a bonfire, at a skate park, or poolside and smoking. It reached a point where I felt extremely uncomfortable, with sky rocketing social anxiety, if I didn’t have a drink and a cig in hand. Despite the fact I knew all four of my great grandparents died directly from smoking from young ages well into their last days. Completely aware that cigarettes made me feel sick and gross afterwards. But I couldn’t not have that crutch in every social situation I was in. Which of course then spiraled into me craving one even when I was alone.

Now I have found vaping and yes I will admit that at first I thought I would face judgement. But now I tell people how much more comfortable I feel knowing I still have a social crutch and I don’t feel gross. I can get through a car ride without stinking up the place. I’m enjoying amazing new flavors all the time, I don’t smell or have a gross taste in my mouth, and I still get a comfortable nicotine fill. No one thinks I look douchey. I own it. I’ve got a sick vape pen and I’m not afraid to use it!

As a matter of fact my boyfriend who smoked for five years quit vaping shortly after he started because he feared he would face mockery. He went on to smoke cigarettes for three more years. He is now, (with some encouragement and light nagging from me), on the path to quitting cigarettes via vaping once again, and this time he is sticking with it. I couldn’t be more proud.

I’d rather be douchey and living than coughing and cool.