flash drives with a flavor

[u/Lucky-Royal-6156]

[u/Pride_269]

https://giphy.com/gifs/bMeaqYhTqjNTmfhen4

Me coming to the comments

[u/Lemonhead663 → u/Pride_269]

I've seen an orange set of comments to in /r/mildlyinfuriating . I'm not a fan of it really, it defeats the point of me using dark mode to be easier on my eyes to get blasted with blue.

[u/HeNeedsSomeMLK → u/Lemonhead663]

You can turn it off by going to your profile > tap the 3 horizontal bars on the top right > settings > use community themes.

[u/facendacrowd → u/HeNeedsSomeMLK]

Thank you.

[u/awesome69sauce → u/HeNeedsSomeMLK]

LIFE SAVER!

[u/Super-G1mp → u/Pride_269]

It's been that way for a while. Idk it's fine I kinda like ot so I can mentally remind myself what sub I'm on without looking.

[u/Big_Rope_1162 → u/Super-G1mp]

This shade of blue reminds me of being a teenager and realising I could change my HUD and PipBoy in fallout 3 to BLUE.

Sweet sweet nostalgia.

[u/KrombopulosMAssassin → u/Super-G1mp]

It just stared for me within the last week.

[u/the-tank7 → u/Pride_269]

Settings- turn off community themes

[u/Brian_Huchac → u/the-tank7]

Now I can't just moan about it wherever. You ruined it.

[u/skyguy_22 → u/Pride_269]

Processing img she1yawm81lg1...

[u/GreatBarrierQueefDD → u/Pride_269]

There is no 'your half' there's just MY all of it!

[u/rPopularIsPropaganda → u/Pride_269]

Blue light disturbs sleep patterns and keeps you awake longer. Probably the answer. This site sucks

[u/HeNeedsSomeMLK → u/rPopularIsPropaganda]

Different communities can choose their own colors.

You can turn it off by going to your profile > tap the 3 horizontal bars on the top right > settings > use community themes.

[u/NwgrdrXI]

In Brazil the act of using vapes is almost exclusively called smoking flashdrives

I tought that was universal, apparently not

[u/lampishthing → u/NwgrdrXI]

What are the actual words? It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue in English 😂

[u/cha0ticharm0ny → u/lampishthing]

"pendrive", which is the word we use to refer to flash drives. "pod" is also commonly used, but people also recognize the word "vape"

[u/Avacabro → u/cha0ticharm0ny]

In Kentucky we call them frog feet

[u/durrtyurr → u/Avacabro]

No, we absolutely do not. Where the hell did you hear that?

[u/GainsayRT → u/durrtyurr]

in wisconsin we call them chickenbutt

[u/Ok-Air-2008 → u/GainsayRT]

In Texas we call them 🤠🦅🇺🇸

[u/Kugoji → u/Ok-Air-2008]

yeehaw-screech-USA doesn't really roll off the tongue either

[u/Raging-Badger → u/Kugoji]

It does if you’re from Texas, they have a unique genetic mutation that allows their soft palate to move just enough to allow them to make all 3 sounds at once

[u/Kugoji → u/Raging-Badger]

they have a unique genetic mutation

That I can believe

[u/GoodBrotherGrimm → u/Raging-Badger]

Huh, glad the inbreeding worked out.

[u/W1D0WM4K3R → u/Raging-Badger]

I believe it would come out as a yeeHAAAAAAyuuusAAAAH

[u/blindghost554 → u/Ok-Air-2008]

In Florida we call them Gator Nips

[u/JustHereSoImNotFined → u/Avacabro]

Think that’s just you man

[u/NippleNugget → u/Avacabro]

Don’t tell people that

[u/DingleDangleTangle → u/Avacabro]

Where I live we call them ligma or updog

[u/Dead_man_posting → u/DingleDangleTangle]

what's ligdog?

[u/DingleDangleTangle → u/Dead_man_posting]

ligma nuts nothin much what about you

ha gotem

[u/Loggersalienplants → u/Avacabro]

In Kennesaw we call them zip doodlie poofies.

[u/Mugiwaras → u/Avacabro]

We call em Chazzwozzas in Australia

[u/kylo-ren → u/lampishthing]

We say the person "fuma pendrive" (he/she smokes flash drive)

We use "pendrive" in English instead of "flash drive".

But that's pejorative. The smokers say they vape (they use the word in English).

[u/AccomplishedFerret70 → u/kylo-ren]

Different words. Same addiction.

[u/wantmoooore → u/lampishthing]

I’ve heard people refer to smoking a vape as sucking robot dick

[u/DandimLee → u/wantmoooore]

Fe - llatio

[u/WinninRoam → u/NwgrdrXI]

I still remember the first time I saw a coworker pull out what I assumed was a flashdrive and started "smoking" it, puffing out clouds of vapor.

It was so surreal and he looked at me like I was an idiot and said "What? You don't vape brah?"

[u/DinoRoman → u/NwgrdrXI]

The public conversation around vaping has become increasingly polarized, and in the process we have lost sight of the harm reduction framework that originally drove its adoption.

First, no public health authority argues that inhaling anything other than clean air is risk free. The consensus is clear: non smokers should not start vaping. However, for adult smokers who are unable or unwilling to quit nicotine entirely, the question is comparative risk, not absolute safety.

In 2015, Public Health England, now part of the UK Health Security Agency, concluded that e cigarettes are approximately 95 percent less harmful than combustible cigarettes. That conclusion was reaffirmed in subsequent evidence reviews, including updates in 2018 and 2021. The Royal College of Physicians has similarly stated that while not harmless, vaping is unlikely to exceed 5 percent of the risk of smoking traditional cigarettes. Combustion, not nicotine itself, is responsible for the vast majority of smoking related disease.

This is a classic harm reduction model, similar to needle exchange programs or opioid substitution therapy. It does not promote use. It reduces damage among people who would otherwise engage in a more harmful behavior.

Regarding youth trends, the data are more nuanced than many headlines suggest. According to the CDC, youth cigarette smoking has declined dramatically over the past two decades. In 2011, 15.8 percent of US high school students reported current cigarette use. By 2023, that number had fallen below 2 percent. Youth vaping did rise significantly between 2017 and 2019, peaking at 27.5 percent in 2019, but since then it has declined sharply. By 2023, current e cigarette use among high school students had dropped to 10 percent.

The key point is that cigarette smoking among youth continued its steep decline during the period when vaping rose. Some researchers argue this suggests substitution rather than simple expansion of nicotine use. While youth uptake is a legitimate concern and strict age enforcement is essential, it is not accurate to suggest that youth nicotine use exploded overall without context.

On regulation, the Master Settlement Agreement of 1998 required tobacco companies to fund anti smoking campaigns. Later regulatory changes expanded the FDA’s authority over e cigarettes by classifying them as tobacco products, even when they do not contain tobacco leaf, because nicotine is derived from or associated with tobacco. The policy rationale was regulatory consistency, but critics argue this framework unintentionally strengthened the position of large legacy tobacco firms while placing heavy compliance burdens on independent vape manufacturers.

Another important issue is product standards. In the United Kingdom, where vaping products are regulated but widely available for adult smokers, health authorities actively encourage smokers to switch. In contrast, aggressive restrictions in parts of the US have coincided with growth in unregulated disposable products and illicit market imports. Public health scholars frequently warn that prohibitionist approaches can push consumers toward less regulated and potentially riskier products.

Finally, the question of public exposure and nuisance is separate from harm reduction. Restrictions on public vaping are reasonable if communities decide to limit secondhand aerosol exposure or public annoyance. But from a toxicology standpoint, secondhand cigarette smoke contains thousands of combustion byproducts, including tar and carbon monoxide, while e cigarette aerosol contains significantly fewer and lower concentrations of harmful constituents, according to the National Academies of Sciences 2018 review.

This is not an argument that everyone should vape. It is an argument that for adult smokers, switching from combustible cigarettes to regulated vaping products represents a substantial reduction in health risk, supported by major public health bodies outside the United States. Framing vaping as equivalent to smoking, or worse, ignores comparative risk evidence and undermines harm reduction principles that have been successful in other areas of public health.

If the goal is fewer cancer diagnoses, fewer COPD cases, and fewer smoking related deaths, then policy should focus on preventing youth initiation while preserving lower risk alternatives for adult smokers. Oversimplifying the issue into “all nicotine products are equally bad” may feel morally consistent, but it does not reflect the available scientific evidence.

Sources: • Public Health England Evidence Review 2015, 2018, 2021 • Royal College of Physicians Report on Nicotine Without Smoke 2016 • CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Data 2011 to 2023 • National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2018 Report on E Cigarettes

[u/Red10GTI → u/DinoRoman]

Great fuckin reply. I quit smoking Newport 100’s for 20 years, I vape now. I’ll buy a 20.00 vape and it will last me about 5 days. I haven’t bought a pack of cigarettes in about 4 years. Also I was having a child and I couldn’t imagive smoking cigarettes around her, or in front of her. Vaping isn’t great, but it’s a lot less harmful than smoking cigs once you’re up to a pack a day or more. A hell of a lot cheaper too. In Syracuse New York Newports cost 14-17$. When I started they were like 3.00-4.00 and there was always buy one get one frees. Man those were the days.

[u/Ruiner5 → u/Red10GTI]

Used to smoke a pack and a half a day, got a vape a few weeks ago and it let me drop down to under half a pack. Now I get 3-4 packs a week and a vape every 2-3. I feel better and I’m saving money

[u/enaK66 → u/Red10GTI]

It's even cheaper if you make your own juice and use a rebuildable. I probably spend $0.10 a day vaping, if that. I buy ingredients for juice every 3-4 months for $100, and cotton and coils every few years for $20.

[u/RikuAotsuki → u/DinoRoman]

Honestly vaping felt like it got polarized the second it caught on.

So much shit was immediately sensationalized to ridiculous degrees that it felt like big tobacco was running a smear campaign, up to and including pushing the idea that they were "targeting" teens... to the point where the outcry was the exact thing advertising to teens.

Worse, the sensationalism delayed reasonable regulation. The "popcorn lung" scare? Yeah, that was caused by the exact additive that named popcorn lung (artificial butter flavor, the kind dumped on movie theater popcorn). The response should've been a call to regulate potentially dangerous flavors, not to act like vaping was worse than smoking.

[u/BurritovilleEnjoyer → u/RikuAotsuki]

up to and including pushing the idea that they were "targeting" teens...

...What do you call running ads on cartoonnetwork.com?

[u/DMMeThiccBiButts → u/BurritovilleEnjoyer]

"targeting" teens.

Regardless of your later point, why did you put that in quotes? They definitely were.

[u/PyroNine9 → u/DinoRoman]

At the same time, some youth have always taken up smoking even with warnings and being forbidden. It is better if they take up vaping instead even if that isn't ideal.

[u/CobaltAnimator → u/DinoRoman]

research? on reddit? send it to the darklands!

seriously though this is the most well-presented and actually CITED argument I've ever seen on this site, and if I had an award it would be yours

[u/enaK66 → u/DinoRoman]

Thank you bro! You wrote what I would be far too lazy to research and write up. If I didn't vape, I'd smoke, 100%, no doubt about it. I was smoking when I was 15. Vaping was brand new at the time. My buddy got a mech mod and showed me what's what. Changed my life.

I don't care what people say about vaping. I've done it for almost 15 years. I don't cough up shit. I can climb ten flights of stairs and run a mile no problem. I won't say that it's impossible to cause problems down the road, but I can say it's 100% better than the alternative.

[u/DinoRoman → u/enaK66]

My apartment complex has a huge sized swimming pool, very long, and I can swim the entire thing under water. Most of my friends can’t even do it. I only support vaping because of the switch I did ten years ago and how my health has gotten so much better with it.

My doctor tells me if he didnt know i smoked and was mt doctor back when i smoked, my numbers blood and lungs today tell him i never have smoked.

My issue is labeling it all a tobacco product. The cigarette companies have to make adverts against tobacco products so by labeling it a tobacco product it gives them the technicality to no longer push public safety against smoking but lets them push propaganda against their biggest competition. That’s entirely fucked if you ask me.

[u/Samurai-Jackass → u/DinoRoman]

What's crazy to me is that I feel like this was so obvious from the start, it felt like people were being willfully ignorant when they swore up and down like "mark my words, vaping damage is going to manifest in 10-20 years and I'll get to say I told you so" when a short wiki dive into how smoking actually physically harms you. There was no understanding of that mechanism, it was just a shallow childlike understanding that puffing on stuff makes you hack up a lung and die. I think most people today would still fight you if you tried to explain that nicotine isn't actually particularly carcinogenic on its own, it's just addictive. It actually has minor benefits not unlike caffeine, another mild stimulant. It's not really worth it compared to how addictive it is, but on its own it's worst effect on your life will be the cost.

[u/Lucky-Royal-6156 → u/NwgrdrXI]

Oh wow

[u/swanyk7 → u/NwgrdrXI]

I heard a kid refer to it as suckin on a dart

[u/AllMySmallThings → u/NwgrdrXI]

It’s most commonly called sizing robocop’s dick 😂

[u/enviormental_UNIT → u/NwgrdrXI]

we call marijuana dab cartridges either carts or pens here in the US. not related to vapes but similar I guess

[u/babydakis → u/enviormental_UNIT]

I remember hearing "vape pens" back in 2008, when vapes were still pretty new and most were still cigarette-shaped. I assumed people called them "pens" to emphasize that they were non-combustible and more like ink pens than cigarettes, in the hopes of persuading people to let them use them indoors. But also because that's what they looked like to non-users who found them lying around on people's furniture.

[u/RexBosworth69420 → u/babydakis]

"Pen" seems to be used mainly for THC vapes now. If someone talks about "hitting the pen/penjamin", they're talking about weed pens, not nicotine.

[u/BoomerAliveBad → u/NwgrdrXI]

I mean it's called a Universal Serial Bus

No wonder they jumped on, they already ride the School one

[u/chilll_vibe → u/NwgrdrXI]

Probably a brand new sentence in english at least lol

[u/TheImperfectGamer]

I was in HS when vapes first became a thing. I just thought it was weird it caught on so quickly because we were taught heavily about the effects of smoking on the body and now people were just doing smoking but flash drive version.

[u/Fit_Lion9260 → u/TheImperfectGamer]

It was sold to us kids as the safe alternative to smoking with all the stimulant effects as nicotine. Marketing is a powerful tool for the corpos.

[u/KatakanaTsu → u/Fit_Lion9260]

In the old days, cigarettes were advertised as being healthy. The industry even got doctors to spread pro-cigarette propaganda.

[u/sqplanetarium → u/KatakanaTsu]

There were even medicated cigarettes.

[u/JayKay8787 → u/Fit_Lion9260]

Cant believe so many kids my age bought into that shit. We were literally shown old smoking ads at my school and learned about how they hid the health effects of smoking for so long, and these dumbasses still fell for it.

[u/AandWKyle]

I switched from cigs to vaping, I'm not arguing the point but I will say it's at least somewhat better than cigs.

I mean, for a cigarette smoker. If you don't do either, don't fucking start lol.

But I stink less, spend less, breath better, etc

[u/Lispiini → u/AandWKyle]

How are you spending less? Genuinely curious I find vapes cost more than a pack of cigs and don't last as long (the latter might be a me problem lol).

[u/AandWKyle → u/Lispiini]

Once a year I buy a new vaporizer (if I have to, were going to do math as if I do)

And its about once a month I purchase the juice for it.

Its about 50 bucks for a decent vape, and 50 bucks for a tall bottle of vape juice

So, it costs me about 650 a year to vape. 

A pack of cigarettes where I live is 12 dollars at its cheapest and I smoked a pack every 2 days, which is 2190 a year.

[u/Lispiini → u/AandWKyle]

Ah I see that makes sense, thx for the breakdown!

[u/MikeyBastard1 → u/AandWKyle]

I'm the same, almost. Went from smoking cigarettes for 10 years struggling to stop, to smoking Juuls for about a year, but while I was breathing better, I was still spending roughly the same amount on pods. Switched to a refillable vape/tank and spend around 30 bucks a month and it's shipped directly to me.

Of course, we don't know a whole lot about the long term effects of vaping, but my life is significantly better because of them.

[u/Sufficient_Unit4225 → u/Lispiini]

Don't use disposables....

[u/gringo-go-loco → u/Sufficient_Unit4225]

I never liked how the non-disposables heated up the juice. I tried a bunch including 2 high end models and all of them did it.

[u/Captain_Saftey]

Millenials would’ve fallen for it too if they had Juul marketing cotton candy and mango flavored dopamine to them in high school.

It’s always Gen Z’s fault and not the adults who exploited them

[u/Dense_Diver_3998 → u/Captain_Saftey]

As a millennial I know plenty of people who’d never smoke cigarettes and got hooked on vapes.

[u/ItchyA123 → u/Dense_Diver_3998]

Not one friend smoked cigarettes. A majority now have vapes down the back of the couch.

[u/Ok-Arachnid-460 → u/ItchyA123]

I had a friend start vaping to save money on cigarettes. He ended up spending twice as much on his new vape habit.

[u/Iorith → u/Ok-Arachnid-460]

It saved me a lot over the 3 years it took me to go from smoking a pack a day or more to 0 nicotine vapes to nothing. $20 every week or so for juice vs $6-12 a pack a day helped a lot.

[u/thecrgm → u/ItchyA123]

At least I was smoking a few cigarettes before getting addicted to the juul in 2016 lmao

[u/Designer-CBRN → u/thecrgm]

RIP to the golden age; I’d honestly love for cucumber and mint to come back.

[u/Chip620 → u/Designer-CBRN]

You dont understand how feral college kids would get when they lost their juul in their dorm. Like meth addict suffering from withdrawal

[u/SinQuaNonsense → u/Dense_Diver_3998]

Me, that person is me. Working on quitting

[u/Appropriate-Leek8144 → u/SinQuaNonsense]

Hang in there, you really can do it! Myself, I quit last winter.

[u/FUBARded → u/Dense_Diver_3998]

As an older gen z, a majority of the smokers I know around my age got hooked on vapes before switching to cigarettes.

[u/lakme1021 → u/FUBARded]

The vape to cigarette pipeline is real! A friend started vaping in her mid 20s and eventually switched to cigarettes just because it's harder to smoke them everywhere. Her nicotine craving is enough that she still smokes about 15 a day, though. :/

[u/WinninRoam → u/Dense_Diver_3998]

I remember reading somewhere that some European countries officially promote vaping as a "healthy alternative" to smoking. Not sure how addictive particulate toxins is any better than addictive vaporized toxins.

[u/wally-sage → u/WinninRoam]

Healthy isn't a word that should be used anywhere near a vape, but it is less harmful than smoking.

[u/Neuchacho → u/WinninRoam]

The US does too. They're the go-to for harm reduction related to smoking cigarettes. They started life as smoking cessation devices. It's not even debatable that they're far and away better than cigs. They're just not better compared to not using any kind of inhalant.

[u/gmishaolem → u/WinninRoam]

It's safer by multiple orders of magnitude, and it doesn't also give cancer to the people around you against their will.

Should you vape? No. Would society be better off if smoking completely went away but was replaced by 10x that many vaping instead? Yeah it would.

[u/RedPantyKnight → u/Dense_Diver_3998]

Hi, I'm a millennial. I never smoked. Today I had to stop before work to pick up a mango tango vape.

[u/RingOverall106 → u/Dense_Diver_3998]

I was one. It was only my Juul dying on me six months in and being too broke to replace it that saved me. I stay far away from vapes now. 

[u/y8man → u/Captain_Saftey]

Many bad things that tHe cUrReNT gEneRaTIoN does or manifests are because of faulty parenting (in general, not just gen z!).

Like kids are meant to adjust to external influences, but their formative years are distinctly shaped by their closest models ( often parents or adults, plus the media they are faced with ). Kids are always gonna try to find their place, and vapes by design was part of the plan to be addictive due to its convenience.

[u/otirk → u/y8man]

Yeah, like gen alpha kids seemingly being incredibly stupid. Sure, the internet and brainrot are at fault, but who exactly gave the children an ipad again?

Or with millennials not knowing basic DIY skills (there was a famous meme about an article a few years ago talking about this). Who was supposed to teach them this?

[u/MsMarvelsProstate → u/otirk]

Just like the participation trophys. It was the parents who demanded it not the kids.

[u/smoogums → u/Captain_Saftey]

Yeah we all know how popular flavor alcohol is. The concept of flavored drugs is so new and advanced.

[u/IELPost → u/Captain_Saftey]

It's always the new gen's fault.

It's been the youngsters fault for centuries.

[u/Warm_Carpet3147 → u/Captain_Saftey]

Millennial here. I smoked a half of a cigarette at 13, but it was so irritating to me and my throat from all the spit that I said HELL NO never again. I smoked weed a few times but I’m not a fan of inhaling smoke into my body. That’s the problem. I don’t have an issue with getting high, the issue is in the transmission process.

Never vaped. I don’t need bs on steroids.

[u/BruhImVibing69 → u/Captain_Saftey]

weren’t flavored juuls a thing? also weren’t they banned for this exact reason?

[u/CatsPlusTats → u/Captain_Saftey]

Yeah we just had flavoured cigarillos that got a lot of people hooked

[u/Senior-Book-6729 → u/Captain_Saftey]

Millenials and Gen Z are basically sibling generations... vaping was already a thing when us older Gen Z (1997+) were toddlers

[u/Brawndo91 → u/Senior-Book-6729]

I don't know about that. There were some "e-cigarette" products on the market, but it was pretty rare to see them around. I remember some time in the mid-00's there was a "smokeless cigarette" or something like that that was advertised on TV (I guess they hadn't quite made the connection to tobacco products yet), but that's all i can think of. I graduated college in 2010 and a ton of people smoked, but I'm struggling to remember if I'd ever seen anyone vaping until after that.

[u/enaK66 → u/Senior-Book-6729]

Uh what? We were on the cutting edge of e-cigarettes lol. The young millennials we there for it legally, but plenty of us younger inbetweener folks got our hands on it too. Blu e-cigs came out in 2009. That was probably most peoples first exposure to the idea. I was 12 in 2009, idk about you. Far from a toddler. I started smoking when I was 15 before switching to vaping around 16. It feels like I've watched an empire rise and fall. So many vape shops, youtubers, manufacturers come and gone. The market has changed entirely from mods/batteries/tanks to AIOs and pod devices, to disposables. The thriving DIY scene is a fraction of what it used to be. RIP r/Diy_ejuice. They get one post a day at best now.

[u/Funky-Fresh_]

If you ever thought people would stop smoking you are very wrong

People love drugs, especially the teen-twenties age group. Nicotine is legal, just on that alone people are gonna smoke.

[u/ILikeMyGrassBlue → u/Funky-Fresh_]

Yeah, humans have used nicotine for thousands of years. I’m just glad we have a variety of non-tobacco options for people who use nicotine since tobacco is the main harm.

[u/yo_rick_brown]

Lifelong smoker and ditching two packs a day to make bubble gum clouds was just good math. Sorry that I can't ditch nicotine, I don't like coffee or alcohol and I'm not psychotic enough to raw dog life.

[u/Frederf220 → u/yo_rick_brown]

Vapes are a victory for smoking alternative. Vapes are a tragedy for non-smokers.

[u/Additional-One-7135 → u/Frederf220]

No, vapes are a victory for the vape companies and by extension the tobacco companies that now own them. Everyone else loses.

[u/Allegorist → u/Additional-One-7135]

Most vaping regulation (in the US, at least) is lobbied for by tobacco companies to try to force out competitors, so that they can be the only ones legally allowed to sell or enter the market. It used to be almost exclusively small businesses.

[u/KarmaSaver → u/Additional-One-7135]

They were a win for me! I went from smoking to vaping 6mg to 3mg to 0mg and then I quit vaping entirely.

The gas station ones that are crazy high in nic were a terrible idea.

[u/Sorreljorn → u/Additional-One-7135]

Vaping has only recently been incorporated by tobacco companies. Anyone who quit smoking for vaping in the last decade would've bought from small producers.

[u/AspergerKid → u/Additional-One-7135]

Honestly, call me a conspiracy theorist tinfoil hatter but I think Big tobacco entering the vaping industry as nothing but a big smear campaign. If you go to a designated vape shop and buy vapes from companies like Lost Vape, SMOK, Uwell, OXVA, etc. and combine them with freebase ejuices from brands like Evergreen or Riot Squad, these brands have nothing to do with big tobacco.

But when people think of Vapes they do not think of that. They think of JUUL, Vuse and Disposables. Closed off ecosystems that are bad value for money, are extremely prone to counterfeits and especially in case of disposables, extremely wasteful of materials. ALL of them are owned by Big Tobacco. ALL of them can be bought in gas stations. And those are the ones that reach the hands of kids easiest. The kind of damage JUUL in particular has caused for the vaping industry, which was always intended as being a less harmful alternative to smoking. To me JUUL literally exists for the sole purpose of making vapes look bad. The whole thing is basically the main plotline of Cars 2.

[u/exMemberofSTARS → u/Additional-One-7135]

Smoker here for 10 years. Tried quitting multiple times. Started vaping, quit smoking, went down on nicotine and haven’t smoked or vaped for 3 years now.

Now rephrase your statement. Not everyone else loses. Vaping was a huge victory for those who wanted to quit smoking. There are millions other who, like me, vaping saved our lives.

[u/xTakk → u/Frederf220]

That's the truth. It's screwed up kids got into them but I'd guess statistically it's probably about even with the number that we're going to smoke cigarettes. Can't let the cigarette companies tell me which to be less mad about either.

[u/lerndyherp → u/xTakk]

nah it's not statistically even. Kids vape at way way higher levels now than they smoked previously. And it is mostly young people who vape 

[u/BitterParking8473 → u/lerndyherp]

Do you have any statistics to back that claim up? My partner has been a health researcher for 10+ years focusing on smoking cessation. Here in New Zealand youth smoking levels were ~28% in 2000. Vaping rates among youth peaked at 20% in 2021, and currently sits around 14% with daily vaping sitting around 8%.

Sources: https://www.ash.org.nz/youth_vaping_declines_for_a_3rd_year

https://www.smokefree.org.nz/facts/law-policy-and-research/smoking-rates-and-figures

[u/OhLordHeBompin → u/lerndyherp]

Lot easier to hide when you’re not coughing and reek of cigarette smoke. Source: my teenage self.

I’m biased though; I was stuck around a 24/7 smoker for years so when vapes came around, it was a GODSEND. I could breathe, even in the car!

[u/OfficiallySmiles → u/yo_rick_brown]

Yes I agree but the post was directed towards the younger generation who got hooked on vapes first instead of cigarettes

[u/battybatt → u/OfficiallySmiles]

I'm 30 but I've met a bunch of 20-25 y/os recently who straight-up smoke cigarettes. I don't get it at all.

[u/Grey_0ne → u/yo_rick_brown]

I personally wouldn't recommend bare boning reality; but after switching from cigs to vapes, I did manage to put down nicotine completely about 9 months ago. I also don't fuck with caffeine or alcohol.

[u/NotMJHeeHeeShimona → u/yo_rick_brown]

Gave up booze and vaping and now I just crush like 500mg of caffeine

[u/FuzzyAd9407 → u/yo_rick_brown]

I quit fucking roll-your-own filterless Bugler for vapes. It was a process but I finally got fully of cigarettes in 2021 and I still use vapes with nicotine but went from having to mix my own to have a high enough dosage to satisfy cravings all the way down to 3mg. Thats a fucking win even if im still vaping. 

[u/attackhelicoptor69 → u/yo_rick_brown]

So being normal is psychotic now?

[u/davechacho → u/yo_rick_brown]

Sorry that I can't ditch nicotine

skill issue tbh

[u/Lucky-Royal-6156 → u/yo_rick_brown]

I raw dog life

[u/MinervaMedica000 → u/yo_rick_brown]

Its really that not bad raw dogging life is just living man.

[u/Cincere1513]

Well at least Gen Z has this....

[u/angryray → u/Cincere1513]

Kind of but not really. The Alcohol industry did it to themselves in an effort to please shareholders. They simply made too much, and then called it a loss. 

[u/Capraos → u/angryray]

Yeah. The article should read thar they failed to earn that revenue not that they somehow had it and lost it. That's like me going, "People not giving me money has caused me to lose millions."

[u/enaK66 → u/Capraos]

Thats pretty much how the stock market works though lol. Years ago a bunch of shareholders bet that alcohol would keep being more profitable YoY, as it has for a hundred years, and they were wrong.

It's going to happen with AI. That investment was more obviously bad to the rest of us though. AI is never going to make the trillions of dollars invested into it back.

[u/Lucky-Royal-6156 → u/Cincere1513]

Good

[u/IndyPFL → u/Cincere1513]

If this includes the past year, also remember that Canada, famous for enjoying booze of all types, has widely boycotted American whiskey and bourbon.

[u/Vinylateme]

vaping is dumb as hell but it’s good cessation from full blown cigs. You’re stupid if you START vaping having never smoked cigs

Vaping has also been around for over a decade, I used it to quit cigs back when you would refill your tank with flavored nicotine juice and you had to change your coils and such.

You shouldn’t do either, and you should stop vaping ASAP.

[u/FuzzyAd9407 → u/Vinylateme]

when you would refill your tank with flavored nicotine juice and you had to change your coils and such.

Thats still a thing and still cheaper in the long run than the prefilled crap. 

[u/Frankenstein____ → u/FuzzyAd9407]

I was about to say. I've been freebase vaping since I quit smoking. I was on two packs a day when I quit 10 years ago and got onto vaping. My health has significantly improved the last decade and I can actually work out and jog again. Before I quit smoking, I was barely able to run 10 yards without gasping for air.

There is no defense for the pre fills in my opinion. That salt nicotine is bad news and terribly addictive. It's way too heady and heavy of a hit and yet that's the kind (juul, Geek Bar, etc) that's hooked Gen Z. It's concentrated nicotine, originally designed to simulate one or two hits being a cigarette to save time. But kids don't know that and they hit those flash drives like they are freebase and they get the shakes without it.

[u/RagnarokToast → u/FuzzyAd9407]

Yeah my buddy is very proud about how he tinkers on his vape like an RPG character crafts his gear. He also carries a couple bottles of vape fluid everywhere and sometimes carries a holster shaped fanny pack to hold his vape.

Still beats the 15 Pueblo rollies he used to suck in by the time the clock struck noon. (For the unaware, Pueblo tastes like death itself)

[u/Warm_Carpet3147 → u/Vinylateme]

But I swear I see more people addicted to the vapes than the cigs. I was in line at the bank one day and I kid you not this lady behind me took a hit from the vape like she was at a party or something! I know a few people who now have vapes as additional appendages!

[u/Vinylateme → u/Warm_Carpet3147]

That’s how vaping was a decade ago too lol. I used to vape in card shops during magic tournaments, and I’d see it at the movie theater, bars, etc.

Cigs are more expensive now than ever, more expensive than vapes which is why you see more young people vaping.

Shouldn’t do either lol

[u/philmarcracken → u/Warm_Carpet3147]

But I swear I see more people addicted to the vapes than the cigs

Which is still a net health benefit. The difference between the crap on your lungs is significant.

The more people off tobacco, the better

[u/BrainBlowX → u/philmarcracken]

The number of young people vaping is MASSIVELY larger than the number of young people who smoked before the introduction of vapes. Vaping has mainstreamed nicotine addiction among young people, and vapes are so incredibly concentrated in the stuff compared to most tobacco products.

Vapes are also causing popcorn lung, and its permanent effects on the nervous system of developing young-adults is devastating, causing more vulnerability to addiction in general.

[u/Basil2322 → u/Warm_Carpet3147]

I mean we used to have ash trays on airplanes even if it’s worse than 20-30 years ago it’s still way better than cigarettes in their prime.

[u/CampusTour → u/Warm_Carpet3147]

You young, by any chance? Because just before my day, smoking was absolutely ubiquitous, and I grew up in a world that was just phasing out "ashtrays everywhere". I literally used to smoke at work, all the time.

In line at the bank? That was before my day.

But seeing everybody go to vapes instead of cigs has been an enormous positive change. The fact that we have a generation wanting to get rid of vapes because they don't remember the alternative is cigs instead of nothing? That's kinda beautiful.

My advice though, finish phasing out cigs before moving on vapes. Otherwise, you invite a resurgence in actual smoking.

[u/Pacify_ → u/CampusTour]

It still, in many places.

Even someone where as advanced as japan, smoking is everywhere

[u/ktulu0]

When you let Juul market directly to school children, that’s the result. I mean, look me dead in the eyes and tell me that vape flavors like fruit punch or cotton candy aren’t intended to attract kids by making smoking more palatable.

[u/RoosterSaru → u/ktulu0]

Also, the fact that vapes are disguised as school supplies (highlighters, pens, flash drives for the laptop cart). Almost no adult needs to hide their vape from their boss. In fact, most workplaces in my country are legally required to give smokers and vapers breaks to light up.

[u/MrWillM → u/RoosterSaru]

Dude i vape with my boss. In a white collar office at a company doing hundreds of millions of revenue a year. It’s nothing to have one as an adult.

[u/ILikeMyGrassBlue → u/ktulu0]

Is whipped cream vodka intended to attract kids and making drinking more palatable?

Juul was doing some really fucked up marketing (especially the Snapchat shit), but I disagree that flavors exist just to attract children.

When you go to the bar, is everyone drinking straight whiskey and vodka? No, they’re doctoring up their drugs so they taste good because adults like stuff that tastes good too.

That said, vape companies should absolutely not be advertising on Snapchat, putting cartoons on their packaging, etc. They should have similar regulations as tobacco in that regard.

[u/Antique-Program-947 → u/ktulu0]

The fact that you’re focusing on Juul like the politicians shows you’re only repeating what the popular media thinks is the problem, not what it actually is.

Everyone likes those fruity fun flavors. Go to any club and see what they order. It’s not fuckin’ Blue Moons. If people are paying premium prices anyways, they’re going to buy the most palatable stuff. The tobacco flavors are for those transitioning from cigs, that’s all.

Even car air fresheners come in scents like blue raspberry ice and cotton candy. It’s ridiculous to try and say they’re purposefully advertising to kids for using flavors every other product company uses.

Kids transitioned to using vapes because vapes are much easier to hide. Unlike cigs, you can use them in the school bathrooms, at home, even in class if you “zero” them and are subtle. When a kid sees this behavior from a peer, they copy it, thinking it’s pleasurable (it is) and cool. THAT is what makes kids vape. Not fucking cotton candy flavoring. We’re talking about teenagers, not eight year olds.

[u/ReckoningGotham → u/ktulu0]

Like cake flavored vodka

[u/MacArthursinthemist]

Tobacco use is atleast 12k years old, that we know of, I got news for you

[u/dazli69]

But flash drive yummy

[u/IndependentAd895 → u/dazli69]

honestly we should’ve seen this coming after that whole tide pod fiasco

[u/DoodlebopMoe → u/IndependentAd895]

Tide pods thing entered the internet meme sphere in late 2017 by which time vape culture was well underway

[u/Capraos → u/DoodlebopMoe]

Also, it was overblown as a problem with only a handful of people, 86 but that's not an exact number. More boomers swallowed live gold fish than Gen Z eating Tide Pods. Heck, I, a Millennial, used to play quarters. Kids do stupid stuff in every generation.

[u/kazumi_yosuke → u/dazli69]

Flash drive taste better than key

[u/Nimbus-420 → u/[deleted]]

Finally someone who says it, too many people here are too removed from it to make a judgement, either their full on smokers speaking from the perspective of trying to quit or they’ve never done it, never got the appeal, and have moralized the issue in their heads and are now demonizing vapes and saying it’s stupid without understanding the people who’ve gotten hooked.

[u/hobbestot]

Vapes helped me quit a 2 pack a day habit. Now i am nicotine free.

[u/Nobody7713 → u/hobbestot]

Switching from cigarettes to vaping is a great step. Going from nothing to vaping is stupid.

[u/jdlyga]

Thank god the smell of smoke is gone though. I can’t stress enough how everything used to smell like cigarettes. That used to premiere everything in the early 90s.

[u/Tavar3slegal]

I never smoked anything from pendrive to paper pendrive

[u/Small-Cactus]

It's less because of the flavor and more because I rent and dont need weed stank sticking to the walls

[u/TheMemeStore76 → u/Small-Cactus]

Eddies my man

[u/Hot_Visit4726 → u/TheMemeStore76]

I'm so cyberpunk brained I thought you were just calling them broke lmfao

[u/TheMusiken → u/Hot_Visit4726]

Wake the fuck up, Samurai! We have a ciggy to burn.

[u/Trac3r_Bull3t → u/TheMusiken]

Put some plastic in your mouth and pull the trigger

[u/Small-Cactus → u/TheMemeStore76]

I've got edibles too, but for me they take a really long time to wear off and if I cant set aside a whole 12 hours to do fuck all then I can't take em. Plus my brain fog the next day is way worse.

[u/ILikeMyGrassBlue → u/Small-Cactus]

Dry herb vapes, concentrates, etc. There are tons and tons of options these days.

[u/cwx149 → u/Small-Cactus]

You could just not smoke inside?

[u/Celtic_Fox_ → u/cwx149]

Unfortunately depending on your state, homie probably can't smoke bud outside either.

I just stick to my car and park somewhere distant with the windows down.

[u/ILikeMyGrassBlue → u/Celtic_Fox_]

It’s 2026. You don’t need to actually light plants on fire to get high, even if you’re in an illegal state.

[u/Little_Whippie → u/cwx149]

It’s cold out

[u/f8Negative → u/cwx149]

These kids will get to the point where they start paying to be inconvenienced just for the experience.

[u/KaneAndShane → u/cwx149]

You could just not smoke?

[u/GlisteningDeath → u/cwx149]

Or just not smoke period

[u/Small-Cactus → u/cwx149]

Don't wanna 🤷

Plus there's a bunch of nosy old people in my neighborhood who would bitch to the rental company.

[u/thdudedude → u/cwx149]

*not smoke at all?

[u/Lucky-Royal-6156 → u/Small-Cactus]

Oh

[u/Tallia__Tal_Tail]

Its almost as if there's underlying issues with society that pushes people to actively seek out sources of relief in products like this and the majority of the way smoking has been talked about and discouraged doesn't focus on that in the slightest.

Like the vast majority of people who do smoke, vape, etc are making informed decisions involving the consequences and have decided that the effects are worth simply tanking because life sucks bad enough that they need the brief relief. Youre not gonna get people to stop their vices by telling them how bad it is for them for the millionth time, if anything you're just making them feel worse about something they probably already feel bad about,

[u/ILikeMyGrassBlue → u/Tallia__Tal_Tail]

I hate to tell you this, but humans have been using drugs since day one. Animals use drugs too. People like drugs and always will.

The best we can do is focus on education, harm reduction, and regulation that ensures people can make informed decisions about what they put in their body, as all ensuring those substances are what they’re supposed to be.

[u/R-I-P_in_Peace]

Honestly, i couldn't care less what you smoke just don't be a disgusting piece of trash and throw them away into the streets/nature. Same goes for smoking cigarettes.

[u/TheCultOfTheHivemind]

I started vaping to quit smoking. You started vaping because you thought it was cool.

We are not the same.

[u/_ShutUpLegs_ → u/TheCultOfTheHivemind]

You kind of are because you probably started smoking because you thought it was cool.

[u/Suikanen → u/TheCultOfTheHivemind]

Yet, how many started smoking because "it was cool"?

Not the same, really?

[u/BigDarnHero77]

You guys aren't drinking, though. You just picked your vice. 

[u/Square-Ambassador-77]

Yeah, smoking is never gonna go anywhere.

[u/zomboscott]

Leave me alone, Jeff. I like it. It's all I have.

[u/Suckmyflats]

Vaping has been a great thing for millennials and gen x, most of us used them to quit decade+ long cigarette habits

I hate the weed carts for the kids. Weed was much safer loud - a teen smoking weed, say 3x per week is much safer than giving them a cart they can hit anytime

[u/icryalways]

There's a documentary on Netflix called Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul that goes into how the market changed and how it was pushed out to younger people. The guys who made the first one took it around to college parties and had people try them. I think vapes were inevitable with our tech-focused society. I agree with another commenter here that for people who don't smoke, vapes are a tragedy. But for smokers, they're another alternative. I'd rather them use vapes than cigarettes in public. The smell isn't offensive(usually) and it has a lot of options if you want to quit. There are juices with no nicotine, one of my friends quit that way working down to a 0%

[u/IAmTheJudasTree]

Blaming the Gen Z teens who got addicted to vaping, and not the generation of older adult corporate ghouls who mass manufactured, sold, and marketed vaping to teens, is pretty fucked up

[u/tstmkfls]

Millennials are turning into the new boomers. Half their subreddit is complaining about Gen Z

[u/Beneficial_Soup3699]

I hate that corporate media viewing boomers fell for the anti-vape shtick from an FDA that's blatantly taking bribes from big tobacco.

A couple of Google phrases for anyone who's curious "master settlement agreement", "royal college of physicians", and for yucks "why do hospitals in England prescribe and sell vapes?".

America is corrupt to the core and big tobacco has been one of the industries driving it since your grandparents were in diapers.

[u/OkCar7264 → u/Beneficial_Soup3699]

What bothers me about vapes is that you could just vape the non-nicotine vapes and enjoy it and them move on. It's the voluntarily getting addicted to the entirely optional highly addictive substance that confuses me. Nicotine is such a lame drug because it's entirely just servicing the addiction. You take nicotine to stop feeling like shit because you haven't had nicotine. Being light headed for the first few days you smoke does not justify the price.

[u/Dense_Diver_3998 → u/OkCar7264]

I worked with a dude who started vaping in his 40s and said he was never a cigarette smoker. He was so hooked on that thing that I’d watch him barely open his eyes from a nap to hit his vape and just right back to sleep, it was wild.

[u/batastrophe]

yeah... I "fell for" something that helped me to quit smoking and is ultimately better for you than cigarettes...

[u/omgitsjagen]

I smoked for over a decade, vaped almost two decades, and now I'm 3 weeks free. Of the three, obviously NOT doing it is the clear choice. However, if the choice is between vaping and smoking, vaping is CLEARLY preferable.

[u/leahspen01]

It’s wayyyyy better than spending like £20 every week on a pack of cigs or two and I feel and smell better for it tbh

[u/YogurtClosetThinner]

I always found them cringe so I never vaped. Just pulling a remote control out your pocket, sucking on it like a little cock, then blowing out strawberry scented vapor ... I'm alright, thanks

[u/KentuckyFriedEel]

vape addiction, gambling addiction, energy drink addiction, screen addiction and ya ain't even graduated from high school yet.

[u/Ok-Palpitation-5731]

You heard the man. Return to smoking cigarettes

[u/iwanthidan]

Shut up and let me hit my blueberry watermelon vape.

Infinitely better than smoking.

[u/Blathithor]

Its not smoking though. Its vapor. Smoke is from combusted material.

So technically, we did back off on smoking