Vapouround magazine Issue 25 | Page 131

3. The fear of a dwindling coil and being far from a shop It’s always the way, isn’t it? You’ll install a fresh coil and then go away for a few days, thinking you’ll not need to pack a stash of fresh ones, when said new coil decides to give up the ghost early. This never seems to happen when you’re holidaying somewhere with vape shops galore, no, it’s only when you head out to the sticks for a get-away-from-it-all break. 4. Becoming a nicotine dispensary for smokers 5. Educating non-vapers 6. Still having to act like a smoker anyway 7. Having to constantly defend vaping “Damn, I’m out of cigarettes, can I share your vape?” go the infamous words spoken to vapers on any night out with smoking friends. While we’re sympathetic to their nicotine needs, we have been pestering them for months to get their own device. Besides, we’ve probably forgotten our spare bottle of juice anyway, so conservation is key here and, no, you can’t share our vape. Nope, we’re not “smoking a vape” and we’re not “getting high” on the contents, either. Actually, vaping is safer than smoking; and, no, we’re not doing this to be ‘cool’. Also we despair every time we see signs and hear intercom announcements that proclaim: “No smoking and this includes e-cigarettes.” For the last time of telling you - smoking is not the same as vaping. It just isn’t. The ‘designated vaping areas’ in many hospitals/pub or restaurant gardens/literally anywhere, are quite often...the designated smoking areas. We are vaping because we’ve stopped smoking so would like to avoid it where possible, but suddenly we’ve got to stand in a smoking area? This hardly seems fair. You wouldn’t hold an AA meeting in a pub after all. Beyond correcting people who think vaping is the same as smoking, all vapers know the pain of reading yet another fear-mongering headline about the ‘safety of vaping.’ Some people really get bent out of shape about us giving up smoking but we are a passionate lot and if we constantly have to defend vaping to smokers then so be it as we are sure to convert one or two along the way and that is a big win all round. VM25 127