‘Vaping’: The Smokers’ Alternative

After smoking cigarettes for 40 years, Ginger Booth stopped this year. But she didn’t do it cold turkey.

For the past five years she’d also been vaping, which is the term for smoking e‑cigarettes, and now she’s written a book about her experiences with them. ​“E‑Cigarettes 101: How to Start Vaping” is her personal story and that of several others framed within the mechanics of this relatively new alternative to the much maligned cigarette.

Booth is also lucky. She has a vaping lounge to visit right here in town. In Branford, there’s E‑Six Vapors at 869 West Main Street, the first and largest e‑cigarette store in Connecticut. You bring your own battery and clearomizer and there are banks where different flavors can be loaded up.

Vaping lounges allow vapers to socialize and try different flavors. New Haven’s first vaping store opened last summer. Click here to read about it. 

Booth, 52, a Branford native, lived in Colorado, Dallas and Tokyo, before returning to town about 20 years ago. A self-described ​“resistant smoker,” she used e‑cigarettes in conjunction with regular cigarettes (dubbed ​“analogs”) before finally quitting, and still uses them. She explained that an e‑cigarette consists of a rechargeable battery, which is part of the stem, plus the clearomizer, contains the atomizer, and a tank for the flavored liquid. The heating element heats the liquid and turns it into a vapor, hence the term ​“vaping.”

The base liquid consists of propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin, plus nicotine and flavoring. The amount of nicotine can be controlled and gradually reduced as the individual weans herself from vaping. 

Booth says she did a lot of experimentation when she first started – she makes her own flavors. Honeysuckle cantaloupe is her favorite. Commercially a lot of flavors are available, such as RRYY44, strawberry ice, and grape soda. She says in her book that most people prefer the fruit flavors although taste in e‑cigarette flavors is completely individual.

Booth points out that there are benefits to nicotine. ​“It’s an emotional modulator,” she says. ​“Brings you back into the comfort range and may help ADHD and memory.”

She said this explains why teens with their wide range of emotions are attracted to smoking.

Vaping: A New Way To Quit Smoking

Booth believes that people don’t just take up e‑cigarettes without having smoked regular cigarettes – they’re used in conjunction with smoking and/or as a means to quit smoking. She firmly believes they’re a step toward quitting. ​“People can take up vaping and go down to zero nicotine.”

And regarding teens, she says that few e‑cigarette vendors will sell to anyone under 18. ​“There’s voluntary self-regulation throughout the industry, and has always been.” She adds that teens tend to try out all the vices of adults. ​“The habits that stick tend to be the ones that do something for them. At least if they’ve already gotten hooked on nicotine, they could switch to vaping and do less damage to themselves, while keeping the benefits.”

E‑Six Vapors on West Main Street has been catering to the vaping crowd for two years. The store is bright and airy; a slightly sweet odor lingers in the air that’s rather pleasant. It has a mail order/online presence and another store in Milford.

Everyone working there formerly smoked cigarettes and now vapes. Part-owner Ben Harrison says the staff answers questions about setting up and are quick to give advice. A woman came in with problems with her set-up. It was quickly determined that there was a ​“flooding” issue – too much liquid was getting in the wicks. 

“The vapor doesn’t hang on clothing and in the air,” he said. Everyone agreed that it’s extremely rare for people, including teens, to take up vaping without having smoked cigarettes.

And that Bazooka-flavored liquid that detractors believe attracts teens? Ted Szabo (pictured left ), another owner, says it’s quite popular with 40- and 50-year-olds. They are adamant about not selling to underage kids, and even their website limits access to those over 18. He believes vaping is taking a ​“huge burden off the health care system,” adding, ​“There are a lot of pros.”

In fact, as of Oct. 1, teens in Connecticut under the age of 18 are prohibited from buying or smoking e‑cigarettes.

All are firm about being respectful when vaping around other people and in restaurants.

Teens and E‑cigarettes

Booth looks at this information with decided skepticism. She has strong feelings when it comes to teens and smoking.

“Do teens smoke? Yes, they do. Teens try out all the vices of adults. Sex, porn, drinking, drugs, caffeine, nicotine, weird sleeping schedules,” she says. ​“They’re fledgling adults and they try their wings. The habits that stick tend to be the ones that do something for them. At least if they’ve already gotten hooked on nicotine, they could switch to vaping and do less damage to themselves, while keeping the benefits.

“There are millions of vapers, and more all the time. And most of them are enthusiastically pro-vaping – many believe vaping saved their lives, she says. ​“Yet, the stories that hit the news are worries about teens taking up vaping, and other negatives. That seems very strange. Until you follow the money. You heard almost nothing about vaping in the news, or anywhere, until six to nine months ago, when Big Tobacco entered the industry. Now, the FDA is seeking to regulate e‑cigs – by introducing expensive new regulations that might seem reasonable on the face of them, but favor Big Tobacco. And Big Pharma.”

There’s also a financial incentive to vaping. Booth says a pack-a-day smoker can save about $2,500 a year over the cost of analog cigarettes, $1,000 if you vape part time.

She says the general view in the vaping community is that nicotine-minus-the-smoke is only about as dangerous as caffeine. But more effective, without the obnoxious side effects, so more addictive.

But back to the book. Along with the mechanics behind vaping, Booth is very candid about her own feelings toward smoking. She acknowledges that it’s an addiction – she’s even named it Puff – and it’s one that she lives with despite the pressures of society to try to get her to quit.

“But in my case, I think Puff has been really brilliant here. All the forces arrayed trying to bully me into quitting smoking, are exactly the ones I want to flip the bird to. Screw ​‘em. I defy them all. The more they try to bully me into quitting, the more resolutely I hang onto Puff. Puff is cool.”

Booth has little patience for the hostile attitude of former smokers. She said the e‑cigarette forums online are full of reformed smokers who are hostile. She said that other books are written by ​“apologists who nag … no one will buy that.”

She says this first book on vaping is personal. Two other books are planned on exploring the medium and the social and political aspects

So she puts the e‑cigarettes out there as a viable alternative. ​“These will make you happy. What flavor do you like?”

E‑Cigarettes 101, the full-color illustrated eBook is available from Amazon Kindle. The book is also available in a black and white soft cover from Amazon. Copies have been donated to Blackstone Memorial Library in Branford, and Hagaman Library in East Haven. Softcover retail price is $9.95.

Part 2 will be published Tuesday. 

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