They look often like cigarettes, producing a cloud of vapor resembling cigarette smoke. E-cigarettes are gaining ground on their tobacco predecessors and causing a momentous shift for people who have struggled to quit smoking for years. E-cigarettes and vaping — the term for using an e-cig — have been around for less than a decade.
But it has only been the past few years that vaping has become so popular across America — and on Delmarva. As their presence increases, fierce debate has begun over their usage — including why, how and where they should be used.
One need only look around Delmarva to see how vaping and the e-cig supply industry has grown dramatically within just the past year.
These lounges have popped up in strip malls and shopping centers all over the peninsula. From Dover to Delmar, Del. A local chain, called Vape Ithas contributed greatly to that increase. But the market seemed to justify opening more than just one store. According to the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Associationmodern vaping traces its roots to an invention from a Chinese pharmacist named Hon Lik in the early s.
The first e-cigarettes appeared in the U. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study published in September showed that between andthe percentage of U. Various kinds of e-cigarettes are now available at many gas stations and convenience stores. Vaping lounges take what is happening behind the counters and registers of all of those gas stations and convenience stores and turn it into an entire store. They sell various kinds of e-cigarettes, from ones that look like actual cigarettes to ones that look like large pens.
Some even resemble small flashlights. The lounges also sell the flavored liquids and juices that go in vaporizers. Examples of different e-cigs. The only thing missing from the picture at 11 a. The shop is clean, comfortable and inviting.
We give free water out. We have tea available for customers. But he said he has seen tremendous customer growth all the same. I expected to lose money for about a year.
Talking with those quitters, Sutherland said themes emerge in their rationales and experiences. A bill that went nowhere in the Delaware General Assembly in would have taxed the products. He is weaning himself off them through vaping. And the most common thing these quitters mention is how much better they feel after making the switch from tobacco cigarettes to e-cigarettes. I can really feel a difference.
Asked about the health impact of vaping, the men who run Vape It and Delmar Vapor Lounge plant their feet and declare that they, too, use e-cigarettes. He smoked tobacco for nearly three decades before trading them for a vaporizer. It turned out I did. Sutherland smoked cigarettes for 14 years. He said after he made the switch he found he had a lot more energy. While ceding some of the argument to the former cigarette smokers, Dr.
Karyl Rattay, Director of the Delaware Division of Public Healthsaid the health benefits they claim may not turn out to be all that beneficial.
Rattay was impressed with a study released this past spring from researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. That study, published in the American Heart Association journal Circulationwas the most comprehensive review of research of e-cigarettes to date. The study did not call e-cigarettes a good cessation option.
A big part of the argument for not using e-cigarettes to quit traditional smoking centers on what is being inhaled by users and what chemicals are released from e-cigarettes. Questions about what is fact vs. For those in the public health arena, more studies are ending in support of their belief that the chemicals used for vaping are harmful. Across a wide variety of vaping products, those researchers did concede that there appears to be much less nicotine per puff in e-cigarettes.
The levels of toxicants were lower, too. But that does not mean they were non-existent. The study listed several polysyllabic words ending in things like -ehyde, -one, -ene, -ine and much more. And it went on to claim e-cigs definitely release particulate matter, which is unhealthy. It is unclear how the amounts compare to regular cigarettes. Sutherland said he looks at the math and believes there is no way the contents of e-cigarette vapor is as harmful as that of their traditional counterparts.
The math is there. The study indicates no apparent risk to human health from e-cigarette emissions based on the compounds analyzed. For example, on toxicants found in the vapor — they claim the studies that found problematic amounts had used unrealistic levels of heating. The organization said it did not have any editorial control over the study. The UCSF study claims the existing level of regulation on e-cigarettes means vaporizers vary widely, as do the contents of the liquids put in them.
If that came to pass, new nationwide rules for the those products would include minimum age and ID restrictions, health warning labeling and a prohibition on most vending machine sales. Lawmakers nationwide are anxious to see what the FDA decides and to get more definitive answers on vapor contents from researchers. Rattay said that for many years the tobacco industry has denied that second-hand smoke was harmful to millions of non-smoking people.
The Delaware Restaurant Association was strongly opposed to the original act but came out for the addition of vaping to the list. The statement mentions nothing about concerns for the potential second-hand health effects of vaping. HB got through the House of Representatives in June by a vote of 25 to But, after being assigned to a Senate committee, it never came up for discussion. Sutherland said he supports banning vaping in places where regular smoking is already prohibited, adding some e-cigarette users are being careless about using them in public places to the point of being rude.
But the results for the Maryland legislation were very different. Right now, the number of places on Delmarva that specifically ban e-cigarette use is relatively small. The University of Delaware in August enacted a new smoking policy that bans smoking, the use of smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes throughout its campuses, including in Dover, Lewes and Georgetown. Bethany Beach added e-cigarettes to its smoking ban in the spring. In December Lewes City Council banned both traditional cigarette and e-cigarette smoking on its beaches.
There are a number of e-cigarette and vaping product stores on the Ocean City Boardwalk. For now it seems the push to ban public vaping is gaining the most traction in small localities. But state lawmakers are finding other places to affect change, like blocking minors from buying e-cigs.
I disagree with that completely. I like sweet flavors. Still, just banning minors from buying does have the support of Sutherland and others in the vaping lounge community. I put it there. I fully support that. Delmar Vapor notice prohibiting sales of e-cigarettes and other tobacco substitutes to minors. In late January, Hudson introduced HBwhich banned the purchase of the products by minors.
It received near unanimous support in the Delaware House and Senate. Only one lawmaker, Senate Minority Leader Sen. Gary Simpson, R-Milfordvoted against the bill. Maryland has had a similar ban in place since In fact, at this point, about 40 states have laws that prevent minors from buying e-cigarettes. Some states — Virginia among them — also have laws banning the use of e-cigs around schools.
Purchasing bans across the US Source: National Conference of Legislators. Rattay said the pre-ban numbers are disheartening. That went from 0 percent just a few years before.
That increase came before the marked jump in the amount of vaping-centric stores in Delaware and on Delmarva as a whole. Rattay worries now that 10 percent is no longer accurate. According to a study published in August from the CDC, more than a quarter-million kids who have never smoked cigarettes used an e-cigarette in — three times as many as those who used them in The expansion of vaping lounges on Delmarva has not yet reached its peak. In addition to the possibility that more businesspeople could make their first forays into the industry, there are existing establishments planning to grow, including EFactor Vape and Vape It.
What officials choose to do could impact how the products are sold, made and what they contain. All of those items could serve to draw more people into e-cigarettes or push them away. Studies into contents and health effects of e-cigarettes will continue, as well.
The products are still fairly new. That is especially true in comparison to traditional cigarettes, and those went through decades of in-depth study before large-scale consensus was reached on their effects. And as all of that happens, the push to get Delaware and Maryland to add e-cigarettes to the Indoor Clean Air Act will continue.
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