Blowing your own Cloud 9
With wide-eyed wonder, the demonstrator took apart his vape and showed the coils inside used to heat up the flavoured liquid and magically turn it into water vapour.
When Willy Wonka introduced the three-course meal chewing gum in the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the public could hardly believe that science would, in the future, allow people to create such an amazing product.
But over the past 30 years science has evolved so dramatically that scientists have been able to create a similar product. Vaping, a concept of electronic cigarettes, has taken the world by storm. The liquids (e-juice) the vapers put into the vaping device is similar to the chewing gum, because not only do they actually taste like desserts and fruits, they also bring back incredible childhood memories.
To test this theory of nostalgia through vaping, the News stepped into the Cloud Lounge Vapery recently. For a person who does not smoke, it was quite a new experience and the News wanted to test the ‘new’ inventions the Wonka-like demonstrators had introduced.
With wide-eyed wonder, the demonstrator took apart his vape and showed us the coils inside used to heat up the flavoured liquid and magically turn it into vapour.
He pressed a button to activate the magic inside and blew ever so slightly onto the coil. Like a dragon breathing in before breathing out fire, the liquid evaporated and the demonstrator created a long, long vape cloud.
He pulled a tiny bottle closer and dripped some liquid flavour on the cotton which was wrapped in coil. . He put the device back together and said: “This is custard.” Within seconds after inhaling, the air smelled like warm Malva pudding and custard on a rainy day.
He repeated the process with another bottle, and this time, the air smelled and tasted like a holiday in Durban because of the fruity cocktail mixture inside. The shelves behind him were filled with tiny bottles of e-liquid in every flavour imaginable.
He explained that unlike cigarettes and hubbly-bubblies, vape liquids come with the option of zero nicotine and and and all juices have zero tar and carcinogens. . Vapers consider the liquids to be a better alternative to smoking cigarettes because of these options. The liquids are made of pharmaceutical grade vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol and food grade flavourants, and contain no tobacco. The News interviewed a few vapers and found that most of them had stopped smoking cigarettes because they had started vaping.
Most scientists also agree that vaping allows a vaper to smoke far more without being exposed to as much nicotine, chemicals or carcinogens. And of course, the manufacturers of e-juice always make zero nicotine alternatives in every flavour.
“The culture in a vape lounge is very different to that of a pub or smokers’ lounge,” said a vaper named Jarred.
“There is a sub-culture made up of an array of people who vape, from gamers to ex-smokers to parents to hobbyists. Everyone likes a good flavour. There is a social, friendly and playful vibe when you step into a room where vapers are vaping.” This is understandable – vapes produce more, thicker smoke than cigarettes or hubblies. ‘Cloud masters’, otherwise known as professional smoke blowers, enjoy these characteristics of vaping as they allow them to blow smoke rings and then play with them in mid-air.
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