Planet Of The Vapes

The boys are in the pit once again. Hennessy is chilled, barbeque on the grill and the artist of choice to serenade us that night is Lana Del Rey. It’s another birthday celebration and somebody’s going home drunk and perhaps hung-over the day after. Not much have changed since the last drinking spree except that the threshold for alcohol consumption is a little tamed and most noticeably the smell of cigarettes is finally gone. No, my buddies have not quit smoking. I don’t see that happening anymore at this stage in their lives. Now, they just vape.

In case you have been out of the scene and still Game Of Thrones-struck, the more hip-sounding “vape” has been a steady and growing fad aimed to substitute tobacco smoking. Vaping is derived from its tool called Personal Vaporizer (PV), which utilizes a heating element that vaporizes a liquid solution. There are some solutions that merely releases flavored vapor while some, those who could not totally divorce from nicotine, still has the deadly substance in it. They can, however, control the amount of nicotine they want to burn, or in a sense, kinda like gauging how long they want to live. Either way, the smell is nowhere near that of regular cigarettes and I can’t believe it came to this point, but second-hand smoke has never been so delightful.

The gadget itself is amazing. It’s taken over the entire table discussion. My homies talk about their PVs like it’s science. They talk about how precise your PV should be assembled, that the thread needs to be at exact length and that the atomizer—the heating element—must be of high quality. And you can throw in the towel when they start talking about the actual flavors. The list outduels that of Buffalo Wild Wings’ spicy choices by a mile. It goes from bubble gum to pineapple to tiramisu. I swear if it’s something that you can taste, there’s probably a liquid solution for that already. So it's no surprise that vape conversations get extremely serious. You can easily get lost in translation. I mean whenever I find myself in the middle of such talk, I feel as if I’m in high school Physics class again where every term seems so foreign. But at least I know this much—like I know much of the theory of relativity—the greater amount of smoke you exhale, the better your PV is!

Now don’t get me wrong. The smoke that fills the air is still annoying, flavorful as it is, especially if they get in your face. I don’t know as well how “healthy” exactly it is and if my friends actually vape virgin flavors or nicotine-infused ones. And I’m totally oblivious where the FDA stands regarding vaping but I’m sure the tobacco companies are not pulling for great reviews. Could you imagine how much money Marlboro is losing because of vaping?? All of my buddies have gone vaping and I see more and more switching everyday. Heck, I even have a friend who didn’t smoke before but now actually vapes.

Vaping may not necessarily save you from lung cancer nor is it gonna better our environment, but at least it’s a start. A planet of vapes?? Sounds.. er.. smells good to me!