Michael Gemmell from The Mushroom Cloud demonstrates Vaping ahead of Taranaki Vape Day.

For Kraal Davis, vaping was his key to freedom.

He enjoys the "vast hobby" of vaping, making and selling his own mods, but first walked into vaping vendors Mushroom Cloud "desperate" two years ago, trying to give up his 22-year smoking habit.

"And I haven't had a cigarette since," he said.

SIMON O'CONNOR/STUFF Kraal Davis has organised a vape day at the Treehouse Bar on Saturday.

"It's great being able to breathe properly; you can taste food again, you can smell, the chest pains are gone.

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"If you're sick of smoking, and the prison sentence that you feel like you're stuck in because of smoking, come and have a look at vaping."

SIMON O'CONNOR/STUFF The Taranaki Vaping Day will include competitions and showcase different kinds of mods and juices.

Davis has organised Taranaki Vape Day this Saturday, which is bringing vaping vendors together at the Treehouse Bar & Bistro to showcase different mods (vaping devices), e-juices and other equipment, and have a good time along the way.

Vaping works by turning vape juice into vapour which is then inhaled and exhaled. A coil inside the mod is heated by battery power which turns the juice into vapour.

There will also be competitions at the event such as 'show and shine' for rare and custom mods, the pro trick competition (doing tricks with the vapour) and the entertainers trick competition, where you have 90 seconds to entertain the crowd and the largest cheer decides the winner.

"There's so many faces to the hobby," Davis said. "We're bringing the numerous vendors to one area.

"There's the health benefits but also the hobby side of it. The hobby side is huge and growing by the day."

But Davis is also realistic about the risk.

"Vaping isn't a miracle, harmless never-going-to-hurt-you thing, but it is proven to be 95 per cent safer than smoking."

Davis said he'd be happy if 100 people came through the door.

"If we have one person who wants to quit smoking and they walk away with a starter kit, then we've won.

"It's all about quality of life and quantity of life."

Up to 20 vendors from across New Zealand will have a presence at the event.

Liz Posser from Mushroom Cloud, one of vendors contributing to the day, also found vaping was the only thing that helped her completely quit smoking.

She said it was also much cheaper than smoking.

"You can spend $55 and buy the device and your ongoing costs are more like $15-$20 a week."

You can also slowly reduce the nicotine in the juice over time to completely quit, she said.

"We're there to help people transition from smoking to vaping because it can be very daunting."

*Taranaki Vape Day takes place from 11am - 7pm, Saturday February 17 at the Treehouse Bistro and Bar, 471 Devon St West. Tickets are $20 plus booking fee at Ezytickets.nz or $10 at Mushroom Cloud.