In 2013 alone more than quarter million middle and high school students admitted to smoking e-cigarettes. As time goes on the numbers increase, more and more teenagers are turning to smoking e-cigarettes over conventional cigarettes. According to federal data 13% of high school teenagers use electronic cigarettes.

However, the results of the recent studies may not be true to the trends or patterns. What the federal data fails to look into is the actual use of e-cigarettes among teens. The data does not separate the teens who have experimented with electronic cigarettes once, teens who only use them once in a while and teens who are regular e-cigarette smokers. These details are important when gathering data and making claims based on the results.

Political leaders, nationwide, are asserting that teens really enjoy the trend, appearance and taste of electronic cigarettes. While it’s easy to assume that teens are attracted to the idea of smoking something that tastes like a candy, there is more to investigate. Members of Southern California Public Radio found a few high school students to interview and find out more about the increasing e-cigarette trend among teens.

Ryan Connors a sixteen-year-old high school student says: “Yeah, I’ve tried vape, it’s whatever.” Connors says many of his friends and peers aren’t huge fans of e-cigarettes. Although they enjoy the quality, they only use them occasionally and rather stick to using traditional cigarettes.

Kacee Nicklas a 19 year old admits to using e-cigarettes as a way to quit tobacco use. A similar story is seen a few miles west of Nicklas with Tony Avaanesian. Avaanesian agrees that e-cigarettes taste significantly better than traditional cigarettes, and has also tried to quit conventional cigarettes using e-cigarettes. However, both felt that e-cigarettes were not easy to use. Although both teens say that they have used e-cigarettes, they only use them when others offer.

Rodney Barin an 18-year-old one-time user of e-cigarettes says he bought an e-cig to see what the hype was about. He concluded that the e-cig without a doubt gave a way different smoke but still prefered to smoke his tobacco cigarettes.

Andraki Vart doesn’t smoke tobacco cigarettes but has smoked e-cigarettes. He tried it for the same reason most teens do - because it's trendy. After his first try, Andraki felt that e-cigarettes or smoking in general wasn’t for him.

Has the use of electronic cigarettes among teens increased in recent years? Most likely. But we are certainly not seeing a new generation of smokers. What we are seeing is, teens experimenting and exercising their curiosity as they always do. So, should these one time or seldom users be a part of the overall numbers?