15 Things Only Vapers Know About

Vaping has given us a unique and dynamic subculture. Who could’ve dreamed up the cloud competitions, insane builds, insanely powerful mods, and vaping celebrities in the early 2000s? From this community, we’ve compiled a list of 15 things only vapers know about.

1. The Joy of Indoor Vaping

Indoor vaping is a luxury vapers know well. Watching a movie, reading a book, writing blogs at the last minute, and staying out of the hellish Arizona heat are all perks of vaping indoors. The smell is sweet, and the vapor clears in a matter of minutes (depending on how hard you vape).

2. Saving Money on Nicotine

This one comes with a bit of an asterisk. You can save money on nicotine, but many vapers go hard. If you’re conservative when it comes to hardware purchases, use DIY materials, buy in bulk, and buy affordable e-juice from Mt Baker Vapor, you can get your nicotine fix at a fraction of the price of cigarettes! Vapers know how to save big on nicotine.

3. The Love Between the Vaper and the Hardware

Vapers know the sentimental feelings about vaping hardware. Whether it’s the newest, sexiest RTA, or that old, faithful mod that just won’t quit, vapers get extremely attached to their hardware. I’ve never seen it, but I’m sure someone out their has written a love poem to their mod.

4. Electrical Expertise

Vapers know an eerie amount about electricity. Ohms, volts, milliamp hours, metal composites, conductivity, current regulation… You may think your vaping friend has a degree in electrical engineering. They don’t.

5. The Agony of Dry Hits

Oh, the pain! Oh, the pit of it all! There isn’t a vaper alive that hasn’t tasted the cruel plume of hate that springs from a dry coil. On the plus side, you occasionally catch a glimpse at a hilarious “stank face” when your friend dry-hits his or her mod.

6. There’s Never Enough Battery Life

If you’ve ever owned any gadget ever, this is no surprise. Every battery dies before its time, and I’ve known vapers to carry three to five charged 18650 batteries on their person, just in case. If you pack this kind of heat, make sure the batteries are in a safe case. Battery safety is critical.

Keep spare batteries, keep them safe, never loan them to anybody… Vapers know these golden rules well.

7. Tremendous Collection of Weird Accessories

Non-vapers look upon the accessory collections of a vaper and see the hoardings of a lunatic. Tiny screwdrivers, warped strips of Kanthal, o-rings, antiquated vape holsters, an arsenal of little glass bottles… Doc Brown’s lab in Back To The Future seems sensible by comparison.

A bit of advice: never question a vaper on why they have something, just let it be. Also, don’t touch anything.

8. State Governments and Crazy Legislation

Want to hear a rant? Say the words “government regulation” to a vaper. A vape enthusiast will froth at the mouth and go on a tirade the length of a Ken Burns documentary. Other triggers: “Master Settlement Agreement,” “deeming rule,” “the State of Utah,” and “Jay Inslee.”

9. The Definition of “Tootlepoofer”

This may sound like a slur uttered by a convict on HBO’s OZ, but there’s nothing offensive about tootlepoofing. It just means a vaper who enjoys tight little draws from low-powered equipment, usually at higher nicotine levels. In the right context, this term could be offensive, I suppose.

10. The Pain of Running Low on E-Juice

When the sun shines, you make hay. In lean times, you eat the hay. Like a big, sad horse. When you run low on e-juice, you enter a state of panic. When you run out, you may spiral into a glacial depression. Stay stocked, and keep those wicks saturated. For sanity’s sake.

11. Boroque Coil-Building

The internet is a strange place. You can find mountains of coil pictures on Instagram that don’t even look like coils. The time and effort put into coil construction is awe-inspiring. Vapers know way too much about coils.

12. Ridiculously Strong Opinions about Flavor

Ever think someone could describe what they hate about peach flavor for a half hour? How about the subtle differences between menthol and mint? A vaper can list their full flavor profile in enough detail to make you rip your skin off.

Note: the pickier a vaper is about their e-juice, the worse their taste in food and drink is. Science has yet to explain this phenomenon.

13. Scorn from Smokers

Vapers know the leer of smokers and non-vapers. It’s a combination of horror and malice, usually reserved for cockroaches and miniature dogs carried in purses. Some smokers say they prefer the “real thing,” some say they could quit cold turkey (if they wanted to), while some quote ludicrous “studies.”

Just grin and bear it. Chances are, they’ll be joining us soon enough.

14. The Christmas Feeling from Vape Mail

I’ve known vapers to stare out the window in anticipation of their postman. Like a child, or a deranged cat. On the flip side of their jubilant anticipation is a sinister rage when their vape mail is late. Imagine if Christmas came a few days late: children would burn this civilization to the ground. The same goes for vape mail delays. Full-grown adults will revert to their primitive brain if USPS makes an error.

15. It’s More than a Habit

Vaping is a hobby, a lifestyle, a distraction, a political hot-button, a scientific innovation, a culture, a…. you get the picture. Vaping is many things. Smokers tend to have a begrudged resentment for their cigarettes; a love/hate relationship. Vapers I know have more of a love/love relationship with vaping.