Talk to Your Teen About Vaping

Vaping is the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). E-cigarettes are battery-operated devices that can look like typical cigarettes, cigars or pipes, while others resemble pens or USB memory sticks. Devices with fillable tanks may look different.

E-cigarettes have a refillable tank that holds a flavored liquid, or “e-juice,” that features tobacco or marijuana. The e-juice is then vaporized producing an aerosol that delivers nicotine or marijuana to the user. E-juice can be ordered online, where proof of age is not always required. Many people assume that e-cigarettes are less toxic than standard cigarettes, but there is little data to support that theory.

“Juuling” is another word to describe vaping using a juul, a trendy vaping device that resembles a flash drive and can be charged in a laptop’s USB port. “Dripping” involves putting the liquid directly onto a heat coil, and vaping without a mouthpiece, which makes the vapor stronger.

A 2017 report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that one out of three high school seniors have used vaping devices and many did not know the origin of the mist they were vaping. The report also noted that daily marijuana use has become as or more popular than daily cigarette smoking among teens, representing a dramatic flip in use between these two drugs since the survey began in 1975.