How I learned to stop worrying and love e-cigarettes

I’m the most unlikely advocate for E-cigarettes, but let me show you how they represent what’s beautiful in the world.

I’ve been a severe asthmatic practically since birth, and a cigarette-hater for only minimally less time. My parents were once social smokers but after I was born, and hospitalized over and over, they became huge anti-smoking advocates. The slightest puff of smoke in my general vicinity would close off my tiny airways and send us racing off to the hospital. Following their example, I developed a reflexive sneer each time I saw or smelled a cigarette.

Now, over the years, my asthma has improved through increased sports activities and new medicines. But I’d never quite lost the hate-on for smoking in general and smokers in particular. Here’s how being seriously allergic to cigarette smoke has affected my life:
- No friends who are smokers
- No boyfriends who are smokers
- No roommates who smoke
- Inability to stay at parties with smokers
- Inability to visit people’s homes for more than a few hours if a smoker lived there
- Inability to live in cities that don’t have no-smoking laws*
*I know this one sounds overly-dramatic, but I actually chose not to live in Germany because everyone smoked everywhere. While I lived in Paris in the summertime (where life is lived mainly outdoors), I chose not to stay once it got colder to avoid being trapped indoors with smokers.

I truly felt like smokers were totally ruining my life! And I wasn’t afraid to let them know either. Whether it was endless discussions with people at work about why their habit was a horrible HORRIBLE thing, or just random complaints I lobbed at strangers: “Excuse me, can you do that disgusting habit of yours somewhere far away?” Sure, I knew that smokers were probably addicted and maybe even wanted to stop smoking themselves, but that was their problem, not mine. I had a right to breathe and to stay alive. Their right to suck in carcinogenic smoke just seemed pathetic and selfish in comparison. Over the years, smokers became the enemy, and it was just something I never questioned.

But here’s where things got weird. One day I was inside some fancy event space. In Canada it’s against the law to smoke in public spaces, so it had been a long time since I’d encountered any smokers at a public venue. All of a sudden, a puff of smoke floated up in the air, mere inches from my head. I felt my insides start to boil, the familiar reaction started and my entire body got ready for confrontation. My brain formed the angry thought: “Who the HELL is smoking in here???!” But then, I paused. I sniffed. I didn’t smell smoke. What the heck?

Curious, I stepped closer to my perceived enemy to take a closer look. The man took another puff from a long metal device. I sniffed again, and smelled…..nothing. This was obviously one of these new e-cigarettes. I actually reached out and clapped this stranger on the shoulder and said “Thank you for not smoking!” I was elated! Here was someone out in public smoking, and I was completely unaffected by it. I felt like I’d stepped into a Brave New World. A world where people with different opinions and behaviors could actually co-exist together happily!

As you may know, e-cigarettes are small electronic devices that take liquid containing propylene glycol, glycerin, water, nicotine and flavourings and heat it up into a vapor that can be inhaled. The smoker gets the nicotine, but avoids the other harmful chemicals found in a regular tobacco cigarette. The smoke from an e-cigarette is less dense than cigarette smoke; it disappears rapidly and there is no burning odor. It is a very different mixture than what you’ll find when cigarettes are burned: over 4000 harmful chemicals including formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT escape into the surrounding atmosphere.

Now, I know that the jury is still out on the safety of second-hand e-cigarette smoke, and it is not recommended to vape indoors or around children. But when I see someone around town vaping, I’m actually filled with joy that two individuals with completely different needs and preferences can pursue their own choices and hurt no one. What paradise! It’s also made me hopeful about other ways that technology might improve the lives of the millions of us crammed into crowded cities. What could be next?

For example, what if you could wear perfume that only you could smell? Or if there was protective skin cream for children with say, nut allergies that kept them from ingesting or inhaling peanut proteins around them? Or dare I suggest, what if you could own a gun that was programmed to only discharge around other people who have exercised their right to carry guns? E.g. not toddlers, children or innocent bystanders.

As technology continues to change how we interact with the world around us, I’m hopeful that we’ll see more innovations that allow us to live together more harmoniously. Couldn’t we all use a little bit of hope right now?
So please, keep the voltage turned down low on your e-cigarette, don’t vape indoors or around kids, and let’s do our best to help — not hurt — one another.