Vaping is Forever
The Rise of Vaping and the Death of a National Pastime
“I need a Cigarette”
This line sits poised on the lips of dozens of financial advisors and accountants as the New York Stock Exchange draws its week to a close.
TGIF.
It’s a line that has passed every smoker’s lips more than once. This simple expression of wants and desires straddles the gap between habit and addiction. It’s synonymous with a breaking point, and it’s been all but silenced. In place of it: an endless cloud of vacuous vape smoke and a new stigma around an age-old habit.
At one time, cigarettes were considered fashionable accessories, something that punctuated moments and ideas; vaping breaks this tradition and replaces it with, well, nothing.
To be clear, I’m not defending cigarettes or the ruthless ad campaigns that hooked generation after generation on souped-up highly addictive additives.
I’m talking about the death of a cultural staple, the death of the act of smoking, an act that permits one to pause for contemplation without question, an act that offers a break from…