Welcome to the world of vaping

The phenomenal growth in online forum membership and the proliferation of Facebook groups dedicated to vaping stand in testament to position decried by idiots as unproven: Vaping works.

18,434 people belong to Planet of the Vapes, 23,455 people are members of UK Vapers, Vape News Magazine now has a circulation figure over 35,000 and a Google search for ‘facebook’+’group’+’vape’ returns 1,130,000 results.

As we’ve grown in numbers, as vaping worked for us as individuals, we’ve drifted apart along the way. There’s just so much to see and do, there are so many opinions.

I remember starting vaping just over two years ago as a means of not relapsing back into smoking after a seven year break from cigarettes – and I remember feeling how there was so much to learn as I proudly puffed on my eGo and CE2 with a lump of Kuwako plastic stuck on the end. I bought my horrible juice from a market man and worried every time I cut a piece of silica that I was going to kill myself, my children and the dogs with the bits flying off.

And over that time we have seen fashion shift to Pinoy mods, then to ever increasingly pricey American and European models to 2014 ‘The Year of the Box Mod’. Regulated devices have never been more popular as the cloud chasers seek higher and higher outputs and people lust for DNA40-powered kit.

The sheer range of mods and attys now is simply amazing…and no longer is there just a straightforward wick and wire option either: Voodoowool, cotton, Muji and less delectable offerings joined silica; Kanthal can be bought in fancy premade formats, Nickel for the DNA40 crowd and even G-spot welding wire.

Forums have been preoccupied with silica fragments, metal particulates, kitchen sink juice manufacturers, the contents of juice, exploding Gen 2 batteries, sub-ohmers destroying the space-time continuum, more things in juice…oh, and a bit of politics. And so it will continue because we love to talk about vaping stuff.

Whatever confusion I felt when beginning must pale in comparison to the challenges faced by today’s quitters. So welcome to the world of vaping everyone. Sorry I couldn’t say ‘hi’ on your intro thread personally but with the Sun due to expire in 4.5billion years there wasn’t the time to get to you all.

Fortunately, from my experience, the bulk of vapers are enthusiastic and happy go lucky types who adore sharing their knowledge of this absorbing hobby. And it is a hobby, it meets all the criteria: it consumes my free time, almost all of my disposable income and my wife doesn’t understand it.

So, once again, welcome to our wonderful and sometimes frustrating and infuriating world. Welcome to a voyage of discovery where you can just kick back and enjoy. What works for you is always good enough and every analogue you don’t smoke is a win.