E-cigarettes might be the somewhat better cigarettes. In the past few years they went through a big hype. The vaping store Dampshop in Hopland is part of the scene. We asked them what the hype is all about.
Entering the e-cigarette store Dampshop in Hopland feels a bit like entering a spaceship. The walls are all plain white and there’s a huge space in the middle of the room. Display cases made out of glass empower the whiteness even more. It feels clean. Maybe even a bit sterile. Dampshop sells e-cigarettes and equipment for it. Vaping - referring to the vapour created by the e-cigarettes - has gone through a bit of a hype in the recent years. It therefore also received a lot of criticism. Some people even regard to it as “the new addiction.”
A healthier substitute for real cigarettes
Philippe Delfs, a young guy from Brussels, is regional manager at Dampshop. He explains what vaping really is about. “Mainly, e-cigarettes a healthier substitute for real cigarettes”, he says. Most vapers been heavy smokers before. So has Philippe been. “Before I started vaping, I used to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. Then I switched to e-cigarettes. Ever since, I feel way better.”
His co-workers went through a similar story. “I smoked a pack of cigarettes every day for years. Then I started vaping and within a month I was done with cigarettes”, says
Nicolas who also works in the store. “The target group of e-cigarettes are smokers,” Philippe explains. “We don’t try to get people addicted.”
A difficult situation
Current research proves Philippe’s point. E-cigarettes are estimated to be about 95 percent less harmful than actual cigarettes. The situation is difficult though. “E-Cigarettes can’t simply be categorized as beneficial or harmful”, claims a paper from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in the US. This means smoking e-cigarettes is bad for people who have never smoked before but at the same it can be beneficial for adult smokers trying to quit.
When Philippe explains how vaping devices work, pulls out a black electric device out of his pocket. It’s about as big as a pack of tissues. It could be a pager. But it’s an e-cigarette. “In the tip of the device there’s a wire which gets heated up electrically”, he explains. How hot the wire gets can be changed with a few button clicks. The hotter, the more vapour comes out of the tip.
What vaping liquid really is
E-cigarettes must be filled with a special liquid - which in most cases still contains Nicotine. “It’s not a therapy, it’s a substitute”, Philippe points out. “When customers who have never smoked come into our store we always make clear that this can still be addicting.”
Apart from Nicotine, the liquids contain Propylene Glycol, Vegetable Glycerine and aroma. Propylene Glycol is a carrying substance mostly used in cosmetics. It’s the part from which the typical thick vapour of e-cigarettes emerges. Vegetable Glycerine is simply put a type of alcohol that keeps the liquid moist. Regarding aromas there are hundreds of different types and tastes. The most popular ones are fruit aromas, says Philippe.
Financial benefits
While talking about his device he points out the financial benefits he gets from switching from cigarettes to vaping. “One day of vaping costs me about one Euro. Compare that to eight Euros for a pack of cigarettes a day.” This only includes the liquid though. The actual device costs between 50 and 100 euros. “Even with that in mind vaping is still way cheaper in the long term”, Philippe says.
By law, e-cigarettes are treated like actual cigarettes. Smoking e-cigarettes in places where smoking is forbidden can get you a ticket just like smoking a normal cigarette can. The age minimum of 16 applies as well.
From zero to thirty shops
E-cigarettes seemingly came out of nowhere a couple of years ago and went through a huge hype until recently. “Social media like Youtube or Facebook made it popular and big”, Philippe explains. “A lot of entrepreneurs jumped this hype and opened stores for it”. The story of Dampshop underlines this development. The company started out with
a few stores around Belgium in August 2016. Within two years, the franchise grew to more than 30 stores all over Belgium.
In the end, it seems like e-cigarettes are not as bad as they may look from an outside perspective. Targeted mainly towards smokers it can help people quit smoking. Nevertheless, liquids containing Nicotine still make the vapour addicting - which can be dangerous for non-smokers.
