The joys of vaping

Sir: I am surprised that, to date, there has not (to my knowledge) been anything about the joys of the idle vape in The Idler. While I appreciate that vaping is a relatively new activity, the fact the word “vape” – meaning to inhale and exhale vapour produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device – was named the Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year in 2014, testifies to its growing popularity as a leisurely activity that certainly deserves its place among those idle pleasures with which myself and other idlers are so enamoured.

As a lifelong smoker, I ventured into the unfamiliar world of vaping in search of something that would give me the relaxing pleasure of smoking without the associated health risks. Although still a relative “newbie” to vaping, I have already progressed from my first tentative puffs on an e-cigarette to a large device made up of a powerful rechargeable battery and atomiser tank which heats up liquid containing flavours and nicotine, allowing me to produce clouds of non-toxic, largely odourless vapour. Now I can spend a leisurely afternoon doing nothing more than blowing huge smoke rings in a Gandalf-like manner while attempting vaping tricks such as the Angry Dragon, involving simultaneously blowing smoke from both nostrils and each side of the mouth!

I am currently vaping an e-juice by Nick’s Blissful Brews called Swag, a heady mixture of creamy vanilla custard, decadent white chocolate, blended with a hint of hazelnut. In fact, the flavour combinations seem endless, from tobacco blends, beverages and fruity desserts to menthols and spices, allowing me to match my particular activity with whatever flavour I so desire, whether it is meandering along the sea front (definitely menthol or apple leaf tobacco) or reclining in dreamy meditation (Turkish delight or chai tea latte).

The other great thing about vaping is that its development in America and Europe has occurred mainly through independent, small businesses, who, after taking the original concept from China, have become hotbeds of innovation in vaping hardware, flavoured e-juices and vape shops (or in vaping parlance “vaporiums”). Big tobacco and pharmaceutical companies are, of course, threatened by vaping’s growing popularity, which threatens the sale of cigarettes and nicotine replacement therapies. In response these huge corporations have begun to produce their own inferior products (which frankly taste so bad that, given no other choice, one would speedily return to cigarettes) and to canvas for strict government regulations. These are aimed at introducing prohibitive research costs for any new products, outlawing all flavours, apart from tobacco and menthol, and limiting sales to the sort of substandard e-cigarettes you find in garages and newsagents, most of which are produced by big tobacco companies with no interest in consumer-led innovation. All this, of course, is aimed at destroying the independents in favour of big money.

There is, of course, a puritanical aspect to these developments to. Without any strong scientific evidence that vaping is harmful, governments are keen to restrict it simply because it is a pleasurable activity that serves no use in itself and is averse to their programme of economic growth and vision of a “hardworking” society. Alongside big business they will seek to control it and, very likely, tax it prohibitively.

Well, I am happy to continue vaping, despite the busybodies’ and Puritans’ assertions that ““it might be dangerous in the long term”. As we all know, life itself is harmful in the long term, but that never stopped me enjoying myself, despite the wisdom of King Silenus.

Love your newsletters and publication! Keep up the good work.

Tim Harvey, Sheringham, Norfolk

Thank you Tim. Vaping does indeed sound like an idle pleasure. 

Slow thinking

Sir: A week or so ago, my partner and I took a few days away from the ‘rat race’.  A slow journey among the residents on the sunny south coast of Sidmouth.  It was oh so idyllic.  Having noted your adventures on the Grand Canal [that is, the Grand Union Canal, where I recently took a trip for a travel piece, ed.], I wonder if, like you, the Sunday Times would be interested in publishing a ‘piece’ about our adventures (not that I would want to write for the Sunday Times).  Where we dropped off for a bevy.  Where we ate. And so on and so forth.  Probably not.  I presume this upcoming canal story was commissioned? There again, maybe not. [What is he trying to get at with this drivel? ed.]

But what I don’t understand, is why anyone would want to write for Rupert Murdoch’s rag?  Including me. As I noted above. You see, I cannot see any common ground between ‘idler’ aims and the corporate capitalist aspirations of Murdoch’s evil empire.  Besides, why would someone who advocates leaving the ‘normal’ world – a world of buying stuff.  A world where self sufficiency is paramount, do that? Unless of course, the ‘idler’ is nothing more than a subterfuge.

Ray

This reader is not only unable to string a sentence together but has no understanding that writers both need to earn a living, and also tend to want to communicate with as wide an audience as possible. Shame on you, Ray! 

Please send your letters to mail@idler.co.uk.

Photo credit: vaping360.com.