Before, I was sitting in a coffee shop with some vapers chatting, in the middle of vaping, when my friend's vape ran out of battery. He hadn't completely quit smoking yet, he was in the process of gradually quitting, so after finishing his vape, he took out a pack of cigarettes to smoke temporarily. Before he could light a cigarette, a staff member came over and gently said: "Sir, our shop is closed and the air conditioner is on. If you want to smoke, please come to the next room to help me." Everyone was surprised when they heard this, because all this time we were vaping together and the staff hadn't said anything.
Let me be clear here: We know very well that you can vape in air-conditioned rooms, but you can't smoke.
The most obvious reason is because vape vapor is different from cigarette smoke. Vaping itself is a substitute product, less risky than cigarettes, people have invented vapes with safer ingredients and mechanisms of action. Research by Public Health England also proves that vape vapor does not contain tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in traditional cigarette smoke. Therefore, vaping in a closed space such as an air-conditioned room does not affect the health of people around. At least the scientific evidence up to now agrees with this argument.
Another reason is because vape vapor is a vapor, it is light and spreads quickly. Combined with the pleasant scent of essential oils, vape vapor does not cause unpleasant odors like cigarette smoke. I think we can vape in any open space such as streets, gardens, ... In the UK, people even allow vaping in hospitals. You just need to pay a little attention when using vape in public, like not blowing smoke everywhere and affecting others. Of course, there are also special places where you should not vape, specifically, look at the pictures to remember easily!
Back to the story at the coffee shop. In general, I was not surprised that smoking had to be done outside, while vaping was allowed in an air-conditioned room. I was just surprised about… How did the staff know how to distinguish between cigarettes and vapes so clearly? Because people often assume that cigarettes and vapes are the same, when I go to other shops, sometimes they don’t even allow vaping, let alone cigarettes. But it seems that the staff at this shop knows very well the difference between vaping and smoking.
That day, I was so busy talking that I didn't have time to ask. When I come back, I might ask him, maybe he's also a vaper or knows a vaper. If we're lucky, we might have a new friend in the civilized vaping community hehe.
