Vaping in public - why am I embarrassed?

[millerkev]

WICKED

[genguskhan]

It's funny I felt embarrased as well :-[ I've been vaping for a month and today was the first time I've been to the smoking shelter since I started I thought I would have been tempted but I was fine god they stink though I still haven't been vaping at the parks or anything since I got the look of death from some people ???

[Cambo]

I can't say i've ever been that bothered about vaping in public, don't know why, maybe i've just not been anywhere yet that's made me feel uncomfortable enough to want to hide it. Right from the start I've vaped in my local pub, the manager isn't fussed at all about it, and a few of the regulars have had a go on my Riva and i've given out the details for this site to them. The other night when I was in there the bloke that owns it made an appearance, saw me at the bar puffing away and I though 'oh dear, this is when I get banned' and he came over got an e-cigalike out of his pocket and said "oh you've got a better one than me, where did you get that?" and we ended up having a half hour conversation about juices, batteries, websites etc. I think, as other people have said, most people are more intrigued than anything, and if you give it a chance I bet you get more people asking you about it because they are interested than because they're being negative about it. There will always be that 'one' who's an arse, but most folks are fine.

[GothicLord]

Oct 15, 2012 9:54:20 GMT booblay said:

Problem is, I can see the curious questioning getting on my nerves eventually. It's like when you have tattoos and piercings - there's only so many times you can give 'Does it hurt then?' a credible answer.

Lol I can understand that, being a big fan of piercings, I get lots of questions about how much it hurt, and why I'd want to get metal in my face, and today it got to the point I wanted to just yell at a group of people at work. Hard day, lots of stress and 15 curious people swamping me with questions about my riva while I was trying to chill out on my lunch break.

[chykensa]

Hey Gothiclord, think of it as your mission, to preach the vaping message to the 'unclean'! I know what you mean though, I've had so much interest since I started vaping,
I'm seriously thinking about carrying some steri-wipes to clean my drip-tip after someone else has slobbered on it trying the clearo/eGo combi out yet again!!

[millerkev]

Oct 15, 2012 21:48:43 GMT chykensa said:

Hey Gothiclord, think of it as your mission, to preach the vaping message to the 'unclean'! I know what you mean though, I've had so much interest since I started vaping,
I'm seriously thinking about carrying some steri-wipes to clean my drip-tip after someone else has slobbered on it trying the clearo/eGo combi out yet again!!

i had the same problem saturday in the pub everyone and is auntie wanting to try it out ...
next time i go to market im going to get the little caps andrew uses for people to try out his testers ..well perhapps i`ll just get the one.lol let everyone else slavver on each others tip while i keep mine nice and clean

[suede]

Nothing down for me then. Lots of tatts and a ecig lol. Know what you mean though only been a vapist for a couple of weeks and have explained to everyone and his brother. Now I just say "well go to AAEC read all about it. Then get yourself a couple of ego batteries and clearos then some juice. And your laughing. " You wouldn't believe the blank looks I get. Lol

[GothicLord]

lol I am more than happy to talk to people and convert the great unwashed to a better way of getting a nicotine fix, but having a crowd of people round me after a stressful morning, when I'm trying to chill, not my idea of fun.

As for carrying wipes, no need, no smoker gets near my riva or vivi nova, they get to try my skycig at best and I carry a spare drip tip so fellow vapers can try my setup without me needing to worry about germs

[leftfield]

Hopefully without sounding too strange by saying this, I was thinking about this thread and was reminded about my early days of vaping when I was wanting to get over the fear of vaping in public. As you know, I never did haha.

My best advice would be to prepare a question to whoever asks you about it. I really hate to be put on the spot with a question so it's my go to response to do it back. I mean along the lines of, "Have you heard of electronic cigarettes?"

You now have more control over the conversation and it's not an "Oh no what do I say to explain myself with" scenario. If they know what ecigs are, you can say "Well, this is just a bigger slightly more expensive one of those," as they probably already know the tesco type (7 motives?) disposeable ecigs. If they want to ask questions about it, you already have their acceptance that it is an ecig and they're ok with that. If they say "oh ok," and walk off then alright.

If they don't know what an ecig is, well, I'd just call it a fake cigarette and be done with it.

To me the biggest thing is to clarify what you're doing is legal and declare what it is you have that's "smoking". Simply asking if they know what an ecig is really sets the tone of the conversation and should put you at ease a little.

Really hope that doesn't sound too weird. Being prepared for the worst, which I guess would be being asked about it really helps you feel more at ease about it.

Of all the people who actually saw me vaping outside and asked, I just asked if they knew what an ecig was and took it from there. It gives me a bit of time to think while they think about my question kinda thing. Hope that helps in any way

[giles]

I'm coming out of Tescos, starting to vape on this, and a woman I know a little is going in, and, not trying to be unpleasant at all, just by way of saying hello really, says "Giles, you really must stop smoking" and walks on.

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[Twisty]

Great advice leftfield , thank you for that - it gave me great ideas of how to handle the situations I am dreading. I suppose some of us are a bit more shy than others

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reassure and advise me . You lot are such a nice & helpful bunch and Im happy I've discovered this forum so early on my vaping journey.

[esmecullen]

I felt embarassed when I first started vaping and used to try and hide what I was doing when out in public............... but now I vape away quite merrily I get a few strange looks but I just think s*d them lol

[chykensa]

I was rehearsing with some musician friends last evening, and rather that go and stand outside at the break for a fag, I decided to stay inside and vape. No-one asked what I was doing, although a few people stared as I produced plumes of vapour and blew it around. I was safe in the knowledge that they were all comfortable with what I was doing, and this has given me the confidence to vape more openly from now on.
As an aside, one of the guys there who is a roll-up smoker and who has tried giving up various times seemed genuinely surprised that I was still vaping after 5 weeks, and hadn't touched any tobacco. I offered him a blast for half-time, but he declined saying 'I don't think it will work for me, I'm a heavy smoker!'. I'll work on him . . . !

[Chrissie]

Good luck working on him Chykensa You could tell him he can use the e-cig to just try to cut down on smoking real cigs. That way, he wont feel any pressure to make it "work" for him.

[millerkev]

try this and pretend to be deaf