Summer Vaping Tips

by Willard Rhodes & Morandir

Summertime! It’s the season to be outdoors and doing stuff. Great weather to vape at the beach, on long walks, or just chilling in the yard. But there are some dangers out there, waiting to mess up your good time. Here are some tips to make your Summer vaping experience the best.

HEAT – Why, when it comes to e-juices and vaping equipment, the sun is not your friend.

1.  Do not leave your e-juice bottles or tanks sitting in the direct sun or inside a hot vehicle. Temperatures inside a closed car or truck can reach as much as 132º F (55.5 C), according to the animal care information site, RedRover. [www.redrover.org/mydogiscool/how-hot-do-cars-get] In fact, according to a study from Stanford University, even on comparatively cool days, such as 72º F (22 C), a car’s internal temperature will rocket to 116 degrees within 60 minutes in direct sunlight.
E-juices will start to break down at 105-106º F (40 C). The juice discolors, the viscosity changes, and the flavors can get really weird.  This is especially true for juices with high VG (vegetable glycerine) content. For example, a juice can go from Banana Cream to Earwax flavor once it gets hot enough – and cooling it down won’t change it back. Also, exposure to high heat for extended periods can break down the nicotine in the juice. When you vape overheated juice, it can cause your cartomizer, atomizer, or tank to clog up quickly, get leaky, and become unuseable. YECCCH!

2.  Do keep e-juice bottles and filled tanks in a cool place, like in a plastic bag inside a cooler. This is true whether you’re leaving them in your vehicle, or if you’re going somewhere that the sun can beat down on your equipment – like an open boat or on a beach blanket.  If you don’t have a cooler, think about putting your juices and equipment in some sort of case and, if you have to leave them in your vehicle, put them in the trunk or somewhere low down in the car and away from direct sunlight. That’s not as good as keeping them chilled, but it’s better than nothing.

3.  The same is true for your batteries. E-cigs all have one thing in common: they contain lithium ion batteries of one type or another. When heated past 100º F (38 C), the lithium ions in these batteries begin to form the metal itself, damaging the cell. As a result, the battery will hold progressively less and less charge. If you’ve been leaving your vaping equipment out in the direct sun, or inside a hot vehicle, don’t be surprised when the battery seems to go dead faster than before.
Worse yet, if lithium ion batteries get REALLY hot, like in excess of 120º F, they can “go thermal,” meaning they rupture and explode!  We’ve done this in experiments in the VR lab, and the results are spectacular – like “wear a welding mask/kids, don’t try this at home.” To be safe, and considering the stats showing how internal temps in closed vehicles can easily reach dangerous levels, it’s best to either take your batteries with you or store them in a plastic bag inside a cooler.

TRAVEL – We speak from experience.

1.  Plan for success.  If you’ve decided to stop using tobacco entirely, there’s nothing to tempt you to fall off the wagon then running out of juice on a long trip. Murphy’s Law still applies even in the 21st Century – if something can go wrong, chances are it probably will. Our advice is to take along at least double the amount of juice or pre-filled cartomizers you think you’ll need, and the amount of batteries you go through in a typical day plus two.  Take extra chargers, as well. If you’re traveling outside your own country, make sure you take one of those traveler’s plug adapter kits, so you can still charge your devices even if the wall plug resembles some kind of weird sound jack. A whole bandolero of batteries won’t help if they’re dead and you can’t charge them.  Also consider bringing a pass-through – a device that connects directly to USB for vaping (with or without battery). These can be quite handy on long car trips.

2.  Take literature and maybe even packaging. It’s not that we’re telling you to start passing out materials like they were religious tracts. The point is to explain, if you get confronted in some airport in Outer Zambonia, what the devices are and what they do.  Some law enforcement folks – even here in the U.S. – are more than ready to believe that e-cigs might be “drug paraphenalia.” This is especially true of mods, which don’t look much like a regular cigarette. If you have some literature and packaging, it will be a lot easier to explain what you’re doing, and maybe avoid some uncomfortable time being stretched over the back of a police car or held in a windowless airport security room by some rough looking guys in wrap-around shades and excessive amounts of guns and tasers on their belts. (Do not ask how we know this.)

3.  Don’t vape on planes – unless you’re a bazillionaire with a private jet. Almost all airlines worldwide ban smoking on their planes, and no amount of fervent argument or literature is going to make the cabin attendant agree that vapor isn’t smoke.  Yeah, ok, we can neither confirm nor deny that we’ve stealth-vaped on long flights (deep inhale, hold it until the vapor is all absorbed, and try not to look like you just took a bong hit), but we don’t advise it. One strong cough and you’ll be surrounded by a big cloud that’s going to take a lot of explaining. If you’re losing your mind, go in the bathroom – but vape AWAY from the smoke detectors in there. We’ve never set one off ourselves, but have heard of people who did – apparently it takes a direct exhale into the device, but who the heck would do that anyway?

4.  Don’t vape in airports.  See above.  You might have an easier time in the restroom, but don’t count on your fellow travelers not ratting you out to the nearest airport security person.  If you’re clever (read: sneaky), you might get away with stealth-vaping, but have the good sense to do it away from crowds and lines.  Some airports have “smoking areas” outside, which is OK if you’re waiting for your ride but completely inconvenient if you’ve already passed through the 100-mile-long security line and can’t reach them. Yes, yes, we know vapor isn’t smoke; sometimes, you just have to work with what’s “allowed.”

5.  Label your juice bottles. Airport personnel get extra-nervous about unlabeled bottles in luggage. Put their minds at ease – or at least try – by bringing bottles with labels, or even by making your own labels on your computer and sticking them on before you go. If the label says something like “Berry Blast,” consider ripping that off and sticking on something that doesn’t sound like you’re carrying fruit-flavored nitroglycerine. Maybe, “Berry Bingo,” or “Fruity Bongwater.” Ok, maybe not that.  But you get the idea.

6.  When in doubt, pack it.  You might get away with carrying e-cigs and vaping devices on airplanes – we’ve done it quite often – but if you are worried about the risk, put your vaping stuff in your checked luggage. Our usual practice is to put just the bare minimum in our carry-on bag, and the rest in our checked bag – especially bottles of e-juice, which can draw unwanted attention from airport security.  Not checking any bags? Be sure to follow the advice in Tip #2, above, and don’t argue with airport security if they get shirty. Keep your cool and show them your materials. You’re less likely to get in trouble with cigarette-looking devices than with the larger unfamiliar mods, in our experience.

7.  Don’t start a fire on the plane.  You laugh, but if you pack your bare batteries wrong, the ends can touch, short out, and even start a fire in your luggage. This is mostly a tip for mod-users, whose units take removable batteries. Pack each battery by itself, like rolled in a sock or otherwise wrapped in such a way that it won’t touch metal or other batteries.  You don’t want to be the schmuck that forced your plane to land in East Elbow, Kansas because clouds of smoke were filling the cabin from the luggage compartment.

8.  Don’t let the maid see your stuff.  Almost all hotels have non-smoking rooms, and if you’re in one they will charge you an arm and a leg for “cleaning” if they think you smoked in it.  But, you say, vapor isn’t smoke and there will be no smell!  Also, the chances of you setting off the smoke detector is less than zero! Yes, we know, but if the maid sees your equipment and tells the manager, there’s a good chance you’ll get charged anyway – and good luck explaining the whole vapor-vs-smoke thing.  Worse, if local laws forbid vaping entirely, you could spend some time with the local jack-booted polizei, which won’t be your favorite part of the local ambience.

9.  Which reminds us to advise: Know the local laws. Most places we’ve traveled have been vape-friendly, but we’ve heard stories of others who ran afoul of law enforcement – or at least had a lot of explaining to do – when their vaping equipment wasn’t recognized or was somehow regarded as illegal. And if you do get stopped, for God’s sake don’t go all militant. Just stay calm and show the nice officer what it is you have and how it works. If you’re in a foreign land, and you’re drinking, and you’re vaping, consider having a Designated Explainer – someone who stays sober enough to explain what that thing is you keep “smoking” while you mop up the local liquor and scenery.

10.  Be careful vaping in rental cars. This is similar to the whole thing about vaping in non-smoking hotel rooms, and it’s all about the smell. More and more rental car companies are getting anal about smoking in their vehicles, and will charge you out the wazoo if they think you stunk up their car. Crack the windows, air the car out thoroughly before you return it, and really REALLY don’t let the rental car people see you vaping in the car, not when you leave and certainly not when you pull up to return it.

11.  Buyer Beware.  In most developed countries, the quality of e-juices – if they allow them to be sold at all – is generally regulated by some governmental authority, like the FDA in the States for example. The same cannot be said everywhere, though. We’ve tested samples of so-called “bargain e-juice” from overseas that contained stuff nobody would want in their lungs. It’s safer to take along the juice you need, bought from a source you trust. Also, be advised that not all vaping devices share common connectors, or can take batteries from just anywhere. There’s a brisk trade in counterfeit lithium ion batteries in parts of Asia, and the fake labeling looks very realistic! However, it’s also possible you actually can get some great deals on batteries overseas, but take someone with you who really knows the area, speaks the language, and can keep you from getting ripped off.

If you follow these tips and use some good old common sense, you should have a safe, enjoyable vacation, vaping to your heart’s content. Have fun! Send us a picture of you vaping in some faraway land, so we can be jealous.