Puffing up for the first Vape Day
For Kraal Davis, vaping was his key to freedom.
He enjoys the ‘‘vast hobby’’ of vaping, making and selling his own mods, but first walked into vaping vendors Mushroom Cloud ‘‘desperate’’ two years ago, trying to give up his 22-year smoking habit.
‘‘And I haven’t had a cigarette since,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s great being able to breathe properly; you can taste food again, you can smell, the chest pains are gone.
‘‘If you’re sick of smoking, and the prison sentence that you feel like you’re stuck in because of smoking, come and have a look at vaping.’’
Davis has organised Taranaki Vape Day - today - which is bringing vaping vendors together at the Treehouse Bar & Bistro to showcase different vaping devices otherwise known as mods - e-juices and other equipment, and have a good time along the way.
Vaping works by turning vape juice - a mixture of water, foodgrade flavouring and either propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin - into vapour which is then inhaled and exhaled.
A coil inside the mod is heated by battery power which turns the juice into vapour.
There will also be competitions at the event such as ‘show and shine’ for rare and custom mods, the pro trick competition - which includes blowing smoke rings and the entertainers trick competition, where you have 90 seconds to entertain the crowd and the largest cheer decides the winner.
‘‘There’s the health benefits but also the hobby side of it.
‘‘The hobby side is huge and growing by the day.’’
But Davis is also realistic about the risk.
‘‘Vaping isn’t a miracle, harmless never-going-to-hurt-you thing, but it is proven to be 95 per cent safer than smoking.’’
Davis said he’d be happy if 100 people came through the door.
‘‘If we have one person who wants to quit smoking and they walk away with a starter kit, then we’ve won.’’
Up to 20 vendors from across New Zealand will have a presence at the event.
Liz Posser from Mushroom Cloud, one of vendors contributing to the day, also found vaping was the only thing that helped her completely quit smoking.
‘‘We’re there to help people transition from smoking to vaping because it can be very daunting.’’
*Taranaki Vape Day takes place from 11am - 7pm at the Treehouse Bistro and Bar, 471 Devon St West. Tickets are $20 plus booking fee at Ezytickets.nz or $10 at Mushroom Cloud.