VAPE EXPECTATIONS

CoJo vows to kick habit before ban

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson might have to lace up his running shoes to quit vaping.

Johnson (right) helped pass the nation’s largest ban against flavored e-cigarettes last week — but is himself a dedicated user of the devices, and is giving himself until the law goes into effect in July to get nicotine-free.

He told The Post the only time he ever managed to stop his pack-a-day smoking habit in the past was in 2010, when he was training for the New York City Marathon.

“I realized I wasn’t actually going to be able to meet that goal unless I quit smoking, so I was running like 30 to 40 miles a week, and that’s what kept me off cigarettes for a year,” he said in an interview about his personal nicotine use just days after passing the ban.

“I would love to run the marathon again, and I have to start exercising again. That could be something that I may explore, but I don’t want to commit this early,” chuckled Johnson, who finished the 26.2-mile race back then in 4 hours and 3 minutes.

The 37-year-old pol admitted he uses nearly an entire mint-flavored Juul pod a day — equivalent to just under a pack of smokes.

He started smoking when he kicked drugs and alcohol in 2009, turning to Parliament 100s, and first attempted to quit a year later.

“I tried Chantix, I tried the patch, I tried hypnosis, I tried acupuncture, I tried a lot of things,” he recalled.

“What kept me off of cigarettes for a year was my marathon training, and then afterward feeling good. And then I fell off the wagon [in 2011] and starting smoking again, and smoked until May of this year,” he said. That’s when he switched to using a Juul. He tried the tobacco and Virginia tobacco styles before settling on mint — which will be among the verboten vape flavors come July, thanks to the council bill passed Tuesday. Johnson believed vapes can help people quit smoking, but a 135 percent increase in teenage usage over the last two years made him question its safety. “Even though I use vaping to quit smoking, actually, at this point, it’s unclear if this is safer than cigarettes,” he said. Nearly 50 Americans, including two New Yorkers, have died from vaping-related lung injuries. Johnson, who lost his smoker stepdad to cancer at 57, said he’s concerned about his own health.

“I’m still taking in a tremendous amount of nicotine every day, and I’m not proud of that,” he said.

Parents Against Vaping E-cigarettes co-founder Meredith Berkman applauded the speaker for addressing the important issue.

But, she added, “We hope the speaker will do the right thing when it comes to menthol cigarettes.”

Johnson refused to bring a proposed ban against mentholated tobacco to a vote in the council after the Rev. Al Sharpton opposed it.

Councilman Mark Levine (D-Manhattan), who sponsored the anti-flavored-vapes bill, also applauded Johnson’s efforts.

“He deserves a lot of credit for speaking openly about his plan to quit. But adults shouldn’t kid themselves about the long-term effects of vaping,” he said.