‘ Dripping’ may be a dangerous trend for kids who vape

25% of high school users try new method

One in four high school teens who have used e- cigarettes have also tried a potentially dangerous new vaping method called “dripping” — dropping e- cigarette liquid directly onto the hot coils of the device to produce thicker, more flavorful smoke — a new study has found.

“Dripping,” which differs from normal e- cigarette use that slowly releases the liquid from a wick onto a hot atomizer, may expose users to higher levels of nicotine and to harmful non- nicotine toxins, such as formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, which are known carcinogens.

Sixty- four percent of the surveyed teens said they dripped for the thicker smoke, 39% for the better flavor and 28% for the stronger throat hit or sensation, according to the study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

“When people smoke cigarettes, they say they smoke it for, for lack of a better word, a tingling in the back of the throat,” says Suchitra Krishnan- Sarin, the study’s lead author and a Yale professor of psychiatry who studies substance abuse behaviors.

Electronic cigarettes are battery- operated devices that heat liquid and turn it into vapor — instead of smoke — which a person inhales. One of the primary concerns about e- cigarette use is increased exposure to nicotine, Krishnan- Sarin says. While not all e- cigarette products contain nicotine, those that do can contain varying levels. Dripping could expose teens to higher levels of the drug, the study reports.

“The teen brain has been shown especially sensitive to nicotine,” Krishnan- Sarin says.

As e- cigs have increased in popularity, so have alternative uses for the devices, such as smoke tricks and competitions. Krishnan- Sarin says a variety of vapor patterns can be produced with thicker clouds, such as “tornadoes and rings.”

Ray Story, CEO of the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association, says the segment of e- cig users who drip is just a sliver of users, and he discouraged people from turning to dripping as a vaping method.

“At the end of the day, I don’t think they serve any kind of purpose. It’s for monster clouds, and these individuals are manufacturing their own hardware,” Story says. “Many of them really don’t have the background or ability to really put these things together. It’s a lot of the ‘ do- it- yourself’ type guys that are into this.”

AM Y. HUH, AP E- cig users may be exposed to increased levels of nicotine.