You may look at vaping as a new trend, i’m here to change that way of thinking. Normally one of the things I hear most from people is “Well if vaping is so new how do you know it’s healthier than smoking?”, well my friends read on and I will explain how misinformed that question is.
So when did it really begin?
The act of vaporizing has been around for thousands of years and originally was nothing more than placing dried herbs on top of heated stones. The more well known way of vaporizing something that has been around for a long, long time was when people from India invented the Hookah and used it to vaporize shisha - a flavoured tobacco that was placed above hot coals and vaporized through water to filter and cool down the hot vapor. Below is a picture of a modern day hookah.
Okay but obviously they aren't the same as an e-cig right?
Well honestly it depends on what aspect you are looking at, the end product of the vapor has been the same over all eternity, its the process we actually use to vaporize a given substance that has been ever changing. The old act of vaporizing was the chemical reaction that happened between the heat from the stones, these days it has become a little more refined due to people striving for more safety features, a more customizable experience, and truthfully, do you think you would vape if you needed a whole room in your house dedicated to it? So of course over time people sought to make vaping a more pleasurable experience.
So are you going to tell me who made them already?
Sorry honestly I can talk about anything vape related for days, I love to ramble on about these things! anyways I'm getting sidetracked, The earliest recorded patent for an e-cigarette was back in 1927 and given to a man called Joseph Robinson, unfortunately we will never know what would have happened if vaporizers gained popularity back then because it is not even known if a prototype was ever created.
Fast forward about 30 years and a man named Herbert Gilbert again took out another patent on what would pave the highway for modern vaporizers today, they look much like the gas station vapes you can buy that have a limited amount of puffs and looks more cigarette like. Unfortunately even though Herbert took out the patent, tobacco companies at the time had way too much influence and not enough people knew of his "Smokeless Non - Tobacco Cigarette".
Another two prominent figures in the modernization of vaping were Phil Ray and Norman Jacobson, Phil was extremely involved in the community that created computers, Norman at the time was his physician. Between the two of them they managed to create the first commercial vaporizer that delivered nicotine along with conducting the first ever research on nicotine delivery. Again the world was not ready for vaping and though their creation did go public it never caught on or even stood a chance to tobacco companies.
Well with so many people failing to bring vaping to the mainstream how did it finally become so popular?
In the early 2000's a man named Hon Lik, who lived in Beijing, China started creating what closer resembles modern day vaporizers, his inspiration came from his father who had died from lung cancer previously. He worked for a company called Golden Dragon and they released a device much like modern vaporizers used today, the main difference was that this vaporizer used an ultrasonic atomizer and e-juice primarily made from nicotine and propylene glycol.
The ultrasonic atomizer was replace by cartomizer's and clearomizer's by two brothers in the U.K. named Umer and Tariq Sheikh. The cartomizer is very basic elongated atomizer that is made by positioning a single straight metal wire (considered the coil) inside of a metal tube. The coil is then submerged in a filler that absorbs e-juice and makes sure the area around the coil stays saturated. The main issue with cartomizer's were that they were refillable but it was such a hassle to refill them and old flavors stuck around creating an unpleasant taste and overall not the best vaping experience, due to this these cartomizers normally came in a disposable type of e-cigarette. The clearomizer on the other hand was a lot more convenient, instead of the atomizer being a part of the vape clearomizer's were atomizers surrounded by a tank that would hold the e-juice. This meant that companies could create vapes that had removable batteries and atomizers allowing for a more customizable vaping experience. Originally only popular in the U.K. as e-cigarettes got easier to use they gradually gained popularity and made their way over to the western world around 2007.
Where are we now then?
Vaping as a whole has advanced a lot over the past years and although some people continue to use these older styles of vaporizers most people have ascended into using many different things such as:
- Box Mods - These have a chip in them that allows you to control various settings such as voltage, wattage, and desired temperature allowing for a personally defined style of vaping. These are generally known as variable wattage mods.
- Mech Mods - Basically a vaporizer without and circuitry, more about raw power of the battery, dependent on the charge and specifications of the battery and not a chip that allows for variables.
- Rebuild-able Atomizers - Again all about customization, these allow you to wrap your own coils and place them inside of an atomizer, along with surround the coils with a material of your choosing (normally cotton) in a way that suits your preferences.
Along with many other amazing things to customize your vape, I mean honestly I have seen vapes that emit colored lights to light up your vapor cloud, ones that can charge your phones, ones that have flashlights! The possibilities are endless and they are only getting more and more advanced each day!
So its a thing now then?
YES, everywhere you look there are new vape stores popping up, new researchers studying the effects of vaping, and even social media channels completely dedicated to vaping. It has come a long way from being an underground thing not known about, to becoming its own culture! All over the world people talk about how vaping has saved their lives and brought them close to people they would have never met any other way, even myself, I have made countless close friends all through the online vape community and I expect to make many, many more.
So I guess that about wraps up The History Of Vaping, I really hope this article was helpful and informative and maybe shone a light on how this extreme craze of vaping came to be. As always I wish you guys all the peace, love, and good vibes the world has to offer and hope you an extremely classy ass day!
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