Researchers discovered that one in four teens who vape employ an alternative vaping technique called “dripping” to enjoy better flavor, a stronger hit, and bigger clouds.
According to a new study published on Monday, February 6th, in the journal Pediatrics, one in four teens who use e-cigs employ an alternative vaping technique called dripping. This gives off better flavor, a stronger hit, and produces more and thicker vapors, say researchers.
“This study is the first systematic evaluation of the use of dripping among teens”, says a Yale University School of Medicine’s professor of psychiatry and lead author of the study, Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin.
In the spring of 2015, together with her colleagues, Professor Krishnan-Sarin questioned teens from eight southeastern Connecticut high schools. Even though several subjects chose not to answer the questions, almost 1,900 students admitted to regular use of e-cigs or at least experimenting with vaping. Also, more than 26 percent of them reported employing an alternative technique, called dripping.
Hence, white males who have tried various tobacco products and e-cigarettes on a regular basis over the previous months were most likely to employ dripping, found researchers.
E-cigarettes work by heating a liquid in a sealed reservoir, turning it into vapor which is inhaled by the users and exhaled in large puffy clouds. In general, the process of vaping relies on the e-cigarette’s wick (passed through a coil), and tank. The tank stores the liquid which is passed through the wick to the coil. Upon heating up the coil, vapors are released and subsequently inhaled by the users.
However, some prefer to bypass this automatic process and employ a more hands-on approach. Hence, dripping refers to the method of vaping in which the user manually applies drops of liquid to an exposed coil every so many puffs, says the head of the Aerosol Research Laboratory at the American University of Beirut and professor of mechanical engineering, Alan Shihadeh. He is also the project leader for the Study of Tobacco Products of Virginia Commonwealth University.
Professor Shihadeh says some people resort to the alternative vaping technique because it allows the e-cigs users to conveniently change between liquid flavors without wasting liquid. However, there are some that believe the study may not be accurate. Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association’s CEO, Ray Story, for example, says that there will always be some extreme groups who will use any given product in alternative ways, including e-cigarettes.
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