9— a community of vapers was mobilized
as well, propelled by its most digitally
savvy proponents: popular YouTubers and
video bloggers like GrimmGreen and Matt
Culley and Ryan Hall. They couldn’t have
expected such an intense spotlight to turn
their way. But as cities and states across the
country began agreeing with advocates
and banning many fl avored vaping prod-
ucts, their niche culture was pulled from
obscurity and forced to adapt.
Vapers tend to fall into two some-
times-overlapping camps. The younger
one includes online infl uencers, who have
been the subject of countless documen-
taries and news articles — though their
social stock plummeted in December,
after Instagram disallowed branded con-
tent that promoted vaping. Older vapers,
however, are diff erent. They tend to see
the practice as a more healthful alterna-
tive to cigarettes; it’s how, they insist, they
have stopped smoking. ‘‘Vaping isn’t a life-
style,’’ goes one common refrain. ‘‘It’s life
or death.’’ It’s these ex-smokers who have
grown into a sizable, vocal and largely
Republican and libertarian coalition —
and who, like the hosts at DashVapes,
have become de facto political advocates
for the technology. They have held rallies
outside state capitol buildings and the
White House. Some have been talking
heads on news channels. In the fall, they
popularized the slogan ‘‘We Vape, WeVote’’ — a warning realistic enough that it
reportedly had a hand in persuading the
Trump administration to back down from
strong policies on vaping. Despite rumors
that the administration would strip all fl a-
vored products from the market, it instead
instituted a partial ban, removing only the
fl avored cartridges popular among teen-
agers; the liquids for open-tank systems,
often favored by adults, would remain, and
menthol received a complete pass.
One thing this faction has going for it
is history: It has been blossoming for at
least a decade, its members meeting at
trade shows and in corners of the inter-
net. Until recently, they were more like
hobbyists than anything else, swappingShare of adolescent
users of electronic
vaping products
who reported
watching vape tricks
online: 74 percent