Looking like an oversized USB stick, the Juul is far more discreet than traditional vapes. Although, like all vapes, there is some vapor released, it’s thin, colorless, and smells like a whiff of vanilla or fruit instead of tobacco. Some users at Aragon have taken advantage of this, and smoke Juuls everywhere from school bathrooms to the library and in class, while teachers, peers and smoke detectors are none the wiser. Thanks to its discreet nature and its technological appeal, the Juul has become favored by high schoolers.
Long time user and Aragon junior Dylan* is a fan of the technological cigarette. He sees the Juul’s new surge in popularity as just the beginning, commenting, “it’s definitely a trend, and it’s just going to keep increasing, [because] it’s easily accessible — you can just go into smoke shops and buy pods, it’s discreet, and there are no clear downsides.”
Even at Aragon, some users have built a high enough tolerance to go through a pod a day, which is the liquid equivalent to a pack of cigarettes. The flavored pods come in $16 packs of four, but usually cost around $20 for high schoolers because they can’t be legally purchased by those under 21 and therefore must be obtained from a middle-man.
Many Juul users are first exposed to them through friends and at parties. Although he does not own one himself, junior Blake*, describes, “I was at a party on the Fourth of July and my friend gave it to me and said ,‘you should hit this,’ and I was like, ‘This is cool, it gives you a headrush and wakes you up a bit.’ ”
Dylan, and another junior, Kai, both had similar first impressions to Blake, finding the small gadget appealing in its early stages. Kai finds, “Its fun sometimes but once it gets to a certain point it’s not good, and you can’t control the habit [and you] develop an addiction.”
Kai bought one himself after trying it a few times, but gave it away once he realized his dependence on it and how it paralleled that of his friends with more severe nicotine addictions.
Due the ability of nicotine to calm nerves without greatly affecting cognitive functions, Juul users sometimes use them before important test or presentations. As Dylan describes it, “it’s a massive head rush and [your senses] are kind of enhanced.”
On the primary purpose of why high schoolers start using them, Kai says, “I would say [Juuls are helpful for anxiety] but people usually use that as an excuse. [The true reason for use is] honestly to look cool.”
Vapes such as the Juul contain diluted liquid nicotine that is heated up by an electrical filament then ingested and blown out as a vapor, eliminating the tobacco and chemicals in regular cigarettes. However, even though the chemicals that create the flavorings for the liquid are considered safe to use in food, their effect on the body can differ when vaporized and inhaled.
Blake mentions “[Cigarettes] have so much more disgusting things than Juuls say they do. I’m not 100 percent sure what’s in [Juuls], but we know in cigarettes there is tar, and rat poison and stuff like that, and tobacco, and [a Juul] is more of a nicotine and salt so it’s not tar filling up your lungs.” However, because Juuls are not limited by the natural nicotine content of tobacco, they can be more potent.
AP Economics and Government teacher Kevin Nelson sees the Juuls as no more than a transformation of cigarettes, still marketed heavily at teens. As he says, “So what I see going on with these cigarettes is that [the manufacturer sees] kids love technology based gadgets, so [they say] ‘we’re going to create a technology based gadget and we’re going to sell it based on that.’ ”
His assertion is only further backed by the features of the little gadget, such as ‘party mode’ that causes the Juul to display rainbow colors when it’s smoked … By being designed to be a popular attraction at parties, Juuls are able to subvert governmental regulation of tobacco advertisement and indirectly target teenage demographics.
The strategy of PAX, the owner of Juuls, on targeting young people is evident in their choice of a new CEO, Tyler Goldman. Goldman has been the head of BUZZMEDIA, Deezer — a music streaming service — and other streaming and publishing sources. With the sleek design of its products, and its San Francisco headquarters, PAX acts more like a tech startup or media company than a tobacco brand. Its appeal to young demographics puts it on a footing to be a formidable enemy to California regulation and anti-smoking campaigns.
California voters have done their best to curb the use of nicotine products by approving Proposition 56 in November. The opposition raised the smoking age from 18 to 21, put an additional $2 tax on cigarettes, and an “equivalent increase” in tax on e-cigarette and vape liquid that is related to their volume and nicotine content. However, even with the new tax, the price of Juul pods has stayed constant, meaning that the new tax has made them a better bargain relative to the price of cigarettes.
Despite Juul’s relatively low price, Blake has a negative opinion on the cost of maintenance for these devices, saying, “You’re pretty much just wasting money. It’s not a good investment because you’re spending money you could be saving to do cool things with.”
Juuls circulating at parties and around friends, is akin to the cigarette culture around the 1950s, when there was not a big stigma and cancer risks were not yet recognized by doctors. Because it can take decades for scientists to reach consensus on the health effects of products, the information on Juuls and e-cigarettes and vapes in general is cloudy. And while there is effectively consensus that e-cigarettes and vapes are better than cigarettes, with cigarettes killing half a million Americans per year, that is a remarkably low bar to clear.
Juuls may persist as a staple of the high school and college party scene or general culture, or may quickly pass with the introduction of the next gadget. Regardless of their ethereal nature, as it stands right now, where there is smoke – or rather, a lack thereof — there is Juuls.
