This article is in response to the opinions piece, “Are you cool enough to Juul? What the new e-cig phenomenon tells us” published in
The Spectator
April 20, 2017.
Punctuation. Where to start, stop, where to take a breath? It’s a routine question that clicks away at the back of my mind. Should I read to the end of this subsection or the end of the chapter? Is it time look up from my laptop and let my fingers be idle? Punctuation doesn’t just break up the text in front of you; it churns away at the back of your mind like a hesitant hourglass. You invariably stop to take a breath and check your text messages or quickly respond to an email. It was in one of these little moments that I clicked a link to a
Spectator
article about the Juul and, ironically, took a “rip.”
That’s why the Juul has become so ubiquitous. It punctuates life at Hamilton, reminds us to take a breath, giving us something to look forward to at the end of a dense chapter. That’s something nicotine has always done and, since the demise of smoking, the Juul has just rebooted the ritualistic smoking break. The five-minute smoker communities that spring up outside bars or on café terraces and the little moments, those in which someone you don’t know and will never see again asks you for a light and chats with you for a few minutes while waiting for a train, those are the moments the Juul takes me back to. I’m not saying that those moments were worth the damage to your wallet or your health, and this probably reads more as a testament to the addictiveness of nicotine than to my romanticized memories of smoker culture, but my point stands. The Juul has made an age-old social ritual a lot healthier. We shouldn’t lose sight of that.
Furthermore, I’m not trying to one-sidedly peddle a clearer, healthier, and no less exclusive, smoker culture as a good thing. And that’s not to say that those five-minute communities always are or ever should be exclusive. The fact is, they often do create social divides. Why the condemnation for the Juul though? We take the divide between drinkers and non-drinkers as normal, which is not to say it’s supported. Wholly dismissing the Juul as douche-ey doesn’t help because it’s missing the mark. Indeed, blowing vapor through your shirt in the back of class doesn’t make a great impression (go to the bathroom if you need a hit that badly) and who-can-Juul-more competitions aren’t any better. That said, conflating healthier nicotine use with an unfortunate side-culture isn’t productive either.
If we’re going to talk about the Juul and the huge surge it’s having on campus, let’s pry apart the good and the bad. I’m onboard with condemning the ‘Juul because it’s cool’ trend alongside luminescent USB-key showboating. But if people are Juuling in a study room as they grind through a paper due the next morning, between classes on a busy day or “uber-relaxed” outside with friends catching up, maybe we should give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe, like me, they’re just looking for an exhale and partaking in a longstanding social ritual that, if you vaporize away most if not all of the health hazards, isn’t the least bit offensive. If you’d rather avoid the habit, you’re probably making a good choice, and, at the very least, saving youself a few bucks. But if you’d like to jump into this five-minute community, you’re always welcome (Juuling not required). And that’s the point.
