America’s love affair with smoking goes back hundreds of years. At the heart of the relationship?

Nicotine: arguably one of the most addictive substances on the planet.

But when you’re in a toxic relationship it takes a while to realize that it could be killing you. In this Virtually Rick we take a look at smoking 2.0 -- the rise of the e-cigarette.

When vaping came along a decade and a half ago it was a revelation. An even HANDIER way to accidentally fall back in love with Nicotine -- but healthier, without all that toxic stuff in cigarettes -- right?

Maybe even a way to “quit the hit” as some small studies suggested by eventually removing the nicotine all together and replacing it with bubble-gum and apple-pie flavored air!

WOW! Don’t you love humans? Now even breathing air is boring! But NEVER MIND we sucked it up -- literally. 

So now, cut to where we are today. 

Most kids you know, maybe even your kids have at some point tried to vape. And, with those kinds of flavors available, can you blame them?

In a study in 2018, one in five school kids had tried it. Never mind the fact that it’s illegal to sell e-cigarettes and liquids to those under 18….Ooops!

Now, according to the Centers For Disease Control, we have vaping associated lung injuries and over a dozen deaths nationally. The CDC believes there to be hundreds of cases of lung injuries attributable to e-cigarettes across the country -- with the focus on those that allow you to vape THC, the wacky stuff in marijuana, or even black-market vaping products that could be cut with toxic chemicals. 

Back to nicotine:

There’s been enough studies to show it’s just not that great for kids growing their brains, hardwiring addiction at an early age. That doesn’t bode well for later life and how your brain craves things, let alone attention and learning capacity at school.

So double that with what vaping may do to kids' lungs and the future doesn’t look all that healthy for them. 

So where does that leave us? Vaping may well have a future if researchers can find a way to make it less toxic, especially to help smokers quit. But, it still seems to follow reason that you’re not just what you eat, but also what you breathe.

The most obvious truth is that if you feel it might be a bit, well, strange to breathe “jam-flavored air” into your lungs, then your poor old subconscious could have a point. Which explains why the CDC suggests you consider holding off from using e-cigarettes or vaping products.

The losers will be those who desperately need to quit Nicotine but ultimately, the winners will be all of us, as protecting our lungs will absolutely be a breath of fresh air for our future.