Since its introduction to retail stores in 2007, vaping products have gone from being a cultural curiosity known to only a few small groups of people (mostly in Asia) to being a global phenomenon. In fact, the vaporizer industry generated more than $22 billion in profits in 2022. How did this happen? How did an obscure Chinese invention intended to help people quit smoking turn into the biggest lifestyle accessory since smartphones?

In this post, the team at everyone's favorite online smoke shop take a closer look at vaping and the reasons why it has become so incredibly popular.

6 Reasons Vaping Has Become So Popular

In order to understand the vaping phenomenon, we have to understand why it is that people start vaping in the first place. Talking to friends and associates at our wholesale smoke shop we discovered there are almost as many reasons as there are flavors of e-juice. Okay, maybe not that many, but quite a few. For the purposes of this article, we've distilled the list down to the 6 most popular reasons people start vaping.

To quit smoking

Vaping devices were designed to provide people trying to quit smoking with nicotine. The idea was the nicotine would be delivered in a harmless vapor, satisfy their cravings and enable them to gradually uncouple from their addiction. This may no longer be the most popular reason people vape today, but it's still one of the most popular and it's the only one that has a genuinely noble purpose behind it, so it gets the #1 spot.

While no one is tracking the exact number of people who have managed to free themselves from their addiction to coffin nails using vaping devices it is estimated that the number exceeds a million worldwide and may be considerably higher than that. The anti-smoking cabal is engaged in a relentless campaign to try and discredit vaping but they cannot change the fact that it has had an enormously positive impact on the lives of countless now-former smokers.

Peer pressure

A lot of things young people do they do in order to impress other young people or to demonstrate that they are in tune with the zeitgeist. If half your friends are vaping and you've heard that it's basically harmless chances are pretty good that you're going to investigate vaping and maybe even take it up yourself.

In that sense vaping is like smartphones. 99.9% of young people who own the latest phone don't have any need for the incredible computing power it possesses. They mostly just use it to text, post to social media or to take forgettable photos. But all their friends line up for the latest phones so they feel left out if they don't buy one too. So it is with vaping in many cases.

It's affordable

An ounce of high-quality weed is going to set you back $300-$400. A pack of cigarettes that were 60¢ in 1980 are now more than $10 in some states. Let's say you only smoke an ounce of weed per month. That's still $300-$400 a month. If you smoke a pack of cigarettes per day that's again $300 per month. Vaping on the other hand comes with none of the baggage of cigarettes and, if you're vaping e-juice and not weed the average monthly cost will be around $60. In addition to the savings, there are now more than 7,000 ejuice flavors so you will always have something new to try to keep the experience fresh.

To chill with friends

Life has never been more stressful than it is today. We're constantly bombarded with hysterical headlines and endless stories of impending doom. Add to that things like pandemics, job uncertainty, culture wars, the impact of AI and more and most of us could use a break.

Vaping provides a lot of people with a way to kick back and relax. They meet up with their friends, have a drink or two and enjoy the pleasures of the new e-juice they just got at our wholesale head shop. It's a much-needed respite from what has become a world that seems to be careening out of control.

A better way to enjoy herb

A lot of people turn to vaping herb because they are tired of having their throats destroyed by hot, harsh smoke. Vaping produces a much cooler vapor cloud that is easy on the throat and lungs and does not require you to compromise on the quality of the buzz.

Vaping weed also negates the need to have to roll joints all the time or drag your bong along with you everywhere you go, and we've talked to a lot of people in our wholesale smoke shop who believe that cannabis tastes better when enjoyed through a vaporizer.

Something to do

We talked to a lot of people to bring this article together and we were surprised at how many responded that they started vaping just to have something to do. We weren't expecting that answer, but in hindsight it makes sense.

Life tends to be long stretches of monotony punctuated only occasionally by peak experiences. We all need something to do during those long monotonous stretches and kicking back with a vaporizer and a new flavor of ejuice will do as well as anything else.

The above list represents only some of the most common reasons why people vape. There are dozens more. If you would like to check out the latest vaping devices stop by our wholesale head shop.