Many people looking for an alternative to cigarettes have turned to vaporizers and e-cigarettes as health concerns surrounding tobacco products have increased.

“Vaping” involves heating an e-liquid to a vapor, which is then inhaled through the user’s device. E-liquids are available in a number of different nicotine strengths and flavors and can be purchased at a variety of locations.

According to Kevin Casaboon, the manager of smoke shop Sugar Mountain on Court Street in Downtown Binghamton, fruity and dessert flavors are the most popular. Casaboon’s flavor of choice is “gummy glue,” which is known to taste similar to Swedish Fish.

Over the past year, there has been a significant increase in the popularity of vaping. Garrett Fitzgerald, the associate director of Alcohol and Other Drug Programs and Services at Binghamton University, said that e-cigarettes are not as heavily regulated as regular cigarettes, leading people to believe it to be a safe alternative to cigarette smoking.

“The increase in e-cigarette use has dramatically overtaken the use of real cigarettes,” Fitzgerald said. “Part of that comes from the lack of regulation for e-cigarettes, it’s not currently under the FDA regulation. Unlike cigarettes, there are no regulations for how they can be advertised, so they market to target younger adults.”

Although it may cost less than buying packs of cigarettes, vaping can still be a costly habit. Vaporizers at Sugar Mountain cost anywhere from $15 to $200. According to a student who wished to remain anonymous, vaping is an easier alternative to more traditional ways of smoking, such as hookah.

“Vaping does cost a pretty penny, but it’s so worth not having to deal with heating up coals and tobacco,” the student said. “My electronic hookah bowl was $120 and e-juice can run from $9 to $28 a bottle, depending on the size of the bottle. My favorite e-juice would have to be ‘kryptonite’ by Cosmic Fog. It tastes like those mystery flavor Airhead candies.”

E-liquids are advertised as safer than cigarettes because they contain fewer chemicals. However, most e-liquids still contain some amount of nicotine. The level of nicotine is dependent on the specific liquid, but according to Fitzgerald, many e-liquids are mislabeled.

“Cigarettes are clearly much worse than vaping, but that’s not saying much,” Fitzgerald said. “Although they’re not FDA regulated, the FDA has been running tests on the e-cigarette solutions and is finding nicotine even in solutions advertised to have no nicotine. This lack of regulation can be potentially harmful to the individual, because nicotine is still highly addictive.”

Some students said that vaping does have some benefits over smoking, such as no bad odor, no cigarette burns and a lesser chance of causing cancer. According to Sam Rabiner, a sophomore majoring in mathematics, vaping is good for trying out new smoking tricks, but is pointless otherwise.

“I only hit my friend’s vapes because it’s cool to make big clouds,” Rabiner said. “I think they’re pretty dumb, honestly. Kush is way better than vaping.”

Although BU’s campus is going tobacco-free in fall 2017, it is still unclear whether or not vaping will be included in the policy. According to Fitzgerald, students can voice their opinions on whether or not it should be included during the three-week open comment period, where they can openly voice their opinion to a committee based out of the office of alcohol and other drug services. Until the policy is decided on, students can continue enjoying flavors like “gummy glue” and “kryptonite.”

“Between blowing clouds to O’s, my vape provides me with the dopest smoke to do my smoke tricks,” the anonymous student said. “I couldn’t be happier.”