E-cigarettes remain unregulated in Ohio
For Destiny Sabo, vaping became a way to avoid smoking cigarettes. Subjected to secondhand smoke for most of her life, Sabo wanted to find a way to release stress without turning to the lifestyle that consumes her parents, who are both daily smokers.
Electronic cigarettes, known as e-cigs, are an alternative way to smoke, although the product doesn’t contain tobacco. In Ohio, a person needs to be 18 years or older in order to purchase electronic or tobacco cigarettes.
Sabo, a junior music education major, had smoked e-cigarettes before turning 18, getting it through her friends, but on her birthday she went to Groove-E-Juice to buy her first e-pen. The shop, located on South Water Street in Kent, sells e-juice and accessories for electronic cigarettes.
Since then, Sabo said she doesn’t spend more than $10 when buying e-juice for her device because she doesn’t use it every day.
Currently e-cigarettes are not taxed in the same manner as cigarettes. In 2015, Gov. John Kasich proposed increasing Ohio’s cigarette tax from $1.25 to $2.25 in House Bill 64. Subsequently, vapor products containing nicotine, such as e-cigarettes, would also be taxed if the bill passed. Starting July 1, the cigarette tax increased 35 cents instead. E-cigarettes were not included since the product does not contain tobacco.
General manager of Groove-E-Juice Adam Okarma said the shop sees at least 100 people a week. While Groove-E-Juice caters to a college crowd, Okarma said many of their customers are people over the age of 40 trying to quit smoking cigarettes.
E-juice contains three ingredients, which includes propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin and flavoring, Okarma said. Nicotine is an optional fourth ingredient.
Sabo, for instance, doesn’t buy e-juice that contains nicotine, she said.
“I’ve tried some flavors with small amounts of nicotine in it and it hurt,” Sabo said. “It hurt to smoke that much.”
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, results from a 2014 study called “Electronic Cigarette Use Among Adults” showed that only 12.6 percent of adults had used an e-cigarette before. The study also stated cigarette smokers were more likely to try e-cigarettes if they’d attempted to quit in the past year.
Formerly a cigarette smoker, Okarma typically goes through 30 mL of e-juice a week instead of a pack of cigarettes per day, he said.
“In the long run I feel better and I’m still saving a ton of money compared to smoking [cigarettes],” Okarma said.
At Groove-E-Juice, users are able to start with a nicotine level equivalent to cigarettes in their e-juice and work their way down so they’re not as addicted, he said.
“This is where the consumer has control over themselves,” Okarma said. “Everyday I help someone quit smoking and I feel like I just helped them live longer.”
