One in four high school teens who have used e-cigarettes have also tried a potentially dangerous new vaping method called “dripping” – dropping e-cigarette liquid directly onto the hot coils of the device to produce thicker, more flavourful smoke – a new study found.
“Dripping,” which differs from normal e-cigarette use that slowly releases the liquid from a wick onto a hot atomiser, may expose users to higher levels of nicotine and to harmful non-nicotine toxins, such as formaldehyde and acetaldehyde – known carcinogens.
Sixty-four per cent of the surveyed teens said they dripped for the thicker smoke, 39 per cent for the better flavour and 28 per cent for the stronger throat hit or sensation, according to the study published Monday in the journal Paediatrics.
“When people smoke cigarettes, they say they smoke it for, for lack of a better word, a tingling in the back of the throat,” said Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin, the study’s lead author and a Yale professor of psychiatry who studies substance abuse behaviours.
Electronic cigarettes are battery-operated devices that heat liquid and turn it into vapour — instead of smoke – which a person inhales. One of the primary concerns about e-cigarette use in teens is increased exposure to nicotine, Krishnan-Sarin said. E-cigarette liquids can contain varying levels of nicotine, and dripping could expose teens to higher levels of the drug, the study states.