Dependency is a Devil –
Oct. 9, 2019 – The electronic cigarette Juul was invented as a means to help its two co-founders quit smoking. But it’s surprisingly hard to quit the quitting tool. I found out 27 days ago when I took a final puff of my USB-shaped nicotine vape, which over the past year had become an extension of my arm. When I first picked up a Juul, it seemed innocent enough: I was out on a Saturday night and I felt itchy for a new vice. At 25, I had made it through most of my life without smoking cigarettes, save for when I was out on the weekends and bumming them from friends.
But Juul seemed cool – the teens are doing it! Models like Gigi Hadid were doing it! It was small and cute! It didn’t make you smell bad! It came in yummy flavors like mango and mint and cucumber! So in September 2018, I sauntered into a Brooklyn bodega on Saturday night and purchased a Juul starter kit with the classic black device and four flavors of pods. Less than one year later, I had slid into new depths of Juul depravity, consuming a pod and a half – more than a pack of cigarettes worth of nicotine – per day and spending at least $25 a week on pods. I had taken to carrying around an external battery pack lest my Juul die and I be trapped without my fix. On vacation in a city without brand-name Juul pods for sale I wandered for hours in search of a vape store.
