DELAND — Cigarettes had a suffocating grip on Alex Schelb.
The Stetson University junior, who placed his first Camel Turkish gold to his lips only two years ago, would gasp for air running on a treadmill or huff and puff ascending the smallest flights of stairs.
Schelb, 20, turned to electronic cigarettes and soon enough, vaping, as it is called, was working. He was able to exercise longer and save money.
“I haven't had a problem with smoking an e-cig,” Schelb said during a recent phone call. “I've never heard a complaint about it. I've never heard anyone say, 'Don't blow that smoke toward me.' Nobody really cares.”
But when Stetson changed its tobacco policy in August, administrators indicated they do care.
The school announced that using tobacco products on campus was no longer allowed. Students like Schelb were surprised the policy also included electronic cigarettes.
“It didn't make sense,” Schelb said, adding that several students signed a petition that never gained traction. “If they are going to ban it, at least have a place somewhere on campus for us to smoke them.”
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that simulate the experience of smoking while providing doses of nicotine and other additives to the user in an aerosol. The cigarettes work by heating a liquid cartridge containing nicotine, flavors and other chemicals into an inhalable vapor. Because e-cigarettes heat a liquid instead of tobacco, what is released is considered smokeless.
