What the f#@& are Juuls?

To answer the question, they’re vapes … but “cooler.”

What started as an e-cigarette designed to help adults quit smoking has skyrocketed in popularity among young adults. VCU students are no exception — in fact, Juuls have become part of the VCU aesthetic, alongside mom jeans and cigarettes.

“This is something that became a college experience,” said sophomore  and Juul user Megan Watt. “It’s just another way to get a nicotine addiction.”

Watt’s roommate, sophomore Carly Calabrese, says Juul culture is more “secretive” since the device is small — comparable to the size of a flashdrive. Juuls are associated with going out, while vapes, honestly, are just weird.

How do you use a juul?

The Juul brand offers five standard flavors and currently has three limited edition pods. Juulers remove the cap on the top of the device to insert the pod that lasts for about 200 puffs, which a lot of people blow through in about a day.

Beginners might experience a bit of a learning curve. The support section of the Juul website states it might take a while to figure out what kind of puff — long, deep or quick and shallow — works best. Those who transition from cigarettes might not get the same effect from the nicotine initially. That’s not to say Juul goes easy on the nicotine: the pods have a 5 percent nicotine concentration by weight, compared to about 1 percent in a normal cigarette.

The Juul pods are better and stronger, Watt and Calabrese agree, but ridiculously expensive. For that reason, they’ve started refilling the pods with other, cheaper brands of juice.

Isn’t it really expensive?

Oh, yeah. Calabrese said most juulers are pretty addicted, so they go through a ton of pods. The starter-pack with the device costs between $35 and $50. A pack of four pods costs $15 and the company limits users from buying more than 15 pod packs per month from its website. Watt says her parents discovered her habit looking at her credit card purchases, asking something along the lines of, “What’s Carytown Tobacco and why do you spend $15 a week there?”

The steep price and financial “commitment” was almost — emphasis on “almost” — enough to prevent Calabrese from buying a Juul.

Why even start? And what about that guy desperate to hit someone’s Juul at a party?

“It’s totally peer pressure because you’re surrounded by people who have [Juuls],” Watt said.

Sophomore Morgan Grove, Watt and Calabrese’s roommate, was introduced to Juuls when Calabrese bought one. She made the plunge to buy her own so she wouldn’t have to keep asking Calabrese to use hers.

“I just felt really bad because [Calabrese] had hers, and we would always use it, especially when we would go out,” Grove said.

As is the case with other substances, broke people at parties mooch off of those willing to share a Juul hit. Some people don’t have boundaries, Watt said.

“People will literally take it away from you,” Watt said. “I’ve had people take it away from me at parties and go across the room.”

Not wanting to be that “fiend” who asks to use a friend’s Juul all the time is one reason people make the leap to buy their own. Once they buy their own, it’s a lot easier to get addicted. Watt said get users wrapped into it quickly — she used to be “that person,” she says, but now gets annoyed when someone asks to use her Juul.

What about the high school students who Juul?

A prompt on the Juul website asks visitors their ages. When they select the “under 21 option,” they’re redirected to teen.smokefree.gov, which has information on the risks of tobacco and nicotine consumption, in addition to information on how to quit smoking.

The trend has become popular among high school students, something the company seems to be trying to negate. The website clearly markets the product as an alternative to cigarettes, despite the fact that many Juulers have never been avid cigarette users.

“I know it’s hypocritical to say that I wish high schoolers didn’t do it, but I do,” Watt said. “I feel like the sooner you start, you become more impressionable and you’re more prone to having other addictions in the future.”

How often do people Juul? Do people plan on stopping?

Some people only Juul at parties, but Calabrese, Watt and Grove do it throughout the day. They agree the morning is the most satisfying to Juul because the nicotine withdrawal from the previous night is relieved, causing a “head rush” feeling. Juulers call it getting “nic’d,” they said.

For Watt, whether or not she decides to stop Juuling is connected to the practice’s popularity. She said she might stop when they go out of style.

Georgia Geen Spectrum Editor