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Teenage E-Cigarette Users Turn To 'Dripping' For More Intense Effect

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Courtesy of Pixabay

One in four teens who use e-cigarettes say they’ve dripped, letting the nicotine-based liquid drop onto the e-cigarette’s heating coils and then inhaling the vapors. That figure comes from a Yale study that says there’s reason to be concerned about the trend.

According to the CDC, millions of teens use e-cigarettes, and more start every year. Normally, you’d use the e-cigarette’s mouthpiece to inhale the nicotine vapor.

People who drip say it tastes better and produces a thicker cloud of vapor, but it also increases the amount of nicotine and dangerous chemicals like formaldehyde.

Dr. Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin, a Yale psychiatry professor, did the study. “When e-liquids are heated at high temperatures, like with dripping, they can produce high levels of carcinogenic compounds. We need a lot more work on trying to understand the safety of these alternate use behaviors.”

Krishnan-Sarin says schools should consider campaigns to get students to avoid dripping and other e-cigarette use until scientists have a better understanding of their health risks.

Davis Dunavin loves telling stories, whether on the radio or around the campfire. He started in Missouri and ended up in Connecticut, which, he'd like to point out, is the same geographic trajectory taken by Mark Twain.