The "sneaky vape": the affordances of time and space in the rituals of vaping versus smoking in NSW, Australia

Background: Amidst national debates about the rapid uptake of vaping in Australia, we conducted in 2023 a qualitative study of young people’s perspectives on vaping and its relationship to combustible cigarette use.

Methods: We recruited 24 participants, both vape users and nonusers, and conducted in-depth interviews asking them to describe the rituals and cultural practices of vaping versus smoking. These interviews were grounded in participant observation.

Results: The “sneaky vape” emerged as a phrase many participants used to describe how people vape in contexts where it would be impossible to use combustible cigarettes, revealing how e-cigarettes provide temporal and spatial affordances which distinguish them from tobacco smoking.

Conclusions: The ability to use vapes anytime and almost anywhere has created new ways for people to use nicotine. Despite Australia’s smoking laws also applying to vapes, their different odors and lack of combustion mean that vapes do not always elicit the same stigma smoking does. Many of our young Australian participants, thus, considered it normal and unproblematic to vape in settings where it is prohibited by law. Yet many participants, including people who vape, also lamented the way vapes can be used anytime.