Vaping has just gone extreme! The industry and the vaping professionals called “Cloud Chasers” have discovered a novel way to enjoy it better and that elevated it to become a sport. It entails blowing the biggest and the thickest clouds of clouds from hybrid devices modified for the purpose of creating monstrous clouds. Just like in any extreme sport, contentment can’t be attained by simply billowing dense clouds; there is a need to acknowledge who has the biggest and the thickest. This paved the way to “Cloud Competitions.”
Mechanics to Winning the “X-Games” of Vaping”
During the competition, players take turns puffing out clouds of epic proportions. To do this, vapers need to inhale as deeply as possible to take the biggest hits they can while standing back to back against another vaper. The vaper with the bigger cloud advances to the next round until everyone else has been eliminated but the winner.
To beat the others, a vaper had to billow the biggest and heaviest cloud from their vaporizer.The winner of the cloud competition runs away with a cash prize, and a trophy. It is not uncommon for the winner to also get a free mod kit or other sponsored prizes.
The Aim of the Game
“Cloud Chasers” are set on showing the biggest and most illustrious clouds of vapor possible, trying to outdo each other with bigger and specially shaped clouds. These competitions are bringing vapers together and its staging is becoming an anticipated fun event accompanied by much jumping and screaming as supporter/fans encourage their favored participants to the now labelled “vaping sport.”
“Driving” the Best Mods May Not Be Safe
The desire to win Cloud Competitions push many to go to extreme limits to produce the largest and the thickest clouds they can. To get the most out of their vaporizers, the ingenious ones usually take to modifying their devices – replacing stock parts on their vaporizers with other materials – shortening atomizer coils, and using lower gauge wire to reduce heat resistance, increasing temperature – so as to billow unusually huge clouds. It is almost akin to car racing where various parts are modified to build a car that has the most power and speed.
Many suggest that replacing parts, tweaking atomizer resistance, to using high voltage devices may not be safe. It is possible that a part replaced by another not intended for this particular use can trigger accidents. In one Vapeblast 2.0 cloud chasing competition event held last August 2014 at San Antonio, TX, a mod exploded. While no one was harmed during the incident, it was evident that it can hurt people based on the shrapnel marks on the ceiling. The competition was cancelled, the accident was hushed and the conversations were quelled so agitation would die down without much fanfare.
The Lessons to Learn for the Vaping Community
Vaping as a healthy option to tobacco smoking is widely accepted. Promoting it as a sport is a nifty strategy to motivate more tobacco quitters to the vaping fold. Yet, it seems there are a few things to watch out for and lessons to learn about the “sport.”
- Vaping moderately for your own pleasure is totally different from taking the largest hits to be able to puff out the most epic clouds possible. Is this still considered healthy or safe?
- If the goal is to promote vaping as a healthy alternative to smoking, then it must be portrayed in the best light possible. Promoting cloud competition can confuse the public not thoroughly cognizant that the participants can be using zero nicotine e-cigs. The message can be expressed best if it is made more educational or informative.
- Making modifications in the vaporizers used during the competition to create the winning size is not safe. Unfortunately, this is being resorted to by many “cloud chasers” in order to win. Maybe modifications can be regulated through imposing certain guidelines to limit it.
Are Cloud Competitions safe? The jury is still out unsure whether to ban these events or to encourage them. While the goal is honorable, the competitive spirit is driving the “athletes” to the extreme just to win marring the real purpose of the Cloud Competition. While it is still in the early stages, it is best to be safe, rather than sorry years later.