When Commissar Bloomberg first floated the idea of a cigarette ban in 2002 in New York City, my first concern wasn’t how it would impact public health or the city’s bustling nightlife and bars…I wondered how it would affect pot smokers.
As mush as I hate cigarettes — they tend to be addictive and kill — they have always historically provided great cover for stoners looking to light up a quick spliff in a club or lounge. Not only were they effective in masking the smell, but also for camouflaging joints. If rolled just right, a typical NYC bouncer couldn’t differentiate the glow from the tip of a cigarette from the glow of a joint. Then they were outlawed, and cannabis connoisseurs had no decoys to deploy. It was like playing chess without your pawns. Sure, you might be able to get away with firing off one of those terrible, cigarette-looking one-hitters, but it’s not the same. This stifling control on cigarette smokers — and by proxy weed smokers — persisted for years.
And then something wonderful happened: e-cigarettes. These nifty little vaporizers that don’t really mitigate the dangers of nicotine, but do reduce damage to the lungs, have become very popular among smokers. Like IRL butts, the devices blaze orange and users can exhale a smoke-like cloud except its vapor. What’s really great about gadgets is that the people who use them vape everywhere. I’ve seen people puff on them at bars, restaurants, clubs, and even at the Barclays Center. (Amazingly, no one was snickering or rolling their eyes either.)
And so, the stoner nation’s trojan horse had finally arrived in the form of e-joints. Instead of refilling e-cigs with doses of liquid nicotine, enterprising minds began using them for the dabs — a concentrated form of cannabis that comes in a liquid or waxy form, making it very efficient for vaporizing.
Suddenly, weed smokers can once again blend in with their more addicted counterparts and do it a much wider range of venues, which seems to concern the New York Times. But don’t despair, e-cig smokers — your service (and eventual death) is ultimately serving a greater cause.
