{"id":225203,"date":"2016-04-12T06:00:48","date_gmt":"2016-04-11T20:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=225203"},"modified":"2016-04-12T06:00:48","modified_gmt":"2016-04-11T20:00:48","slug":"vaprspot-aims-help-smokers-kick-habit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/vaprspot-aims-help-smokers-kick-habit\/","title":{"rendered":"VaprSpot aims to help smokers kick habit"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-225203 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/vaprspot-aims-help-smokers-kick-habit\/vaprspot-pix-1\/'>VaprSpot-pix-1<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-225207'>\n\t\t\t\tVaprSpot owner Louis Rogers gives some remarks before the opening of his shop in Dandan. (Jon Perez)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/vaprspot-aims-help-smokers-kick-habit\/vaprspot-pix-2\/'>VaprSpot-pix-2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-225208'>\n\t\t\t\tLorena Rabauliman assists customers who want to try the flavors of their e-cigarettes. (Jon Perez)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Louis Rogers is no medical expert but he testifies that electronic cigarettes have helped him and his customers kick the habit of lighting up another one. He added that he also has some clients that also even quit chewing betel nut.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never make any medical claims and I won\u2019t make some but based on my own experience, [e-cigarettes] got me out of cigarettes,\u201d said Rogers, who owns the recently re-opened VaprSpot in Dandan right across the Joeten Building.<\/p>\n<p>E-cigarettes are commonly battery-powered. These are vaporizers, where the term vaping was derived from, that give you the feeling of smoking but minus the tobacco.<\/p>\n<p>Rogers said while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is still conducting studies on e-cigarettes, there are several researches in the United Kingdom claimed that it is 95 percent safer than regular cigarettes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd the signs show a lot of people quit smoking tobacco products. That\u2019s why the FDA has extended its research until 2022 to conduct more studies on e-cigarettes,\u201d added Rogers, who used to smoke for 27 years.<\/p>\n<p>He said it was almost four years ago that he acquired his first e-cigarette. \u201cI have not smoked a cigarette for three years when I switched to e-cigarette. The transition was pretty successful and it helped me to slowly withdraw from nicotine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rogers said that using e-cigarettes, or vaping, is a good and suitable alternative to regular smoking. \u201cThe trends show that a pretty good percentage of e-cigarette users got them to quit regular cigarettes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Re-launch<\/strong><br \/>\nRogers said last April 2 was just a re-opening of his place since he had a previous spot located at the back of the same building. \u201cInitially, I do online sales and everything is done on the Internet. My first place was like a small office and we\u2019re like cramped inside it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe growing market of local customers made me decide that it\u2019s about time to get a bigger place. I am pretty much hands on in putting up the place since I know the style and design that I wanted,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>VaprSpot\u2019s new place gives customers a warm and cozy feeling. \u201cIt is like a man-cave for the gents. It looks like a big living room that is good to hang out with your friends. I will be adding some more shelves where customers can try other juices and flavors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nick Rabauliman, one of Rogers\u2019 regular customers, said the new place is a lot more convenient. \u201cIt has a full staff that could assist you. The hours are good for people on the go or you could always stop by after work and try the new fluids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For mature adults<\/strong><br \/>\nBut does Rogers promote underage smoking? \u201cThe question is, will this be a gateway for young adults to get started smoking cigarettes?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have an age limit of 18 years old up. It\u2019s an attraction for them. Seeing the smoke or the vapor that comes out, they think it\u2019s cool. It only gives you the notion that you\u2019re smoking but what you have is only flavors without the nicotine. We don\u2019t promote smoking and we don\u2019t want them to start it. This is for mature adults.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rogers said he won\u2019t blame the skeptics and other people who think that vaping is also smoking. \u201cFear of the unknown is an unfortunate thing. I am not a pushy salesman. I let someone make the informed decision and make sure that it would be his or her own personal choice. It doesn\u2019t harm to try.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Satisfied customers<\/strong><br \/>\nRabauliman, Paul Manglona, and Mike Richter\u2014who quit smoking more than three months ago\u2014testify that e-cigarettes helped them abandon their respective vices.<\/p>\n<p>Manglona said that he was a smoker for almost 17 years but had already quit seven months ago. \u201cIt helped me stop, but gradually. When I first started, I was using fluids that still had 6 percent nicotine. Then down to 3, right now I\u2019m trying to reach zero.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added that VaprSpot, is the first of its kind on the island. \u201cI just started vaping and its fun. Now it has become a hobby. With this facility, it\u2019s a nice place to hang out with your friends. This is one of the best that I\u2019ve seen so far, and I\u2019ve been to Guam and the mainland.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rabauliman, on the other hand, used to smoke cigarettes, and chew tobacco and betel nut. A regular visit to the dentist, coupled by the amount of money he spends in cigarettes and betel nut, made him decide to quit his vices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe dentist told me that I could get oral cancer unless I stop smoking and chewing. I need to find something better and somebody told me about e-cigarettes, so I tried it. It is something different and I\u2019ve been vaping since then. I haven\u2019t been back since then,\u201d added Rabauliman.<\/p>\n<p>Before, Rabauliman said that he used to spend more than $25 a day\u2014from buying cigarettes, betel nut, lime, and pepper leaf\u2014compared to $22 for each bottle of the fluids used in e-cigarettes that could last for a month.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has helped me with my cigarette smoking. Slowly, it limited my nicotine levels. It is beneficial since I already stopped smoking. The smell is also not that awful compared to cigarettes that after you smoke one stick, the odor sticks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Louis Rogers is no medical expert but he testifies that electronic cigarettes have helped him&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":225207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[10865,10866,10867,67],"class_list":["post-225203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-joeten-building","tag-louis-rogers","tag-mike-richter","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}