SPOKANE, Wash. — Amidst increasing cases of respiratory illness potentially tied to vaping and e-cigarette use, health experts are cautioning against making modifications to the devices.
While some vaping products, namely e-cigarettes, are smaller, other devices are larger and can be customized for a more intense experience, according to vaping users and health officials.
The larger devices, called “mods” (short for modification), are often associated with more vapor production. “This kind of device takes its cue from a regular vape pen, but is enhanced (or modified, hence the ‘Mod’ name) to include certain advanced features,” says a mod description on the website of e-cig manufacturing company Blu. “Vape Mods offer enhanced performance for these advanced vapers and allows them to experiment.”
Online instructional videos show some users deconstructing vape mods to make the devices produce more vapor and the coils inside burn warmer.
Moreover, health experts say vape mods can use custom types of liquids, or 'e-juice.'
"Anything you can heat up, you can vape,” said AJ Sanders, a vaping expert with the Spokane Regional Health District. "We've heard locally of kids making their own and selling them at school."
The CDC has warned against vape users both modifying their devices and customizing their own liquids.
"Obviously it's not regulated at all,” said Sanders of custom or homemade 'e-juice.' “And if you're buying it from someone on the street or at school, there's no way to know what's in there."
Jeff Lafond, a Coeur d’Alene vaper, said he recognizes the risks associated with e-cigarettes and vape mods. Lafond, however, said that nicotine from vaping helps him deal with obsessive compulsive disorder.
"It really makes me out of shape if I don't have something to calm me down,” he said, adding that he’d rather vape than smoke cigarettes.
Lafond gave demonstrations on one of his two vape mods outside of Cheating Death, a Coeur d’Alene vapor shop.
"Mods are definitely different than pens because you can taste incredible flavor and shoot far clouds out,” he said.