e-cigarettes and the RS tour non-smoking policy

Thanks for reminding us about changing technology. I will pass this on to the appropriate departments.

I've been on a couple of RS tours and wonder why your guide didn't intervene.

@Pam: it's possible the guide wasn't aware what the tour member had was an e-cigarette at first. I myself didn't know what this tour member was surreptitiously whipping out and using until we smelled the smoke and the person was blowing smoke rings. As a non-smoker, I was not familiar with the latest smoking equipment.

Maybe our guide was just lax about enforcing rules. There were three tour members who were smoking during the tour; usually they were good about standing downwind or in the back from the group. Maybe the guide did speak to the smoker privately but it wasn't apparent if the person complied or not.

Excerpt copied from the tour policies:

We have a "no smoking" policy on our tours. While we do sometimes have smokers join our tours, they are not allowed to smoke at group events, on the bus or in their room if they are sharing a hotel room with another tour member.

Vaping (using an e-cig) is not smoking. There is no tobacco and no combustion. Ecigs contain up to 4 ingredients: nicotine - although many vape no-nic liquids, flavoring, vegetable glycerin and/or propylene glycol. PG is used in many pharmaceutical applications. Scientific studies done show no harm to users or bystanders. You might have been annoyed by the smell of the flavoring but there was no cigarette smoke if said person was truly using an ecig. Most people who vape do so because they are using it to quit smoking cigarettes after having failed with all the pharmaceutical products offered. Many people are bothered by it because it looks like smoking, but I can guarantee you that it is not. I know. I'm a vaper who smoked cigarettes for forty years. With that said, I would certainly not vape in the bus but see no reason not to when touring outdoors as long as one acts with courtesy and isn't blowing it in people's faces.

I agree with nances post.
I think the op simply assumed it was bothering her because of her perception.
I do not like esmoke in enclosed areas since they smell perfumey to me, but I would not object to it outside.

The city of Fort Collin, CO, just adopted an ordinance that e-smokes are the same as cigarettes and are ban in all locations. So in some areas they are being treated the same as cigarettes.

Hi,
This topic seems to be inspiring some off-topic responses, which I've deleted, so I'm closing this thread. I believe the existing replies are satisfactory in responding to the original post.