Thread by @NYMag

To illustrate our feature on vaping, we asked young photographers around the country — Jonas Bardin in New York, Violet Golden and Alisa Petrosova in L.A., and Kevin Jolley in Missouri — to document 18-to-23-year olds’ relationship with vaping nicotine nym.ag/37ZPAIm

“Most teens think they’re invincible and don’t understand or comprehend the consequences from it. And then some people do it because their friends do it. The cool appeal of it.”

Luke, 18, California

“I basically started when the whole vaping thing came out. All the stores started rolling in. There’s one on every corner, and they looked like candy stores.”

Danny, 18, Missouri

“The Juul is so much easier. You don’t smell like cigarettes. You don’t feel as nasty. There’s like mango-fruit- whatever, mint-flavored pods, and cigarettes don’t exactly taste as nice.”

Augusta, 20, California

“You can smoke a whole pack of cigarettes in a day. You can just hit it, hit it, hit it. Everyone at my little brother’s high school has a Juul. I had silly bands.”

Bella, 19, New York

“My grandpa smokes, so growing up around that I told myself I wouldn’t touch cigarettes. Junior year, my best friend was like, ‘You should get Juul.’ Now I’m at a point that when I don’t have the vape, it’s all I can think about.”

Wind, 19, New York

“I vape pretty much constantly during the day. I vape when I drive. I vape when I’m in bed.... But I worry in ten years they’re going to uncover crazy shit like they did with cigarettes.”

Jennifer, 22, California

“It’s very childlike. It tastes like literal candy children would eat. I don’t know who the CEO of Juul is, but if he was a cigarette smoker, I don’t think he’d be buying mango Juul pods to get over it.”

Coco, 18, New York

“At 14, adults saying ‘Don’t do it’ with no evidence or reasoning just makes you want to do it more.... The flavors taste like shit. You don’t get a head rush. The only thing pleasurable is satisfying your addiction.”

Chi, 18, California

“I’ve pretty recently switched back to tobacco. I don’t want to make my own body an experiment on whether vapes are healthy or not. At least I know what cigarettes are doing to my body.”

Pablo, 21, California

Read our report on how vaping is a health crisis that’s only just begun nym.ag/37ZPAIm