Teenagers would quit using vapes if they were no longer flavored, Ohio State study finds

DAYTON — Most teenagers would quit using vapes if they were no longer flavored, a study from Ohio State University concludes, but the owner of an area smoke shop is not so sure about that finding.

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More than 400 children visit Smokers Plus Vapes looking for flavored vapes, the No. 1 seller at the tobacco shop on Wilmington Avenue in Dayton, owner Rabi Ahmed told News Center 7′s Kayla McDermott on Thursday afternoon.

“A lot of them like everybody started doing e cigarettes only,” he said, noting he sells roughly 80 to 90 every day.

The Ohio State study involved more than 1,400 teenagers ages 14 to 17 and asked them if they would continue to vape if there were no flavors. Nearly 40 percent said they would stop if tobacco and menthol flavored e-cigarettes were their only options. More than 75 percent said they would quit altogether if tobacco was the standard available.

“I don’t think so,” Ahmed said in reaction to the study’s findings. “They’re gonna be stopping smoking because they already have the taste built up.”

Steven Salmons of Dayton said he thinks he’s addicted to flavors vapes.

“I can’t disagree that you know that the fruit of your flavors and the better flavors,” Salmons said. “You know, kids don’t want to smoke cigarettes because they taste bad. I can definitely see that.”

Salmons said he has a 16-year-old sister who fits the demographic of the study.

“She’s never smoked a cigarette in her life. I don’t think she ever would,” he said. “But now she smokes these vapes and stuff like that because of the flavor.”

Salmons said while he sees how flavors can be targeted toward children, parents should be having more conversations with their children about the dangers of vaping.

“I don’t think a lot of parents pay as much attention to children as they used to and stuff when I was a kid. If I tried to do one of these, my mom would have found it in my drawer or something like that,” he said.

Ahmed said with all the controversy connected to e-cigarettes, particularly the flavored ones, he would not be surprised if the Food and Drug Administration bans them entirely.

Right now, the FDA bans only the flavored cartridges for e-cigarettes.

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