Say hello to my little friend!
As alarmist luggage bans go, “please don’t put a low-bidder Li-ion battery connected to a resistive heater in your checked luggage” seems reasonably sensible.
As for in-cabin, I’d put it in the same category as cellphones. Probably not actually harmful; but far too annoying to be allowed.
I’m not a smoker or a vaper (is that a thing?) but does anybody know if the bathroom smoke detectors alarm with an e-cig?
I don’t think the vapors put off much of a noticeable smell and it only outputs steam so I don’t think anybody would actually notice someone vaping if done carefully (like blowing into a pillow or something).
I’m asking for a friend… 
I’ve had little exposure to these things but the ones I’ve been near do have a smell.
Its annoying to be around a cloud of vapor in a small room.
A Southwest Airlines passenger using an electronic cigarette in an airplane bathroom set off a fire detector, prompting an emergency situation aboard Flight No. 3654 out of Fort Lauderdale, heading to Baltimore.
The crew of flight No. 3654 declared an emergency when the plane’s forward bathroom fire detector was set off by the passenger’s e-cigarette vapor, according to a statement from spokeswoman Emily Samuels.
“The aircraft was met by emergency vehicles on the taxiway, and the 118 Customers and 5 Crew members remained onboard as the fire department and law enforcement gathered more information,” Samuels said.
“Our Employees in Baltimore took great care of our Customers as they deplaned, and assisted Customers with making connections, or being re-accomodated [sic] as needed,” she continued.
I hate to say it, but that other person probably thought they weren’t going to set off the detector, either – just like new smokers think they won’t become addicted. I suggest the patch for flights.
Considering the steam from the shower would routinely set off the (poorly placed, IMO) 2nd floor smoke alarm right outside the bathroom at my mom’s place, I imagine a plane’s detector would catch it as well.
Oh hey, as I was writing this, look! I’m right!
What about butane-powered vapes?
I’ve set off smoke detectors six times, so yes, it will set them off.
Psh. Yeah, they ban them. But the list of banned things that I’ve regularly forgotten in my carry-on suggests that you can still bring it, and they won’t notice.
But, if you’re worried, just bundle it together with a larger phone battery charger (I have this one). They won’t see it on the X-rays*.
I learned that those heavy metal batteries are great for blocking all sorts of radiation. Way back in '08 I was on a “tiger cruise”, taking my brother’s aircraft carrier he was stationed on from Honolulu to San Diego. My DV cam would get interference every 3 seconds from the radar array sweeps. Fixed it by holding my cellphone between the array and the recording heads.*
**Hoping this post doesn’t get me on the watch list. I finally just started getting Precheck again.
The ban is only on vape devices in your checked baggage. You can still bring your device with you in your carry-on. Personally, I’m OK with that. Some of the low-end mechanical power supplies – which I can’t bring myself to call “mods” – are cheaply built and have no overcurrent or temperature limit protection. Combine that with the tender mercies of the baggage handlers, and you have a recipe for a fire. I think requiring vaping to be carried on is a fine idea, on par with prohibiting laptop batteries in checked bags.
Personally, I’ve had exactly zero trouble bringing my vape in my carry-on, and small containers of juice haven’t caused any trouble for me either.
The can set off an alarm, but I’ve used mine in the airplane bathroom with no problems.
I suspect a couple things are at play: Older detectors and people who vape with a sub-ohm mod; gibberish to you, I’m sure, but sub-ohm mods are the ones you see putting out enormous clouds of vapor. It’s the nicotine equivalent of doing burnouts in a hot-rod.
I use a more conservative vape, and if you hold it in your lungs for a while you exhale nothing. Hell, my mother was doing it under her blanket when she was on a nearly empty flight.
like a weed vape?
Aren’t we talking about weed vapes?
Or the nicotine ones?
It’s hard to distinguish on this site. There’s a lot of talk of vapers, but it’s not always clear if it’s:
“vapers”
or
“vapers 
”
Just curious what mod and tank you’re using. I just upgraded to a 30W iStick from my ancient KR808-D batteries and clearomizers.
I want a larger tank than the one I have now (1.6ml) but it seems like all the larger tanks tend to come with .5 coils or less. I like to be around 1-1.5. I don’t like wasting all that juice.
Kudos to the stock photographer for such a niche subject.
Especially if that battery and heater have a switch triggered by air pressure changes.
(-:
Kanger Subtanks have 1.2 and 1.5 coils available.
I’m fine with this rule.
I’m using a Joyetech Ego One Mega – 4 ml tank, 1 Ω and 0.5 Ω coils available, or you can build your own coils if you want to futz around with it. The battery has overcurrent protection, so it won’t fire a coil that’s too low in resistance. I like it because I don’t want to spend a bunch of time futzing with the hardware.
It does rip through the juice, but I like to make my own vape juice, which knocks the price WAY down and lets you customize both the flavor (I like a lot) and the vapor (I don’t like huge clouds), as well as the nicotine content (just a touch, please).
Last time I flew, a young woman across the aisle from me openly vaped for most of the flight. Near the end a flight attendant noticed and was very snippy about it.
This ban is fine with me. It appears that this is an entirely unregulated, anything-goes industry right now. People can buy no-name hardware directly from no-name manufacturers in China. Every time you take a breath you’re probably inhaling vaporized pieces of the device itself, along with your sounds-like-a-carcinogen propylene glycol. It doesn’t hurt my feelings if those devices aren’t allowed in the luggage hold of airplanes. I bet the ban is unenforceable, though.
