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CLOUD NINE: (From top) With e-cigs, Sam Ross of Advantage Vapors in Manahawkin quit tobacco practically without trying. Juices and devices are as varied as the people who choose to use them – to quit, or just to have fun.

SCOTT FREE: Scott Sarno (rear, far left) of Barnegat, came in second in the Stop, Drop and Run 5K.

Photographs by Jack Reynolds

Ryan Johnson

More than 200 people got a vigorous workout early in the morning of Aug. 30

as they participated in the Barnegat Volunteer Fire Co.’s second Stop, Drop and Run 5K event. Runners and walkers followed a route that began and ended at the municipal dock and took people past various lagoon streets and the Crosswinds Condo development.

Although the sun was intensely bright, temperatures that dropped to the high 50s overnight still made it a pleasant morning,

“It was ideal,” said Frank Gadot, event coordinator. “I don’t think we could have asked for better weather.”

The fi rst to cross the fi nish line was Bill Bajohr Jr., a 16-year-old from Howell Township, with a time of 16 minutes, 38 seconds. Seven-teen seconds behind him was Scott Sarno, Barnegat Board of Education member.

Bajohr’s younger brother, 15-year-old Alex Bajohr, fi nished the course in 19:22. The two boys run track and cross country at Howell High School.

The top female f inisher was

By VICTORIA FORD

Vapes. Juice. Tanks. Mods. Clouds. Variable voltage.

A new vernacular has been created to communicate about elec-tronic nicotine delivery devices, or e-cigarettes, which operate by way of a battery-operated heating coil and wicking material to vaporize a nicotine solution to be inhaled.

The e-juices come in an endless va-riety of fl avors, from traditional tobacco to every imaginable food, fruit, dessert, not to mention miscellaneous “tastes” such as “Shipwreck,” “Swamp Frog,” “Dimple” and “Crazy Hump.” Labs are where the juice recipes are tweaked, formulas are perfected and the solu-tions (vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol, food fl avoring and nicotine) are batched. The mixologists are like bartenders at custom “juice” bars where users gather to get a fi x, or simply to savor the non-nicotine fl avors, and to socialize.

From the perspectives of specialty vape shop owners in the area, the in-dustry is growing and moving so fast, it’s hard to keep up. Within the ever-expanding culture that surrounds the – hobby? habit? art form? lifestyle? – the demand increases daily.

Just please, don’t use the “s” word. E-cigs aren’t “smoked”; they’re vaped, or puffed, or even hit, but not smoked.

It’s a semantic technicality that comes back to bite e-ciggers in the pro-verbial butt, given the activity involves no actual smoke of any kind. The cloud is a vapor, created by heating the liquid juice, via battery.

Because e-cig makers, sellers and users may themselves refer to the act as “smoking” and to the vapor cloud generated as “smoke,” the organization New Jersey GASP (Global Advisors on Smoke-free Policy) maintains e-cigs should not be “smoked” where tobacco smoking is prohibited. In 2010 New Jersey amended the 2006 NJ Smoke-free Air Act to restrict the age of sale to 19 and up, to defi ne “electronic smok-ing devices” and to ban their use from indoor public places and workplaces where smoking is banned.

Still, the questions from the curious and the skeptical swirl, like steam:

Is it safe? Is it legal? Do the sweet candy fl avors lure children? Do the bold, graphic logos and edgy package design entice the teen market to experi-ment with substances? Is it for people who are quitting smoking? Is it for people who never smoked?

Said to have been invented in 2003 by a Chinese pharmacist, e-cigarettes have been sold in the U.S. since 2007 and are now a worldwide, multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry.

Last week, the American Heart As-sociation published its fi rst policy state-ment on electronic nicotine delivery systems in its newsletter, Circulation,recognizing e-cigarettes as a viable option (albeit a last resort) for smok-ing cessation. “The American Cancer Society has no formal policy but quietly took a similar stance in May,” according to the Associated Press.

“Until electronic cigarettes are

scientifically proven to be safe and effective, ACS will support the regula-tion of e-cigarettes and laws that treat them like all other tobacco products,” the organization states in an online question-and-answer forum.

While both organizations express “great concern … and urge more regulation, especially to keep them away from youth,” the AP reported, they also (guardedly) suggest e-cigs may be a reasonable choice for those who have already tried other, more established and accepted methods, including transdermal nicotine patches and counseling.

Everyone agrees more research on the long-term, potentially hazardous, effects of vaping is needed. For now, like methodone for heroin addicts, the idea is “harm reduction.”

This year, the federal Food and Drug Administration joined the debate by proposing e-cigarettes be treated ex-actly like tobacco products, and many want the FDA to ban certain fl avors (of the 7,000 available).

But often bar and restaurant owners are lenient about e-cigs, according to Sam Ross, who opened his Advantage Vapors on Route 9 in Manahawkin at the end of last summer. It’s a matter of etiquette, learning how not to disturb people with the secondhand vapor. The concentrated juice itself is pungent, but the resulting cloud vapor has no noticeable odor, he said, even though the activity may still be perceived as bothersome to some.

Ross said he was a heavy smoker who bought his fi rst e-cig about two years ago with no intention to quit his habit. He simply thought the e-cig