Contradictions Between Narratives and Practices of Electronic Nicotine Delivery System’s Consumers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32635/2176-9745.RBC.2025v71n1.4918Keywords:
Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, Vaping, Social PerceptionAbstract
Introduction: Tobacco control policies have advanced in recent decades, but the tobacco industry is presenting a new challenge: Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems. Objective: To map the perception and consumption practices of young and adult consumers about electronic nicotine delivery systems, contributing to reflection on the topic of harm reduction. Method: Qualitative study conducted with focus groups in five state capitals in each Region of the country, with users aged 18 to 28 years old and adults aged 29 or older. Ten focus groups were held, with six participants in each group, totaling 60 informants, belonging to classes A and B1, via Zoom platform with a semi-structured question script. Results: The respondents seem to be “symbolically cleaning up” their smoking habits, reestablishing the meanings of conventional cigarettes, reducing their perception of risk, and no longer considering themselves as smokers. The product is perceived as practical to be used, with a pleasant smell and taste increasing social times, without restrictions on its use. The work also highlights the barriers to measuring consumption. The diversity of existing models and the variety of nicotine contents seem to contribute to a lack of comparative and collective parameters, which prevents the user from being aware of their consumption, in addition to the “flow” mechanisms, where the consumer loses track of the volume consumed, without a material experience of a consumption unit. Conclusion: Barriers to measuring consumption and flow mechanisms appear to pose major risks of increasing smoking.
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