Vaping as a sport?

A few days ago at Dapper’s Dan Vapor Things in Lynchburg, a new and special kind of competitive event took place: a vape contest! Cloud Chasing is about as old as electronic cigarettes themselves. You’ve probably heard of these competitive events to determine who can create the biggest vapor cloud.

The difference, this time, is that the event was overseen by the Cloud Competition Sports League. This organisation is working to establish standards and rules for vaping competitions.

“We make sure that the judges are unbiased, that all rules are being followed, and that the event is treated seriously as a professional sport,” explained the vice president of the CCSL, Hoyt Adickes.

He also added that some participants travel more than a hundred kilometres to participate. Over 70 people attended the event. “It’s a show,” said Davis.

The definition of sport

But is vaping a sport? Let’s see what Wikipedia says:

Sport: ”competitive physical activity or games which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills”

The dictionary.com definition is less restrictive:

Sport: “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature”

So, it’s hard to say. Many consider poker or chess as a sport (though this is far from unanimous). Rifle marksmanship is a recognized sport, but there is little effort involved. Is vaping part of this category? After all, not all e-cig users are able to “cloud chase” or simply haven’t learned the techniques. Just in case you want to get involved, a few tips: you need to crank up the coil temperature, lean forwards before inhaling, and inhale as you lean back. There is also a material “design” aspect, as the coils used in these events are important to cloud chasing performance.

And keep in mind there are also competitive vape tricks, judged like a freestyle competition in extreme sports for example:

One day, we may even see a Vaping World Cup!