Pitt quits nic? Students talk smoking and vaping on campus

When Nick Nazari, a junior computer science major, found himself smoking up to a pack of cigarettes a day during finals last semester, he knew he had to start cutting down.

Recently, to help control how much he smokes, Nazari has been buying “loosies,” or single cigarettes under the counter. Though the FDA prohibits the sale of single cigarettes, the practice goes unchecked in many stores. For some cigarette smokers like Nazari, buying loose cigarettes helps to reduce nicotine use while still satisfying cravings. 

“Obviously quitting smoking is better than smoking,” Nazari said. “But if I have a pack on me, I’ll succumb to my own desires to smoke.”

For Nazari, the transition to college played a large role in the evolution of his nicotine usage, taking smoking from the occasional experimentation in high school to a daily habit.

“I started smoking more in college because I was just growing up more, so I’m more of an adult,” Nazari said. “When I used to live with my parents, I would have to be accountable.” 

Sophie Rush, a senior communications major, wants to quit the vaping habit they developed throughout their time as a Pitt student for reasons bigger than their individual health — the humanitarian crisis in Congo. The mining of cobalt, a mineral used in electronics like iPhones and e-cigarettes, is contributing to high amounts of child labor. 

But even with a larger goal in mind, Rush admitted that quitting vaping, which they started in high school, is not an easy undertaking as a college student.

“I think stress definitely adds to it, especially when you get out of class, you’re just like, ‘Damn, I really want to hit that vape,’” Rush said. “School has definitely been part of the reason it’s been really hard to quit.”

Like other students who experimented with vapes in high school, Grayce Kurtz said when she came to college, the combination of party environments and school stress took the habit to a new level.

“School is so painful that you just need a break in the bathroom, or in Hillman, which is weird because I was never that person,” the junior English writing and gender, sexuality and women’s studies major said. “But then all of a sudden, I was using it all the time, and I would think about it all the time.”

“It was starting to feel like a true addiction because I was feeling antsy when I didn’t have it with me, but I would also never be caught without it,” Kurtz said.

Before vapes became a consistent item in Kurtz’s school bag, they started in her purse when she went out to parties. A vape was not only a staple item, but also a staple activity — helping her connect with others, soothing her anxiety and enhancing the buzz that comes with drinking alcohol. 

“It [vaping] is something you can share with other people and easily start a conversation,” Kurtz said. “You can be like, ‘Oh, do you want to try each other’s,’ or ‘What flavor do you have?’”

Social smoking and vaping can intensify nicotine dependency for students who use it regularly, but sometimes students who might not consider themselves smokers or vapers in their regular life join in at a party. Mohith Gollapalli, a sophomore neuroscience major, said his non-smoking friends often admit to dabbling in smoking or vaping when they attend parties or go out to bars. 

“I don’t think it’s a habit thing they have, but I know when they are at a group setting at a party, they’ll pass a vape between them, or if they go to a bar they’ll smoke a cigarette for the buzz,” Gollapalli said. “When they tell me about it, I’m like, ‘You probably shouldn’t have done that,’ but it doesn’t worry me as much as it would if they bought one themselves.”

Purchasing nicotine on campus, regardless of age, comes with a level of access that many students say they feel worsens the problem and makes younger students all the more vulnerable. Will Jacobs, a sophomore civil engineering major, said students struggling with vaping are up against the convenience and temptation of Oakland’s wide selection of smoke shops.

“I don’t think it helps that we have, like, six tobacco shops on campus,” Jacobs said. “I don’t know the exact number, but I can name, like, four off the top of my head.” 

It’s not just the sheer amount of shops to choose from that students cite as a concern — Nazari said it’s a common leniency towards checking IDs, too. 

“People are young and they don’t really know what’s up, so they just think it’s about experimenting,” Nazari said.

For nicotine-using students like Rush who started their habit in high school, they cite the way vape manufacturers market their products to youth as a contributing factor. Now, as college students, the predatory effect feels familiar. 

“After I graduated high school, it was around the time of COVID … [vaping] was this new thing people our age were doing,” Rush said. “I think a lot of the marketing is towards younger people, unfortunately, so it kind of attracts us, and it just seemed like something to do.”

After vaping through Christmas and New Year’s, Kurtz tried seeing how many days she could go without using her vape in January. Soon enough, she hit 25 days. While Kurtz said she’s not confident that quitting nicotine will become a permanent outcome in her life, she has seen success so far.

“I never really wanted to quit, because it seemed like something that was pretty impossible,” Kurtz said. 

“The first three days were really rough,” Kurtz said. “I remember I was feeling the physical withdrawals, and I was super irritable. But then after that, it kind of got easier.”

When it comes to encouraging vapers and smokers to quit nicotine, some students offer motivations such as saving money and positive peer pressure.

Jacobs said he does not shy away from sharing his opinions on his friends’ nicotine habits, and sometimes, honesty has helped. 

“I had a friend freshman year start using it [vaping] freshman year for life issues,” Jacobs said. “We just kinda shitted [on] him all the time, and then he quit.” 

But in Nazari’s experience, the looks of disappointment are not all that helpful — the desire to quit nicotine has to come from within.

“It’s like using any substance — it’s really easy to judge people for that … You don’t really get nicotine addiction or addiction in general unless you’ve been through it,” Nazari said. “If you want to quit, you have to want to quit. If you want to quit and everyone’s telling you ‘Smoking is bad,’ but you actually don’t want to quit — it’s like you have to want it.”