Table 3.

Reasons for not liking e-cigarettes: concepts and example quotes

Concepts	Quotes
Product-related reasons	‘So if my battery is not charged, then it's like, okay either I have to go and charge it and let it sit there, or if my tank is empty I have to go buy something or else I can't use it. With cigarettes, it's like, I run out of a pack, let me just go to the nearest gas station and pick up a pack.’ (20 year old female) ‘Things not liked are the inconsistencies with brands. There are many inferior products out there. If you invest in an inferior product, it is a waste of your money.’ (29 year old male)
Poor “smoking” experience	‘You don't have that burn in the back of your throat, which makes e-cigs less satisfying.’ (27 year old female) ‘I don’t feel like I get the nicotine or whatever. It doesn’t taste the same, like a cigarette tastes like you’re smoking, this is whatever. Juice, that’s what it is, the e-juice or whatever. But it doesn’t taste like a cigarette.’ (28 year old male)
Excess use/addiction	‘Yeah you don't know when it's over, it's not like a cigarette, like, "Oh I smoked one." It's easy to count how many you've had and keep a tally. But this you just fill it up, and I don't know how much I smoked, or how much nicotine I smoke. I probably smoke more than I used to. I probably do.’ (27 year old female) ‘I think for me the convenience makes me vape more. So I feel like I’m getting more nicotine than if I’m actually just smoking cigarettes, because I smoke less cigarettes because it’s inconvenient.’ (20 year old male)
Negative health consequences	‘Nothing is really good for you when you inhale it, doesn’t matter what. But these chemicals, putting them into your lungs, it’s still not good for you regardless of what it is, and I’m aware of that, but it’s a self-conscious choice that everyone has to make.’ (19 year old female) ‘Sometimes if I'm vaping a lot during the day I will wake up with a dry throat, a little phlegm sometimes.’ (35 year old male)
High expenditure	‘I spend way more money, like I started off by spending less. I got four or five different vaporizers, like variable voltage mechanical ones. If you buy it online it’s cheaper, but I smoke so much now that the thing of liquid, the bottle lasts three days, at the most.’ (25 year old male) ‘I guess that's one of the things I don't like about e-cigs, is you can customize them so much. So it's like this, but you can change it to make this better… why not just give me the best product there is? Instead of buying one, and getting a different wick… Same with the tip. They give you a crappy tip, you drop it, and it looks like your dog chewed on it. So I had to go out and buy the stainless steel tip.’ (29 year old female)
Negative social consequences	‘My 8 year old sister is always jacking it from me. I don’t condone it, but when she jacks it, she smokes it. And my other little sisters they do too. It makes them feel older, something like that. Because it’s such an age appropriated thing, it’s appeasing to them. But I don’t see any social void between the ages.’ (18 year old male) ‘I think it’s more addictive to people who don’t smoke cigarettes, because for me, and I know friends who didn’t smoke cigarettes but got the vape/this thing, now we’re always just hitting it. Because it’s like mist.’ (20 year old male)