Among the rows of vendor booths set up inside the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center for a multi-day vaping industry trade show, one stood out for its focus on a specific audience: military veterans looking for help kicking a cigarette habit.
The booth belonged to Vape a Vet, a nonprofit that got its start after its founder, Will Cohen, spent time working with the city of Phoenix on workforce development programs aimed at veterans. During employment-preparation sessions, Cohen noticed how often the smell of cigarette smoke lingered on veterans heading into job interviews, something career counselors routinely warn can leave a bad first impression on prospective employers.
That observation planted the seed for a program that, by the time it reached the Mobile convention floor, had already sent starter kits to more than 1,500 veterans nationwide since launching two years earlier. The kits are provided free of charge to active-duty and former service members who want to transition away from combustible cigarettes toward vaping, which researchers have said carries fewer of the carcinogens associated with traditional smoke.
The numbers behind the program’s mission point to a real gap in veteran health outcomes. Federal data cited by organizers shows that roughly 36 percent of male veterans between the ages of 45 and 54 identify as smokers, compared with about 24 percent of non-veterans in that same age bracket, a disparity researchers have linked to stress, deployment culture and limited access to cessation resources.
Vape a Vet initially ran on donations alone, but Cohen said the addition of a companion retail product line, custom-flavored e-liquid sold under a separate brand, gave the nonprofit a sustainable way to fund the free kits without relying solely on fundraising drives. Proceeds from each bottle sold, including those on display at the Mobile show, are funneled back into covering the cost of starter kits shipped to veterans around the country.
According to Cohen, the biggest hurdle isn’t skepticism about vaping’s safety profile so much as the upfront cost of trying it. Many veterans, he said, default back to a familiar pack of cigarettes rather than risk spending money on vaping equipment that might not work for them, which is exactly the barrier the free starter kits are designed to remove. Veterans interested in the program simply fill out a short application and submit proof of service before a kit is mailed to them at no cost.
The Mobile stop was one stage of a broader vaping industry gathering drawing exhibitors and attendees to the coast for a weekend focused on new products and public health conversations surrounding e-cigarettes, giving the veteran-focused nonprofit a chance to reach a local audience it might not otherwise encounter.