a first world problem

January 7, 2023 6:39 AM

I have a Vuse Alto and I accidentally left it in the bathroom when I took a shower. Did this damage it?

Before I ask: please do not lecture me about the dangers of vaping. I have done my own risk assessment about this topic and I would prefer to keep vaping rather than return to my pack a day cigarette habit. I haven't had a cigarette since December 31 2018.

I used to use a Juul vape, but Juul has changed the design of their units such that they are complete garbage (less powerful battery, pods are too loose, have to pull harder to get a hit). Between that and the ongoing FDA kerfuffle about Juul I switched to a Vuse Alto. I like it a lot better and the FDA doesn't seem to have a problem with this product so win-win.

Yesterday I went to take a shower and the Vuse Alto was in the pocket of my pants I was wearing pre-shower. I took it out of my pocket and left it on the bathroom sink and put my clothes in the laundry hamper, then took a shower. My bathroom does have a vent but I like hot showers and was in there a bit longer than usual as I had to shave my legs. When I got out of the shower, the bathroom mirror was fogged up.

The Vuse seems to still be working, but I'm a bit nervous about it having been exposed to humidity. I have been googling about this and can't find anything pertaining to humidity affecting a Vuse Alto, but thought I'd check with the hive mind to see if my concerns are founded. I don't know why I didn't just leave it in another room except to say that I had just worked out and felt gross and desperately wanted to get in the shower ASAP.

Have I potentially damaged my Vuse Alto? Should I get a new one? They are only $10 so it's not the end of the world if I have to get another one, but if I'm just being paranoid I'll hold off.

Again to reiterate: I know the dangers of vaping so I would greatly appreciate if the answers specifically speak to my question instead of chastising me for vaping to begin with. Vaping is the only thing that has worked to keep me away from cigarettes so I don't need to hear about Nicorette, patches, hypnosis, or quitting cold turkey. I just want to know if I've damaged the Vuse.

Thanks.

posted by nayantara to Grab Bag (4 answers total)

Best answer: I mean, it's probably pretty humid in your pants pocket while you're working out. I don't think a half hour in a steamy bathroom is going to make a difference. People keep other electric devices like hair dryers and electric shavers in the bathroom all the time.
posted by mskyle at 6:48 AM on January 7, 2023 [4 favorites]

You might want to have a second one anyway so that you won't be tempted to buy cigarettes if something happens to your current one. And yay for you for quitting cigarettes! That's huge!
posted by OrangeDisk at 6:55 AM on January 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

Yeah, should be fine - it's not like you got it wet.

(As a side note, the term first world problems is othering and racist, so maybe don't use it?)
posted by Tamanna at 7:42 AM on January 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Hey Tamanna - that's a fair point and I'm ashamed to say I didn't think about it that way. I guess I was just trying to convey that in the grand scheme of things this is a fairly inconsequential situation for me to be fretting about to the extent I am when there are far bigger things to care about generally - kind of more meant as a poke at myself for caring so much about a device that I honestly just use to get a drug fix. I have family in a so-called "third world" country and I kind of feel embarrassed that I'm worried about a vape when over the past two years my family there has dealt with a COVID death and severe cases of COVID with inadequate resources due to government lack-of-preparedness and incompetence. Genuinely attempting to make fun of myself in this case.

But thank you for calling me out on how it can be taken in a problematic way. I will be more mindful in the future.
posted by nayantara at 8:35 AM on January 7, 2023 [2 favorites]