JUUL is a slim, pod-based e-cigarette from PAX Labs that uses nicotine-salt liquid, and by 2017-2018 it also referred to the wave of teen vaping jokes built around the device.

Where did JUUL come from?

PAX Labs launched the JUUL device on June 1, 2015, and spun it into a standalone company in July 2017 under CEO Tyler Goldman.

In meme use, "JUUL" is shorthand for the e-cigarette itself and, by extension, the stereotype of high schoolers ripping pods in bathrooms and classrooms.

As a joke format, people post tweets, subreddit memes and Urban Dictionary-style entries about hiding the device, hotboxing bathrooms and mocking underage Juulers.

Is JUUL still popular?

The meme peaked around 2017-2018 alongside the product's rapid growth to about 70% of the U.S. e-cigarette market, and has been declining since regulatory scrutiny intensified.

JUUL

2017object-based meme / catchphrasedeclining

Published September 3, 2026

JUUL is a pod-based e-cigarette from PAX Labs whose slim, USB-stick design made it easy for teenagers to hide in classrooms and bathrooms. By late 2017 the device had turned into a running online joke, spawning bathroom-vaping tweets, Reddit communities and mock Urban Dictionary entries about the kids who Juul.

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Overview

The JUUL memes are less about a single image template and more about a shared teen-vape lore that piled up online between 2017 and 2018. Jokes typically riff on students sneaking hits between classes, hotboxing school bathrooms until they reek of mango pod, and hiding the tiny device in a bra strap or sock so hall monitors miss it1. Urban Dictionary entries lean into the same beats, mocking underage buyers, sketchy flavor names and the wall of nicotine vapor waiting behind every stall door2.

Tone-wise, the format sits somewhere between self-deprecating teen humor and outsider mockery. Users brag about ripping pods in class while non-users cast Juulers as try-hards chasing clout, a split visible across both the tweets Buzzfeed collected3 and the r/juul community that grew up around the product4. The device itself, small enough to disappear in a closed fist1, is the joke's only real prop.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter / Reddit (viral spread)

Date

2017

The hardware behind the meme launched first. PAX Labs introduced the JUUL e-cigarette on June 1, 2015, using a nicotine-salt formulation drawn from leaf tobacco, and spun the product out into its own company in July 2017 under CEO Tyler Goldman5. Sales climbed roughly 700% in 2016 and JUUL accounted for about 70% of the U.S. e-cigarette market by August 20185.

The meme layer arrived once teens got hold of it. Reporting on the trend crystallized around late 2017, when NPR ran a widely shared piece quoting Denver 18-year-old Mil Schooley saying "50 or 60 percent" of her friends owned a JUUL and that the device "just blew up over the summer"1. A New York Times op-ed titled "The Juul Is Too Cool" pushed the same anecdote about high school bathrooms into mainstream conversation6, and jokes about the device started multiplying from there.

How It Spread

Twitter did most of the heavy lifting. Buzzfeed rounded up 24 JUUL tweets aimed squarely at teens, a mix of bathroom-hotbox bits, pod-flavor jokes and posts about getting caught in class3. On Reddit, r/juul crossed 24,000 subscribers as a hybrid fan space and joke feed, with users trading setup pics alongside memes about the same bathroom scenes tweets were mining4.

Urban Dictionary picked up seven entries for the term, framing Juulers as underage clout-chasers and describing hall-monitor confrontations, drug-dog demonstrations and pod-inflated lung problems in the same breath2. Cultural pushback ran in parallel: the FDA opened an inquiry into why the product appealed to minors and the federal Real Cost campaign began airing anti-JUUL ads, both of which fed straight back into the joke cycle around teen vaping5. Early YouTube explainers about the device, including the widely embedded overview used on Know Your Meme's entry, gave newcomers a quick visual reference for the hardware the memes kept pointing at7.

How to Use This Meme

A JUUL joke typically leans on one of three beats: sneaking a hit somewhere you shouldn't (class, bathroom, family dinner), reacting to a specific pod flavor, or roasting the type of kid who Juuls. Common conventions include exaggerated cough or wheeze sound effects, references to hiding the stick in a bra or sock, and mock-serious warnings about pod-a-day nicotine intake, all styles visible in the Buzzfeed roundup3 and Urban Dictionary entries2.