Vaping — Black and white close-up of a man exhaling vapor from a metal vape mod

Vaping

2003subcultureclassic

Published October 4, 2026

Vaping, the practice of inhaling vapor from an electronic cigarette or similar device, grew from a niche smoking alternative in the 2000s into online shorthand mocked relentlessly across Reddit and YouTube by the mid-2010s. What started as a harm-reduction product pitch spawned a wave of comedy sketches, cloud-chasing trick videos, and the enduring stereotype of the obnoxious vape bro.

behavior mocking memes mid 2010s memes stereotype memes cringe memes subreddit origin memes

Overview

Vaping refers to inhaling vapor produced by heating liquid or plant material in a battery-powered device, pitched by its early users as a cleaner alternative to combustion smoking1. The modern e-cigarette format that drove the hobby online was built by Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik in 2003 and started exporting globally in 20063. By the early 2010s, the practice had its own slang, its own subreddits, and its own uniform of oversized mods and sweet-smelling juice flavors.

The meme side of vaping is mostly mockery of the hobbyists rather than the devices themselves. YouTube sketches, reaction GIFs, and Reddit threads piled on the vape bro stereotype: a guy exhaling car-sized clouds, performing jellyfish tricks, and bragging about strawberry cheesecake juice flavors2. Urban Dictionary entries from the era captured the tone bluntly, with definitions calling vaping "the quickest way to make all your friends hate you" and "the reason you're single"6. The visual shorthand for vape culture became the fat cloud exhale and the comically large mod box, both of which fed trick-video channels and parody sketches alike.

Origin & Background

Platform
Product origin: China (Hon Lik, 2003) / Meme spread: YouTube and Reddit (2013-2015)
Date
2003

The hardware history runs deeper than the meme. Inventor Herbert Gilbert patented a smokeless, non-tobacco cigarette design in 1963, though it never reached production4. In the late 1970s, computer entrepreneur Phil Ray and his physician Dr. Norman Jacobson developed the "Favor Smoke-Free Cigarette," and Jacobson's trial write-up is credited with the first use of the words "vaping" and "vapers" to describe the activity and its users1. The device commercially credited with launching the current wave is Hon Lik's 2003 e-cigarette, which began international distribution in 20063.

The word "vape" entered general internet slang on March 31, 2004, when Urban Dictionary user SweeperOfDreams submitted an entry defining it as a term for vaporizer use with cannabis and tobacco6. The dedicated /r/Vaping subreddit launched on January 17, 2010, giving the growing hobby a hub for gear talk and juice reviews3.

How It Spread

The meme took shape on YouTube first. On September 2, 2013, the channel 1O1Films uploaded "Vapers Be Like," a sketch series mocking vaporizer enthusiasts that set the template for later parodies1. On May 4, 2014, YouTuber PDX1K posted a trick-vaping compilation that pulled over 2.9 million views and 1,700 comments across the next two years, cementing cloud chasing as its own spectator genre1.

Text coverage followed the videos. Listverse published "10 Facts That Everyone Gets Wrong About Vaping" on November 12, 2014, treating the hobby as mainstream enough to need debunking1. On March 17, 2015, Redditor quagdingo77 posted a GIF of a man vaping in a car with loud speakers to /r/oddlysatisfying, which earned over 4,600 votes at 90% upvoted in seven months1. The ASAPScience YouTube channel joined the explainer wave on August 16, 2015, with a video comparing smoking and vaping that pulled over 2.4 million views and 5,200 comments in two months5.

By that fall, confused outsiders were asking what the joke even was. On October 8, 2015, Redditor Creamofcelery opened a /r/OutOfTheLoop thread titled "Why do I keep hearing people make fun of vaping?" that collected roughly 2,500 votes and 800 comments in its first two weeks1, a decent marker for when the mockery had outrun the practice itself.

Timeline

1963

Herbert Gilbert designs an early smokeless, non-tobacco cigarette that never reaches production.

2003

Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik manufactures the first modern e-cigarette in Beijing.

2004-03-31

Urban Dictionary user SweeperOfDreams submits an entry for the term 'Vape.'

2010-01-17

The /r/Vaping subreddit launches as a hub for the hobby.

2013-09-02

1O1Films uploads 'Vapers Be Like,' an early YouTube parody of vape culture.

How to Use This Meme

The meme typically mocks the vape bro archetype rather than celebrating the hobby. Common conventions include exaggerated cloud exhales, lines like "bro, I just got this new juice," oversized mod props, and jellyfish or dragon trick impressions. Parody sketches often open with a character pulling out a comically large device, then cutting to an overblown trick or an eye-rolling bystander.

Frequently Asked Questions