By Betty Richardson

In case like me you didn't know that vaping, the practice of inhaling vapour from e-liquid through a vaporizer, is totally a sub-culture in the Western world, it's now taking roots in Shanghai, and there's a new shop on Shaanxi Bei Lu dedicated entirely to it.

Shanghai Vape, which originated as an online store, has expanded to a physical location in the heart of Jing'an. Although tiny inside, the place is an emporium for all things vape, be it your most basic starter kit to advanced equipment, modifications and accessories, not to mention dozens of exotic e-juice 'flavors.'

As we walk in, affable managing director Sean Dickinson greets us with a big grin as he attempts to waft away some of the sweet-smelling vapor that hangs thickly in the air (to little avail). Easy going and willing to talk, he speaks openly about the vibrant community culture of vapers around the world and in Shanghai.

"Google 'vaping' and you'll get lost for days – there's just so much information out there dedicated to it," Dickinson explains. "It's gone from being a cigarette replacement solution to an activity enjoyed in its own right."

From an outsider's perspective, the fervour surrounding vaping seems akin to the 'addictive' nature of cigarettes themselves, largely due to the fact that vaping is customizable in a myriad of flavors, many of which have been elevated to gourmet status appreciated by vape connoisseurs. The crucial difference though is that vaping won't kill you, as far as we know...

In Shanghai Vape, flavors range from basics, such as strawberry, mint, cherry and blueberry, to more adventurous numbers like lemon sherbert, flapjack and even tobacco itself.

Then there's exotic custom concotions like the multi-flavored 'Pluto's Paradise' or the dubiously named 'Tranquility Trauma' – e-juices so complex they're deemed to have a variety of notes, mouthfeel and finishes. It's impossible not to draw comparisons to wine and fine spirit appreciation.

"Name any flavor, and I'd be willing to bet that somebody's created it in an e-juice," says Dickinson. "The possibilities for vaping are endless." Little wonder the vaping industry is predicted to be worth $10 billion dollars by 2017.

But just who is vaping for? Well, if you're not a smoker already then not you. "My advice is not to do it," begins Dickinson, in what strikes as a very un-sales friendly approach. "Vaping is intended as an alternative to smoking, and is to be used as a resource to help people give up cigarettes. It's not 'bad' for you, but it's not better than pure air, so my advice is for non-smokers to not do it."

But as a non-smoker, it's hard not to be drawn in by the world of vape and its mysterious flavors; you feel like you've stumbled upon a tightly guarded secret. Apparently I'm not alone. "I've heard of people starting vaping because their friends are into it," says Dickinson. And who can blame them? Vaping isn't expensive (at least not the most basic vaporizers and flavors), but it has an air of exclusivity that makes it instantly desirable.

That said, it's too early to tell just how safe the practice is and what (if any) are the long-term implications of doing it. From the outside, it might seem irresponsible to make it a glamorous and seemingly guilt-free past time, particularly to non-smokers or impressionable young people.

Indeed much has been written against vaping, and the apparent dangers of doing it. However, it should be duly noted that amongst the rightful skepticism, there are also misconceptions and even mistruths, used often to the point of scaremongering.

On the other side of the coin, the benefits are also pretty obvious – no more so than in China, which counts a robust tobacco industry and 350 million smokers. "If vaping can enable just a handful of people to stop smoking, then that's got to be a good thing," says Dickinson.

"In fact, the guy that lives right next to our shop came in one day and said he wanted to buy a vaporizer to help quit his cigarette addiction. He came in again two weeks later and told us he hasn't touched a cigarette since." An anecdote made all the more poignant by the fact that the very inventor of e-cigarettes is a Chinese pharmacist, Hon Li (韩力), who developed the practice in a bid to enable his smoker father to quit.

So is vaping the solution to save some of China's 350 million smokers from lung cancer, or is it just another vice to add to the list? Time will tell and we sure won't be the ones to judge people for trying to quit smoking, but in Shanghai at least, it looks like vape culture is making roots to stay.

// Shanghai Vape, 549 Shaanxi Bei Lu, by Xinzha Lu. www.shanghaivape.com.

// For information on how to quit smoking, visit www.quit.com.