--- title: ‘Dripping.’ How Teens Are Using Electronic 'E-'Cigarettes description: 1 in 4 high schoolers who use e-cigarettes are inhaling vapors via an alternative technique known as 'dripping,' according to a Yale study. canonical: https://time.com/4662356/electronic-cigarettes-dripping-study/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-07T13:21:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:41:43.354Z article:section: Health og:title: ‘Dripping.’ How Teens Are Starting to Use E-Cigarettes og:description: The method is gaining popularity despite possible increase in exposure to toxins og:url: https://time.com/4662356/electronic-cigarettes-dripping-study/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88055acd0377bbc8/6988b9168e0601cabd46918a/gettyimages-167348248.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: sigaretta elettronica og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: ‘Dripping.’ How Teens Are Starting to Use E-Cigarettes twitter:description: The method is gaining popularity despite possible increase in exposure to toxins twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88055acd0377bbc8/6988b9168e0601cabd46918a/gettyimages-167348248.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # ‘Dripping.’ How Teens Are Starting to Use E-Cigarettes by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Feb 7, 2017 1:21 PM UTC  Martina Paraninfi—Getty Images by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Feb 7, 2017 1:21 PM UTC One in four high schoolers who use [electronic cigarettes](http://time.com/4024822/ecigs-gateway-tobacco/) are inhaling vapors via an alternative technique known as “dripping,” [according to Yale researchers](http://medicine.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=14374). “Dripping,” where e-cigarette users inhale vapors manually by dripping e-liquids directly onto the device’s battery-powered heating coils, instead of inhaling from the electronic cigarette’s mouthpiece, is gaining popularity among youth, despite the danger of a possible increase in exposure to toxins and nicotine. The “dripping” method produces thicker clouds of vapor, a stronger hit in the back of the throat when inhaled, and a more pleasurable taste, according to the study, published online Feb. 6 in the journal [_Pediatrics_](http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2017/02/02/peds.2016-3224). For the study, researchers reviewed survey responses from 1,080 e-cigarette users at eight Connecticut high schools and learned that 26.1% had tried dripping. “One of the concerns I have is when you are looking at the safety and risk of e-cigarettes, one really has to look at the risks of alternative uses also,” Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin, the study’s lead author and a professor of psychiatry at Yale, said in a [press release](http://yalecancercenter.org/news/article.aspx?id=14374). “What we are discovering with our work with youth is that kids are actually using these electronic products for other behaviors, not just for vaping e-liquids from cartridges or tanks.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4662356/electronic-cigarettes-dripping-study/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4662356/electronic-cigarettes-dripping-study/"},"headline":"‘Dripping.’ How Teens Are Starting to Use E-Cigarettes","datePublished":"2017-02-07T13:21:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:41:43.354Z","description":"The method is gaining popularity despite a possible increase in exposure to toxins","url":"https://time.com/4662356/electronic-cigarettes-dripping-study/","keywords":["Smoking","study","health","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88055acd0377bbc8/6988b9168e0601cabd46918a/gettyimages-167348248.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88055acd0377bbc8/6988b9168e0601cabd46918a/gettyimages-167348248.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"sigaretta elettronica","caption":"sigaretta elettronica","creditText":"Martina Paraninfi—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/smoking/","name":"Smoking"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4662356/electronic-cigarettes-dripping-study/","name":"‘Dripping.’ How Teens Are Starting to Use E-Cigarettes"}}]}] ```