A “highlight e-cigarette” is a vaping device that closely resembles a highlighter.

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Recently, an electronic cigarette device called High Light Vape has caused widespread publicity on the Internet and social media. The device looks like a highlighter pen commonly found in middle and high school classrooms and is suspected to be a secret smoking tool designed for young people.

High Light Vape’s official website claims that the product is ideal for those looking to vape discreetly in public. However, this raises new questions about the potential for children to use the learning tool-like product to mask their e-cigarette use.

Eric Pinnell of the Oregon Vaping Association said it was immediately apparent that High Light Vape was a product for young people. “It’s clearly geared toward young people,” he said. “We adults don’t need something that looks like a marker to hide something. It’s not a necessity in our lives. There’s no need to have a product like this in the classroom that’s easy to spot.”

Even though High Light Vape is not sold in Eugene-area vape shops, Pinnell stressed that doesn’t mean it’s not a real problem. “No respectable store will sell a device that looks like a marker,” he explains. “That’s impossible. So, you’re going to have an illegal market and people are going to be selling it, transporting it illegally, and this product won’t be taxed and it’s going to enter the market. We don’t want young people to be exposed to this product.”

Stores like the Oregon Vaping Association in Springfield say they want parents to know their children can’t buy disguised vapes at stores. “First of all, we are not going to launch products that appeal to young people,” he said. “That’s our top priority. Secondly, when someone comes into the store, we ask for identification. We just passed the Oregon Health Authority’s underage purchase inspection, which was done on the fourth of this month.”

However, Pinnell said such products could also cause problems for vape shop owners like him. “This is going to cause us a lot of problems in the long run,” he said. “Those who oppose us will take advantage of things like this and claim that we are helping this goal. We will not buy this product and we do not want it on our shelves. For this kind of thing to make the vape invisible and make young We have no interest in products where people escape supervision.”

Even though products like High Light Vape attract so much attention, Pinnell believes steps can be taken to slow down the teen vape problem. “I really wish we could completely prevent teenagers from accessing the Internet,” he said. “To be honest, with the influence of the Internet, this is more difficult than we thought. We need to work together to stop it.”

Inspections conducted by the Oregon Health Authority are designed to stop these illegal sales stores and will also investigate websites that ship to areas where sales are already illegal.