WASHINGTON — Drinking coffee is something that can help start your morning, and the process of sipping coffee can be very relaxing — but an inhaler may be the caffeine jolt you need.
With caffeine inhalers, you can breathe vapor to obtain a similar buzz you’d get from coffee. The inhalers are meant for college students and professionals on the go who may not have time to wait in line to order expensive lattes with fancy names.
“It’s for when you’re on the chairlift skiing, when you’re hiking, when you’re driving in the car,” Elliot Mashford, the businessman behind Eagle Energy Vapor, told The New York Times.
Caffeine inhalers are similar to e-cigarettes, which contain heating elements that transform active chemicals into a vapor.
Not everyone is on board with the inhalers.
In 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to Breathable Foods Inc., makers of AeroShot, for false or misleading statements in the labeling of their product. The FDA had questions about the inhaler’s safety and expressed concern about children and teenagers using them in combination with alcohol.
New York Times reporter Alex Williams tried the inhalers. On the first drag, the Eagle Energy Vapor offered hard-candy sweetness. It took him 10 hits to feel a buzz. By the 11th hit, the reporter wrote, he craved actual coffee.
Guess you can’t beat the real thing.
