It’s only in recent years that e-cigarettes went mainstream and for a while smokers were living the dream. Finally, an alternative to cancer-causing cigs that tasted good and worked a treat to curb those nicotine cravings.

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Yep, we were looking at a healthy future.

However, this all came crashing down in recent months when a number of mysterious lung-related illnesses started cropping up around the world. Medical experts are now blaming our precious vapes on the epidemic, calling on users to put down their vapes until they know whether they’re safe to use.

Of course, that leaves a lot of addicts stuck between a rock and a hard place. Do they continue vaping and risk destroying their lungs, or do they kick the habit for good (and go through those terrible withdrawals)?

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Or, the other alternative is to go full circle and start smoking real cigarettes again.

That’s exactly what a bunch of people over in the US are choosing to do in the face of this unusual predicament.

Including a guy called Lucas McClain, who started smoking cigarettes in school but switched to vaping after he heard it was safer. However, in the face of uncertainty, he’s gone back to regular tobacco.

Speaking to CNN, he said:

Juul made my nicotine addiction a lot worse. When I didn’t have it for more than two hours, I’d get very anxious.

After buying his first pack of cigarettes in years, he tweeted:

Bought a juul to quit smoking cigarettes,now I’m smoking cigarettes to quit the juul. #circleoflife.

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Other people have been posting similar messages, with one person writing:

Isn’t it ironic that to quit juul I bought cigarettes.

Another added that they’re “far more addicted to my Juul than I ever was to cigs.”

So what have we learned from all this? Ultimately, whether it’s watermelon vapour, rollie smog or Belle Delphine’s bathwater, smoking’s bad, m’kay.