travis padgett has been smoking since high school, today he vapes to cut down on tobacco use. >> for me it was kinda sorta of a different way for me to get my nicotine. >> now a micro biology major at uc riverside, travis, is vaping for science, participating in a study that measures his intake, puff duration, volume and frequency. >> when you get out of here you are going to have a science degree, why not wait for science? why vape now before we know if it's safe? >> well, it's either i vape or i smoke cigarettes and we already know cigarettes are bad. >> it's a roll of the dice. >> exactly, it's a roll of the dice. >> the people that are choosing vaping over conventional cigarettes are choosing the unknown over the known. they know that conventional cigarettes are going to give them cancer, there's a chance that vaping is better, and so they're rolling the dice with that. but they're still gambling with their own health. >> and sometimes adults are making more informed decisions but then you have all these kids trying it. >> well absolutely i mean adolescence, they're still in a st