Originally published at: How did Juul burn out so quickly? | Boing Boing
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The term I consistently heard associated with Juul users by the young people the nicotine-addiction company was targetting was “douchebag”. Most kids will easily brush aside the health warnings about whatever toxic garbage is in vape pen cartridges but they’ll reject anything that opens them up to being mocked as losers.
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I used to work in clinical trials. They were all big new drug development for biopharma, except one time two representatives of a major cigarette company asked us to help with a study that demonstrates “lower risk profiles” and “harm reduction” for cigarette alternatives like snus and vaping. Lots of big cigarette money went into those studies, basically push polls dressed up as RCTs
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Every time a politician supports a ban on vape juice flavours obviously aimed at kids, the manufacturers and distributors respond with a counter-campaign claiming that the ban would somehow reduce the “harm reduction” benefits of these devices. The tobacco industry is addicted to bad faith arguments.
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My Nephew started on Juul vaping when he was 16, he just turned 20 and now moved on to cigarettes. Shocking that addicting kids to nicotine, keeps them addicted to nicotine I know.
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How did Juul burn out so quickly?
I think it had something to do with finding the Keymaster?
Oh, no, that was Zuul, my bad. Carry on.
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“When a slew of respiratory ailments tied to vaping started popping up in news outlets across the country, I couldn’t say I was surprised.”
Only these had nothing to do with Juul, and everything to do with black market THC vapes. Do better.
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The fruit flavored juices are what helped me kick real cigarettes. Nicotine is now associated with mango, and the smell of regular cigs grosses me out.
This is after trying the patch, the gum, lozenges, hypnosis, chantix, cold turkey, and basically everything else.
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The politicians and regulators have been mainly focused on banning flavours like bubble gum and Froot Loops and Hawaiian Punch. Whatever harm reduction effect there is to these new nicotine addiction devices can proceed very well without those flavours, despite the industry’s claims to the contrary.
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I disagree. The tobacco flavored juices were disgusting, and completely counter to my plan of disassociating nicotine from the flavor of tobacco. This is not the industry talking, this is me, and a number of my friends who’ve used the same method to quit regular cigarettes.
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I’m sure the tobacco-flavoured juices were repulsive. Again, no-one has been trying to ban generic fruit or mint or spice flavours, just the ones specifically aimed at kids. The nicotine-addiction industry, in its historically typical bad-faith fashion, falsely claimed that the politicians and regulators were trying to ban all non-tobacco flavours.
I absolutely agree that vape pens are far less toxic than traditional cigarettes, clearing a very low bar. However, do you really think that (for example) Sweet Tarts or Rocket Pops flavoured and branded vape juice is an essential component of the devices’ harm reduction feature for adults like yourself?
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Congratulations on successfully transferring your addiction to nicotine from toxic tobacco flavored smoke to differently toxic mango flavored steam. The tobacco industry salutes you.
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Speaking of the tobacco industry, have you noticed how all the clamor around legislation has died down, now that they ‘the tobacco industry’ has more control of ecigarette sales? You should look at who is doing the lobbying…
There’s nothing much left to legislate in terms of traditional cancer sticks in North America. Cigarette advertising is effectively banned, the media has de-glamourised tobacco smoking, cigarette addicts and their second-hand smoke have rightly been relegated (and regulated) to pariah status in most public spaces, and most kids (at least affluent ones or those who aspire to be) see tobacco smokers as smelly old losers.
The nicotine-addiction industry (that’s what it’s really become) shifted their marketing and selling efforts for traditional cigarettes overseas a couple of decades ago and has re-deployed its bad-faith lobbying and political and advertising tactics in service to the new nicotine delivery platform. Pretending that a proposed ban on, e.g., Kool Aid flavoured vape juice will somehow negatively impact the claimed harm reduction effects of the devices for adults is a good example.
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Do you still use the mango vape?
Only asking because, like you, I have tried that entire list and am back on the cigs.
My best smoke-free effort was 18 months after coming off using champix.
Now the NHS have withdrawn champix because of “concerns over it’s ingredients” after it has been successfully used for ten or so years. i.e. Too expensive.
I’m kind of reluctant to vape, but I’ll give anything a bash.
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I do - it’s been over 12 years since I had a real cigarette. I’m still hopelessly dependent on nicotine, but I’ve managed to lower my nicotine levels, slowly, with the intent of eventually reaching 0…
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I would say it hasn’t died down though. Here in Oregon we’ve got whole counties banning ALL flavored tobacco and nicotine products, successfully. We still have tobacco companies marketing these products straight to kids and legislation popping up to stop that.
Where you won’t see that is other states that have a vested interest in getting kids hooked on tobacco for whatever reason, but I suspect Oregon is 20-50 years away from doing state owned universal health care, so its in our interests to lower cancer rates.
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Thanks. Might give it a go myself.
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Got a snail mail ad for juul just now. It was addressed to my mother.
She began smoking in her early teens. She quit for 13 years, but took it up again.
She died in 2021 of small cell lung cancer.
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