I do realize that when the hammer comes down it isn't going to come down from a federal level because of the few that choose to make a game of vaping. I realize that it is all about the money they are losing because we have found a way to put the smokes behind us and hopefully a way to keep anyone else from EVER picking up the habit of smoking. Their ONLY concern is lost revenue.
The taxes and/or restrictions are coming, Of that, I have no doubt. We have to do whatever we can to keep them from taxing/restricting us into oblivion.
When the smoking restrictions started it didn't start from the federal level. It started very small and grew into what we have today. It started in small towns, grew to counties and then to states and finally to just about everywhere.
Businesses were no longer allowed to choose how they would handle smoking/no smoking. It became law and they were forced to abide by that law or close their doors.
It happened so slowly that most of us didn't see it coming. We were the frog in the pot of water slowly being brought to a boil. Hopefully we are more aware this time.
Those that make a game of it will have an impact on how vaping is viewed by those that don't understand or even care what vaping is all about. I don't like it but there it is.
I am talking about at a local level. A local busybody, someone that has nothing better to do at the moment, sees something she/he doesn't understand so doesn't approve of. I'm not saying it is right but, let's face it, it happens way to often in every small town in America and sadly, around the world.
Ever hear the term, squeaky wheel gets the grease. Well, that busybody is the squeaky wheel. Every town has at least one and that person has the ear of the "powers that be" in that small town. That person manages to get the "powers that be" to force businesses in that small town to put up signs "No Vaping Allowed" just to appease that busy body. It is not right but it happens every day.
This scenario is being played out in hundreds of thousands of small towns all over the world.
When I joined this forum it was all about helping your fellow vaper. I still see some of that but sadly, I also see so much infighting. We have to work together if we are going to preserve this healthier alternative to smoking for not only ourselves but also for future generations.
The bottom line is. We have to find a way to stand together or we will end up regulated into oblivion. Please think before bashing those that see the writing on the wall. One of the best things one can do is join CASAA so that you may keep up with what is actually happening and then answer those calls to action. If we don't stand up for our rights we WILL lose them.
Please don't let that local busybody win in the end. Thank you for reading my thoughts.
The best strategy according Demetris and PBusardo is to hire a professional PR company to combat the false information that the news media and anti-vaping crowd has been churning out every day/nite on TV and social media. That will take a LOT of money (millions according to D & P). The US vaping industry doesn't have that type of money, but the big manufacturers in China do. China manufacturers will be affected by this if the US vaping industry fails, because it will fail if a flavor ban is successful.
Trump is the key person in all of this. He's the one who will make the final call by using his John Hancock, and he's been known to go against the grain of "The Swamp" in Washington. He is basically only interested in satisfying his voter base. All vapers need to personally contact Trump via the White House and tell him, as a voter, that if he is going to get your vote in 2020 he needs to NOT go forward with a flavor ban. Regardless of how you feel about Trump, or whether you'll actually vote for him when the time comes, this must be done and would take each of us only about 5 - 10 minutes of our time.
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Contact the White House | The White House
WHITE HOUSE: Comment line 202-456-1111 | Switch board 202-456-1414 (the switch board is the best approach as it will put you on hold and give you a chance to speak)
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Trump probably doesn't have a clue about vaping. He doesn't understand how important the use of flavored e-liquid is to the success to stop smoking. Having only "tobacco flavors" to choose from just won't cut it for the majority of vapers.
What he must understand is that a flavor ban will likely destroy the vaping industry in the US. Vape shops will not be able remain viable and will close - a loss of thousands of jobs and small businesses. This will affect his "sterling" numbers of the lowest unemployment in recent memory. There has to be at least 10,000 potential voters who have something to do with the vaping community (probably more), about the number of votes that gave him the presidency. He's not going to want to lose that many votes in the next election.
A flavor ban will result in creating its own Black Market. Many vapers will resort to making their own flavored e-liquid. How did that work out for the homemade black market THC vials that killed 6 people and put over 400 people in intensive care?
Smokers looking to quit smoking will no longer have vape shops or US based online vendors to purchase e-cigarettes. Many vapers will return to smoking, which will increase the 400,000 smokers who died last year.
Please tale a few minutes of your time to contact President Trump.
This past week marks 5 years since I smoked a cigarette. It honestly doesn't seem that long, it seems like yesterday I was huddled out in the cold at work with the smokers. I had been a smoker for 28 years.
Unlike many I see posting here, I cannot say vaping helped me quit. I quit cold turkey, and never tried an ecig until about a year after I quit smoking. At that point I was still doing well as a non-smoker, I didn't physically crave smoking, but I missed the 28 year habit of lighting up, having something to fiddle with, and just the relaxing feeling of the inhale/exhale. I had been eating a lot more to make up for the void, and having been underweight all my life I started packing on pounds (too many!). I sorely needed a non-food substitute for the comfort I was missing, but wasn't about to go back to smoking.
I tried a junky convenience store ecig after that first year, and thought "if this was what they were like than forget it". I continued on not smoking, but still missing the habit. About two years after that I began seeing the new advanced products coming out, and did a lot of research. I bought my first starter kit in 2013, and slowly advanced up to bigger and better gear.
People ask why would start vaping after I had already kicked the cigarette habit, and I say, "Why not?". Other than nicotine I'm not getting any of the negative things I got with cigarettes. And in my opinion, there's really nothing wrong with a little nicotine. Nicotine is not what was killing me, it was the smoke that was delivering the nicotine that was killing me.
So I'm 5 years smoke free, I no longer hack in the mornings, my chest never hurts and my clothes, car and hair don't stink anymore.
I have no intentions on giving up vaping, as it has no negative impact on my life, and i enjoy it, so why stop?
I have since gotten my son, my step-son, and his wife to all trade vaping for smoking, so bonus points for saving all their lives too!
since my last cigarette. I haven't been posting in recent months, I have been keeping up on the treadmill of life.
Thanks to ECF for being here, to the mods for keeping it sane, CASAA for working so that we can have a future, and all of you for helping each other and yourselves!
Like most of you, I spent too large a percentage of my life killing myself slowly, and eventually spending a lot of money to do so. In my particular case, I still loved smoking, but grew disgruntled over the health realities, BT, and the taxation of cigs. I have quit many times, in many ways, but never for more than a few months. During those few months, I was never pleasant to be around.
It's easy to make excuses to keep smoking, I made them all.
I am *not* an expert, and nobody asked me, but since I am waxing eloquent I will make suggestions about how it worked for me. YMMV
1. To quit smoking, you really only need two things. A device that works for you (charging, form factor, blahblah) and juice that you like.
2. Don't feel obligated to stop smoking immediately. I was an accidental quitter. Initially I wanted to smoke some and vape some. I could save some money, and not have to stand outside in the rain. It's OK to smoke while you are learning what works for you. You can do that for the rest of your life, if you want to.
2b. Keep an idea of where you are on supplies. You need backups of everything (home, work, car). After I decided to actually quit smoking, two weeks in I had two battery deaths in two days. I only had two batteries. After 12 hours of crazy, I had to smoke.
3. Learn your device well, before you start collecting more and more! It can be convenient to wind up with a couple of different styles that work for different life situations. If you buy one every week, you will spend a lot of money and could still be deep down unhappy that "it's not working like I thought it would". Many of us as smokers can be a wee bit OCD anyway. Don't let collecting get in the way of Not Smoking (tm)
4. Don't buy a gallon of the first juice that you like. It will take a month or more before your damaged sense of taste/smell start regenerating. What you loved initially you may hate in a month. Buy lots of small samplers, to discover what you like.
5. Yes, you will save money, lots of it. See #3 and #4 above.
6. At the end of the day, all PVs are just batteries. How long they last, charging, the form factor, the ability to adjust them during use are all just variations on a theme. Some of the cig-a-likes have a lifetime of 30 charge cycles. Some larger ones can be charged 500 times. Find the balance that works for you. What *does* matter, is the actual vaping end of it. Explore attys, cartos, tanks, RBA. Try them all, this is what determines the taste and vapor production.
7. Support your local vape shop. I know you can get this stuff from China for cheap. Your local B&M is spending a lot of money for rent and employees, and the ability to sample juice is not possible on AliBaba. They are also providing a valuable service in being a first exposure to vaping for many. Go in and hang out. If nothing else, buy some drip tips, juice, attys or doo-dads. Check out the new PVs.
8. With few exceptions, the kiosk at the mall is not a good deal, nor a good idea. Free trials online or from radio ads are always a ripoff. You will spend a lot more on much inferior equipment and then have a hard time getting it off of your credit card.
9. Don't be arrogant about vaping in public. They don't know that you are not smoking from 10 feet away.
10. Don't get in flamewars on ECF about your favorite PV. Yes, there are idiots here, don't be one. If it works for you, that is the best one for you.
11. Once you get comfortable with vaping, consider DIY. Juice is what costs the most in the long run. Start small, measure with precision, keep detailed notes, be safe. You know what you like better than any description on a web page.
12. Join CASAA, and do things.
13. ECF is great for support. Don't be afraid to bare your soul to kindred spirits here in a hard time, you can find a lot of strength.
I'm not proud of this, but I broke down and had a cig this morning (been months since I quit, but still "slip" once in a while)
The next door neighbor came by (she knows I vape) and there I am smoking. She said " just don't vape... it's very dangerous!" It almost killed me... and she didn't seen concerned at all that I was smoking (I think her husband used to smoke and had heart issues... he passed away) I made one of my "bad jokes"... said "it will drive you to smoking again" She didn't even get it. It's called "social engineering" and is very powerful (at least to the "sheeple") We have all discussed this. Your average person doesn't read or listen to the whole story, just knows "vaping is dangerous!" I give up... just can't get through to some people
I'd like to air a grievance here against CASAA.. all of us are concerned with advocacy, a united
front and support for fellow vaper's rights, regardless of where they live.
I live in Nova Scotia, Canada. There are thousands of Canadians concerned with the uninformed
and misdirected legislation being aimed at the vaping community and small business owners who
make a living by providing effective non-cigalite alternatives to those who wish to better their lives and quit smoking.
Wherever they live!
I find it ironic therefore that as a Canadian it is apparently impossible to join CASAA, despite the pleas and suggestions
that all vapers should do so.
The application form will only accept Americans with a valid State and ZIP code.
My sincere retraction if I'm missing something and incorrect, but this appears to be the case.
I have emailed CASAA with my concerns, but have received no reply.
Seems a bit hypocritical to claim to be the voice of smoking-alternative advocacy, but to exclude
everyone who doesn't fit a zip code criteria.
So I'm a 19 year old guy, started smoking when I was 14 and finally quit cigarettes 3 months ago. My parents like that I quit smoking but they think vaping some sort of gateway drug that will make me want to, and I quote, "smoke {OTHER STUFF}". What I don't understand is that both of my parents both smoke a pack a day. I even tried to convince them to switch to vaping but they said they don't want to smoke that "{OTHER STUFF} device". Even when I vape in my room, they come in and get pissed off because they're tired of smelling my "fruity {MODERATED}". How can I convince them to get a better understanding of vaping and potentially start them on it too?
Hey guys and gals,
So I've been vaping for a couple of months after being on the stinkies for about 10 years, but my father has been in it for many years. This has lead to me skipping a great deal of rookie mistakes and learning how things work quite fast. This resulted in having a decent build in a community that has either no or bad opinions on vaping. I'm from a smaller town in Croatia, and if anyone mentions vaping it's what they've heard from the news on how bad it is (mostly the ever present study of old clearomisers fired at 5V).
After a month or two i was so enthusiastic about it i wanted to share it with my smoking friends. Trying to explain the possibilities, the fine tuning, ranging from wicking, atomizer types and coils to DIY juices. Some were interested, others were not.
Lately though, perfect example tonight, unexpected things started happening. I was out in my local pub, tootle puffing on my vamo5 and veritas and somebody i barely know came up to me asking what that was. I gave him a puff at 8W with my DIY 10mg VG chocolate peanut butter and he was thrilled. Friday night and he was like "just tell me what to order and i'm taking it right now".
I feel as if there's about to be an avalanche of vapers in my town and i'm loving it. This is the fifth or sixth person that has fully committed to dropping the analogs and switching to vaping in a very short time period, I'm gonna have to hold a class soon for all the basics
Have you guys from smaller towns had similar experiences? Because i feel that all the bad media regarding vaping is having little to no effect once a smoker takes a puff. Of course the problem is "making" the sceptical ones actually take the first puff due to the propaganda, but in my experience, once they do it's almost always a done deal!
God i hope i'll have someone recommending me flavors and atties in a couple months
So I have been vaping for a few months now. I started with the ego type battery starter kit bought from a brick and mortar ( you all know the deal, littile carrying case, 650mah battery, junk clearomizer, and bottle of funky juice). I knew after a week I would not stop smoking with that alone. I then went and bought the Vision Spinner 2 and a Protank mini 3. I was feeling quite happy with this setup and went from a pack a day down to 4-6 analogs. I was even feeling better health wise. I soon discovered the vast world of vaping and "needed" the iStick mod. I bought that and threw the Protank mini 3 on it and life was good. I had no problems with my iStick and it was a huge step up from what I was using prior. It "satified" my need of "smoking". Everything was going well untill one day I busted the glass on the tank. I was not gonna let that get me down though. My vaping buddy gave me a some sort of knockoff topper that used the aspire coils ( I beleive it was a Nautilus mini clone of some sort, branded with the local shops name ). Still it fed my habit well. Now let me say I live in a small town and there is 2 brick and mortar shops. I usally would buy my coils from them and a bottle of liquid every now and then but.....I bought my iStick online. Fast forward a couple months now and I live with 2 roommates (one is a total jerk, and the other is a party machine. We all are in our mid 30's). Well recently I get off work and come home to a "party" on a tuesday night (like usual). Now remember I live in a small town and everyone vaping is using the ego type with plastic clearomizer. The brick and mortar shops here selll those and $100 RDA (which only a few friends I know have). Well this particular night my iStick was the talk of the kitchen table. Everyone wanted to try it and push the buttons. "Who can hit it at the higest watt?" type conversations. The night is ending and Im getting ready to go to my room. I set the iStick on its "charger" (just a handmade cutout box I made for it) sitting on the kitchen counter. 8 hours later I hit the BREW button on the coffee maker and reach for the iStick. IT IS FREAKING GONE!!!!!!!!! Now here is the deal. Noone there the night before knew anything about using it or finding the "sweet spot". The thing is that the knock off tank I was using is a 510 thread and I was using the included adapter to ease the wear and tear on the threads. So I am left with a Vision 2 spinner and a tank that just does not fit it. I AM SO ANGRY! I bring it up to my roommate and she is like "no one stole it, you misplaced it". If anyone of you guys and gals are like me, you know where your setup is at all times. So that leaves me with a MARK 3 disposable for now.
Sooooooooo does anyone have a lead on a good deal right now online? I see threre is a 30 watt now available. So if anyone know of a great deal please PM me or reply. I have limited funds right now but do not want to go back to Parliment analogs. Thanks for looking and letting me vent.
I was watching a GrimmGreen video and he started talking about the "vaping community" and how we tend to help each other (especially to quit smoking) I recently "re-quit" smoking after slipping for a couple months (but never stopped vaping) and this just hit home for me...please take a few minutes and watch this (skip to 20:00... 20 minutes in) Enjoy.
It's been a while!
I left for a while,,,,,,,I think it's been a year or more,,,,,,I took a break because,,,
1) I thought it was getting too political around here (my opinion) and I wanted a break from it.
2) I got a job (which I LOVE) and it takes a lot of my time,,,,,,,
3) I stopped vaping. Yep, me,,,,,,,,who vaped 20 ml a day at one point,,,,Nope, I didn't go back to smoking,,,,,I didn't plan it,,,,it just,,,,,happened. Mostly due to the job, I think,,,,,,I just vaped less and less and less until I wasn't vaping at all,,,,,,,,
then WHAMMO,,,,,,,,the urge for cigarettes hit,,,,,like 9 months after I stopped vaping and almost 3 years after quitting smoking, and it hit like a ton of bricks. It kind of surprised me to be honest. Well, there was no freaking WAY after THREE YEARS that I was going to start smoking (I did that THREE TIMES in the past and it was ALWAYS a disaster),,,,,,so I picked up my provari, charged those batteries, made myself some No Nic juicy peach, and started vaping again.
Thank GOD for my e-cig, because there is NO DOUBT in my mind I'd be smoking again if I hadn't kept it.
Some thoughts,,,,,,,,
1) whoaaaaaaaaaa what the heck happened to this forum???
2) Provari has a VERSION 3??????????
3) Where the heck do I reset my password????????? I forgot mine, I had to have it reset, and I'd like to change it to something I'll remember.
4) It's nice to see everyone