The American Media Did A "stellar" Job Demonizing Vaping - Congrats!

So I'm outside of Walmart vaping (away from the entrance... basically where the employees smoke... cig butts everywhere) This woman walks by, stops and says "aren't you afraid that will hurt you" and I go into the "it's safe, it actually has nothing to do with this" and then she says "because I was really interested in vaping" (I thought she was going to tell me to go in the parking lot or something... she actually wanted to quit smoking) So I explained the whole deal about THC carts and "contamination", the bed rep from news media, ect. and she as very interested. I told her to search the internet and find the truth (how they are finally telling the truth) She was so relived and thankful. I may have just helped someone get off cigs, someone that was very interested in vaping and got scared. Happy ending (I needed that) I wonder how many other people want to quit smoking and just got scared because of the media BS. Kinda made my day  

Is there anything more annoying than when people ask you if you're "smoking one of those fake things?"

I had 2 people today talking about the fakeness of vaping and how it's worse than smoking blah blah. I told them that the only real thing about cigarettes, is cancer. I also told them they smell like .....

End rant.  

So, I think there has been a lot of back and forth as to whether vaping is really safer than cigarettes. We as Vapers know that it is safer because we have done the research. But I think in the eyes of smokers and non-smokers, they really don't know if it is safer. Sometimes it even has me questioning whether vaping is healthier. But then my sanity takes over.

This post was sparked by watching a video from Grimm Green just now. The first person I've ever seen to finally say that vaping is 95% safer than smoking. And quit with all the Bull Shi it, listening to anyone who tells you otherwise.

It's a shame that only vapers know it's safer. Everyone else can't be bothered to do the research. They just listen to all the mainstream BS! "Yea, vaping is just as bad, people are dying cause of vaping." "Yea, they're banning vape mail because it's the same thing as tobacco."  

I know this is useless for most of you and if the mods want to delete it please do but I am so frustrated with the media and the politicians and I have no outlet for this, so here we are.

I actually have never smoked or vaped (aside from a trial puff here and there), but my wife and mother both have smoked and do vape. I'm on here because I'm the research and order guy.

They switched from smoking to vaping in 2007 almost at the same time, so it's been 12 years for them.

My mom was a smoker for 50ish years, and as a waitress, she was at about 2 packs a day. She's always had fairly good health because she worked on it, but as she got older you could hear the "smoker's cough" develop and just see the symptoms of aging and the early signs of lung issues. One of her sisters has COPD and another died of lung cancer. She swapped to e-cigs and never had a relapse to cigarettes. Within a year the cough was gone. She is 75 and most people think she is in her 50s. She is active and in great health with only mild diabetes (controlled with diet and I think the minimum dose of a pill, no insulin). She has had chest x-rays and a few other exams and they doubt her when she tells them she is an ex-smoker.

My wife has a similar story. Lighter smoker for a shorter time, but same results. Better health, lungs fully healed from smoking. No side effects from vaping.

Oh and my wife's father was a huge smoker and used e-cigs to completely quit smoking/vaping altogether when the pills/patches/gum wouldn't work at all.

Now, they both utilize products from vapor4life.com that resemble cigarettes and use the "light or ultralight" (I wanna say 1.8% or 1.1%... something like that) equivalent nicotine level. They don't have the giant boxes the "kids" use that produce a room full of vape smoke to be edgy and cool. They vape pretty much the same times they'd take a smoke break though I think less often really... I think they take fewer puffs maybe a little more often? I dunno, it's hard to remember since they haven't smoked in 12 years. My wife will hold hers casually hidden in her hand and get a couple puffs during movies and slowly let the vapor escape and NOBODY knows. Not even me sitting next to her.

Their health is so much better. My mom uses a plain nicotine flavor that tastes like her Winston lights did and my wife has a Menthol that tastes close to her Salem Slim Light 100s. Neither were fond of the fun flavors. I got some 0 nicotine grape the first year and puffed on it once in a while and it was neat (not really inhaling, more like a cigar or a pipe) and that was that.

I am so pissed off at the Trumps and the media for their generalized reporting and the banning of products. I'm pissed at the people/kids who use vaping like its a toy and fun hipster trend and got it banned from airplanes and restaurants. I look at my mom who most likely would have died of lung cancer or be on oxygen by now if not for vaping and I just want to punch these people in the face. How can single digit deaths, which I understand was using sketchy products anyway, trigger fear and a ban when the cigarette companies kill MILLIONS and cause cancer (to smokers and people who are adjacent to smokers via 2nd hand smoke) just have to put a warning label on their product?

Anyway, I'm rambling. I don't know where this goes. Maybe it'll spark discussion. Maybe it'll be deleted and I'll be told I'm an idiot. Maybe someone who isn't sure if vaping will help them quit smoking will see three success stories and take a step in the right direction. I dunno...

Fight the good fight people.  

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  

Someone needs to produce a detailed documentary about the documented research about how safe vaping is. Hopefully that will give the general public as well as potential new vapers some education about what is safe and what isn't.

The contaminated products that are circulating on the black market are what's killing people.

Something of this magnitude needs to be put out in the media otherwise I'm afraid that this industry will die out and a lot of shops will go out of business. It's time to take action, the media has demonized vaping. It's come to a point where most folks can't vape in public in peace.

What are your thoughts on how to combat this issue? It's terrible what has happened to everyone that has been sickened or died as a result of vaping bad products. The CDC and FDA can't seem to get a handle on what's really the culprit and the media isn't giving us any details.

I feel perfectly fine as I've been vaping for almost 10 years now and I feel great in fact never better since I quit smoking cigarettes. Now I'm a bit paranoid and wonder if I should just give up vaping. This whole this is getting to me and I can't even vape around my family in peace now.  

Vape-Related Deaths Are Scaring People Back into Smoking Cigs

Mark, a Massachusetts man who has worked at a vape shop for two years and requested anonymity for fear of losing business, said he had heard from many customers in recent days that they were making the transition—getting rid of nicotine-based e-cigarettes because of what they've been seeing in the media.

Although any shift was in the earliest of stages, it was still a remarkable concern for tobacco-control experts like Michael Siegel, a professor of community health sciences at Boston University, who views getting smokers off traditional cigarettes to be the primary public-health matter. Even now.

"There are two big fears here," Siegel said. "That former smokers are going to return to smoking cigarettes, because they'll think, Why not just have the real thing? And also that smokers who might have otherwise wanted to try e-cigarettes won't any longer."
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What hast thou wrought?  

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!  

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?  

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.