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Top 5 Secrets Tobacco Companies DO NOT Want You to Know

By Antonio Howell M.D. —

In 1998, over 6 million documents which were considered ‘top’ secret of the largest tobacco manufacturers in the US were revealed to the public. These documents consisted of research, faxes, memos, scientist notes, letters, etc. In 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the very first edition of these documents compiled to bring more light to the public about cigarettes. And these documents confirm that tobacco manufacturers have been deceiving the public for a long time.

Here are the top 5 secrets of Tobacco makers:

5. The Psychology and Physiology of Smokers

Turns out, tobacco manufacturers absolutely knew who to target and how to encourage them to smoke. The documents revealed the industry paid so much attention to racial character, age and sex, financial status, level of education, patterns of smoking and many other factors when creating a new cigarette brand, new strategy, promotional, and marketing tactics.

4. Tobacco manufacturers advertising targeted future smokers

For years, tobacco manufacturers insisted that they did NOT advertise to lure people into smoking but mainly to encourage existing smokers to switch brands. They have also vigorously denied targeting young people in their advertisements. But their internal documents show otherwise, the real plan was to encourage the youth because smokers build up the habit during their teenage years.

3. In the 1970′s tobacco makers did research to increase a smokers’ addiction

Phillip Morris added alkaline ammonia to cigarette to lower its acidity levels. The lower acidity changes the tobacco’s chemical structure which allows the nicotine to travel and reach the brain faster. Multiple studies also suggests other strategies to make cigarettes more addictive such as adding nicotine to both ends of the filter, adding compounds that speed up lung absorption of nicotine, and manipulating the blend of tobacco.

2. Tobacco makers knew the dangers

Turns out that even during the 1970s, tobacco manufacturers have known or suspected that cigarette smoke caused cancer. In their own research, they determine the extent of health effects of tobacco but did not do anything about it. What’s worse is that they tried to conceal it from the public. The documents revealed how US-based tobacco manufacturers shipped those papers to offices in other countries so the US courts and plaintiffs will not be able to find them. They also closed the laboratories where the studies were held and fired the scientists involved in these studies.

1. The secret ingredient(s)

The document shows that aside from the 4,000 chemicals found in tobacco products, manufacturers added more compounds to create a highly engineered product to hook more people into the habit of smoking. There are an additional 600 compounds which tobacco manufacturers have no plan of disclosing to the public even today.

Why are these documents important? They basically uncover the top secrets of tobacco manufacturers – the disgusting, unbelievable and shocking truth about the only addictive drug legal in the world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr Antonio Howell, MD is just a guy trying to make a difference in the world by helping people quit smoking. And you?

Visit Help to Quit Smoking at http://drantoniohowell.com/

New Post has been published on http://lecigs.com/electronic-cigarette-news/vaping-debate-heats-up-2/

'Vaping' debate heats up

By Christian M. Wade CNHI State Reporter 

Jonathan Smith smoked cigarettes for more than 13 years, burning through a pack a day, until he decided two years ago to take up electronic cigarettes and nicotine “vaping” to kick the habit.

Smith, 34, said he hasn’t touched a regular cigarette since then, and his health has vastly improved.

 “It saved my life,” said Smith, now a manager at the Vapor Outlet in downtown Salem, Mass. “The smoking was killing me, slowly but surely. Vaping just worked for me, and it has for a lot of other people, too.”

Despite Smith’s story and anecdotes like it, health advocates remain concerned about vaping’s effects and skeptical of its effectiveness as a smoking cessation tool. Debate is raging on Beacon Hill over attempts to strap tough new regulations on the burgeoning industry.

Businesses that range from shopping mall kiosks to big tobacco companies like R.J. Reynolds are pushing back. They argue that the products are safe alternatives to tobacco smoking that shouldn’t be over-regulated or taxed.

“Every month, more studies emerge showing that vapor products are far less hazardous than smoking for users, pose no significant risk to bystanders, and are effective at helping smokers kick the habit,” said Greg Conley, president of the American Vaping Association. “These devices are not tobacco products, and treating them as such sends the absolute wrong message.”

Public health officials disagree. They want the state to regulate e-cigarettes like other tobacco products by setting age limits for sales, requiring disclosure of potential toxins and banning “vaping” indoors and in public places.

Various proposals

One proposal, by Senate Majority Leader Harriette Chandler, D-Worcester, prohibits the sale of e-cigarettes and vaping products to anyone under 18 and sets requirements similar to those for tobacco products. Her proposal is backed by more than two dozen lawmakers.

Chandler said new vaping stores are proliferating across the state, eroding years of anti-smoking efforts by health officials that have largely curbed tobacco use among youth.

“We have a whole new industry going, and it’s a frightening industry,” she told a legislative committee Tuesday. “What we thought we were done with is back in a different form.”

Sen. Barbara L’Italien, D-Andover, is co-sponsoring several bills, including one that would require the manufacturers of e-cigarettes to file annual reports to the health department identifying any toxins contained in e-cigarette and vapor products.

“Equipping the public with this information gives them the power to make an informed decision about their health,” L’Italien said.

Other legislation requires the liquid nicotine used in e-cigarettes to be sold in child-resistant packaging and forces manufacturers to disclose any toxins in their products.

“There is broad consensus that we need regulations,” said Rep. Jonathan Hecht, D-Watertown, the sponsor of two bills. “Having spent a lot of time, money and effort to keep kids from getting hooked on cigarettes, it would be a tragedy if e-cigarettes allow another generation to get hooked on nicotine.”

Health risks unknown

Traditional e-cigs are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid nicotine solution in a self-contained, disposable cartridge. That creates a vapor that is inhaled by a user.

The liquid capsules that are inserted into cartridges come in a variety of flavors, including fruits and candy. The main ingredients of most products are nicotine, flavoring and propylene glycol.

Public health advocates say the potential health consequences of inhaling the vapors are yet unknown.

“We really don’t have enough science yet,” said Dr. Stephen Epstein, a physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital and member of the Massachusetts Medical Society. “We know that nicotine is a very addictive, harmful substance, but who knows what else is in this stuff? We think the public has a right to know.”

Health officials are also concerned that e-cigarettes could spur teen tobacco use, undermining efforts to reduce smoking. In 2013, at least 10 percent of high school students said they had tried e-cigarettes, up from 4.7 percent a year earlier, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey.

On its website, the federal Food and Drug Administration points out that health effects of e-cigarettes have not been studied enough to determine if they are safe. About 250 brands are on the market, with no restrictions on sales.

The FDA is expected to release guidelines for the sale and distribution of e-cigarettes and is also weighing a ban on online sales. But those efforts have been delayed for several years.

On a state level, the e-cigarette industry is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying Beacon Hill as lawmakers and Attorney General Maura Healey work on proposed regulations.

Altria Client Services Inc., which makes MarkTen e-cigarettes, spent more than $200,000 on lobbying last year, according to disclosures filed with Secretary of State William Galvin’s office.

R.J. Reynolds, which spends more than $150,000 a year lobbying lawmakers and officials on tobacco-related regulations, this year registered a separate lobbying entity in the state under the name R.J. Reynolds Vaping Company.

Few states without regulations

Massachusetts is one of the few states that hasn’t taken steps to regulate e-cigarettes.

At least 44 states have adopted e-cigarette restrictions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. New Hampshire two years ago banned the sale of e-cigarettes to minors under 18, among other regulations. Other states are considering similar legislation.

Meanwhile, some communities in Massachusetts are taking local steps to regulate the sale and use of e-cigarettes.

To date 150 cities and towns have adopted regulations, according to the state Department of Public Health’s tobacco control program. Many extended the state’s smoke-free workplace law, which bans smoking in workplaces, restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

In response, the industry is backing legislation to prohibit local boards of health from banning the sale of legal tobacco and vaping products by requiring approval of any restrictions by a town meeting or city council.

Conley said the industry supports age limits on sales and childproof packaging, but he has concerns about over-regulation of an industry that reported more than $2 billion in sales last year.

He said the vaping industry is being unfairly scapegoated by health advocates as a front for tobacco companies.

“We’re not big tobacco,” he said. “E-cigarettes are a boon for public health because they help smokers quit using cigarettes, thereby reducing tobacco-related diseases and deaths across the country.”

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HSCIC Survey On declining trends of Cigarette & Increase in usage of e-cigarette

More and more children are adapting e-smoking. Tobacco use has hit new lowest level in the age group of 11 to 15. Only 18% of pupil has confirmed that they are smoking in 2014. HSCIC reported. It is the lowest level since this annual survey has started in 1982. And it was continuously touching the lower levels (with 42% in 2003) and hit the bottom low this year.

A new question was introduced in the survey about the use of e-cigarette and 22% confirmed that they have at least tried once, one of these devices. But regular use is still too low. Only 1% percent confirmed about the regular use of e-cigarette or related products (regular means that they have smoked at least once in a week). 6173 students were invited from 210 schools. And 3% confirmed as regular smokers . HSCIC has officially announced that 90k pupils in the age group of 11 to 15 are regular smokers (which is still alarming but a decline slope is a good indication of future generations).

Group of experts are saying that electronic cigarette will act as a bridge as a pathway to regular smoking. Other group disagree with the statement. E-cigarette is not becoming reason as 89% people regular smokers are vaping regularly (and left cigarette). Only 11 percent told that they were non-smokers and now using vapors.

Chief Executive of HCH, Deborah Arnott told that these results matched with other UK surveys. And e-smoking is becoming a separate market and only few new people are joining the rank of regular smokers.

As the number of regular smokers is declining significantly each year and e-cigarette users are increasing(in small numbers). This contrast shows that vapors do not promote regular smoking. All the facts are weak in proving the direct relation between smoking and electronic vaping.

Lower price of vapors is also the reason of popularity and 38% people also says that lower cost is the reason of switching to vaping. If you buy a single cigarette and you buy a full package. But this is not the case, when buying an e-cigarette. On the other hand, 9.2 pound (14.27 dollar) is the price of cigarette pack and 1 pound (1.55 dollar) is the price of e-cigarette pack (on the average). Also, there is 75% tax on 20 tobacco pack comparing it 20% VAT on e-cigarette (also make vaping interactive).

We have to fully understand what are the benefits and side-effects of e-cigarette. As the vaping is new to the market, says Chris Woodhall a SPA at Cancer research center. It is proven that e-cigarette are far more safe than tobacco and also helps to get rid of tobacco addiction.

New Post has been published on http://lecigs.com/electronic-cigarette-news/vaping-debate-heats-up/

'Vaping' debate heats up

Jonathan Smith smoked cigarettes for more than 13 years, burning through a pack a day, until he decided two years ago to take up electronic cigarettes and nicotine “vaping” to kick the habit. Smith, 34, said he hasn’t touched a regular cigarette since then, and his health has vastly improved. “It saved my life,” said Smith, now a manager at the Vapor Outlet in downtown Salem, Mass. “The smoking was killing me, slowly but surely. Vaping just worked for me, and it has for a lot of other people, too.” Despite Smith’s story and anecdotes like it, health advocates remain concerned about vaping’s effects and skeptical of its effectiveness as a smoking

Businesses that range from shopping mall kiosks to big tobacco companies like R.J. Reynolds are pushing back. They argue that the products are safe alternatives to tobacco smoking that shouldn’t be over-regulated or taxed. “Every month, more studies emerge showing that vapor products are far less hazardous than smoking for users, pose no significant risk to bystanders, and are effective at helping smokers kick the habit,” said Greg Conley, president of the American Vaping Association. “These devices are not tobacco products, and treating them as such sends the absolute wrong message.” Public health officials disagree. They want the state to regulate e-cigarettes like other tobacco products by setting age limits for sales, requiring disclosure of potential toxins and banning “vaping” indoors and in public places. Various proposals One proposal, by Senate Majority Leader Harriette Chandler, D-Worcester, prohibits the sale of e-cigarettes and vaping products to anyone under 18 and sets requirements similar to those for tobacco products. Her proposal is backed by more than two dozen lawmakers.

New Post has been published on http://lecigs.com/electronic-cigarette-news/vaping-revisited/

Vaping Revisited

When we published an article about “Vaping” (the use of electronic cigarettes) onScarsdale10583 less than a year ago, no one knew if inhaling the vaporized liquid posed a health risk. And even though that question has not yet been answered, theCDC has found that teenagers are vaping more than they were a year ago. In fact, the Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year in 2014 was “vape.”

What is vaping and why is it becoming trendy? (A quick review) Vaping is using an electronic device (called a vape pen, e-hookah, hookah stick, hookah pipe, or e-pen) to heat a tobacco-free liquid (usually called e-liquid) for the purpose of inhaling and exhaling the vapor in a way that looks and feels similar to traditional smoking. The liquid is made up of water, glycerin, propylene glycol, and flavors, some with and some without nicotine. There are more than 7,000 flavors of the e-liquid on the market, including cotton candy, sensual vanilla, Cuban mojito, root beer float, and toffee latte. On one website, you can even purchase custom blended flavors.

Vaping proponents claim the liquid must be safe because these same ingredients are in other products we have all been using for years, such as salad dressing, asthma inhalers, and shampoo. Opponents claim that we have not determined whether the liquid ingredients are safe for inhalation even if they are deemed to be safe in food or shampoo. Teens are interested in vaping because it is odorless, it tastes good, the flavors are fun and varied, and they can play around with exhalation of the vapor. It is marketed as a healthy, safe, and an all-natural alternative to smoking.

Are Scarsdale teens vaping? The short answer is “yes,” although it is not known to what extent. The National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) is a self-administered questionnaire given annually to middle and high school students in public and private schools around the country. In 2014, data from 22,000 students was evaluated and revealed a three-fold increase in the use of electronic cigarettes between 2013-2014 (from 4.5% to 13.4%) among both middle school and high school students.

There were several comments on the previous vaping article we published (including some posted months after its original publication) from people claiming to be 15 and 16 year olds discussing the safety of vaping. (These comments are posted anonymously and may not be from Scarsdale readers.) JD wrote, “I’m only 15…is it bad that I want a vape stick? I’m not into the nicotine just the vape [vapor] itself. I’ve seen people do tricks and I think they are really cool. It’s practically sugar water right?” JD, then wondered, “…would it be safe for me to own one?” Similarly, Jasper R commented that, “…it can only cause sickness if you have a lot of nic [nicotine]. I’m a user…and I am only 16 and I see no bad side to them if they can keep me away from smoking Mary Jane or cigs. So what is the real bad side?”

Vaping advocates and vendors contend that vaping is a safe, tobacco-free way to quit smoking traditional cigarettes rather than as a newly adopted habit of non-smoking teenagers. ‘Your mom’ commented that (s)he is working on getting another disposable hookah pen, and that “…they are the perfect way to keep yourself away from a drug more harming,” again, indicating that teens aren’t using vape pens as an alternative to smoking cigarettes. The comments also lead one to believe that teens may be misinformed about vaping. “Mother of two” wrote, “…all it is, is flavored water vapor. It can also hydrate you. And since it’s water vapor there’s nothing harmful to your lungs.”

How do teens gain access to vape accessories and liquids? The laws around vaping and selling vape supplies vary not just by state, but by county and even city and town. For example, whereas Westchester County requires that a person be a minimum of 18 years old to buy vaping products at a store, in New York City buyers must be at least 21. Both the devices and liquids are available at convenience stores as well.

Is vaping safe? Is it dangerous? The jury is out on this one. Studies are currently being done to determine the safety profile of e-cigarettes. In a recent op-ed in the New York Times, Joe Nocera discussed the debate on vaping, specifically the safety or detrimental effects of nicotine. He quotes Mitch Zeller, head of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, who said, “When nicotine is attached to smoke particles, it will eventually kill. But the same drug in a patch…is such a safe medication that it doesn’t even require a doctor’s prescription.” The Center for Tobacco Products, a division of the FDA is now conducting more than 50 studies on e-cigarettes and will soon have regulatory authority over their sale and use.

Opponents of vaping say that the use of “teen/kid marketed flavors” are encouraging young people to vape before side effects are known. They also claim it’s relatively unregulated so quality control is virtually non-existent. Proponents say the ingredients and the lack of second hand smoke make it innocuous and claim that vaping helps people quit smoking cigarettes or helps them avoid starting to smoke at all. The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a study showing that a significant amount of formaldehyde is inhaled when vaping at 5.0 volts. However, this study was widely criticized because it is unlikely that anyone would vape at this voltage as it burns the coils and gives the nicotine a bad taste. Many experts haven’t gone as far as to say that vaping is harmful to teens, but do say that it is still an unknown potential hazard to developing brains and bodies.

I tried vaping. In between preschool drop off and pick up, I went to White Plains Vapor on Mamaroneck Avenue in White Plains to learn more about vaping. Entering the store, I was engulfed by a haze in the atmosphere and found two people vaping. Michael, the owner, checked my ID with an app on his phone as he does with all people who look under 35 (I was flattered). To ensure the integrity of his business, Mike doesn’t sell anything online. However, he told me that if kids want to vape, they’ll use untraceable Amazon or other gift cards to purchase vaping devices and liquids online. Mike’s angle is to sell vaping as a smoking alternative. “There’s no tar, no smell, no ashes, no tobacco, it doesn’t stain your teeth, there’s no second hand smoke,” he reported. “I smoked for 20 years and tried everything to quit; the patch, the gum, Wellbutrin…nothing worked until I tried vaping. I use liquid with the mid-range level of the nicotine,” he added. Mike said he feels healthier and can climb stairs without becoming breathless. He has a wall of cigarette boxes with people’s names on them and the date they replaced smoking with vaping. Mike thinks vaping is relatively benign, especially when compared to smoking traditional cigarettes. I asked him if he knows of any side effects and he mentioned that some people report dry mouth. He’s safety conscious. “I always tell people that if they have kids, they need to keep the liquid and device high up.” He was referring to an incident in upstate New York where a child drank the sweet e-liquid and died of nicotine poisoning.

At the tasting bar, I was served “pink bunny” e-liquid, which is marketed as “strawberry milk” to inhale while watching Saturday morning cartoons. All tasting samples are nicotine-free. I pressed the button on the device and inhaled the sweet vapor. I didn’t cough and the vapor wasn’t harsh to inhale or exhale. I could see immediately why teens would be vaping even if they weren’t smokers. Mike assured me that whereas cigarettes have numerous cancer-causing ingredients, the atomized liquid of the vape-pen produces a simple and harmless vapor. Although Mike said his typical client is 35-50 years old, I can’t imagine that “pink bunny” appeals to that age group.

New Post has been published on http://lecigs.com/electronic-cigarette-news/no-smoke-with-vaping-but-not-without-some-fire/

No smoke with vaping, but not without some fire

 Like many a hard-core smoker, Candi McCann found it a bear to quit. Nothing worked. Not the patch. Not those blue smoking cessation pills her doctor prescribed.

Then she tried those electronic cigarettes that produce a steamy vapor instead of smoke. Click, just like that, she went from more than a pack of smokes a day to becoming the Kansas City area’s leading vaping evangelist.

Finally shed of her 21-year smoking habit, the 42-year-old McCann now preaches about the latest vaping gear on her YouTube channel. She helps organize “vape meets” of fellow enthusiasts through the Fountain City Vapor Club. And more recently she has turned her passion into a full-time job, hiring on as manager at the Vapor World store near her home in Lenexa, Kan.

“April 9, 2012, that’s my vape-versery,” she said, taking a drag from a mouthpiece sticking out of a boxy contraption in her palm that was about the size of an eyeglass case.

No smoke with vaping, but not without some fire

Whether that stat is true or not, that’s one selling point that keeps customers coming back to the more than three dozen vape shops that have set up in the metro area since 2013. Before, there were few or none.

Then there’s the social aspect that has seen some vaping stores, like Waldo Vapes, becoming something akin to java-free coffee shops, where people gather to shoot the breeze, play games and challenge each other to see who can blow out the biggest cloud of scented vapor.

“It’s becoming a community,” Levi Fields, a 20-year-old student at the culinary school at Johnson County Community College, said as he took a toke in Waldo Vapes’ living-room-like setting. “It’s getting really, really big.”

Supporters see e-cigarettes as a godsend for people trying to reduce or quit smoking, which kills 480,000 Americans a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the trend concerns some health advocates. Scientists don’t yet know much about the health effects of electronic cigarettes, which are largely unregulated and the subject of competing claims.

Critics also contend vaping is trading one form of addiction for another and that the safer-than-cigarettes claims are convincing teens to adopt a nicotine habit they might not have otherwise.

“It is a way to get kids addicted to nicotine,” said Sue Matson, substance abuse prevention coordinator at the Johnson County Mental Health Department. “I’m concerned about the possibility of renormalizing behavior that we have spent a long time getting away from.”

As the federal Food and Drug Administration weighs those arguments in advance of imposing greater regulatory control, there is no debating this: Vaping has gone mainstream in the past couple of years, spawning a more than $3 billion-a-year industry in the United States. Two-thirds of sales are online, but increasingly there are brick-and-mortar stores like the dozens of outlets that have been cropping up across the nation.

You’ve seen them on street corners and in strip centers with names like Vape Up, Vape Room and CigaWatt.

Until recently, e-cigarettes were synonymous with the cigarette look-a-likes sold alongside regular smokes in gas station convenience stores – “cig-a-likes,” they’re called. Marketed by Big Tobacco, they are an acceptable alternative to smoking for many smokers, while others dismiss brands like Blu, Vuze and Njoy as unsatisfying substitutes for the real thing.

But that is not the segment seeing the biggest growth and getting the most buzz. Instead, it’s the refillable “open system” vaping product category that is driving an industry that within a decade, one prominent Wall Street analyst predicts, will see more Americans vaping than smoking tobacco.

Open systems allow users to customize their vaping experience.

They can choose among a wide array of flavored liquids – from bubble-gum-flavored to hazelnut butter cream – each of which has various levels of nicotine to none at all. Drops of that “e-juice” are dripped into battery-powered gadgets that look nothing like cigarettes.

They range from rechargeable vaping pens, called that because they look like writing instruments and cost about $25 for a starter kit, to so-called modified systems. Mods, for short, are built from mix-and-match components that can cost as little as $40 to as much as a few hundred dollars. The price goes up along with the wattage options. The more power, the more vapor.

Customers range in motivation, too. Some stop in only when they need to feed their nicotine habit.

“They buy their juice coils once a week and go about their day,” McCann said.

But there is also a dedicated bunch who consider themselves hobbyists. They enjoy sampling different flavors and buying better and more expensive vaping equipment.

And yet as big as vaping has become in a short amount of time, it’s far from being widely accepted outside the subculture that has grown up around it.

Which is why shop owners like Jonathan Brower, owner of Waldo Vapes, are wary of and bracing for new rules that are sure to come down the pike eventually.

“People have a hard time wrapping their head around the fact that we’re not smoking anything,” he said.

There may not be smoke, but local, state and federal officials are fired up about the need to regulate e-cigarettes.

Overland Park and Columbia, for example, are among a number of Kansas and Missouri communities that have extended prohibitions already imposed on smoking to vaping. It’s not allowed in indoor public spaces, confounding smokers who had been vaping in bars rather than stepping outside to light up.

That makes it hard sometimes for the 800-member Fountain City Vapor Club to rent space for its occasional meets, McCann said.

“The meets we hold every few months are free to attend,” she said. “We invite local shops to set up tables. There are usually raffle and door prizes.”

Also, both Missouri and Kansas are among the states that forbid the sale of e-cigarettes and vaping gear to minors, a restriction that local vaping store operators welcome.

“The main thing we’re fighting now is we’re getting a lot of minors trying to buy,” said Aaron Todd, who owns the Vapur of KC store and is part owner of two other Vapur stores in the area. “I even had one kid come in with his dad, point out what he wanted and slide his dad a $20 bill, and I wouldn’t sell it to him.”

More than anything, it’s that concern for minors that is driving opposition locally and nationally.

A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the use of e-cigarettes by teenagers had risen sharply, with 13 percent of high schoolers reportedly using them in 2014.

At the same time, though, the number of high school smokers had dropped from 16 percent in 2011 to 9 percent in 2014.

“They (teenagers) believe it’s a safe alternative because that’s what they are being told,” said Kevin Kufeldt, who runs a regional drug treatment center that serves adolescents from across Kansas.

To dissuade teens and their parents from vaping, Tri-County Mental Health Services in the Northland plans to begin sending out public service announcements through social media this summer.

The theme, said Tri-County’s Reshana Peterson, is “about the fact that nicotine is nicotine.”

Many adults, she said, believe they are doing their teens a favor by allowing them to vape, rather than smoke, when the better alternative is to do neither.

The campaign, paid for by a grant from the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, also includes an educational component for teachers so they can recognize signs that kids are vaping in class.

Johnson County has the same challenge, Matson said.

“Kids are doing it in their cars,” she said. “Kids are doing it in the hallways and the classroom if they think they can get away with it.”

Some school districts have changed their regulations recently to prohibit all nicotine products, rather than just tobacco, because of the trend, Peterson said.

Another area where regulation is coming involves the products themselves. No quality control standards apply. While manufacturers and shop owners say the industry’s products are safe, vaping juices are not tested or regulated. At least one study found that some liquids said to contain no nicotine did, in fact, have nicotine in them.

“You can put whatever you want on a label,” Kufeldt said. “It doesn’t mean it’s true.”

Many in the industry wouldn’t mind the FDA getting involved for that very reason. One of the biggest impediments to further growth in the category is the loss of consumer confidence in the vapor people are breathing in place of tobacco smoke.

“We believe it’s imperative these factors are addressed promptly,” three analysts who follow the industry at Wells Fargo Securities said in a January report. “If not, we’re concerned that vapor category growth could continue to moderate.”

McCann would be sad if regulation damaged what she considers to be an industry that has helped a lot of people like her cut back on or quit cigarettes entirely.

“It meets my need,” she said. “I don’t smell like smoke anymore. I don’t get bronchitis anymore.”

And she’d miss the folks she’s met at vape meets, where there’s always a bit of horse trading amid the vapor rings and billowing clouds of mist.

“We swap juices and show off our mods,” she said.

New Post has been published on http://lecigs.com/electronic-cigarette-news/governor-abbott-supports-flat-earth-over-facts-regarding-vaping/

Governor Abbott supports flat earth over facts regarding vaping

Despite all the letters, phone calls, and emails sent from those whose health has improved thanks to vaping instead of smoking, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sided with big tobacco and other legislators who stand on the myths of nicotine instead of the truth about vaping. All the legislators involved in the drafting and debating of Senate Bill 97 and House Bill 170 were provided mountains of scientific proof people are getting healthier thanks to putting down cigarettes and picking up vaping. In the end none of the facts stopped the relentless efforts to over regulate the products and the businesses serving the vaping community.

It is very reminiscent of the over reaction of Galileo’s facts presented against the myth of the earth being flat. For Galileo it meant the rest of his days spent under house arrest, branded as a heretic. For today’s vaping community it now means being treated as if they were still smokers, being sent to smoking areas they’ve tried for years to break free from. It means people who may have considered vaping instead of smoking as a way to break free will wonder if there really is a difference and continue to smoke. It means businesses focused on serving those Texans focused on ridding themselves of the nasty smells and health challenges of smoking will find they are banned from vaping despite facts the vapor registers the same level of toxicity as ambient air. It means big tobacco has successfully used the Texas political machine to slow down a competitor and move their version of nicotine delivery ahead of vaping. It means we lose, as citizens, and big corporations, lobbyists, and politicians win once again.

New Post has been published on http://lecigs.com/electronic-cigarette-news/practical-guidance-to-ensure-safe-use-of-flavourings-in-e-cigarettes/

Practical guidance to ensure safe use of flavourings in e-cigarettes

The first practical guide to ensure the safe use of flavourings in e-cigarettes has been published (Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology DOI: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2015.05.018).

E-cigarettes and other vaping products contain a nicotine-based liquid that is vapourised and inhaled. There is no combustion so the user inhales vapour, not smoke. This means that e-cigarettes deliver nicotine without smoke toxicants. However, some in the public health community still have expressed concerns over the potential health impacts of flavourings used in e-cigarettes.

This is why the British Standards Institute (BSI) are developing product standards for e-cigarettes to provide guidance on manufacturing, testing and safety requirements. ‘These guidelines, lay out the ‘what’ – which includes toxicological risk assessment of flavours,’ says Dr Sandra Costigan, ‘and our guide explains the ‘how’.’ Costigan is Principal Toxicologist at Nicoventures, a nicotine company established by British American Tobacco. She is also a member of the BSI steering committee on e-cigarettes.The flavourings typically used in e-cigarettes are food grade, which means that they have been traditionally ingested rather than inhaled. ‘This means that the data available is oral and there are large data gaps. Safe to eat is not the same as safe to inhale,’ says Costigan. ‘The data gaps need to be filled,’ she says. ‘In the meantime, what are the kinds of data sources, approaches and scientific rationale that will allow us to determine if we can use a flavour and at what level? This guide explains how to do that.’

The first step is to ensure that any flavourings are food grade and to screen out any potential carcinogens or respiratory allergens. ‘At this stage, in the absence of inhalation data we make quite a lot of use of what are called TTCs or Toxicological Thresholds of Concern,’ explains Costigan. TTCs are used by agencies like the WHO and FDA and they basically help define how much of something can be used in the absence of other toxicity data.

‘We use TTCs to determine how much of any particular flavour ingredient can be used. The next step is to assess the compounds produced as a result of heating these flavour molecules, as it is the ‘vapour’ (ie the aerosol produced on heating the e-liquid) that consumers are exposed to, not the e-liquid itself. Here we are dealing with new compounds and potential thermal breakdown products, rather than ingredients,’ and so our approach to acceptable levels will be different,’ says Costigan.

New Post has been published on http://lecigs.com/electronic-cigarette-news/vaping-wants-to-be-cooler-than-smoking-60-second-know-it-all/

'Vaping' wants to be cooler than smoking: 60-Second Know-It-All

“Vaping,” the use of electrically-powered atomizers to inhale vaporized nicotine solutions in place of smoking cigarettes, isn’t a new phenomenon anymore. It’s gone worldwide and is slowly gaining in popularity.

And that may be one of its problems.

Experts seem stymied in their search for a downside to vaping. Sure, nicotine is a powerfully addictive stimulant, and if all this makes this narcotic a little less disgusting and more socially acceptable, then we owe it to America’s youth to preserve them from the siren clutches of e-cigarettes any way we can. Of course. Besides — it’s just one more bite out of their allowances on top of their 5-hour energy shots and Red Bulls. You kids think we’re made of money?

In fact, web pages purporting to list pros and cons of vaping mainly seem to list expense as the only real negative: These vaporizers can cost $30 to $50 and more.

But I’m surprised when I speak to kids, my own and others, about this phenomenon. This isn’t a vast sampling of opinion, but the young adults I’ve talked to about it wouldn’t touch this stuff with a 10-foot pole. The hipster mentality that drives, feeds and consumes under-30 culture in this society nowadays plows “new trends” like this under on a daily basis. Vaping may have reached for a clean, high-tech cachet – new products on the market usually do – but these kids see the whole thing as simply weird, a bit pretentious, and at best, terribly passé.

So ten minutes ago.

New Post has been published on http://lecigs.com/electronic-cigarette-news/smoking-vaping-and-nicotine/

Smoking, vaping and nicotine

New Post has been published on http://lecigs.com/electronic-cigarette-news/greenwood-proposes-ban-on-e-cigarettes-vapers-say-not-so-fast/

Greenwood proposes ban on e-cigarettes, vapers say not so fast

Just weeks after state legislators put tougher regulations on the liquids used in  e-cigarettes, one city wants to take that legislation even further in their area.

Some city council members in Greenwood want to ban the use of e-cigarettes in public, putting the device in the same category as traditional cigarettes.

Councilman Mike Campbell says council president, J. David Hopper feels strongly about the ban, but he is split down the middle on the matter.

“I’m just concerned about government overreach. I’ve not had anyone come to me and tell me their was an issue with electric cigarettes and restaurants,” said Mike Campbell.

Councilman Campbell says he doesn’t even believe e-cigarettes are a major concern in Greenwood. He personally wants to know more about the products before banning them in public places. For him the current smoking ban has worked just fine.

“I’m not really sure what the health concerns are but the smoking ban seemed to have been real popular and I don’t think it’s an issue but I am concerned about government overreaching its responsibilities,” said Campbell.

Organizations like Hoosier Vapers think the proposed ordinance goes too far without including people who use the products. They believe it will encourage more people to smoke traditional cigarettes.

“Vaping is actually used by the majority of the people to move away from traditional tobacco products. It’s actually tobacco harm reduction and so limiting adults access or use to those products is actually encouraging them to continue to smoke,” said Hoosier Vapers representative, Evan McMahon.

McMahon says he wants the council to slow down and work with vapers in the area.

“We look at this and say instead of attacking vaping why not encourage the city to embrace vaping as tobacco harm reduction and encourage vaping in city programs dealing with smoking cessation,” said McMahon.

New Post has been published on http://lecigs.com/electronic-cigarette-news/half-a-million-smokers-have-switched-to-e-cigarettes-in-the-last-year/

Half a million smokers have switched to e-cigarettes in the last year

There are now 2.6m e-cigarette users in Britain, up from 2.1m in 2014 Use increased among ex-smokers from 4.5% last year to 6.7% this year Campaign group says figures show devices help smokers kick the habit Warned proportion of people who believe they are equally or more harmful than cigarettes has increased

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) said there are now 2.6 million vapers in Britain, up from 2.1 million in 2014.

Nearly all of this increase is attributable to a rise in ex-smokers using electronic cigarettes, it said.

The campaign group said the figures showed the ‘value’ of e-cigarettes in helping smokers give up tobacco.

Electronic cigarette use increased to 6.7 per cent in 2015, up from 4.5 per cent in 2014, a study found. A cigalike model of the device is pictured

But it also warned of a ‘worrying’ increase in people falsely believing they are as harmful as or even more dangerous than regular cigarettes.

Nearly 22 per cent of people believed this in 2015 compared to 15 per cent last year.

Analysis by researchers at King’s College London shows that electronic cigarette use increased among ex-smokers from 4.5 per cent in 2014 to 6.7 per cent in 2015, ASH said.

It remained the same among current smokers at 17.6 per cent between 2014 – 15.

Vaping remains extremely rare among people who have never smoked, with just 0.2 per cent of users falling into this category over the last three years.

The group said there has also been a change in popularity of the type of device used.

Cigalikes, which resemble tobacco cigarettes and are either disposable or use replaceable cartridges, were used by more than half (55 per cent) of vapers last year.

The tank model, which looks quite different from cigarettes and has containers that can be refilled with ‘e-liquid’, are now puffed on by two-thirds (66 per cent) of e-cigarette users.

This can be seen as a positive thing as tank e-cigarettes were found to be more effective at helping tobacco smokers to quit than cigalikes in a study carried out at King’s College London, which was published last month.

The most popular reason people gave for using e-cigarettes was to help them stop smoking completely (48 per cent) and to prevent them from relapsing to smoking (38 per cent)

Recent research conducted in the US also found that flavourings used in e-cigarettes contain potentially harmful high levels of chemicals, while a study of mice indicated that vaping may harm the lungs and immune system.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH, said: ‘The number of ex-smokers who are staying off tobacco by using electronic cigarettes is growing, showing just what value they can have.

‘But the number of people who wrongly believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking is worrying.

‘The growth of this false perception risks discouraging many smokers from using electronic cigarettes to quit and keep them smoking instead which would be bad for their health and the health of those around them.’

Dr Leonie Brose, of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London, said: ‘We must clearly communicate the relative safety of electronic cigarettes to smokers.

‘The proven harm of tobacco is currently getting less coverage than the much smaller and far less certain harm from electronic cigarettes. We owe it to smokers to provide them with accurate information.’

New Post has been published on http://lecigs.com/electronic-cigarette-news/e-cigarettes-may-only-be-harmful-under-extreme-conditions/

E-cigarettes may only be harmful under 'extreme conditions'

E-cigarettes can produce harmful levels of formaldehyde that exceed those of regular cigarettes — but only under “extreme conditions”, a new report says.

The study, led by cardiologist Dr Konstantinos Farsalinos, took a closer look at how the popular tobacco replacement devices perform in ‘real world’ conditions. The findings, published in online journal Addiction, found that it was possible for a third-generation e-cigarette (a vaping device with variable power settings) to produce high levels of aldehydes — known to be carcinogenic to humans.

However, the study found that this would occur in a normal-use setting if a smoker deliberately and repeatedly “dry puffed” on an e-cig: a seemingly unpleasant experience that most would do their best to avoid.

Farsalinos explained: “Our results verify previous observations that it is possible for e-cigarettes to generate high levels of aldehydes; however, this is observed only under dry puff conditions, which deliver a strong unpleasant taste that vapers detect and avoid, by reducing power levels and puff duration or by increasing inter-puff interval.”

He went on to explain that although small amounts of aldehydes are released in normal conditions when e-cigarettes are smoked on a high power setting, the emissions are far lower than those in tobacco cigarette smoke. In fact, only by taking “dry puffs” on an e-cig — which one vaping blog says “taste awful, can make you cough, and can also have the terrible side effect of leaving e-liquid in your mouth” — would a vaper inhale more formaldehyde than a standard cigarette.

Moreover, the study challenges a report from January 2015 and published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NJEM). Although the report found that e-cigarettes produced levels of formaldehyde that exceeded normal cigarettes several times over, it didn’t take into account actual vaping habits — but it was nonetheless reported widely in the media as a new health hazard for e-cig smokers.

DON’T MISS

E-cigarettes alter lungs ‘at cellular level’

Professor Peter Hajek, director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, UK, commented on the latest findings: “These findings emphasise the importance of making clear the conditions in which tests of this kind are undertaken and avoiding sweeping assertions that can mislead the public.”

New Post has been published on http://lecigs.com/electronic-cigarette-news/as-the-vaping-culture-takes-hold-many-turn-from-smoking-and-many-critics-worry-2/

As the vaping culture takes hold, many turn from smoking and many critics worry

Like many a hard-core smoker, Candi McCann found it a bear to quit. Nothing worked. Not the patch. Not those blue smoking cessation pills her doctor prescribed.

Then she tried those electronic cigarettes that produce a steamy vapor instead of smoke. Click, just like that, she went from more than a pack of smokes a day to becoming the Kansas City area’s leading vaping evangelist.

Finally shed of her 21-year smoking habit, the 42-year-old McCann now preaches about the latest vaping gear on her YouTube channel. She helps organize “vape meets” of fellow enthusiasts through the Fountain City Vapor Club. And more recently she’s turned her passion into a full-time job, hiring on as manager at the Vapor World store near her home in Lenexa.

“April 9, 2012, that’s my vape-versery,” she said, taking a drag from a mouthpiece sticking out of a boxy contraption in her palm that was about the size of an eyeglass case.

“I’m not going to tell you this is healthy,” said McCann. “But I can tell you that it is 99 percent better for you than smoking.”

Whether that stat is true or not, that’s one selling point that keeps customers coming back to the more than three dozen vape shops that have set up in the metro area since 2013. Before, there were few or none.

Then there’s the social aspect that has seen some vaping stores, like Waldo Vapes on Wornall Road, becoming something akin to java-free coffee shops, where people gather to shoot the breeze, play games and challenge each other to see who can blow out the biggest cloud of scented vapor.

“It’s becoming a community,” Levi Fields, a 20-year-old student at the culinary school at Johnson County Community College, said as he took a toke in Waldo Vapes’ living-room-like setting. “It’s getting really, really big.”

Supporters see e-cigarettes as a godsend for people trying to reduce or quit smoking, which kills 480,000 Americans a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the trend concerns some health advocates. Scientists don’t yet know much about the health effects of electronic cigarettes, which are largely unregulated and the subject of competing claims.

Critics also contend vaping is trading one form of addiction for another and the safer-than-cigarettes claims are convincing teens to adopt a nicotine habit they might not otherwise.

“It is a way to get kids addicted to nicotine,” said Sue Matson, substance abuse prevention coordinator at the Johnson County Mental Health Department. “I’m concerned about the possibility of renormalizing behavior that we have spent a long time getting away from.”

As the federal Food and Drug Administration weighs those arguments in advance of imposing greater regulatory control, there is no debating this: Vaping has gone mainstream in the last couple of years here and elsewhere, spawning a more than $3 billion-a-year industry in the United States. Two-thirds of sales are online, but increasingly there are brick-and-mortar stores like the dozens of outlets that have been cropping up in the Kansas City area and across the nation.

You’ve seen them on street corners and in strip centers with names like KC Vapes, Vape Up, Vape Room and CigaWatt.

Vaping evolves

Until recently, e-cigarettes were synonymous with the cigarette look-a-likes sold alongside regular smokes in gas station convenience stores — “cig-a-likes,” they’re called. Marketed by Big Tobacco, many smokers find them an acceptable alternative to smoking, while others dismiss brands like Blu, Vuze and Njoy as unsatisfying substitutes for the real thing.

But that is not the segment seeing the biggest growth and getting the most buzz. Instead, it’s the refillable “open system” vaping product category that is driving an industry that within a decade, one prominent Wall Street analyst predicts, will see more Americans vaping than smoking tobacco.

Open systems allow users to customize their vaping experience.

They can choose among a wide array of flavored liquids — from bubble-gum-flavored to hazelnut butter cream — each of which has various levels of nicotine to none at all. Drops of that “e-juice” are dripped into battery-powered gadgets that look nothing like cigarettes.

They range from rechargeable vaping pens, called that because they look like writing instruments and cost about $25 for a starter kit, to so-called modified systems. Mods, for short, are built from mix-and-match components that can cost as little as $40 to as much as a few hundred dollars. The price goes up along with the wattage options. The more power, the more vapor.

Customers range in motivation too. Some stop in only when they need to feed their nicotine habit.

“They buy their juice coils once a week and go about their day,” McCann said.

But there is also a dedicated bunch who consider themselves hobbyists. They enjoy sampling different flavors and buying better and more expensive vaping equipment.

And yet as big as vaping has become in a short amount of time, it’s far from being widely accepted outside the subculture that has grown up around it.

Which is why shop owners like Jonathan Brower, owner of Waldo Vapes on Wornall Road, are wary of and bracing for new rules that are sure to come down the pike eventually.

“People have a hard time wrapping their head around the fact that we’re not smoking anything,” he said.

Critics want limits

There may not be smoke, but local, state and federal officials are fired up about the need to regulate e-cigarettes.

Overland Park and Columbia, for example, are among a number of local communities that have extended prohibitions already imposed on smoking to vaping. It’s not allowed in indoor public spaces, confounding smokers who had been vaping in bars rather than stepping outside to light up.

That makes it hard sometimes for the 800-member Fountain City Vapor Club to rent space for its occasional meets, McCann said.

“The meets we hold every few months are free to attend,” she said. “We invite local shops to set up tables. There are usually raffle and door prizes.”

Also, both Missouri and Kansas are among the states that forbid the sale of e-cigarettes and vaping gear to minors, a restriction that local vaping store operators welcome.

“The main thing we’re fighting now is we’re getting a lot of minors trying to buy,” said Aaron Todd, who owns the Vapur of KC store in the Northland and is part owner of two other Vapur stores in the area. “I even had one kid come in with his dad, point out what he wanted and slide his dad a $20 bill, and I wouldn’t sell it to him.”

More than anything, it’s that concern for minors that is driving opposition locally and nationally.

A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the use of e-cigarettes by teenagers had risen sharply, with 13 percent of high schoolers reportedly using them in 2014.

At the same time, though, the number of high school smokers had dropped from 16 percent in 2011 to 9 percent in 2014.

“They (teenagers) believe it’s a safe alternative because that’s what they are being told,” said Kevin Kufeldt, who runs the Johnson County drug treatment center in Olathe that serves adolescents from across Kansas.

To dissuade teens and their parents from vaping, Tri-County Mental Health Services in the Northland plans to begin sending out public service announcements through social media this summer.

The theme, said Tri-County’s Reshana Peterson, is “about the fact that nicotine is nicotine.”

Many adults, she said, believe they are doing their teens a favor by allowing them to vape, rather than smoke, when the better alternative is to do neither.

The campaign, paid for by a grant from the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, also includes an educational component for teachers so they can recognize signs that kids are vaping in class.

Johnson County has the same challenge, Matson said.

“Kids are doing it in their cars,” she said. “Kids are doing it in the hallways and the classroom if they think they can get away with it.”

Some school districts have changed their regulations recently to prohibit all nicotine products, rather than just tobacco, because of the trend, Peterson said.

Another area where regulation is coming involves the products themselves. No quality control standards apply. While manufacturers and shop owners say the industry’s products are safe, vaping juices are not tested or regulated. At least one study found that some liquids said to contain no nicotine did, in fact, have nicotine in them.

“You can put whatever you want on a label,” Kufeldt said. “It doesn’t mean it’s true.”

Many in the industry wouldn’t mind the FDA getting involved for that very reason. One of the biggest impediments to further growth in the category is the loss of consumer confidence in the vapor people are breathing in place of tobacco smoke.

“We believe it’s imperative these factors are addressed promptly,” three analysts who follow the industry at Wells Fargo Securities said in a January report. “If not, we’re concerned that vapor category growth could continue to moderate.”

McCann would be sad if regulation damaged what she considers to be an industry that has helped a lot of people like her cut back on or quit cigarettes entirely.

“It meets my need,” she said. “I don’t smell like smoke anymore. I don’t get bronchitis anymore.”

And she’d miss the folks she’s met at vape meets, where there’s always a bit of horse trading amid the vapor rings and billowing clouds of mist.

“We swap juices and show off our mods,” she said.

And surely, she said, there’s no harm in that.

To reach Mike Hendricks, call 816-234-4738 or send email to [email protected].

BY MIKE HENDRICKS

New Post has been published on http://lecigs.com/electronic-cigarette-news/as-the-vaping-culture-takes-hold-many-turn-from-smoking-and-many-critics-worry/

As the vaping culture takes hold, many turn from smoking and many critics worry

Like many a hard-core smoker, Candi McCann found it a bear to quit. Nothing worked. Not the patch. Not those blue smoking cessation pills her doctor prescribed.

Then she tried those electronic cigarettes that produce a steamy vapor instead of smoke. Click, just like that, she went from more than a pack of smokes a day to becoming the Kansas City area’s leading vaping evangelist.

Finally shed of her 21-year smoking habit, the 42-year-old McCann now preaches about the latest vaping gear on her YouTube channel. She helps organize “vape meets” of fellow enthusiasts through the Fountain City Vapor Club. And more recently she’s turned her passion into a full-time job, hiring on as manager at the Vapor World store near her home in Lenexa.

“April 9, 2012, that’s my vape-versery,” she said, taking a drag from a mouthpiece sticking out of a boxy contraption in her palm that was about the size of an eyeglass case.

“I’m not going to tell you this is healthy,” said McCann. “But I can tell you that it is 99 percent better for you than smoking.”

 Candi McCann explains the growing trend of vaping. Video by Rich Sugg/[email protected]

Whether that stat is true or not, that’s one selling point that keeps customers coming back to the more than three dozen vape shops that have set up in the metro area since 2013. Before, there were few or none.

Then there’s the social aspect that has seen some vaping stores, like Waldo Vapes on Wornall Road, becoming something akin to java-free coffee shops, where people gather to shoot the breeze, play games and challenge each other to see who can blow out the biggest cloud of scented vapor.

“It’s becoming a community,” Levi Fields, a 20-year-old student at the culinary school at Johnson County Community College, said as he took a toke in Waldo Vapes’ living-room-like setting. “It’s getting really, really big.”

Supporters see e-cigarettes as a godsend for people trying to reduce or quit smoking, which kills 480,000 Americans a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the trend concerns some health advocates. Scientists don’t yet know much about the health effects of electronic cigarettes, which are largely unregulated and the subject of competing claims.

Critics also contend vaping is trading one form of addiction for another and the safer-than-cigarettes claims are convincing teens to adopt a nicotine habit they might not otherwise.

“It is a way to get kids addicted to nicotine,” said Sue Matson, substance abuse prevention coordinator at the Johnson County Mental Health Department. “I’m concerned about the possibility of renormalizing behavior that we have spent a long time getting away from.”

As the federal Food and Drug Administration weighs those arguments in advance of imposing greater regulatory control, there is no debating this: Vaping has gone mainstream in the last couple of years here and elsewhere, spawning a more than $3 billion-a-year industry in the United States. Two-thirds of sales are online, but increasingly there are brick-and-mortar stores like the dozens of outlets that have been cropping up in the Kansas City area and across the nation.

You’ve seen them on street corners and in strip centers with names like KC Vapes, Vape Up, Vape Room and CigaWatt.

Vaping evolves

Until recently, e-cigarettes were synonymous with the cigarette look-a-likes sold alongside regular smokes in gas station convenience stores — “cig-a-likes,” they’re called. Marketed by Big Tobacco, many smokers find them an acceptable alternative to smoking, while others dismiss brands like Blu, Vuze and Njoy as unsatisfying substitutes for the real thing.

But that is not the segment seeing the biggest growth and getting the most buzz. Instead, it’s the refillable “open system” vaping product category that is driving an industry that within a decade, one prominent Wall Street analyst predicts, will see more Americans vaping than smoking tobacco.

Open systems allow users to customize their vaping experience.

They can choose among a wide array of flavored liquids — from bubble-gum-flavored to hazelnut butter cream — each of which has various levels of nicotine to none at all. Drops of that “e-juice” are dripped into battery-powered gadgets that look nothing like cigarettes.

They range from rechargeable vaping pens, called that because they look like writing instruments and cost about $25 for a starter kit, to so-called modified systems. Mods, for short, are built from mix-and-match components that can cost as little as $40 to as much as a few hundred dollars. The price goes up along with the wattage options. The more power, the more vapor.

Customers range in motivation too. Some stop in only when they need to feed their nicotine habit.

“They buy their juice coils once a week and go about their day,” McCann said.

But there is also a dedicated bunch who consider themselves hobbyists. They enjoy sampling different flavors and buying better and more expensive vaping equipment.

And yet as big as vaping has become in a short amount of time, it’s far from being widely accepted outside the subculture that has grown up around it.

Which is why shop owners like Jonathan Brower, owner of Waldo Vapes on Wornall Road, are wary of and bracing for new rules that are sure to come down the pike eventually.

“People have a hard time wrapping their head around the fact that we’re not smoking anything,” he said.

Critics want limits

There may not be smoke, but local, state and federal officials are fired up about the need to regulate e-cigarettes.

Overland Park and Columbia, for example, are among a number of local communities that have extended prohibitions already imposed on smoking to vaping. It’s not allowed in indoor public spaces, confounding smokers who had been vaping in bars rather than stepping outside to light up.

That makes it hard sometimes for the 800-member Fountain City Vapor Club to rent space for its occasional meets, McCann said.

“The meets we hold every few months are free to attend,” she said. “We invite local shops to set up tables. There are usually raffle and door prizes.”

Also, both Missouri and Kansas are among the states that forbid the sale of e-cigarettes and vaping gear to minors, a restriction that local vaping store operators welcome.

“The main thing we’re fighting now is we’re getting a lot of minors trying to buy,” said Aaron Todd, who owns the Vapur of KC store in the Northland and is part owner of two other Vapur stores in the area. “I even had one kid come in with his dad, point out what he wanted and slide his dad a $20 bill, and I wouldn’t sell it to him.”

More than anything, it’s that concern for minors that is driving opposition locally and nationally.

A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the use of e-cigarettes by teenagers had risen sharply, with 13 percent of high schoolers reportedly using them in 2014.

At the same time, though, the number of high school smokers had dropped from 16 percent in 2011 to 9 percent in 2014.

“They (teenagers) believe it’s a safe alternative because that’s what they are being told,” said Kevin Kufeldt, who runs the Johnson County drug treatment center in Olathe that serves adolescents from across Kansas.

To dissuade teens and their parents from vaping, Tri-County Mental Health Services in the Northland plans to begin sending out public service announcements through social media this summer.

The theme, said Tri-County’s Reshana Peterson, is “about the fact that nicotine is nicotine.”

Many adults, she said, believe they are doing their teens a favor by allowing them to vape, rather than smoke, when the better alternative is to do neither.

The campaign, paid for by a grant from the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, also includes an educational component for teachers so they can recognize signs that kids are vaping in class.

Johnson County has the same challenge, Matson said.

“Kids are doing it in their cars,” she said. “Kids are doing it in the hallways and the classroom if they think they can get away with it.”

Some school districts have changed their regulations recently to prohibit all nicotine products, rather than just tobacco, because of the trend, Peterson said.

Another area where regulation is coming involves the products themselves. No quality control standards apply. While manufacturers and shop owners say the industry’s products are safe, vaping juices are not tested or regulated. At least one study found that some liquids said to contain no nicotine did, in fact, have nicotine in them.

“You can put whatever you want on a label,” Kufeldt said. “It doesn’t mean it’s true.”

Many in the industry wouldn’t mind the FDA getting involved for that very reason. One of the biggest impediments to further growth in the category is the loss of consumer confidence in the vapor people are breathing in place of tobacco smoke.

“We believe it’s imperative these factors are addressed promptly,” three analysts who follow the industry at Wells Fargo Securities said in a January report. “If not, we’re concerned that vapor category growth could continue to moderate.”

McCann would be sad if regulation damaged what she considers to be an industry that has helped a lot of people like her cut back on or quit cigarettes entirely.

“It meets my need,” she said. “I don’t smell like smoke anymore. I don’t get bronchitis anymore.”

And she’d miss the folks she’s met at vape meets, where there’s always a bit of horse trading amid the vapor rings and billowing clouds of mist.

“We swap juices and show off our mods,” she said.

And surely, she said, there’s no harm in that.

To reach Mike Hendricks, call 816-234-4738 or send email to [email protected].

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/article21127371.html#storylink=cpy

Jonathan Brower is owner of Waldo Vapes at 7234 Wornall Road, which is something akin to a java-free coffee shop. |DAVID PULLIAM [email protected]

›‹

BY MIKE HENDRICKS

New Post has been published on http://lecigs.com/electronic-cigarette-news/whats-driving-the-war-on-e-cigarettes/

What’s Driving the War on E-Cigarettes?

When the prime-time cameras caught Julia Louis-Dreyfus “vaping” an electronic cigarette at the 2014 Golden Globes ceremony, cries of disapproval arose from our nation’s capital. Representative Henry Waxman (D., Calif.), then the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Representative Frank Pallone Jr. (D., N.J.) told the president of NBC that they were “dismayed” that the actress was “sending the wrong message to kids about these products.”

In a bruising Senate hearing a few months later, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D., W.Va.) tore into executives of two major e-cigarette companies: “I’m ashamed of you. I don’t know how you go to sleep at night. I don’t know what gets you to work in the morning except the color green of dollars. You are what is wrong with this country.” To listen to these reactions, you would never guess that e-cigarettes, battery-powered devices that produce an aerosol solution of nicotine free of carcinogenic tar, offer any health benefits to smokers. In truth, e-cigarettes have the potential to ignite a public-health revolution. But thanks to alarm over speculative dangers, misleading spin on facts, and outright misrepresentations of the evidence, various lawmakers and public-health officials threaten to dash that promise.

What is driving the controversy over e-cigarettes? At its core lies a tension between two camps: the precautionists and the pragmatists. The former have several concerns about e-cigarettes. First, that the health risks of the products haven’t been fully established. Second, that e-cigarettes will “renormalize” smoking and undo the gains of five decades of anti-smoking advocacy. Third, that vaping among teens will serve as a “gateway” to their eventual tobacco smoking.

What is driving the controversy over e-cigarettes? At its core lies a tension between two camps: the precautionists and the pragmatists.

The critics’ anxieties are not without merit, but they need to be placed in the context of the good that e-cigarettes do by sparing nicotine-dependent individuals from carcinogenic smoke. Precautionists are unmoved by the harm that comes to smokers who have failed to quit but who cannot take advantage of less dangerous ways of using nicotine. Accordingly, this camp seeks heavy regulatory oversight by the FDA and bans on television advertising and on vaping in public.

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Vaping Companies See Bias in Indiana Law