September 29, 2019
Due to the pending “Vapocalypse,” and the disgusting falsehoods being presented by our illustrious mainstream media, I feel the need to make a statement to you, our beloved customers and friends. I apologize for the length of this up front. As you can imagine, I am very passionate on this topic and have been watching for a LONG TIME.
Those of us who have been vaping a while know that this has been coming. In fact, whats been happening in our industry for the last 5 or so years ignited my, and many others of us, awakening as to what is going on in the whole of our country right now. When I first heard of tobacco profits dropping for the first time EVER, somewhere around 2013, I knew that we were going to be in a BIG fight one day. My mistake was in thinking the fight was going to be with Big Tobacco, when in actuality it is with the greedy squatters in our government who are addicted to spending the cigarette excise tax money. I am wide awake now, and I hope you are too, because the silent war has appeared on our doorstep. We knew it would.
If you noticed, this is how the current problem “we” are having with “vaping” has gone down thus far:
• Initially there was about 15 young adults/teenagers sick with lung infections and nearly all of them reported usage of THC (marijuana extract) in their vaporizer.
• Next, after testing some of these vaporizers, Vitamin E oil was found to have been used to thicken the THC liquid in these atomizers. While we sometimes call our
e-liquid “oil,” it is NOT an oil, but a water based product. Oils don’t really vaporize, and turn right back into an oil when they reach the lungs. This is bad.
• Days after the above information came to light, the THC part of the story got mostly dropped from the conversation, and was replaced with simply “vaping” and
“e-cigarettes,” along with a HUGE jump to 450 victims. You will still find THC mentioned, but it is now almost an “aside” at the very end of the article. Search for “news articles about vaping lung infections” and sort them by date, and see for yourself how the truth has been changed by the media. This is dishonest. The media has an agenda beyond reporting news.
• Now all of the stories have morphed into terrifying discussions about flavorings that insinuate that flavorings are causing the lung problems and HHS Secretary Azar has fully exposed himself as on a mission to eliminate vaping.
We are expected to just forget that the original issue was with THC. Why?
The FDA have ALWAYS threatened us with regulations to keep us small. The FDA has tried to legislate us out of business with regulations that don’t even begin to address things that should be regulated, like battery safety or the e-liquid they pretend to be so concerned about currently, but are simply loads of busy work designed to make us quit. The Tobacco Control Act of 2009 to which our industry is beholden is there to protect the almighty cigarette industry from competition. Incidentally, the act also eliminated our freedom to speak truth about our products. The powers that be then found what REALLY works to slow our industry--using our children as weapons against us.
Despite the fact that there are enough adult smokers to keep ten times the number of vape stores we already have in business, they CONSTANTLY accuse us--business owners and juice manufacturers--of trying to lure our children into the world of nicotine addiction. And the horrifying thing is that it has worked. There are a GREAT MANY perfectly reasonable (and even wide awake to the corruption in our gov’t) people, who believe that “we” are trying to lure our children with our delicious flavored vapes and our colorful packaging. Do any of us think that they care about our children at this point? It boils down to this: We have ALL been had-we as smokers have been pawns for our greedy government almost our entire lives.
So a few years back-- here comes Juul. I STRONGLY believe that Juul is part of their plan, they are the youth attractant with the “flash drive appearance” that the media LOVES to report on and there are the unending claims that Juul is marketing to youth—as media taunts the youth with the “you love it, but its not for you!” stories. Fact is, the Juul packaging is THE MOST ADULT LOOKING boring packaging out there, bar none. Consider this:
All of us look like were trying to attract youth compared to the Juul.
Juul is the Judas goat, the sacrificial lamb, the scapegoat and the fall guy for the industry. Thanks Juul. I knew they sucked long ago and were up to no good. I hate being right sometimes.
FACTS about VAPING:
1. Up until VERY recently in the United States, there have been zero health problems with electronic cigarettes (even those with THC). No other country is having any problem with them at all. BIG RED FLAG!
2. MANY reputable studies on the safety of vaping have been done across the world, and ALL of them have shown electronic cigarettes to be 95-98% safer than smoking. We have been using e-cigs for 10 or so years, and NO long term effects have yet presented (not even here in the US). These studies are COMPLETELY IGNORED by our government.
3. A few years before we were vaping, “Popcorn Lung” was reported by movie theater employees spending a lot of time in the popcorn bin. It was determined that diacetyl, a component of artificial butter flavoring, is not safely inhaled. As a result, we in the vaping industry have avoided that chemical from the beginning. The fact is, a cigarette has diacetyl in 700 times greater quantity than you would ever find vaping. The media has lied about Popcorn Lung to terrorize the population about vaping from the beginning.
4. Many of you will know I have always said that over time, I suspect there may be some flavorings that emerge as unsafe to vape. Exactly NONE beyond diacetyl and its derivatives have emerged, thus far.
So why do the powers that be demonize VAPING?
Remember what I said above – follow the money. FACT: CDC shows, in 2016, our government enjoyed cigarette excise tax revenues of $619.2 BILLION.
That is: $619,200,000,000.00!!! A YEAR!!!!
The fact is, our President is shutting down the slush funds and budget holes like crazy. Those (of both parties!) who have been making use of these money pits for their own enrichment and projects unknown to us are getting desperate to save their projects and their lifestyles. The cigarette tax is clearly a HUGE money pit, benefitting from local to state to federal government, and to my knowledge has very few, if any, earmarks to projects.
Remember hearing about the sexual harassment slush fund used to pay our elected officials way out of charges a couple of years ago? I don’t know where those millions and millions came from, but it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility to think it could have come from the cigarette excise tax. As things transpire over the next few weeks, months and years, we are going to see lots of the unknown brought from dark to light. I have a feeling there is some very ugly stuff there, and to come to realize we have funded it all, will be sickening.
Vaping is no more harmful today than it was a month ago. Vapegeek has helped literally thousands of people kick smoking--NONE have reported problems and MANY have reported better results from their doctors.
I have faith that President Trump is aware of this slush fund and, like everything else he does, he has a method to this madness. I was relieved to see him backtrack on his earlier, negative statement about vaping. He said he was not against vaping for those of us kicking a cigarette habit. We will be watching the next few weeks and months, and we will keep a tight eye on our expenses and do what is necessary to stay afloat.
I do not believe that flavors will be banned – but, if they are banned, I want you to know that we have an alternate plan, one that can immediately be implemented, that will keep your vape flavored if you choose.
We have the fight of our lives ahead of us. I gave you all this information (too much, as is my usual) both to reiterate the lies being widely spread about vaping and in hopes that you will try to help educate others in the truths about vaping. Our product is NOT what they are making it out to be, we are being LIED about by both members of government AND the media. There are a lot of people speaking out about this–both vapers and non vapers--please join them in speaking out and share the truth wherever you are. You can also call the White House (comment line: 202-456-1111), contact your congresspeople, and make sure they ALL know the TRUTH.
Sincerely,
Christina Jones
Update
Due to the pending “Vapocalypse,” and the disgusting falsehoods being presented by our illustrious mainstream media, I feel the need to make a statement to you, our beloved customers and friends. I apologize for the length of this up front. As you can imagine, I am very passionate on this topic and have been watching for a LONG TIME.
Those of us who have been vaping a while know that this has been coming. In fact, whats been happening in our industry for the last 5 or so years ignited my, and many others of us, awakening as to what is going on in the whole of our country right now. When I first heard of tobacco profits dropping for the first time EVER, somewhere around 2013, I knew that we were going to be in a BIG fight one day. My mistake was in thinking the fight was going to be with Big Tobacco, when in actuality it is with the greedy squatters in our government who are addicted to spending the cigarette excise tax money. I am wide awake now, and I hope you are too, because the silent war has appeared on our doorstep. We knew it would.
If you noticed, this is how the current problem “we” are having with “vaping” has gone down thus far:
• Initially there was about 15 young adults/teenagers sick with lung infections and nearly all of them reported usage of THC (marijuana extract) in their vaporizer.
• Next, after testing some of these vaporizers, Vitamin E oil was found to have been used to thicken the THC liquid in these atomizers. While we sometimes call our
e-liquid “oil,” it is NOT an oil, but a water based product. Oils don’t really vaporize, and turn right back into an oil when they reach the lungs. This is bad.
• Days after the above information came to light, the THC part of the story got mostly dropped from the conversation, and was replaced with simply “vaping” and
“e-cigarettes,” along with a HUGE jump to 450 victims. You will still find THC mentioned, but it is now almost an “aside” at the very end of the article. Search for “news articles about vaping lung infections” and sort them by date, and see for yourself how the truth has been changed by the media. This is dishonest. The media has an agenda beyond reporting news.
• Now all of the stories have morphed into terrifying discussions about flavorings that insinuate that flavorings are causing the lung problems and HHS Secretary Azar has fully exposed himself as on a mission to eliminate vaping.
We are expected to just forget that the original issue was with THC. Why?
The FDA have ALWAYS threatened us with regulations to keep us small. The FDA has tried to legislate us out of business with regulations that don’t even begin to address things that should be regulated, like battery safety or the e-liquid they pretend to be so concerned about currently, but are simply loads of busy work designed to make us quit. The Tobacco Control Act of 2009 to which our industry is beholden is there to protect the almighty cigarette industry from competition. Incidentally, the act also eliminated our freedom to speak truth about our products. The powers that be then found what REALLY works to slow our industry--using our children as weapons against us.
Despite the fact that there are enough adult smokers to keep ten times the number of vape stores we already have in business, they CONSTANTLY accuse us--business owners and juice manufacturers--of trying to lure our children into the world of nicotine addiction. And the horrifying thing is that it has worked. There are a GREAT MANY perfectly reasonable (and even wide awake to the corruption in our gov’t) people, who believe that “we” are trying to lure our children with our delicious flavored vapes and our colorful packaging. Do any of us think that they care about our children at this point? It boils down to this: We have ALL been had-we as smokers have been pawns for our greedy government almost our entire lives.
So a few years back-- here comes Juul. I STRONGLY believe that Juul is part of their plan, they are the youth attractant with the “flash drive appearance” that the media LOVES to report on and there are the unending claims that Juul is marketing to youth—as media taunts the youth with the “you love it, but its not for you!” stories. Fact is, the Juul packaging is THE MOST ADULT LOOKING boring packaging out there, bar none. Consider this:
All of us look like were trying to attract youth compared to the Juul.
Juul is the Judas goat, the sacrificial lamb, the scapegoat and the fall guy for the industry. Thanks Juul. I knew they sucked long ago and were up to no good. I hate being right sometimes.
FACTS about VAPING:
1. Up until VERY recently in the United States, there have been zero health problems with electronic cigarettes (even those with THC). No other country is having any problem with them at all. BIG RED FLAG!
2. MANY reputable studies on the safety of vaping have been done across the world, and ALL of them have shown electronic cigarettes to be 95-98% safer than smoking. We have been using e-cigs for 10 or so years, and NO long term effects have yet presented (not even here in the US). These studies are COMPLETELY IGNORED by our government.
3. A few years before we were vaping, “Popcorn Lung” was reported by movie theater employees spending a lot of time in the popcorn bin. It was determined that diacetyl, a component of artificial butter flavoring, is not safely inhaled. As a result, we in the vaping industry have avoided that chemical from the beginning. The fact is, a cigarette has diacetyl in 700 times greater quantity than you would ever find vaping. The media has lied about Popcorn Lung to terrorize the population about vaping from the beginning.
4. Many of you will know I have always said that over time, I suspect there may be some flavorings that emerge as unsafe to vape. Exactly NONE beyond diacetyl and its derivatives have emerged, thus far.
So why do the powers that be demonize VAPING?
Remember what I said above – follow the money. FACT: CDC shows, in 2016, our government enjoyed cigarette excise tax revenues of $619.2 BILLION.
That is: $619,200,000,000.00!!! A YEAR!!!!
The fact is, our President is shutting down the slush funds and budget holes like crazy. Those (of both parties!) who have been making use of these money pits for their own enrichment and projects unknown to us are getting desperate to save their projects and their lifestyles. The cigarette tax is clearly a HUGE money pit, benefitting from local to state to federal government, and to my knowledge has very few, if any, earmarks to projects.
Remember hearing about the sexual harassment slush fund used to pay our elected officials way out of charges a couple of years ago? I don’t know where those millions and millions came from, but it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility to think it could have come from the cigarette excise tax. As things transpire over the next few weeks, months and years, we are going to see lots of the unknown brought from dark to light. I have a feeling there is some very ugly stuff there, and to come to realize we have funded it all, will be sickening.
Vaping is no more harmful today than it was a month ago. Vapegeek has helped literally thousands of people kick smoking--NONE have reported problems and MANY have reported better results from their doctors.
I have faith that President Trump is aware of this slush fund and, like everything else he does, he has a method to this madness. I was relieved to see him backtrack on his earlier, negative statement about vaping. He said he was not against vaping for those of us kicking a cigarette habit. We will be watching the next few weeks and months, and we will keep a tight eye on our expenses and do what is necessary to stay afloat.
I do not believe that flavors will be banned – but, if they are banned, I want you to know that we have an alternate plan, one that can immediately be implemented, that will keep your vape flavored if you choose.
We have the fight of our lives ahead of us. I gave you all this information (too much, as is my usual) both to reiterate the lies being widely spread about vaping and in hopes that you will try to help educate others in the truths about vaping. Our product is NOT what they are making it out to be, we are being LIED about by both members of government AND the media. There are a lot of people speaking out about this–both vapers and non vapers--please join them in speaking out and share the truth wherever you are. You can also call the White House (comment line: 202-456-1111), contact your congresspeople, and make sure they ALL know the TRUTH.
Sincerely,
Christina Jones
Update