I agree. Vaping sort of slid in under the regulator radar several years back. Everybody wants to dis smoking but the truth is that tobacco tax generates a lot of revenue.

Pack of smokes= $8.00 tax = $2.00 ?? Lotta tax money there.

16 years ago I started rolling my own. 400 tubes and 1 lb. of tobacco was $12.00. The cigarette companies did not like that and forced the govt. to jack taxes on RYO tobacco when cigarette taxes were raised. A 1lb. Bag of tobacco went from $8.00 to $50.00.

But all the congressmen like to smoke pipes and did not tax RYO pipe tobacco. So I switched to pipe tobacco for around $12.00 a bag.

Nicotine gum costs $32.00 a box. I don’t know how much sin tax is put on a box of gum but it is almost cheaper to smoke cigarettes.

And then I discovered vaping and learned I could choose how much nicotine to put in my vape juice. The only tax was normal sales tax.

46 years of smoking was finally conquered with 4 months of vaping for about $120.00 total.

I hate to see the kids get hung up on this vape biz but I also hate to see what can be an effective cheap method to quit smoking get regulated into a wallet busting tax collecting exercise.

But you are right. Once the govt. figures out how to lay the taxes on it will never go away.

I remember watching this warning on TV when I was a kid. And then I would go over to the table where my dad kept his smokes, steal a couple, and then go down to my friend's house. His mom was "cool" and we would light up. I also knew about Yul Brenner, as well. Let's see; 1968. I was 15 at that time.

America's first cash crop. Also with a big export market.

Methos, did you turn into a Smoking Nazi or an Anti-smoking Nazi? I knew the shit could kill for me years before I manage to quit; It was around 1966 when I started smoking. I started at the same time the first warning labels were put on the packs: “Caution: Cigarette Smoking May be Harzardous to Your Health."

How about you? Can you ever say you smoked in ignorance? How many times did you light up and whistle past the graveyard before you finally managed to put them down for good? You never made a midnight run to the store because you were out of smokes? Or dig a butt out of your trashcan because your pack went empty? Tell the truth.

I have a friend who smoked Pall Mall Reds for years and one day he just put them down and was smoker no more. Were you like that? Most of us had to struggle to give them up.

And while vaping is in an uproar in the U.S. over in the UK the attitude is a bit different.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/17/health/vaping-us-uk-e-cigarette-differences-intl/index.html

I have been hearing a little bit about this. I can't verify it. But what I hear is that these Juul vapes use a replaceable juice pod. And counterfeiters are making THC pods with Vitamin E oil as the carrier. And as the carrier oil cools off in your lungs it coats them with oil and you can't breathe.

As stated, I cannot verify this, but sounds plausible. I know several many people who have been vaping for several years without issue. So, a lot of this sounds like the govt. trying to control the revenue and taxes. Sort like online gambling, I suppose.

I remember the razor blades and apples. Early 60s.

I wonder now if those were an urban legend.

Same here.

Really, though, it sounds like a tactic the candy companies could use to sell more candy. And The American Dental Association was probably in the back ground clapping their hands with glee. Go Candy Companies. Rah Rah Rah.

Well now, do that and vaping turns from a real cheap cessation tool to another expensive option for industry to dig deep into your pockets. Vaping is cheap. It was a very cheap way for me to kick the addiction. I would hate to see "cheap" go away. Start monitoring it like it is Fort Knox and smoking will look cheap.

OTOH, a pack of smokes is thru the roof so I can see where an adolescent would trend toward vaping instead of smoking.

What I can't yet understand is why kids think vaping looks cool. I mean, with a cigarette there are all sorts of dramatic uses for cigarettes. ARe you in the middle of an intense conversation that you would like to slow down? Pull out a pack of smokes and fiddle around with all the ways a cigarette can be manipulated before you get back to the conversation. With a vape stick I can see no dramatic effect at all.

What puzzles me with this vaping is that it has been going on for several years. So why all the problems all of a sudden.? Not all of these (teenage) vapers have doing this long term so no one can say we are now seeing the long term effects of vape use.

To me, the main questions would be:

1) Are these people who ran out of luck mixing their own vape juice?

or

2) Is this new problem effecting those who are using the Juul type pods only?

The juice has been around for awhile. The pods are a new item.

Altria owns 37% of Juul.

Check this out.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/04/business/iqos-us-launch/index.html

" Vaping is in crisis. Smoking is taboo. Altria has a solution: Iqos, an electronic cigarette-like gadget that heats, but doesn't burn tobacco. Philip Morris has been selling Iqos for a while in international markets. Altria will distribute Iqos in the United States for the first time Friday. The timing couldn't be better for the new nicotine product, as scrutiny grows around smokeless alternatives like e-cigarettes."

" The opening follows the Food and Drug Administration's approval of Iqos in April. The agency allowed the Iqos to go on sale because it produces "fewer or lower levels of some toxins than combustible cigarettes." Regulators also "placed stringent marketing restrictions" on the product, including FDA approval of its ads. "

" Unlike Juuls and other vapes, Iqos uses actual tobacco...."
===========================

The Regulators: We can't let this vaping shut down the entire U.S. tobacco industry, can we?" How are we going to shut down vaping and keep tobacco viable? Anybody got any ideas?

Do you have a link for this claim? Because the rest of your post leaves me confused.

Lemme see. The government owns Juul. Juul seems to be the king in selling flavored vapes. And therefore the government is trying to ban itself from selling flavored vapes. Please tell how this works.

I'm sorry. Let's do one thing at a time.

You made the claim that Juul is owned by the government. Can you back that claim up with any kind of link? Or are you just BS'n ?

I do. Your assumption is correct.

So, are you going to stand by your statement that, "the only vape company owned by the government is Juul." ? Or did you by chance mis-speak?

Are you talking about this? "The Regulators: We can't let this vaping shut down the entire U.S. tobacco industry, can we?" How are we going to shut down vaping and keep tobacco viable? Anybody got any ideas?"

I'm sorry. That was me just making something as a parody of how the Feds must be thinking. I could have made it more clear, I guess. Sorry you missed it.

Yes. But that does not mean the government owns P-M.
==============================================

Mississippi wanted little do to with casinos and would only let the casinos anchor slot machine laden barges to the shore line in Biloxi. Then Katrina hit. All of the barge casinos were wiped out during the hurricane. The casinos told Mississippi they were not coming back unless they could move onto land.

All of Mississippi's bible thumpers figured the money met more to them than gamblers living in sin so the laws were passed and the casinos landed.

You are right the government has an interest in P-M. Don't let all this stop-smoking shit fool you. The government would fall to its knees if everybody stopped smoking. And anything tobacco, the government likes; From the seeds in the ground to the cellophane wrapper on the pack. It is revenue. It generates taxable dollars. Big taxable dollars. From tires and trucks and fuel; From the paper and the printing ink. The government is not going to shut down tobacco. Too much money at stake. Too many jobs are at stake.

Don't forget all of the convenience stores that would have to close if they did not have a wall of cigarettes to sell. Which leads to the question: How come big tobacco always gets the bad rap but the convenience stores get a free ride?

Vaping threatens all of that revenue and the taxes generated. Hence my parody statement: The government has to come up with something to shut vaping down. So, either it finds some way to jack vaping taxes way up there, or someway to shut vaping down completely.

How convenient for the Feds that all of a sudden, a product that does not seem to have caused a problem until very recently is getting front page news about teenagers coughing up blood and rolling over dead. It has to be teenagers. No one would care about some dried up old fart one cough away from his gravesite. It's for the children, ladies and gentlemen. It is all for the children.

While at the same time, over in the UK, vaping is being championed as a valid tool to help people quit smoking. Is there a difference? I say yes. The U.S. has a very big tobacco industry to protect and no government healthcare. The U.K. has no tobacco industry to protect and has nationwide health care. The U.K. has everything to gain by people stopping smoking. The U.S.; Not so much.

Got a couple of questions: Let me reiterate, I am not defending tobacco, Big Tobacco, or vaping. But they are here and they exist. They are not going away.

What is SKB? Never heard of it. How much does its cessation product cost? What kind of product is it? Patch? Gum? Injection?

I smoked for 46 years and tried everything except Chantix to quit.

Gum, patches, Beechnut, Redman, nothing did it for me. Except vaping. 4 months of vaping from 16 ml or mg (I forget which) of nicotine down to zero and after 46 years I was smoke free and nicotine free. The vaping cost me about $100.00 total.

The gum costs 33.00 at Walmart for 170 pieces. On Amazon, a box of Juicy Fruit gum, 180 sticks costs $17.98. From my vaping experience, i know the nicotine does not cost all that much. And it leaves me wondering why a box of nicotine gum costs 84% more than a box of Juicy Fruit?

Where is the extra cost coming from? Is the government laying a hefty tax on nicotine gum, as well? Sort like sticking it to the smokers for all they are worth?

I know everybody has to make a living. I get that. But how much does the SKB product cost?

The gum sure is no bargain; While vaping, for someone motivated to quit, is poor man's "get out of jail card" so to speak. Or at least it will be until the government figures out how to lay on the sin taxes.

I am not favorable to considering the vape360.com as a trusted source for honest information.

The place is selling vape products, therefore, vape360 is predisposed to providing only "happy" news about vape products. It is not going to print any information that might kill sales.

Is is sort of like reading a glowing report about some product in a magazine; The report tells you about how great XYZ is and then you turn the page and now see a two page advertisement for the fantastic product you just read about.

You should consider another source.