Advocacy

Vermont just banned the sale of vape products in the state. Why? Made up teen vaping stats. And if that wasn’t enough, the state is still happy to take pay-outs from Big Tobacco. Which begs the question: is the Vermont vape ban ACTUALLY about money, after all? 

Vermont has made the sale of vape products – in store and online – illegal in the state. Why? Teen vaping, apparently. But as most of you now know, that “issue” isn’t as cut and shut as the FDA would have you believe.

The Vermont vape ban sucks for many reasons. Businesses will close, jobs will be lost, and millions of people will be denied access to life-saving technology. You will still be able to buy cigarettes in the state of Vermont, of course.

And the reason? The real reason? Like most things, it probably isn’t what you’d expect…

Ever heard of the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA)? No? Well, it’s an interesting quirk of the American judicial system, whereby Big Tobacco managed to ensure its survival by agreeing to pay off states with a share of its profits.

Sounds dodgy, right? It is. But the ACTUAL details are far more alarming.

Is The Master Settlement Agreement Killing Vaping? 

The idea of the MSA is simple: states can use the settlement money to fund anti-tobacco initiatives, fund cancer research, and the like. However, a lot of states don’t bother with this – some even use the money to directly fund tobacco production.

“Since the adoption of the MSA, states have turned to the constant stream of their tobacco windfall to do nearly anything they want. Spending on smoking-related healthcare costs and reducing and preventing tobacco use has represented but a fraction of state expenditures relating to the MSA,” notes CAGW.

Vermont got a record $59 million from the TSA in April 2018, confirming that it would use the money to fight the state’s other crisis – opioid addiction. A noble cause to be sure, but I cannot help wonder if this money has played a role in the state’s position on vaping?

Here’s a statement from Vermont’s Attorney General: “Vermont must ‘diligently enforce’ laws against tobacco companies that are not parties to the MSA. If Vermont fails to diligently enforce those laws in a given calendar year, it stands to lose a substantial portion, or potentially all, of its annual MSA payment for that year.”

The Real Reason Vape Products Are Classed As “Tobacco Products” 

Kind of sounds like Vermont is being strong-armed. I mean, vape products are classed as “tobacco products” and there are no vape companies involved in the MSA. Taken in this context, Vermont would lose its MSA money unless it took action against vaping. All it needed, like other states in the US, was an excuse…

And that excuse, of course, is teen vaping – an epidemic that doesn’t really exist. Never mind public health or the fact that vaping has helped millions of Americans quit smoking for good. None of that matters, seemingly. Not when we’re talking BIG BUCKS from the Master Settlement Agreement.

Doesn’t this all seem weird to you? The MSA itself is bizarre. Surely, if a product was found to be LETHAL to human life it would be banned, stopped from sale immediately? But this didn’t happen; instead, an agreement was made that ensured the survival of cigarettes and, in an ironic twist of fate, that same agreement is now killing vaping!

US States are literally addicted to Big Tobacco profits, and have been for decades.

You honestly couldn’t make this stuff up! Is this why the FDA was so keen on classing vape products as tobacco products, despite the fact they contain ZERO tobacco? Think about it: if a vape pen is classed as a tobacco product, any state getting fat on MSA payouts could be liable to lose its MSA funds if it allows vaping to gain too much traction.

The MSA, says Citizens Against Government Waste, “has turned the largest tobacco companies into an indispensable cash cow for politicians and bureaucrats, enabled irresponsible state spending, and, amazingly, has resulted in less money for public health and tobacco control while propping up a declining industry.”

So the next time someone tells you they’re banning vaping products because of teenagers using them, you can tell them it has nothing to do with this – it’s ALL about the money (that, ironically, comes from Big Tobacco itself).

What a shameful state of affairs…

The IQOS by Phillip Morris has been tested by Dr. Farsilinos to see how it compares to more traditional vape tanks and E Juice. Is it safer?

The IQOS is coming to America, and it’s FDA approved. Created by Big Tobacco giant Phillip Morris, the IQOS system runs on Marlboro tobacco sticks and will be sold in the USA via ALTRIA.

The IQOS is a heat-not-burn system, making it kind of a hybrid device. The tobacco is heated up and vapor is produced. It does not use E Juice like traditional vape devices.

The FDA has approved this device for sale. But as Dr. Farsilinos’ new study reveals, the IQOS is not as safe as traditional vape devices. In a study conducted using the Aspire Nautilus vape tank, Dr. Farsilinos found that the normal vape tank emitted substantially lower levels of carbonyls than the IQOS system.

IQOS vs Vape – Study Suggests Vape Tank & E Juice is Safer…

Here are the exact findings from the study:

“At the Health Canada Intense regimen, heated tobacco products emitted 5.0–6.4 μg/stick formaldehyde, 144.1–176.7 μg/stick acetaldehyde, 10.4–10.8 μg/stick acrolein, 11.0–12.8 μg/stick propionaldehyde and 1.9–2.0 μg/stick crotonaldehyde. Compared with the tobacco cigarette, levels were on average 91.6% lower for formaldehyde, 84.9% lower for acetaldehyde, 90.6% lower for acrolein, 89.0% lower for propionaldehyde and 95.3% lower for crotonaldehyde. The e‐cigarette emitted 0.5–1.0 μg/12 puffs formaldehyde, 0.8–1.5 μg/12 puffs acetaldehyde and 0.3–0.4 μg/12 puffs acrolein, but no propionaldehyde and crotonaldehyde. At more intense puffing regimens, formaldehyde was increased in heated tobacco products, but levels were three–fourfold lower compared with the tobacco cigarette.”

It is worth pointing out, however, that the IQOS system is still VASTLY safer than traditional cigarette smoking – over 90% in most cases. What’s odd, though, is that this study shows that the ONLY FDA approved vape on the market isn’t quite as safe as the ones the FDA is hellbent on removing from the market.

That’s odd, right? The IQOS is safer, but not quite as safe as the Aspire Nautilus running tobacco E Juice. You’d think this would be major news for policymakers at the FDA. You know, the guys that are supposedly in charge of public health in the USA.

In concluding the study, Dr. Farsilinos said: “The IQOS heated tobacco product emits substantially lower levels of carbonyls than a commercial tobacco cigarette (Marlboro Red) but higher levels than a Nautilus Mini e‐cigarette.”

Is IQOS Safe?

Big Tobacco’s Heat-Not-Burn IQOS Range of Devices

Yes, compared to cigarettes it is A LOT safer. Around 90% based on Dr. Farsilinos’ findings. But it is still not as safe as traditional vaping devices which not only taste better but are cheaper to run and come with actual flavors (at least for now).

The FDA won’t talk about this study; they probably won’t even acknowledge it. But it is definitely worthy of note given that the IQOS has been officially FDA approved, placing it alongside nicotine patches and gum.

And it’s STILL not as safe as what we’ve been vaping since 2014? Go figure! I think the most interesting thing about this study is that E Juice, when vaped, is less harmful than tobacco when it is heated. If I were a betting man, I’d have put my money on the former.

This kind of research NEEDS to get out into the public domain to quash all the silly, fake science that is being passed around by the FDA and its stooges in alleged anti-tobacco groups. Millions of lives can (and have) been saved by vaping. But we’re losing the battle on information; too many people think vaping is worse than smoking.

And the reason? A slew of fake, malicious, made-up bunk science claims from the FDA, Big Pharma, and Big Tobacco owned “action groups” like Tobacco Free Kids, whose entire existence depends on Big Tobacco profits (see the Master Settlement for more information). It’s all just money, folks. Money, money, money – and tax and excise duty!

When science shows something is safer than something else it should be celebrated and lauded as progression in public health. Instead, in the US, the more dangerous something gets FDA approved and the safer one is facing nation-wide bans. Put in that context, the entire system looks rigged…

Wake up, America. Before it’s too late.

Is the FDA finally on the side of public health? Or it is just looking at ways to ensure it keeps the steady flow of tobacco tax/settlement money flowing into the government’s coffers? Is this the REAL reason why it just approved Phillip Morris’ IQOS tobacco vaporizer pen?

The FDA has just approved the first “vape” device from a Big Tobacco company. Called the IQOS (pronounced “eye-kose”), this device will run on traditional tobacco but unlike traditional cigarettes, it uses a “heat not burn” technology to produce vapor which results in fewer carcinogens.

This is a vaporizer/vape pen. It does not run on E Juice; so it is markedly different to the devices you and I use – they run on E Juice, a liquid made from PG and VG that has been infused with nicotine.

Phillip Morris’ IQOS device is still ALL about actual tobacco. And when it comes to the US, it will be marketed HEAVILY by the JUUL-investing Altria Tobacco company. Expect TV spots and Super Bowl Ads.

Why Doesn’t The IQOS Use E Juice?

Simple: money. Big Tobacco has billions tied up in producing and refining tobacco. It isn’t going to suddenly stop farming and producing it because this would be catastrophic for its bottomline and its main business: cigarettes.

Using tobacco in the product also makes this a true tobacco product, which means it can be taxed as such. In addition to this, IQOS sales will also contribute towards money that is handed over to state governments via the Master Settlement Agreement.

Is This Why The FDA Approved The IQOS – For Money?

Look back through the news from the past couple of years. The FDA, despite its claims to be all about protecting public health, has continually attacked vaping and the vaping industry. It provided no reason for this other than a bunk study about a teen vaping epidemic that doesn’t actually exist.

And now… it’s approved Big Tobacco’s IQOS device. Approved it for sale in America. Approved it for marketing. Why? Tax money, settlement money. The US is addicted to tobacco profits, has been for decades, and devices like the IQOS are its best hope at ensuring it gets its fix in the years and decades to come.

Taxing tobacco is easier than taxing vape products. Most tobacco is grown domestically and is distributed by US companies. You also have the Master Agreement Settlement. The system is set up for cigarettes, has been for decades, but vaping is too new and too hard to regulate.

This is why the FDA has classed vapes and ecigs as “tobacco products” despite the fact they contain NO tobacco. It did it for tax reasons, so it can collect. This is OK for E Juice, domestically produced E Juice, but what about all the hardware coming in from overseas? That’s trickier.

I get the impression the US has been waiting for its Big Tobacco companies to come to the market with something compelling for those looking to quit smoking. Vaping has forced their hand, forcing them to adapt or face extinction. The IQOS is Big Tobacco’s response to vaping.

OK, So How Does The IQOS Work?

As I said: it’s more of a dry herb vaporizer than a traditional ecig or vape. It runs on Marlboro-made “tobacco-filled sticks” that are wrapped in paper and are heated to produce vapor. These tobacco sticks will be available in menthol and unflavored tobacco versions.

“Heating tobacco,” says Phillip Morris, “rather than burning it, may seem like a small change – but it redefines tobacco usage. When you light a cigarette, the tobacco burns at more than 800°C at the tip, creating smoke and ash. IQOS heats tobacco to a temperature up to 350°C, releasing the true tobacco flavor and nicotine without burning the tobacco.”

Phillip Morris also has an E-Liquid IQOS device that is available in the UK; I don’t know whether this has been FDA approved in the US, but I haven’t heard anything about in the documents, so I’m assuming not. Either way, this is Big Tobacco’s first proper swing at the traditional vape market. And it clearly has the FDA on its side.

IQOS HeatControl Technology

This is an exact explanation of how the IQOS heats tobacco:

“IQOS HeatControl Technology is a specially designed and patented technology that monitors and controls the temperature of the IQOS heating blade. The heating blade is made of ceramic incorporating platinum, gold and silver tracks. Through IQOS HeatControl Technology, the tobacco heats to the ideal temperature for 14 puffs or around 6 minutes (whichever comes first) ensuring a consistent tobacco flavor without burning.”

As I said: it’s kind of a hybrid device that sits somewhere between a weed vaporizer and a traditional ecig.

Is The IQOS Why Flavored E Juice is Getting Banned?

This is conjecture on my part, but stick with me: E Juice flavor bans are happening all over the USA. Why? Kids, apparently – even though this has been debunked many, many times. In the FDA’s mind, the only flavors that should be allowed are tobacco and menthol – just like the IQOS runs.

So… is the FDA preparing to effectively crush traditional (non-Master Agreement) vape companies through bans and regulation to clear the way for products from Big Tobacco? Maybe. I mean, the IQOS is now FDA approved. Your RDA and vape mod is not.

The IQOS will contribute to tobacco taxes and the Master Settlement Agreement. Your E Juice and mesh coil tank will not. Viewed in this context, there does appear to be something amiss. Phillip Morris is even using research from Public Health England – research about VAPING – to promote its tobacco-focussed IQOS system.

And the end game, I fear, is that this product – or products like it – will be the only things the FDA approves. If this happens, it will be a death knell for all other traditional vaping devices. You know, the ones we know and love. As noted earlier: this is all speculation on my part, so please take it with a pinch of salt – it’s just a thought, a scary, scary thought…

Can We Ever Forgive Phillip Morris?

Big Tobacco is responsible for millions of deaths. Its products are lethal and, even today, come under less scrutiny than vaping in America. The reason? Mostly because the US Government is addicted to tobacco money. This is the only logical reason why tobacco is still allowed to be sold.

But my question is this: Phillip Morris has known all along that tobacco is deadly, and yet it still makes and sells them to millions of people every day. It is essentially knowingly killing people and making money off it – and it has done this for decades.

Why didn’t Phillip Morris use its money, power, and influence to come up with something like the IQOS 10 years ago? Doing so could have saved millions of lives in the process.

Again, simple: the vaping industry is killing Big Tobacco. It did not create the IQOS because it cares about your health – or because it wanted to. It did it because it HAD to in order to stay in business. The rise of ecigs, despite the lies spouted by the FDA, is unstoppable in the US and the reason for this is simple: people aren’t stupid.

Across the pond, the UK is championing ecigs and vaping in a deliberate manner that runs contrary to what the FDA is saying. People know this, and people are waking up. Access to the internet makes duping people harder. 15 years ago, vaping would be already dead.

The FDA’s only line of attack is that vaping is addicting teenagers to nicotine. This “epidemic” has been debunked multiple times since it was first claimed. Not that it matters; all the FDA has to do is shout the loudest, using the MSM, and it wins the argument. Meanwhile, Public Health England has this to say about vaping:

• Vaping poses only a small fraction of the risks of smoking and switching completely from smoking to vaping conveys substantial health benefits
• E-cigarettes could be contributing to at least 20,000 successful new quits per year and possibly many more
• E-cigarette use is associated with improved quit success rates over the last year and an accelerated drop in smoking rates across the country
  many thousands of smokers incorrectly believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking; around 40% of smokers have not even tried an e-cigarette
• There is much public misunderstanding about nicotine (less than 10% of adults understand that most of the harms to health from smoking are not caused by nicotine)
• The use of e-cigarettes in the UK has plateaued over the last few years at just under 3 million
• The evidence does not support the concern that e-cigarettes are a route into smoking among young people (youth smoking rates in the UK continue to decline, regular use is rare and is almost entirely confined to those who have smoked)

Who are you going to believe?

I’m with Public Health England on this one. I also will not be supporting Big Tobacco by using its heat-not-burn products. They don’t deserve your money, your time, or your respect.

Phillip Morris has BILLIONS in its coffers. It could have made this product in the early 1990s. But it didn’t. And the reason why is simple: it didn’t have to, so it carried on selling death sticks until someone took action.

And that someone was the vape industry which is now under attack by the FDA.

Go figure…

The FDA would have you believe there is a teen vaping epidemic sweeping the nation. But if you look behind the scenes of what’s going on in the halls of power, things begin to look rather sinister…

Most people are aware that the US government makes A LOT of money from people smoking cigarettes. Whether through taxation or “agreements” with Big Tobacco companies, the US government has been lining its pockets with tobacco money for decades.

We’re talking hundreds of billions here; not a few million. Billions of dollars from Big Tobacco straight into the government’s coffers. What happens when all that money suddenly disappears? What’s going to fill the void? Is this why Trump wants to charge the vaping industry $100 million a year to simply exist?

Is this why the US so anti-vaping? Is it protecting itself from loss of tax revenue to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars? Maybe. Just look at the Tobacco Master Settlement of the 1990s; it secured the government a never-ending supply of Big Tobacco money – the cream off the top if you will.

Have You Heard of The Tobacco Master Settlement?

The “settlements”, paid out annually by tobacco companies, were intended for things like anti-tobacco education and research into cancer. This was what was agreed. And it sounds good. But only one state in the US – Oklahoma – has ever met with the actual CDC-recommended allocation of funding, according to the American Lung Foundation.

Other states – hello, North Carolina – used 75% of their allocated funds for tobacco production, a move that effectively takes reparation money and gives it straight back to the perpetrator of the crime.

Ideally, this money should have been used to develop and research cures for cancer and other useful things like anti-tobacco education in areas with poor education and low incomes. This is what the settlement was meant for; it is the entire reason it exists in the first place. Simply handing money back to Big Tobacco is like spitting the face of all the people that were lied to and got themselves addicted to tobacco during Big Tobacco’s hay day in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

Vaping Means Shrinking Tax Revenues & Less Settlement Money

If Big Tobacco starts making less money, something that will happen as more and more people switch to vaping, the settlement money it has to pay out will go down. And this means less money for the government.

If fewer people smoke, states can no longer guarantee tax revenue from sales of tobacco; fewer tobacco sales means less tax money. And, again, this means less money for the government. Is this why states all across the USA are legalizing cannabis? It bloody well could be.

Something HAS to fill the void left by declining numbers of smokers. The US government, between the Master Settlement and tax and excise, is effectively invested in the profitability of Big Tobacco. Failure by Big Tobacco to sell its products costs the US government billions of dollars.

Don’t believe me? Go back to 2008. The US tried to ban menthol cigarettes but it didn’t happen. The floor voted against it unanimously.

Why? Simple: MONEY.

According to Nik Modi, an analyst for UBS Securities, “federal taxes on menthol cigarettes alone could purchase five B-2 bombers or 22 F-22 Raptor aircraft or pay one year of health insurance for 682,727 Americans”.

And then you have the problem of states that have borrowed against their tobacco settlement money. What happens to these 17 states if that money dries up and they have to default on the loan, making 17 US states bankrupt or seriously financially-challenged more or less overnight?

This problem is simply just too insidious for most people to contemplate. How could the government get itself in such a position? How could it become such friendly bedfellows with Big Tobacco, when we’ve known, empirically, for decades that tobacco is deadly? How can any of this be justified when states are actively using the money to prop up the tobacco industry or simply using it to borrow against?

Where Does Vaping Factor Into All This Nonsense?

Simple: vaping should (and will) replace tobacco. In the UK, Public Health England, the NHS, and Cancer Research UK all agree that ecigs are 95% safer than cigarettes and are our best bet at getting rid of tobacco usage within a generation.

Just look at what Public Health England concluded after a lengthy study on the long term effects of vaping:

• Vaping poses only a small fraction of the risks of smoking and switching completely from smoking to vaping conveys substantial health benefits
• E-cigarettes could be contributing to at least 20,000 successful new quits per year and possibly many more
• E-cigarette use is associated with improved quit success rates over the last year and an accelerated drop in smoking rates across the country
• many thousands of smokers incorrectly believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking; around 40% of smokers have not even tried an e-cigarette
• There is much public misunderstanding about nicotine (less than 10% of adults understand that most of the harms to health from smoking are not caused by nicotine)
• The use of e-cigarettes in the UK has plateaued over the last few years at just under 3 million
• The evidence does not support the concern that e-cigarettes are a route into smoking among young people (youth smoking rates in the UK continue to decline, regular use is rare and is almost entirely confined to those who have smoked)

Professor John Newton, Director for Health Improvement at PHE said: “Our new review reinforces the finding that vaping is a fraction of the risk of smoking, at least 95% less harmful, and of negligible risk to bystanders. Yet over half of the smokers either falsely believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking or just don’t know.”

And why do these people falsely believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking? The FDA and its political stooges in the USA. They have lied and lied and lied about vaping. They have done it through the mainstream media, using made up epidemics, to scare millions of smokers away from a vastly safer alternative.

“It would be tragic if thousands of smokers who could quit with the help of an e-cigarette are being put off due to false fears about their safety,” said Professor John Newton, Director for Health Improvement at PHE.

The UK Is Concerned About SMOKING Rates – Not “Made Up” Teen Vaping Rates

All of the above is a lot to take in, and we’ve only really scratched the surface. But I wanted to put this post together to highlight the sheer level of craziness that goes on behind the scenes of our government and its wheelings and dealings with Big Tobacco.

I’ve read and read and read around this subject. I’ve spent hours looking at the data, at statements, at reports – and nothing the FDA says about vaping adds up. The teen vaping epidemic? Debunked. Long term effects of vaping unknown? Debunked – they are scarcely any. A flavor ban will stop kids vaping? Debunked.

If you read between the lines it kind of looks as if the US doesn’t want people quitting smoking: I mean, there are hundreds of billions of dollars up for grabs so long as millions of Americans continue to smoke. Put in that context, the FDA’s draconian, non-movable stance on vaping starts to make sense.

Why else would it want to cripple an industry that has the potential to save millions of lives inside the next 10 years?

Think about that for a second.

Then think about the fact that if the US embraced vaping like the UK has done it could put an end to a business that has killed tens of millions of people in the last few decades.

At least it could if it weren’t so darn addicted to ALL that lovely blood money…

Take vaping and ecigs out of the equation and all you are left with is rising US smoking rates and more death. It’s really that simple, so why is the FDA hellbent on killing vaping in the US?

If somebody invented a way to get every single adult smoker off of cigarettes more or less overnight, you’d think that technology would be lauded by government and its agencies like the FDA.

Especially when said technology has been vouched for by Public Health England, UK Cancer Research, and The Royal College of Physicians as being 95% safer than smoking.

Dr. Lion Shahab, a senior lecturer in the department of epidemiology and public health at UCL, said: “Our study adds to existing evidence showing that e-cigarettes and NRT are far safer than smoking, and suggests that there is a very low risk associated with their long-term use. We’ve shown that the levels of toxic chemicals in the body from e-cigarettes are considerably lower than suggested in previous studies using simulated experiments. This means some doubts about the safety of e-cigarettes may be wrong.”

In a completely bizarre fashion, however, the FDA’s draconian approach to vaping is the complete opposite of this; in fact, the agency appears to be doing all it can to keep people smoking.

• It’s Banning Flavored E Juice
• It Wants Huge Amounts of Money To Register Newer, Safer Products
• It Is Implementing Laws That Will Shut Down Thousands of Businesses

Why? Because of a bulls**t study about teenage vaping rates.

US Smoking Rates At All-Time Low (Thanks To Vaping)

The FDA doesn’t seem to care about the millions of smokers that have quit using vape devices and, lest we forget, the untold billions of dollars that this has saved the country in healthcare costs.

Or the fact that smoking rates are dropping like flies. No, rather than focus on what is one of the biggest public health wins since the arrival of penicillin, the FDA is instead attempting to destroy the vaping industry from the inside out.

And it has no solid argument for doing this – just that it doesn’t want kids vaping.

Well, guess what? Neither do we. No one wants kids vaping or smoking. But it is NOT the job of the FDA to penalize millions of adults because a few rebellious teenagers have tried vaping. Not when there was no way near this level of scrutiny when thousands of kids took up smoking in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s?

And then there’s the little fact that vaping is less popular with school kids than alcohol and cannabis. And, once again, where is the FDA’s moral outrage on this? Why isn’t it tackling these issues? Or the current opioid crisis it helped create?

The only logical conclusion one can draw is that the FDA is simply doing as it’s told for the benefit of special interests – special interests like Big Tobacco and Big Pharma. Because these are literally the only groups that will benefit from vaping being destroyed in America.

Everybody Loses Except Big Tobacco…

If the USA followed the UK’s lead and championed vaping as a tool for destroying smoking within a generation, things would progress quickly.

Smoking rates would decline month on month; the health of the public would improve; there would be less strain on doctors and health care professionals.

Within five years, millions of lives could be saved and extended. And all of this would happen without any tax dollars being spent. This is why the UK is now pushing vaping hard; it knows the science and the facts and it wants to rid itself of smoking-related diseases within a generation.

When you take into account all of the above, the only conclusion one can draw is that A) the FDA is actively working in cahoots with Big Tobacco or B) it is completely incompetent or, worse, highly irresponsible.

I mean, just look at what the now ex-FDA head Scott Gottlieb said about his approach to curbing youth vaping: “I’m willing to narrow the off-ramp for adults to close the on-ramp for kids.”

Really, Scott? You’d sacrifice millions of tax-paying adult smokers for a few kids that, if vaping weren’t around, would be trying smoking instead? As I said: the FDA’s position is either completely compromised or completely irresponsible. Either way, it is not good for all concerned.

Vaping is The Best NRT We Currently Have

I know, I know – you think I’m probably biased, as I run a vape blog. But this isn’t mere conjecture on my part. Far from it, in fact. Both the NHS and Public Health England in the UK, as well as Cancer Research UK, have all signed off on vaping as a safe alternative to smoking.

Not only that, studies have shown that vaping is dramatically more effective than traditional FDA-pushed NRTs from Big Pharma. In fact, nicotine gum and patches have such terrible success rates it is rather alarming that they’re even still a viable option.

Also: they contain nicotine but no tobacco just like vapes and ecigs and yet they are NOT classed as a tobacco product. How does this work? When the FDA classes ALL vape and vape paraphernalia as “tobacco products” simply because they might contain nicotine, NRT products like gum and patches should come under the same scrutiny, right?

They don’t.

And the reason is simple: they’re made by Big Pharma – and the FDA loves Big Pharma. So much so that it will happily help it peddle inferior products to the American public that do not work, while it takes drastic, draconian action against a newer technology that is 95% safer than smoking AND has ridiculously high success rates with stopping smoking.

If the FDA had even a modicum of actual empathy or feeling for the general well being and health of the citizens it serves, it would re-class vaping as a true NRT and help get it into the hands of as many current smokers as possible.

But they don’t because the US government is addicted to Big Tobacco profits and payouts from lobbyist groups. Your democracy has been obliterated by special interest groups and paid-for-hire politicians. Facts don’t matter anymore, only money talks. And that, my friends, is why vaping is now under attack.

It has absolutely nothing to do with teenage vaping rates.

If vaping is banned, the only thing that will change are smoking rates; they will start increasing again.

And that blood will be solely on the hands of the FDA…

If you’re a regular pot smoker and you’re still using tobacco and papers, maybe it’s time you got with the times and started vaporizing weed – it’s healthier, cleaner, and you get more from you bud…

#1) The Most Obvious Benefit – It’s WAY Healthier Than Smoking

Honking on tobacco, or burning stuff and inhaling it, is terrible for your health. Smoking kills millions of people every year. For this reason, you want to avoid it at all costs.

And this is where vaporizers come in.

Rather than burning the weed, a vaporizer uses heat to vaporize the materials which, in turn, releases all of its fun components (THC and CBD) as a vapor which you inhale.

This avoids exposure to the following carcinogens: Benzene, Naphthalene, and Toluene. Needless to say, you don’t want any of these things in your lungs or body, and swapping your joints for a vaporizer is one sure way to do this.

This is why vaporizers are the safest way to use cannabis right now.

#2) You Only Get “The Good Stuff” (AKA: The Active Components of The Plant)

Because of the nature of how vaporizers work, you’re only ever getting the active ingredients from your weed. It doesn’t just burn everything and hope for the best. No. Instead, it only vaporizes the stuff you want: THC and CBD.

This leads to a clearer, cleaner high. But it doesn’t stop there. You can also use the temperature adjustments to bring out different flavors and active components…

#3) You Can Change The Temperature Settings To Access Different Compounds In Your Cannabis

Most vaporizers feature temperature control and you can use these feature to access different compounds inside your weed. This ability is brilliant, as you simply cannot do with papers or a bong.

For instance, if you want a straight-up THC blast, you would use a higher setting (400ºF+). Want something more mellow? Keep it nice and low (below 300ºF), as this will access the CBD content more and give you a more mellow high.

#4) You Don’t Waste ANY of Your Cannabis

When you burn cannabis, you’re effectively destroying everything in one fell swoop. It also kicks the crap out of your lungs, throat, and mouth. Plus, burning marijuana produces over 111 air-born toxins and compounds, which is definitely bad.

With a vaporizer, you’re literally only activating the components inside the weed that are useful to you – mostly THC and CBD. The rest is just left over as a husk in your vaporizer’s oven. Pro Tip: you can use your vaporized materials to make space cakes.

Vaporizing weed is more efficient than smoking it, it requires 30-40% less weed to generate the same effect, and it is 100% healthier as you’re not exposed to any toxic chemicals or compounds. Just good ol’ Mary Jane in all her awesomeness.

#5) Experience Your Herb’s Many, Many Terpenes

Did you know that your weed as all kinds of flavors locked away inside it? Most go completely unnoticed, however, because when you burn cannabis it all disappears inside the combustion reaction.

With a vaporizer, you can unlock all these different flavors (known as terpenes) by adjusting your temperature settings. You have plenty of wriggle room too with temperatures (see point #3) as well, so not only will you notice new flavors but you’ll also change the way it affects you.

#6) Zero Exposure To Nicotine

Plenty of people use tobacco inside their joints. They do this to conserve their supplies of cannabis and also because not everyone can handle a blunt first thing on a Tuesday morning.

Unless you’re buying very expensive tobacco that has been treated to remove the nicotine, you’re going to be ingesting a fair amount of nicotine – and this is not great, especially if you don’t smoke normally, as it will get you hooked.

When you use a vaporizer, you’re ONLY vaping the cannabis. There’s no tobacco and no nicotine. It’s just you and Mary Jane, hanging out as nature intended.

How To Find A Great Vaporizer

Finding the perfect vaporizer for your needs can be tricky. In the past 18 months, I’ve used a TON of vaporizers. Some were good, others excellent, and some were utterly rubbish. My current favorites are listed inside VapeBeat’s Guide To The Best Portable Vaporizer Mods.

Or, you can see the top picks for portable vaporizers from that post in the handy table below:

Desktop or Portable Vaporizer?

You also have desktop vaporizers to consider. These are mains-connected devices that are designed to be used solely inside your home. They’re not portable and they are VERY potent, delivering enormous amounts of vapor.

Right now, these best desktop vaporizers are listed inside our Guide To 2019’s #1 Tabletop Vaporizers. Again, I’ve included a table below that highlights our current top picks for desktop vaporizers.

What I Use For Vaporizing Weed

The EPIC DaVinci IQ – My #1 Portable Weed Vaporizer

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Personally, I use the Volcano Vaporizer and the DaVinci IQ. I love the DaVinci IQ’s design and functionality. It literally does everything I want from a portable vaporizer and it runs on removable 18650 batteries, which is awesome!

The Volcano Vaporizer is insanely good too; it is also monumentally expensive at around $600.

It is the best desktop vaporizer in the world and it will last you for the rest of your life but, again, it is very pricey.

The Arizer Extreme Q – The #1 Best Volcano Vaporizer Alternative (It’s $370 Cheaper!)

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A solid, cheaper alternative would be the Arizer Extreme Q desktop vaporizer; it’s around $370 cheaper and it works just as good. It even does whip-style vaping as well as balloon-style vaping, whereas the Volcano only does balloon vaping.

If you’re strapped or on a budget, I would 100% go with the Arizer Extreme Q. It’s a freakin’ brilliant desktop vaporizer that packs in a ton of power and functionality for a ridiculously low price tag.