Advocacy

How does vaping affect your heart and circulation compared to smoking? A new study highlights one of the #1 key benefits of switching to vaping…

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In light of everything that is happening in America right now, you could be forgiven for thinking that vaping is no better than mainlining heroin into your eyeballs. But as is often the case, thanks to a heady mix of lobbyist group interference and general misinformation, things aren’t always as they’re portrayed in the mainstream media.

Over in the UK, the government and national health agencies – the NHS, Public Health England, and The Royal College of Physicians – have been pro-vaping since day one. You can buy ecigs in hospitals and doctors will happily assist current smokers to make the switch. And the reason? Because vaping is 97% safer than smoking.

And best of all, the UK has the science to back up this support, as well as record-low smoking rates across the board. If you’re worried about switching to vaping, do not take what you’re being told by the MSM as gospel. There is a political war going on in the US now over vaping, and it has nothing to do with your health and/or well being – it’s about money.

How Does Vaping Affect Your Heart?

Every week, new stories come out about vaping being worse for you than smoking. These studies often rejigged and taken out of context, are great for clickbait articles on sites like MailOnline. But as most will now know, clickbait articles are seldom factual. Instead, they go for SHOCK and AWE in order to get your click and convert your traffic by showing you ads.

For instance, a recent study by the University of Dundee, which looked at how switching from smoking to vaping affected heart health, concluded with some very positive facts about why all smokers should be looking to switch to vaping. During the study, the heart health of the subjects improved (within a month) once they’d switched to vaping.

On top of this, their blood vessel health improved too. By how much? Well, the average heart health score for a non-smoker is 7.7 and the average for a smoker is 5.5. Once the subjects had switched to vaping, their heart health score went from around 5.5 on average to 6.7 on average – within one point of a non-smoker. And this happened INSIDE A MONTH.

“This represents a significant improvement in vascular health. We also found that in the short term at least, regardless of whether the e-cigarette does or does not contain nicotine, a person will see vascular health improvements compared to smoking a traditional cigarette,” said the study’s lead author, Professor Jacob George.

How Did The Study Work?

Obviously, when you’re performing a study such as this you require stringent methods to obtain the best possible results. This study features 114 participants with no history of heart disease. They all smoked at least 15 cigarettes a day. The 114 subjects were then split into three groups:

#1) 40 That Continued To Smoke As Normal
#2) 37 People That Switched To Vaping (w/ Nicotine)
#3) 37 People That Switched To Vaping (But With No Nicotine)

The only group that saw no change in their heart and blood vessel health, unsurprisingly, was Group #1 – the smoking test group. Groups #2 and #3 all saw dramatic improvements to their heart and blood vessel health.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, said,

“Our hearts and blood vessels are the hidden victims of smoking. Every year in the UK, 20,000 people die from heart and circulatory disease caused by smoking cigarettes – that’s more than 50 people a day, or two deaths every hour. Stopping smoking is the single best thing you can do for your heart health.

“This study suggests that vaping may be less harmful to your blood vessels than smoking cigarettes. Within just one month of ditching tobacco for electronic cigarettes, people’s blood vessel health had started to recover.”

How To Switch From Smoking To Vaping

Facts are one thing, but actually successfully switching from smoking to vaping can be extremely challenging – there’s just so much choice and information to get your head around. I know this first hand and it is one of the #1 reasons why I started VapeBeat in the first place: to help new vapers make the switch over to vaping successfully.

If you’re a current smoker that is looking to quit, my advice to you would be to start with something simple – a good disposable vape is perhaps the easiest of all ways to do this. I’m a seasoned veteran when it comes to vaping and even I still use disposable vapes from time to time. My current #1 picks for the best disposable vapes are listed below:

If you want something that is still simple to use, but is refillable, so you can add your own E Juice to it, I’d start off with a simple pod vape like the UWELL Caliburn – it’s small, lightweight, and it draws just like a cigarette. The UWELL Caliburn is a great little device that is loved and used by millions of vapers. This is why it has sat in such a prominent position inside our Guide To The Best Pod Vapes.

All our other #1 recommended pod vapes are listed in the table below:

Just remember: when you’re starting a new habit like vaping, it pays to keep it simple. You can get a more advanced device, like a tank and a vape mod, once you’ve successfully transitioned away from smoking in full.

One of our closest allies and good friends, Paul Freeman, owner of Freeman Vape Juice is setting up a dedicated advocacy group to save vaping – and we need your support

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In the US, vaping hangs in the balance. Trump is on the verge of banning flavors, JUUL is being sued out of existence (no bad thing), and hundreds of thousands of jobs and businesses hang in the balance. As a community, we have to come together to save this technology, a technology that has saved hundreds of thousands of lives in just a few short years.

In order to rally support, raise awareness, and give vapers a place to share their concerns, a new site/social network, designed by vapers for vapers, is in the process of being built – it’s called WeVapeWeVote. The first goal of the project is one million signatures. Once we have this, it’ll be handed over to Trump in the White House to show we mean business.

On top of this, WeVapeWeVote will become a social network of sorts, a place for vapers to create profiles, share their stories, and connect with one another. The project is currently in beta, but progress is being made.

Right now, the most important thing is signatures: we need ONE MILLION to save vaping and make a dent in the political universe – so make sure you sign-up and register. If you’re reading this, you’re a vaper, so make sure you CLICK HERE AND SIGN.

Downloadable Materials

Once you visit WeVapeWeVote, you’ll find a downloadable content section. Here, you’ll find a ready-made A4 letter than you can send to the White House, a downloadable checklist flier that you can distribute in your local community, and a flyer for the WeVapeWeVote website, which you can also share with friends and family inside your community.

Social Media Action Pack

Got a big following on social media? WeVapeWeVote has graphics you can download and install on your social networks – Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. The more people that post these, the more traction and signatures we’ll get. This is a war and we’re fighting a well-funded enemy with ZERO resources.

WeVapeWeVote T-Shirts, Hoodies, & Caps

Inside the WeVapeWeVote store, there are caps, hoodies, and t-shirts for sale. All proceeds from the store go to maintaining the site, organizing events, and raising awareness about vaping in the US. As noted earlier, this project is a collaboration between a couple of vaping companies that are sick of bureaucrats attacking an industry that has done so much for public health in America.

We’re fighting well-funded lobbyists and action groups like Tobacco Free Kids that have millions of dollars in their budgets. We cannot compete with that but what we can do is leverage a grassroots approach, through people like you, and create a force that cannot be ignored. This is the only way positive change will happen. We HAVE to come together, online and in-person, to fight these regulations.

It’s early days yet, but with your help and dedication, there is no reason why we cannot get one million signatures done inside the next few weeks. Use social media to share it, post it on Facebook, tweet about it, stick up fliers in your local vape shops. Whatever it takes, basically. If you want to live in a world where you can vape flavors and use current vape mods and tanks, action HAS to be taken now.

We need the PTMA gone and ZERO restrictions on flavor. We need to push for laws that support vaping, not condemn it. In order to do this, we need to show Washington that it cannot steamroll over our beloved industry, that we won’t it down idly and watch it happen. You might think YOU cannot make a difference, but together, collectively, we can.

Hell, if every single VapeBeat reader over a 30 day period signed this petition, we’d be well on our way to getting 98% of the one million signatures. It only takes 30 seconds to do it, so whatever you’re doing right now, stop and SIGN THE WeVapeWeVote PETITION!

JUUL has done more damage to the US vape market in a few short years than anyone could have imagined. It’s time vapers turned their backs on this Big Tobacco-owned corporation…

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I have many, many issues with JUUL. First, as I’ve always maintained on this blog, its product isn’t very good. Second, its JUULpods are too expensive. Third, the battery life on the JUUL is SO BAD, you need to buy a couple of devices in order to get through a full day.

But that’s just the product. The real issue with JUUL is how it conducts itself. JUUL was one of the fastest-growing vape brands on the planet in 2018 with a $16 billion valuation. It grew and grew and grew in popularity, thanks to its tightly controlled marketing and expansive distribution network across the country.

And then everything went to shit.

The FDA’s false campaign about teen vaping started and picked up momentum. JUUL was targeted by pretty much everybody as the sole reason for this alleged epidemic. But rather than tackling these issues head-on and working out how to better conduct itself, the company decided to get into bed with Altria – AKA Philip Morris, AKA Big Tobacco.

MORE: Best JUUL Alternatives: Our #1 Picks 

JUUL then went on a campaign of pussy-footing around the issue, fawning over comments made by the FDA and misguided action groups like Tobacco-Free Kids. It didn’t defend itself nor did it address the issue of kids accessing its products (spoiler: they’re getting them from gas stations and 711’s, not actual vape shops).

Is JUUL Big Tobacco’s Trojan Horse?

Instead, JUUL just went along with whatever the FDA said, sadly nodding its head and apologizing for its product. Never once did it use its power and influence to call BS on the FDA’s made-up stats about teen vaping. Nor did it leverage science from the UK that shows vaping is 95% safer than smoking.

This is why people claim JUUL is Big Tobacco’s trojan horse. This is why people think the entire purpose of JUUL was to shut down the entire vape industry, paving the way for Big Tobacco’s awful “vaporizer devices” like the IQOS, which will likely by the ONLY FDA approved ecigs on market this time next year.

And you know what, I think these people have a point…

What Does Big Tobacco Want?

#1) No More Flavors

Well, they don’t want flavors – that’d kill their business. After all, Big Tobacco companies have billions invested in tobacco farming, so there’s no way they’re going to give all that up. And getting vape flavors banned, which is currently happening, would likely be the best way to decimate the market ahead of the launch of its own, tobacco-focused vapor products.

#2) Make The Public Question Safety of Vaping

When smoking rates reach an all-time low, both here and in the UK, you know something is going to happen. Big Tobacco has investors, they cannot afford to go out of business. On top of this, it is in the interest of the US government for Big Tobacco to be profitable too.

Why? The MSA Agreement.

Therefore, the quickest way to curtail any more losses would be to cast doubt on the safety of vaping. Public Health England, as well as the Royal College of Physicians, an institute that’s been around long before America was founded, both say vaping is not only 95% safer than smoking but name it as our #1 best tool for killing smoking.

But in America, we have people dying from vaping, right? Yes, there have been deaths. But these deaths are linked to illegal THC carts which are being used on, yep, you guessed it, JUUL devices. Now, I’m not saying JUUL is involved in this particular fiasco, but I am concerned that JUUL willingly shipped over 1 million dodgy JUUL pods to its customers.

Could these out of date JUUL pods have caused any of these lung-related issues we’re seeing in the US? Possibly. I mean, we have sell-by dates for reason, right? If something is past its sell-by date, you don’t sell it. For whatever reason, JUUL didn’t think this applied to it – and it even sacked one of its executives after he voiced concerns over shipping them.

Classy.

#3) No More E Juice Companies, No More Vape Products

At the end of the day, whether you’re talking about Big Pharma or Big Tobacco, the end-goal is the same: they want to control nicotine delivery in the US. And they want to do it with their own products with zero interference from smaller brands in the private sector.

Banning flavors, the incoming PTMA, and all the other craziness that is happening right now all play into Big Tobacco’s hands. Once the market has been destroyed and thousands of businesses close their doors, Big Tobacco and Big Pharma will wade in with their “vape” products.

JUUL will probably still be around too because, y’know, it’s owned by Big Tobacco. But you can kiss goodbye your RDAs, vape tanks, vape mods, and pod vapes that are refillable – all of these will be gone. Replacing them will be shitty devices like the IQOS and other tobacco-focused products that taste like licking an ashtray.

And if you don’t like that, well… you could always go back to smoking!

Either way, Big Tobacco wins.

Can you improve as a runner even if you’re vaping regularly? In my anecdotal experience, you can – and this is one of the key differences between smoking and vaping…

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As you get older or have kids, you start to get more conscious about your health. Back in my 20s, I smoked and drank like there was no tomorrow. I didn’t care about cardiovascular health or whether my 20-a-day smoking habit would one day eventually kill me. That was a problem for future me, not the fun-loving present iteration of myself.

I’m now 35, and a new father. Things have changed. I own businesses and have responsibilities, so over the past five years, thanks in no small part to my amazing fiancé, I have slowly changed for the better. I’m healthier than ever before, I follow a diet completely devoid of sugar and processed food (keto), and I run every day. Either 5 miles or 10 miles, depending on how I feel.

I run because it’s cheaper than therapy, because it makes me feel better than any drug I’ve ever taken, and because it keeps my bodyfat at respectable levels. But mostly, I run because I want to be fit and healthy as my boy grows up, so I can run around and play with him in my 40s without breaking a sweat or having a coronary. This is my #1 driving factor. My son. In fact, my only vice nowadays is red wine, a bit of recreational pot, and vaping.

How Can You Run & Vape? Doesn’t It Affect Your Lung Capacity?

I’ve attempted to develop a running habit countless times during my life; at least, six times in my twenties and once or twice in my thirties. They all failed to stick.

Until I read Born To Run.

Then something changed. Up until that point in my life, I viewed running as unnatural. I thought it was terrible for your joints and humans weren’t designed to run long distances. Turns out I was completely wrong.

We are running machines, designed by evolution to run miles a day. Hell, prior to the invention of weapons, humans used to run-down animals until they dropped dead from exhaustion. And they did this for THOUSANDS of years.

I started running (properly) in April 2019. I laced up some trainers and went out on a local trail not expecting much. About 15 minutes into my run, I noticed something – I didn’t feel too bad. My lungs weren’t burning, and I didn’t have that acid-burn feeling in my throat. I trotted on, genuinely awe-struck by what was happening. This had never happened before. I’ve been on many runs and they all sucked immediately. So what was different this time around? A few things, actually:

#1) I No Longer Smoke (Like Ever)

Every single time I have attempted to start running, I was a smoker. I thought I could push through it, plenty of runners smoked in the 1960s and 70s, for instance, but you can’t – and even if you could, why would you want to? The effect smoking tobacco has on your lungs is terrible. We all know this. And while you’re 100% better off doing neither, vaping is 95% safer than smoking and doesn’t appear to hinder your lung capacity in the same fashion. I mean, I vape A LOT, and I can now bang out a 24-minute 5K without breaking a sweat.

I am no athlete. A 24-minute 5K is not impressive. But in my 20s, I couldn’t even run for 1K without nearly puking and feeling like my lungs were on fire. The only difference between my 25-year-old self and my 35-year-old self, aside from the grey hair, is vaping (and a better diet). I no longer smoke cigarettes. But I do vape, so what gives? I think it’s rather simple: multiple studies have shown that vaping improves lung function in smokers. Improved lung function equals better athletic performance. And this means you can, after a bit of training, run longer and harder.

I can recall what it felt like to run as a smoker; it felt like my lungs were on fire and I couldn’t get enough oxygen into my system. This feeling was experienced instantly – 5 or 6 minutes into a run. With vaping, I don’t get any of these symptoms. And I’m 10 years older. In fact, I am now fitter than I was when I was 18. I can run for longer, I have less body fat, and I have vastly improved stamina. And the only thing that has changed is that I no longer smoke – I vape instead.

#2) I Learnt How To Run With Correct Form

That’s not the whole story though. After a few weeks of research, I learned that I had been running incorrectly my entire life. I was a heel-striker. I let my feet get too far out in front of me. I ran with poor form, basically, and this made running even more difficult. Form is key when it comes to running. Get it right and it’ll shave minutes off your times. Do it wrong and you’re looking at a serious injury, aching knees, sore joints, and back pain.

As with most things in life, much of what we think we know about running is wrong. You don’t need Nike trainers to run. In fact, the less cushioning you have the better. Evolution designed your foot to run. It took millions of years. It is already perfect for running. You do not need $200 trainers with cushioning and gel. Not when you have optimized your running form. Not smoking and improving my running form are the #1 things that turned my performance around.

I never understood how someone could get addicted to running. It just seemed like a lot of work and pain. But I now get it; when you run properly, it’s easy – like you’re flying. The difference between how I used to run and how I run now is like night and day. Using the correct form makes running easier, keeps you injury-free, and allows you to run long distances without it feeling like your lungs or head are about to explode.

#3) I Bought Some Natural (Zero-Lift) Running Shoes

In an ideal world, I’d run barefoot. If I lived near a beach, I’d be barefoot running on that sucker every morning for hours at a time. Sadly, I don’t live near a beach and the roads and surfaces I run on are bumpy, riddled with stones and cracks, and the odd bit of broken glass for good measure. I can’t run barefoot, basically, but I can get damn close with a pair of Vibram running shoes. There is no lift on these, no cushioning either. And the net result of this means you’re as close to running barefoot as can be. Your feet react correctly to the ground, as they would naturally, and your running gait improves. These shoes, not smoking, and sorting out my running form are the three components that made the most difference to my running habit.

Nike pretty much invented the modern trainer. The idea of jogging – or heel-striking for hours at a time – is the #1 reason why people injure themselves running. In fact, the incidence of running-related injuries spiked in the years following the release of Nike’s first “modern” running shoe, a show that was designed for you to land on your heels when you run – the complete inverse of how you’re designed to run! Ultra-long distance runners and marathoners will likely require more support than is available from Vibram barefoot running shoes, but for anyone regularly running under 20K a session they are perfect.

Why Running Is The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Health, Well-Being & Longevity 

The average, serious runner peaks at about 18 years old. If you’re a pro, you’ll likely top out in your mid-20s, with respect to speed over, say, a 10K distance. But get this: runners can maintain their habit well into the 70s and 80s and don’t seem to lose too much speed. This pretty much tells you everything you need to know about running. If a 60-year-old experienced runner can wipe the floor with an inexperienced 25-year-old runner, there must be something to it. Name another sport, save for golf and pool, where this is possible?

On top of this, it is never too late to develop a running habit. If you’ve quit smoking and moved onto the vapes, the next best thing you can do for yourself is to start improving your cardiovascular system. And the best way to do that? Running. Running is also the cheapest of all exercise routines. You don’t need a gym membership or fancy equipment, just a pair of trainers and you’re good to go. The first few sessions will suck. Big time. But once you’re a month or two into your new running habit, you’ll struggle to realize how you ever lived without regular runs.

And then there’s the endorphins. Run long enough and you get a high that wipes the floor with any illegal or legal drug on the market. Seriously. Nothing else compares to runner’s high. Once you’ve experienced it, you’ll know. And you’ll keep coming back for more! This is why people get addicted to running.

I know this because I have been someone who LOATHED running and someone who now LOVES running. And if I can make the switch, then you can too. If you’re reading this post, chances are you’re already vaping and have quit smoking. If that’s the case, well done! Your next goal, regardless of age, weight, or current fitness levels, should be to improve your health by incorporating regular exercise – and not just running, weight training is important too. So, start running and banging out the press-ups.

It’s never too late to make positive changes in your life.

And before you go, make sure you check out the newly launched VapeBeat E Juice Store – we’re super proud of it!

 

The White House needs to hear from adult vapers and anyone who loves a vaper! A flavor ban won’t protect our children, but it will kill their parents. We need to  Light Up The Switchboard At The White House! Ph: 202-456-1111 (Comment Line) or 202-456-1414 (Switchboard)

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Trump Will Ban Flavored E Juice THIS WEEK…

Lately, the vaping industry has really been struggling to get a few wins in the press. For years now, we’ve been facing an underage vaping epidemic that’s made the entire industry look like a bunch of sleazeballs even though it’s quite obvious that the kids are all using just one product from one company.

This year, though, things have taken a few major turns for the worse – and it looks like those controversies are going to result in a ban on all flavored e-liquids. How will the ban affect you, how much time do you have and how in the world did things come to this? Those are the things we’ll discuss in this article.

On Monday, November 4, or early in the week, we are anticipating an announcement from the Trump Administration regarding FDA guidance about sales of flavored vapor products. According to recent reports, this guidance is expected to go as far as banning every flavor other than tobacco and menthol. In spite of years of communications from consumers and meetings with industry stakeholders, it is clear that officials remain unknowledgeable about how the vapor industry functions and what customers need. Two flavors will not sustain independent vapor retailers and will unnecessarily make vaping less attractive to people who want to switch away from smoking – CASAA

Meanwhile, in the UK, Public Health England has issued a statement regarding America’s poor form on vaping, saying: “We need to be clear about what this outbreak is and is not. It is not a problem linked to long-term use of regulated nicotine vaping products. If it were, we would expect to see a very different demographic profile affected, more typical of long term vapers.”

Major Vaping Controversies of 2019

For every company in the vaping industry not named JUUL, 2019 has been a terrible year. We’ve spent this year dealing with one serious controversy after another.

• A federal court has ordered the FDA to step up its timetable for e-cigarette regulations. While vaping manufacturers previously had until August 2022 to submit premarket applications for their products and gain FDA approval, the FDA has now moved the PMTA deadline to May 2020. Unless something changes, the vaping industry as we know it is toast in about seven months.
• Preliminary results from the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey have been released, and the number of underage vapers has skyrocketed yet again. A reported 5 percent of high school students now vape. That’s more than 5 million kids now using nicotine regularly, and since they’re all using the most addictive e-cigarette on the market, many of them will be hooked for life. It’s likely that the majority of those kids have never used – and would never have used – tobacco.
• A mysterious lung illness has swept across the country, with at least 530 sickened and eight people killed by the disease. The cause of the vaping lung illness appears to be Vitamin E acetate, which is used as a cutting agent for marijuana oil in illicit THC vaping cartridges. No nicotine e-liquid has been implicated as a cause of the illness, but that hasn’t stopped the mainstream media from reporting about the illness as if THC vaping and e-liquid vaping was the same thing.

President Trump Announces E-Juice Flavor Ban

On September 11, President Trump shocked U.S. vapers by announcing his intention to ban all flavored e-liquids with the exception of tobacco flavors. The announcement came on the heels of the preliminary data from the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey indicating that more than a quarter of U.S. high school students now vape.

President Trump also mentioned during his press conference that people are getting sick and dying from vaping, suggesting that the vaping lung illness played a role in his decision despite the fact that the illness appears to have nothing to do with any commercial e-liquid product.

The proposed flavor ban will cover all e-liquid flavors except tobacco. Although the ban is mainly intended to cover sweet e-liquids mimicking the flavors of kid-friendly foods such as cereals, sodas and candies, mint and menthol e-liquids will also be banned because research shows that underage vapers like those flavors as well.

How Can the FDA Ban All E-Juice Flavors?

As far as the vaping industry is concerned, the FDA has ultimate power because the Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 gives the agency that power. The Act established a “grandfather date” of February 15, 2007, for all tobacco products.

Any tobacco product on the market as of that date could remain on the market as long as it complied with the Act’s other requirements and restrictions. To release a new tobacco product after that date, the manufacturer would need to file a PMTA and have that application approved by the FDA.

When the FDA announced its vaping regulations on August 8, 2016, the agency stated that it deemed all vaping products to be tobacco products and intended to regulate them as such.

No vaping product sold in the United States was on the market on February 15, 2007. Therefore, every vaping product is a “new tobacco product” being sold without an approved PMTA. When the FDA deemed all vaping products to be tobacco products, the agency gave itself the authority to pull all products from the market pending PMTA approval. Instead, they allowed the products to remain on the market temporarily.

The FDA repeatedly warned, however, that they could remove any product at any time if the industry couldn’t get itself under control and figure out how to stop underage vaping. That didn’t happen.

When Will the E-Liquid Flavor Ban Begin?

The e-liquid flavor ban is likely to begin before the end of 2019. During President Trump’s press conference, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that it would take the FDA “several weeks” to solidify the rule change in writing.

In addition, any new FDA regulation has a 30-day grace period before it takes effect. The grace period gives consumers a chance to adjust and allows manufacturers and retailers to clear out their stocks of unapproved products.

After the flavor ban begins, it’s likely that many of your favorite e-liquids will no longer be available to buy.

You would be wise to begin stocking up on those e-liquids now.

The Trump administration has been known to reverse course on certain issues, and many vapers are single-issue voters who will refuse to re-elect President Trump for a second term in 2020 if the flavor ban proceeds as planned.

For now, though, you should make your purchasing decisions with the assumption that the flavor ban will proceed as described in Trump’s press conference.

Will I Have Any Way to Get Flavored E-Juice After the Ban?

After the e-liquid flavor ban begins, you’ll still have five possible ways to buy flavored e-liquid. Some of them, however, are of questionable legality.

1. Around the time that the ban begins, your local vape shops may sell any remaining stocks of flavored e-liquids at extremely low prices. Ask around and be prepared to buy in bulk.
2. It is possible that the FDA will exempt mint and menthol e-liquids from the ban since menthol cigarettes are still on the market. At this time, the government is planning to ban mint and menthol along with other flavors, but you can expect the industry to lobby strongly against that.
3. You can attempt to buy flavored e-liquid from overseas sellers. In doing that, though, you’ll take the risk that your shipments will be seized by customs agents upon entering the country. In addition, many overseas vape shops will stop shipping to the United States when the ban commences.
4. You can buy unflavored e-liquid and add flavors to it yourself.
5. The flavor ban isn’t necessarily permanent for all products. If an e-liquid manufacturer submits a PMTA for a product – and that application is approved – the product will be legal to sell again.

Overall, if this law is passed the entire market in the US will be destroyed, millions of people will lose their jobs, homes, cars, and the ability to support their families. Thousands of businesses will be scratched out of existence overnight. It’s an end-times scenario, basically, so if you haven’t done anything already, pick up the phone NOW and call the number below: tell them you vape and you vote, and tell them not to ban the best smoking cessation tool that has ever been invented.

The White House needs to hear from adult vapers and anyone who loves a vaper! A flavor ban won’t protect our children, but it will kill their parents. We need to  Light Up The Switchboard At The White House! Ph: 202-456-1111 (Comment Line) or 202-456-1414 (Switchboard)

Does vaping cause your lungs to collapse? If you read the Daily Mail, you’re probably convinced it does – but is there more to it? Let’s investigate…

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First, however, we have to start from the genesis of this story. A few weeks back, a guy posted on social media that vaping his JUUL had caused one of his lungs to collapse. He had surgery to sort him out and, as far as I’m aware, he’s made a full recovery, which is great.

The man in question believed it was his JUUL habit that had caused his collapsed lung, a point the Daily Mail was quick to jump on. The Mail Online, as ever, did not check its sources, and it’s not entirely clear whether vaping had any role in his collapsed lung. More on that in a bit, though.

The Mail Online is a HUGE site, commanding tens of millions of visitors every week. The story of the man with the collapsed lung from “JUULing” quickly went viral and the anti-vaping zealots in the US had a field day with it. In fact, this story couldn’t have come at a better time for those looking to get vaping products banned from the market in the US.

So… Did Vaping Cause This Man’s Lung To Collapse?

It’s not entirely impossible that it didn’t, but careful research shows that it isn’t likely the JUUL played any part in the man’s collapsed lung. Why? Because the cause of the collapse, most likely, was a pre-existing and fairly common condition called spontaneous pneumothorax.

“Primary spontaneous pneumothorax is likely due to the formation of small sacs of air (blebs) in lung tissue that rupture, causing air to leak into the pleural space. The air in the pleural space creates pressure on the lung and can lead to its collapse,” said The National Institute of Health.

It added: “Blebs may be present on an individual’s lung (or lungs) for a long time before they rupture. Many things can cause a bleb to rupture, such as changes in air pressure or a very sudden deep breath. Often, people who experience a primary spontaneous pneumothorax have no prior sign of illness; the blebs themselves typically do not cause any symptoms and are visible only on medical imaging. Affected individuals may have one bleb to more than thirty blebs.”

Could vaping have played a factor? Possibly. But when you consider that there are over 42 million vapers worldwide and there hasn’t been another case of this documented, it stands to reason that the collapsed lung was most likely the result of a pre-existing condition that was already in play, regardless of the JUUL.

How common is spontaneous pneumothorax? According to NHI, each year, on average, 7.4 to 18 per 100,000 men, and 1.2 to 6 per 100,000 women are affected by the condition. Taking this into account, wouldn’t be seeing A LOT more of this kind of thing if vaping caused spontaneous pneumothorax? Like hundreds of thousands of cases a year? And big spikes in incidences that track alongside the rise of the vaping during the past several years?

Who’s most susceptible to spontaneous pneumothorax? Tall dudes, apparently, tall, skinny guys ages between 10 and 30 years old, according to Shi-ping Luh of the Department of Surgery at St. Martin de Porres Hospital in Taiwan. And guess what? Chance Ammirata is tall, skinny, and fits perfectly into this model.

I’m not down-playing the guy’s experience, so please, do not think that. Nor am I calling him a liar. Most likely, Ammirata put two and two together and got five – it was an easy mistake. It makes sense too; I mean, if I’d just started vaping and my lung collapsed, I’d sure as hell probably blame my vaping device. It’s a knee-jerk reaction that I guarantee 99.9% of us would make if put in the same situation.

The Problem With Viral Tweets

Chance’s tweet has been seen by millions of people now, and a good chunk of them will simply take what he’s saying as gospel – that vaping does cause your lungs to collapse. No one will have bothered to look into it properly. No one will have researched whether or not Ammirata had an existing condition. Instead, a conclusion, likely a false one, is drawn and disseminated to millions of people.

How many people went back to smoking after seeing this tweet? It’s impossible to track empirically, but I bet there’s a fair few thousand that saw it and immediately stopped vaping. And who can blame them? The Mail Online did such a good hatchet-job on the story. Did it mention spontaneous pneumothorax in its post? Of course, it didn’t. Instead, it used emotive words like “KILLED” rather than a more measured approach.

Granted, the Mail Online is a tabloid. It doesn’t deal with facts. But even so, the very fact that it basically blamed JUUL for an established medical condition that affects men of Chance’s age without even mentioning it in passing as a potential cause for what happened illustrates just how poor the standard of journalism is at the Mail Online.

Moral of the story? Don’t believe ANYTHING you read in the Mail Online. That kind of goes without saying these days. More importantly, make sure you do your own research around the subject of vaping. The MSM will not tell you the truth, so you’ll have to look elsewhere. Fortunately, there are plenty of excellent researchers and places online to do this.

Take ALL these studies, for instance: 10 Pro Vaping Studies The FDA Doesn’t Want You To Know About.