Advocacy

If you’re thinking about setting up and/or operating in the vaping niche, think again! Getting set-up with official vape payment processing – you know, so you can accept credit cards and such – is literally impossible…

I say, impossible, but it’s not entirely undoable – you just have to have A LOT of persistence and know where to look and exactly what you’re doing.

I discovered this first-hand when setting up the VapeBeat Store, a place for our readers to buy high-quality E Juice in big bottles at great prices.

Prior to launching the store, I thought the hardest part would be getting everything built and developed, as well as learning/using all the new software. At least, that’s what I thought…

Turns out I was dead wrong.

Shopify Pay & Apple Pay Bans ALL Vape Payment Processing

We spent a TON of money developing the store – development work is hell! And once we were finally finished and managed to get a couple of sales out the door, guess what happened?

Shopify pulled the plug.

I woke up the day after launch to an email from Shopify that informed me I could no longer use their official payment gateway.

Why’s that? Simple: it has banned “vape” products from sale.

Apple Pay does not allow payments for vape products either.

You can sell vape products through Shopify, but you can’t use ANY of the major payment gateways.

Why is this?

Honestly, I have no idea. I think it’s mainly down to vaping being under heavy scrutiny by the fascists that run the FDA.

In the UK, it’s no way near as bad – go figure!

Vape Retailers Are Classed As “High-Risk Accounts”

After spending about $5K on the store, I was determined not to let it all go to waste. There were tons of vape retailers online, and they all took payments, so I knew there must be a way of actually doing it.

And there is, but it is a monumental pain in the ass to sort out. I mean, dealing with payment gateways and merchant account setups is never fun, but when you’re a vape company… it’s like running a marathon knee-deep in treacle.

The reason it’s so difficult is that ALL vape retailers are considered high-risk merchants.

What does “high-risk” mean? Here’s a quick breakdown:

• Credit Card companies are worried about the legality/safety of the products
• They’re worried about regulation changes/bans.
• State-bans on Flavors make it hard to regulate

Bottomline: they’re making it difficult for adults to get hold of a product that is proved to be 95% safer than smoking.

Not only THAT but in the UK, the government and public health bodies are now actively promoting vaping and e-cigs as the #1 tool to kill smoking inside a generation.

But I guess the douchebags at MasterCard know better.

High-Risk Merchant Accounts

If you want to enter the vape niche and actually sell stuff, you’re going to need to get yourself a high-risk merchant account.

There are specialists out there that do them, but just because they do doesn’t mean they’ll accept your application.

It took over 10 applications to get my forms looked at; and even now, weeks later, I’m still waiting on an answer as to whether or not they’ll give me an account…

Basically, it’s LONG. And if you’re inexperienced with this kind of thing it can be exceptionally frustrating.

If you are hell-bent on doing it, though, you’re going to have to go with a high-risk merchant account from a specialist vendor.

Don’t make the same mistake I did, thinking you can just use PayPal or Shopify because it really doesn’t work like that.

A new, peer-reviewed clinical study, published in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, has shown that there are no negative health issues associated with long term vaping.

The study, which followed vapers over a two year period, found that none of the participants exhibited ANY negative health issues from regularly using vape devices.

The study was comprised of 209 ex-smokers that predominantly used closed-system vape devices – things like Blu or JUUL.

During this testing period, researchers monitored the following things:

• Lung function
• Electrocardiogram results
• Exposure to nicotine and tobacco constituents

“This study shows that after two years of continual e-cigarette use, there were no signs of serious health complications in smokers,” said Tanvir Walele, Director of Scientific Affairs at Fontem Ventures.

Who is Fontem Ventures? Well… they’re a subsidiary of Imperial Brands PLC – a tobacco company.

And while that might make you want to barf, look away or completely discount this study, the data they have produced does match up with similar studies conducted by the following institutes on the health impacts of long term vaping in the UK and USA:

• Public Health England
• Cancer Research Society
• The Royal College of Physicians
• Nicotine & Tobacco Research
• Science Direct
• National Institute of Health

You can read more about each of the above right here >>> 10 Pro Vaping Studies The FDA Does Not Want You To See…

Is Long Term Vaping OK, Then?

All we have is the data, collected by a myriad of sources and research bodies, and most tend to agree that vaping is 95% safer than smoking.

This is why the UK is now actively promoting vaping as its #1 tool to eradicate smoking inside a generation.

The Key Facts About Long Term Vaping…

• Nicotine | Yes, it’s addictive. But by itself is it not all that harmful; it doesn’t contain any carcinogens and it has been shown to be far more addictive when consumed via cigarettes.
• Second-Hand Vapor | Again, it’s not pleasant but a multitude of studies have shown that second and third-hand vapor is not dangerous.
• Vaping & Lung Health | There are chemicals in vapor, they’re nothing like the tar you inhale from cigarettes, but they are chemicals, so as always, it’s important to understand that for optimal health you’re 100% better off not doing either – smoking or vaping.

Bottomline? Vaping is a safe, peer-reviewed method for switching away from cigarettes for good. It works. It’s safer. And you’re exposed to less than 1% of the carcinogens found in cigarettes – and that is extremely significant.

“The harsh truth is that smoking kills, and smokers who switch completely to electronic cigarettes are likely to substantially reduce the likelihood of premature death and disability,” said Professor John Britton, director of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies at the University of Nottingham.

Vaping vs Alcohol – which is ACTUALLY worse? Let’s look at the facts, the madness, and the hypocrisy of the FDA…

Thanks to the FDA, vaping is now considered to be a tobacco product. This means it is treated exactly the same as tobacco, despite the fact it does not contain ANY tobacco whatsoever.

By this logic, all NRT products would also be considered “tobacco products” as they feature nicotine. But, of course, this is not the case. And the reason? Well, they’re made by the FDA’s good buddies in Big Pharma.

So what we have here is simple: a product designed to stop people from smoking that actually works is now being regulated out of existence because… the FDA, Big Pharma cannot control it/profit from it.

Public Health England has been championing vaping for years; it has confirmed again and again that vaping is 95% safer than smoking and is 100% NOT a gateway to smoking.

And then you have alcohol, which gets a free pass with pretty much everybody despite causing grief, despair, and destruction in millions of peoples’ lives every year.

How can this be?

How can a substance, known to be utterly toxic, that causes damage to the body, and ruins the lives of millions of people, simply get a free pass when it comes to advertising? How can a BEER company sponsor the Super Bowl? Or McDonald’s the Olympics?

Just think of the irony there for a moment… In an age of obesity, we have a fast food company sponsoring a sporting event? That’s like a Drug Cartel sponsoring The Betty Ford Clinic!?

Vaping vs Alcohol – Which Is Actually Worse?

I drink (and I vape too). I’m not some kind of Puritan that thinks alcohol should be banned or outlawed. I love drinking. What I don’t like, however, is mixed signals from posturing public health types.

If vaping is bad, then alcohol must be far worse. Just look at the facts associated with alcohol consumption in the USA:

“An estimated 88,0008 people (approximately 62,000 men and 26,000 women8) die from alcohol-related causes annually, making alcohol the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States. The first is tobacco, and the second is poor diet and physical inactivity.” – NIAAA.

And vaping?

Well… no one has died from vaping. In fact, Public Health England thinks vaping could save millions of lives in the future by killing smoking within a generation.

So why aren’t we seeing vaping being pushed in the USA like it is in the UK? Why are booze companies allowed to freely advertise a hazardous product that kills 88,000 people a year?

It is freaking madness and it proves the “people” at the top, the guys calling the shots, have NO IDEA what they’re doing.

The machine is fed by special interests, money, and influence – three things the vaping industry does not have.

Why We’re ALL Getting Fatter & More Unhealthy Thanks To The USA’s Insane Food Pyramid Guidelines…

Do you see what I’m talking about when I say, “mixed signals” from posturing public health advocates? They don’t care about you. Not really. How could they let alcohol get a free pass and vilify vaping as a plague on our society?

The science is here already: vaping is pro-health, pro-harm reduction, and it is helping millions quit a very dangerous habit. But the FDA wants to stop this? It wants to stop progress by increasing tax on vaping products, banning flavors, and stopping companies advertising?

This is utter madness, especially in a country crippled by medical bills and an ever-growing obesity problem. The key problems facing America are that it is too fat and too unhealthy.

And then you have the FDA taking away access to vaping products, recommending people eat high-carb diets, and allowing alcohol, drug, and GMO companies to peddle their wares to millions of people on TV…

At some point, you’ve got to wonder what’s really going on?

It’s almost like “THEY” don’t want you to be healthy. That you’re more profitable if you’re fat, sick, and dying…

CASAA is a grassroots movement that is solely designed to protect vapers’ rights and the industry at large. The main goal? Ensure that harm reduction products, like vapes, are readily available to those that want and need them. And we now need them more than ever…

In the cesspool that is top-level government in the USA, it’s tricky to get your voice heard – even if you’re a scientist and/or researcher. Here, access is limited to those with money and influence. If you lack either, you’re basically watching from the sidelines.

Big tobacco, Big Pharma, and the FDA have been doing all they can to eradicate vaping from the face of the earth. Fuelled by wonky science, special interest money, and lobbyists the war on vaping has now been promoted to mainstream media coverage.

Individuals, like you and I, have no power. Not anymore. We’re outside the system and have very little influence. Decisions are made and implemented behind closed doors, using supporting evidence provided by vested interests. And it stinks.

This is Why CASAA Is So Very Important…

CASAA is a grassroots movement that is solely designed to protect vapers’ rights and the industry at large. The main goal? Ensure that harm reduction products, like vapes, are readily available to those that want and need them.

CASAA is a non-profit, it doesn’t make money, all it does it fight for your right to vape – and it now boasts over 200,000 members. They do workshops all over the country, offer advice to retailers on regulations, and basically, help anyone that needs it.

CASAA Research Fund

ALL modern science is funded by money. That’s how it happens in the first place; without it, the research simply wouldn’t get done. So who’s funding all this research?

Special interest groups and multi-national corporations mostly. And if that doesn’t freak you out, then ask yourself this: why are we all so fat and sick?

Look at what the FDA is telling you to eat: a diet high in carbohydrate; then, look at obesity rates. Know that carbohydrate is basically sugar and that sugar is what creates excess fat in your body.

This is why we’re all too fat. It’s sugar, which is everywhere. And it’s slowly killing millions of people. But the FDA isn’t bothered about this for some reason?

99% of the food in supermarkets is made by a few corporations that have paid for “research” that basically tells us that high-carb foods are what we should be eating…

And this is a complete lie…

It’s also why millions suffer from allergies, insulin resistance, and a myriad of other diseases.

And if you don’t believe me, think about this: what do farmers feed cattle to fatten them up? Protein? Grass? No…

They feed them Grain (meaning: a high carb diet)…

Then… we have to trust these same people to be honest about vaping when they have a proven track record of lying and buckling to special interest pressure!? No thanks.

This is why CASAAA’s research fund is so important; it gives out grants to impartial scientists to do ACTUAL research on harm reduction.

And this is key…

Because once we have the science, as they do in the UK, via institutions like Public Health England and Cancer Research, then the FDA’s draconian position on vaping becomes nil and void.

CASAA Calls To Action…

Because the federal government hates you and doesn’t want you making healthy choices and living a better lifestyle, it’s important you start doing your own research.

If you were healthy their buddies in Big Pharma couldn’t sell you trillions of dollars worth of medication every year.

For this reason, it’s important to know what’s going in your state.

This is where CASAA Calls To Action come in. Basically, it’s a section on the site that highlights ongoing or new laws that the feds are trying to sneak through in different states. Things like vaping taxes, flavor bans.

If you see one that’s happening in your area, follow the instructions, email your representative.

Do something because bad times are coming and the FDA is NOT going to change its position, especially if it thinks it can win through negative PR via its stooges in the mainstream media.

Bottomline?

It’s upsetting, but we cannot trust the FDA to regulate vaping. It’s proven that it doesn’t listen to science, that it isn’t interested in harm reduction, and it’d rather people smoke than vape.

They use kids as clickbait to terrify current smokers into thinking vaping is the worst thing since crack cocaine to hit our streets.

They use a negative PR machine that is run through the mainstream media, peddling bunk science and debunked studies (hello, Popcorn Lung), to terrify and keep the general public inline. And worse, they pretend it’s all backed by science.

If you think I’m just being an asshole and have no idea what I’m talking about, I invite you to research how vaping is viewed in the UK. Over there, it is heralded as the #1 tool to kill smoking in a generation.

Why’s that? Because multiple UK institutions – Public Health England, Cancer Research UK, The Royal College of Physicians – have done the science and confirmed that vaping is 95% safe.

Main Findings of Public Health England’s evidence review are that:

• 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 continues to decline, regular use is rare and is almost entirely confined to those who have smoked)

And if the science is different in the US than it is in the UK, then it ain’t real science… it’s propaganda designed, paid for, and distributed by an agency run by special interest groups and corporations.

Again, if you don’t believe me, do your own research. A good place to start would be googling, “FDA and Monsanto revolving door”.

These people don’t care about you, so it’s time you started caring for yourself, educating yourself, and then using that information to remove these charlatans from their positions of power.

You can join CASAA for free by clicking here to visit their site.

More and more rock stars, actors and musicians are switching from smoking to vaping. If wanna find out ALL the Rock Stars & Musicians That Vape read on…

Cigarettes and roll n’ roll kinda go hand in hand. And for the longest time, smoking – despite the health issues it creates – was about as rock and roll as a bottle of Jack Daniels.

Keith Richards. Lemmy. The Beatles. Kurt Cobain. Pretty much every rocker from the 1970s through the 1980s smoked cigarettes. But now, thanks to vaping, things are changing.

Musicians That Vape

The list is constantly growing, but more and more rock stars, actors and musicians are switching from smoking to vaping.

Dave Navarro (Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Jane’s Addiction) claims vaping saved his life, after trying for years to quit smoking. As a long time chain smoker, Navarro found it impossible to quit until he tried vaping.

Robbie Williams is also known to have ditched his Camels for a vape kit as well. Joining him are fellow musicians Ronnie Wood, Tom Petty, Courtney Love, and Dave Grohl who vapes in the Foo Fighter’s latest video for Run.

All of these people cite vaping as the #1 thing that helped them quit decades-long smoking habits. More or less overnight.

Couple this with Public Health England’s report that states vaping is 95% safer than smoking, and it should come as no surprise that more and more people are waking up to the benefits of vaping.

GWAR Made It’s Own E Juice Line

Theatrical rockers GWAR loves vaping so much they even created their own E Juice line, featuring some of the weirdest vape juice names you’ll ever encounter.

Seriously, check these out:

• Spew
• Bloodbath
• Jizmogoblin

Another band, Despite, also created its own line of E Juice as well. According to reports, the band switched to vaping and were approached by a company to create their own, bespoke line.

They didn’t need asking twice, apparently.

Even The Deftones Vape (And Snoop Dog)

The Deftones are one of my all-time favorite bands, so you can imagine how chuffed I was to see Stephen Carpenter, the band’s guitarist, vaping (on what looked like a SMOK mod and tank) in a YouTube interview.

These kinds of high-profile vapers are great for the community and even better for the industry at large. It shows that smoking has now had its day and even the most hardened of rockers are waking up to the health benefits of vaping.

Keith Richards is still puffing away on his cigarettes, but that guy’s basically immortal, so he gets a pass. Little known fact: Keith Richards has a special international exception that allows him to smoke on stage.

Crazy, right!?

If you’re still smoking and want to quit, PLEASE do yourself a favor and get yourself off the smokes ASAP.

If you need some help finding the perfect kit for your needs, something that will get you off smokes right away, check out our quick guide to the Best Vape Starter Kit Right Now.

Inside you’ll find info on what device works best for beginners, where to get it, and why it totally kicks ass.

$100 BILLION – this is the amount of money that has been lost by the world’s top tobacco companies thanks to vaping. But do not think it’s over – Big Tobacco will fight back in the only way it knows how…

$100 BILLION is a lot of money.

It’s an obscene amount of money, to be frank.

But this is the amount that has been lost by the globe’s top tobacco companies during the past few years…

And it’s all thanks to vaping.

The list of top tobacco companies affected by vaping reads like a who’s who of the world’s most elite and profitable companies.

• Altria and Philip Morris – Lost 30% of Value
• Imperial and Japan Tobacco International – Lost 1/5
• British American Tobacco – Lost 50%

All five major tobacco companies in the US now face uncertain futures, after years of untapped growth and profits.

Altria (meaning Philip Morris) is perhaps the best positioned, thanks to its 30% share in JUUL.

Big Tobacco Does Not Understand Vaping

This Is What Big Tobacco Thinks A Vaping Product Should Look Like…

There is an argument peddled around by the anti-vaping crowd. It basically states that vaping is a Big Tobacco’s Trojan horse, a way for it to stay relevant once everybody has given up.

Anyone who works in the industry, however, will tell you this could not be farther from the truth: the entire vaping industry is so far removed from the corporate culture of Big Tobacco – it’s made up for SMEs (small to medium enterprises) and mom and pop stores and companies.

Big Tobacco does not get this, it doesn’t understand the grassroots nature of the vaping market and the people that have propelled it forward in recent years – and this is why it is failing to get a look in with its own products.

“Investors have become skeptical that big tobacco can replace sales of cigarettes with next-generation vape products,” said Ed Monk, the associate director of Fidelity Personal Investing.

James Edwardes Jones, an RBC analyst, added: “The impact of the FDA’s menthol cigarette ban and margin erosion from the growth in next-generation products is priced in, although for this previously uber-defensive and predictable stock the future is very opaque.”

So… what will the world’s top tobacco companies do to survive?

Top Tobacco Companies Will Switch To Vape Products

Don’t believe me? Check out the following “confirmed” vape products currently being marketed by the market’s top tobacco companies:

Altria & Phillip Morris International

• IQOS
• MarkTen
• Solaris
• Vivid
• Nicocig
• Green Smoke
• Mesh
• Steem
• JUUL (part-stake)

British American Tobacco

• Glo
• Vype
• Vuse
• VIP
• 10 Motives
• Chic
• Vapestick
• ECOVape
• RIZe e-liquid

Imperial Tobacco

• Blu E-Cigs
• MyBlu
• Dragonite
• Nerudia e-liquid and nicotine
• Cosmic Fog

Japan Tobacco International

• Logic
• E-lites
• Ploom Model2 (Previously owned by Ploom Inc, who went on to form Juul Labs)

Huabao International Holdings

• V2 Cigs
• V2Pro
• OCB vap
• Vapour2 UK
• Vapor Couture
• Ace High
• Ranch Hand
• Bull Smoke Flavours

Standard Diversified Inc.

• VaporShark
• Zig Zag
• Vapor Beast

Some pretty big names in there, right? Vapor Shark, Cosmic Fog – I had no idea these brands were owned by Big Tobacco.

But this is how Big Tobacco will sneak its way into the vaping market; it’ll buy up assets until it has control over the market.

What it won’t do is use its own products, because no one would touch them with a bargepole.

Instead, it will insidiously work its way in using the only thing it values: money.

Slowly but surely, and whether we like it or not, Big Tobacco, with its billions of dollars in operating cash, will size up, acquire, and take over the space using its biggest and brightest brands.

JUUL is the most high-profile acquisition of late, but there will be more in the following months and years.

The “New” Tobacco Industry Marketing Strategies

This is what’s happening. It’s happening slowly, but it is happening. Big Tobacco knows its days of selling paper and tobacco are over, it’s running out of markets and arguments.

The new strategy for big tobacco will be to acquire and buy-up established vape brands. This will allow it to gain traction into a market that was set up to kill it in the first place.

The FDA’s draconian regulations will help too.

By heaping insane charges on companies to register new products and test E Juice, many will be left requiring sizeable investments to continue to operate.

And you can bet who’ll be there to provide all that luscious capital can’t you?

Yep: Big Tobacco.