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Failed attempt at humor on my end apparently. No, I don't want those attempting to quit to fail. The point I was attempting to make is that by making them tas

by blihp 8y ago

Failed attempt at humor on my end apparently. No, I don't want those attempting to quit to fail. The point I was attempting to make is that by making them taste good (as opposed to at most flavorless) is that it both makes them more appealing to non-smokers (esp kids) and likely encourages many smokers to kick cigarettes but pick up a vaping habit rather than a tool to wean them off of nicotine. Now one might say 'who in their right mind would want to start a nicotine habit?' Well centuries of tobacco use to more recent times with people eating detergent pods, huffing glue etc should readily provide the answer. Also, the tobacco industry knows what they're doing and I suspect it's not about getting people off nicotine but rather changing the delivery mechanism. (You do know big tobacco is big into vaping, right?)

NeedMoreTea 8y ago
I can see your point, but some kids are always going to try some of what's available - weed, tobacco, alcohol, vaping, glue sniffing etc. I doubt the flavour mattered much when cigs were the only choice, or before they'd learnt to like beer / vodka. It's far more peer pressure than advertising. yes, of course ads play a part too. I would be comfortable with discouraging kids as far as possible, requiring ID and so on. For some of the adult ex smokers I know, including myself, I doubt they'd have quit without vaping with some of the sillier sounding flavours. Some of the quitters will be kids who regret starting smoking 5 years previously. I don't have good answers to balance the conflicting needs or to prevent it becoming a growth sector far beyond smokers wanting out. When I first tried vaping one of the few flavours I got was tobacco - which was awful, and never tried again. It took some months to step down the strengths to zero, and kept on vaping a while at 0 nicotine. That was 7 or 8 years ago, and no vaping or tobacco since. Regulation in the US and UK is very different for vaping, but here big tobacco seems to be badly failing at vaping. Every shop that sells cigarettes now has a selection of the tobacco company's cartridge style "pretend cigarettes" vaping at five or ten times the cost of the simple juice bottles. I've only ever seen one person using one. Most towns have gained a juice stall selling cheap flavours.
joesb 8y ago
But nicotine by itself isn't really that harmful to your body. So why should we care if some kids pickup vaping habits? I mean, it we remove all the bad part of being addicted to nicotine, why is it still bad to be addicted to nicotine? It's like the experiment of a room with monkeys, ladder, banana and water hose. By the way, there's nothing preventing one to use nicotine-free fruity vaping liquid.
stronglikedan 8y ago
The whole "marketing to kids" with fruit flavors seems like a straw man. I have asked everyone who mentions it to show me one ad targeting kids, and no one yet has been up to the challenge. I think it's the whole "think of the children" excuse when advocacy groups want to amp up regulations on things. I personally chose the fruit flavors when I was quitting cigarettes so I could distance myself from the flavor of tobacco, and it worked well for me. I cannot even finish a real cigarette now without feeling nauseated (even though I always seem to try after a few beers). I'm thankful for those fruity flavors every day.

by blihp 8y ago

NeedMoreTea 8y ago

I can see your point, but some kids are always going to try some of what's available - weed, tobacco, alcohol, vaping, glue sniffing etc. I doubt the flavour mattered much when cigs were the only choice, or before they'd learnt to like beer / vodka. It's far more peer pressure than advertising. yes, of course ads play a part too. I would be comfortable with discouraging kids as far as possible, requiring ID and so on. For some of the adult ex smokers I know, including myself, I doubt they'd have quit without vaping with some of the sillier sounding flavours. Some of the quitters will be kids who regret starting smoking 5 years previously. I don't have good answers to balance the conflicting needs or to prevent it becoming a growth sector far beyond smokers wanting out. When I first tried vaping one of the few flavours I got was tobacco - which was awful, and never tried again. It took some months to step down the strengths to zero, and kept on vaping a while at 0 nicotine. That was 7 or 8 years ago, and no vaping or tobacco since. Regulation in the US and UK is very different for vaping, but here big tobacco seems to be badly failing at vaping. Every shop that sells cigarettes now has a selection of the tobacco company's cartridge style "pretend cigarettes" vaping at five or ten times the cost of the simple juice bottles. I've only ever seen one person using one. Most towns have gained a juice stall selling cheap flavours.

joesb 8y ago

But nicotine by itself isn't really that harmful to your body. So why should we care if some kids pickup vaping habits? I mean, it we remove all the bad part of being addicted to nicotine, why is it still bad to be addicted to nicotine? It's like the experiment of a room with monkeys, ladder, banana and water hose. By the way, there's nothing preventing one to use nicotine-free fruity vaping liquid.

stronglikedan 8y ago

The whole "marketing to kids" with fruit flavors seems like a straw man. I have asked everyone who mentions it to show me one ad targeting kids, and no one yet has been up to the challenge. I think it's the whole "think of the children" excuse when advocacy groups want to amp up regulations on things. I personally chose the fruit flavors when I was quitting cigarettes so I could distance myself from the flavor of tobacco, and it worked well for me. I cannot even finish a real cigarette now without feeling nauseated (even though I always seem to try after a few beers). I'm thankful for those fruity flavors every day.