breTH Magazine - Issue 1 - May/June 2017 by breTH Magazine

How the vaping industry can come back from a death sentence Feature story inside. Plus advocacy & industry news, and more... Grab your vape & enjoy!

INside

Cover Story

FDA’s

Death Sentence?

Editor In Chief / Publisher Kevin E. Skipper

Page 12

Contributors Brian Fojtik Albert Harper Patrick Riffe Kevin E. Skipper Bill Tarling Jonathan Thomas

Pg. 11 Jonathan Thomas: The UK is WAY ahead of the USA (NOT the Other Way Around)

For the past year or two I heard that the United Kingdom vapor market was about two years “behind” the market in the USA...

Pg. 4 Editorial - Welcome To brēTH! The concept of magazines isn’t new. The concept of a vaping magazine isn’t new. But brēTH Magazine is a new spin on both, combined to form an educational and entertaining take on vaping indsutry news...

Production Support Jen Eldridge

Pg. 22 Albert & Jessica Harper:

The Consumer View

Cover Art Ryan Grifford

Technical Support Georgi Trifonov

Pg. 8 Brian Fojtik: It’s Time for Vapers to Seize the Moral High Ground In less than a decade, the consumer-driven market for vapor products has disrupted a longstanding power structure that’s existed for the last fifty years. On one side, you have tobacco companies that sell cigarettes...

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Bill Tarling: PRECEDENCE: Pg. 14 The Most Dangerous Word In Legislation While the vaping world appeared to be falling into turmoil, the warning cries of advocates went mostly disregarded as foolishness.

Pg. 24 Patrick Riffe: Innovation

With Amnesia

Issue 1 May/June 2017

Welcome to brēTH Magazine The concept of magazines isn’t new. The concept of a vaping magazine isn’t new. But brēTH Magazine is a new spin on both, combined to form an educational and entertaining take on vaping indsutry news... There are many ways to obtain information in 2017, from a variety of social media outlets to Google. We decided to launch brēTH Magazine to provide focus to the driving issues in the U.S. and global vaping industry. At brēTH Magazine, we will bring our community information and informed opinions and analysis from the vapor industry, consumers, and advocates – all of whom are vapers and former smokers. We will promote constructive dialogue about the current state of affairs affecting vapers. Together, we’ll look at where things are, where they’re headed – and hopefully inspire you to take action. It’s our goal to help you individually determine how you can best affect policy and inspire others to do the same. Vaping represents a consumer-driven solution to a public health catastrophe that has eluded government for over half a century. If you solely consider the impact vaping can have on preventing the disease and premature death caused by smoking, vaping holds the potential to benefit mankind as much as any innovation in history. Opportunities like this don’t come along often and we all have a chance to be a part of it. Make no mistake, we’re in for one hell of a tough fight. This war against vaping will not be quickly or easily won. It will be constant and riddled with many frustrations and never-ending challenges. We’re up against deep pocket special interest groups with numerous conflicts of interest and an incessant drive to selfishly maintain their funding.

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The truth must keep us going. We know these products have and will continue to save lives. We do this for our children, our families, our friends and loved ones. And we persevere not only for current vapers and smokers, but for generations of smokers to come so that we may one day be rid of the scourge of smoking to derive the pleasures of nicotine. This is the vaping advocate’s raison d’etre (reason for existence) – eradication of combustible tobacco. brēTH Magazine will be a part of this mission by providing accurate information and informative articles. Most of all, we want to provide a perspective that will inspire you, promote constructive dialogue, inform your positions and help you positively affect the change we all seek. We invite you to join us in sowing the seeds of truth and winning this fight against incredulous ignorance and dishonesty. Together, we can save an industry and create a legacy of which we can be proud. You don’t have to do everything, but you do have to do something. Get involved!

Kevin E. Skipper, Editor

Issue 1 May/June 2017

It’s Time for

Vapers to Seize the Moral High By: Brian Fojtik Ground Tobacco control groups ago, e-cigarettes and vapor prodIn less than a decade, the con- ucts arrived on the scene and have had a much more sumer-driven market for vapor products has disrupted a longstanding power structure that’s existed for the last fifty years.

On one side, you have tobacco companies that sell cigarettes people have enjoyed for generations. But as we all know, smoking eventually causes some to get sick and die. On the other side, you have tobacco control groups fighting tobacco companies by pushing government policies to restrict the companies’ ability to sell and consumers’ ability to buy and use cigarettes. Over fifty years, tobacco control groups have spent millions of dollars attacking smoking, tobacco companies, their business partners, their products and eventually smokers themselves. During the same period, tobacco companies have spent millions defending the same. Make no mistake that at least as far as perceptions have been concerned, tobacco companies wore the black hats. Everything they say or do is viewed with suspicion. Tobacco control groups have worn the white hats. Like the government, they’re ‘only here to help.’ Reality today might be shifting away from the perceptions of the past. This power structure has continued, unabated for half a century. As we all know, about ten years

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changed the dynamics of the public policy landscape. Vapor products disrupted the tobacco market enough to get noticed by tobacco companies and have obviously gotten the attention of tobacco control groups. We’ve seen similar scenarios play out in other markets – Uber and Lyft disrupted the taxicab market, and AirBNB disrupted the hotel market. Regardless of whether a disruption is perceived as good or bad, it’s always unsettling to the status quo. Tobacco companies have started adjusting to the new world. It’s not difficult to understand why. Most of these companies have for decades embraced a long-term business strategy. A business model where some customers get sick and die isn’t ideal, even to them. Since long before e-cigarettes hit the market, tobacco companies have invested in research and development of reduced harm products, launched products and explored products that might appeal to their customers. Tobacco control groups have had a much more difficult time adjusting to the disruption of their world. It’s become increasingly apparent that somewhere along the line, these groups lost sight of their mission. Instead of educating about risks and fighting disease, they now aggressively perpetuate harmful misperceptions in furtherance of

difficult time adjusting to the disruption of their world...somewhere along the line, these groups lost sight of their mission. a misguided war on nicotine and tobacco companies. Rather than a foundation of science, their mission now seems to be built on emotion and tired, old habits. Groups like the American Cancer Society should be fighting cancer. If they had been paying attention, they’d have figured out that vapor products hold the potential to end (or at least significantly reduce) preventable, smokingrelated lung cancer. And while youth experimentation with vapor products may be worth watching, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids should be doing cartwheels about the fact that since the arrival of significantly safer vapor products, teen smoking rates have taken a nosedive. Recently, New York’s Health Department released data that demonstrates that as vapor product experimentation increased, teen smoking sunk to rates lower than they’ve ever seen. Think about that – fewer teens in New York smoke than ever before. The phenomenon isn’t unique to New York. It’s being replicated all over the country.

It’s time to honestly acknowledge that public health groups, and agencies of government, are becoming as much a part of the problem as they are a solution. Somewhere along the way, they ceased to be honest, science-based advocates for promoting public health. Instead they now spread misinformation that ultimately serves to keep smokers smoking – and dying. And of even greater concern, too many in public health and government seem to see ten million vapers, almost all whom are current smokers cutting back or former smokers who quit with vapor products, as part of the problem. By spreading misinformation, they encourage the media and politicians to view vapers the same way. Somewhere along the way, these public health officials forgot that these vapers are the “public” that they presumably are so serve. And they seem completely blind to the fact that in terms of reducing smoking, these people represent ten million success stories. The treatment of vapers, as much as anything demonstrates that these organizations have lost the moral high ground. These groups claim to be about fighting smoking, but when confronted with millions of Americans who have found a way to win their battles with cigarettes, do they try to understand and learn? No, they declare war. Sadly, vapers are seen as adversaries to be defeated, rather than a resource to be mined for solutions. This behavior is not ethical nor moral. It’s time for the vape community to claim the moral high ground abdicated by these heinous miscreants. How can the community of vapers (which to some may resemble the island of misfit

toys) possibly seize the moral high ground in the eyes of the public, the media and government? Think it can’t be done? Well, it has been done before. For inspiration, watch the documentary “How to Survive a Plague” (it’s on Netflix) about the fight for rights and a more responsive government during the rise of the AIDS crisis. The people at the center of that fight were “misfits” in the eyes of many, but they banded together and accomplished great things.

Vapers can’t wait for the moral high ground to be given because it won’t happen. It’s got to be taken.

In any movement, it’s important to stand up and be FOR something. Only being against taxes and regulations, while important, simply isn’t enough. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t just stand against discrimination, he stood for the higher ideal that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights. He stood for the hope that one day our children would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. If this is to be a lasting movement, it must continue to oppose government overreach.

Vapers can’t wait for the moral high ground to be given because it won’t happen. It’s got to be taken. It’s taken when you stand for a higher aspiration to which others can relate and embrace. When telling a story, whether it be to a politician or new friends at the bar, one only gets a precious few seconds before your audience decides whether to listen to you or just wait foryou to be done. In those first seconds, they need to hear who you are and why you care. They need to hear what you are fighting for. Each vaper’s message is his own. Is it to save lives? To ensure people have the information they need to make informed choices? Or is it because you watched your mother die from lung cancer and there are over 400,000 smokers dying every year who deserve a better option? That’s for every vaper to figure out for themselves. Figure it out. Then give them the fight of your life -- because it is the fight for your life. Brian Fojtik is a Senior Fellow with Reason Foundation.

But if your audience is unfamiliar with the details of vape policy, they probably won’t be stimulated by the laundry list of things you oppose.

Issue 1 May/June 2017

The UK is WAY ahead of the USA (NOT the Other Way Around) By: Jonathan Thomas

For the past year or two I heard that the United Kingdom vapor market was about two years “behind” the market in the USA. This was mainly speaking to the under matured market for hobbyist style vapers, cloud chasers, vape trickers, high wattage stuff…you know what I mean. I won’t even start on how unfortunate it is that NOT putting majority of your focus on current hobbyist vapers is considered being “behind.” The fact is, the industry in the UK is kicking ass...

Since December 2016, I have been here in the UK (Leicester England to be exact), and it has been an eye opener to say the least. The vapor industry here is booming, but in a different way than what we have experienced in the USA. The boom here is largely being fuelled by actual smokers converting to vaping!

“

To keep a healthy vapor industry in any country, smokers MUST be our top priority.

”

YEP! Vaping is doing JUST what it was invented to do here. Also, to note, British smokers are switching to vaping at a higher rate than anywhere else. I’ve read that in the UK, every four minutes a smoker switches to this less harmful alternative. I cannot speak to the accuracy of that statement, but based on my personal experience, it sure seems like it. One contributing factor is that governing bodies and public health groups put off a “cautiously supportive” vibe when it comes to vaping. They do not bash vaping like their American counterparts. Hell, even the upcoming regulations here allow for this market to continue to grow without the prohibition level of regulation being enacted

by the FDA in the United States. Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) regulations aren’t perfect by any means; however, there is an attainable pathway to market for small to medium vapor companies. I will leave it to you, or maybe a future article, to delve into the “whys and why nots” behind the reasons the USA is killing our industry. For now, just know that for the most part, vaping is being allowed to do its thing here in this part of the world. To keep a healthy vapor industry in any country, smokers MUST be our top priority. In coming articles, podcasts and videos, I will share my opinions and more info on TPD regulations, differences in the two markets, and anything else I find relevant. Please stay tuned, have fun, and stay focused on what is important. JT @vapestars on Instagram www.youtube.com/vapestars

Issue 1 May/June 2017

REPRIEVE For The Vaping Industry?? By: Kevin E. Skipper

Rome wasn’t built in a day. This is an expression with which we are all familiar, but often forget in the trenches of battle. People tend to focus on the here and now, the issues facing them in the coming weeks and months, and tend not to be long sighted enough to see that efforts to shape policy from a decades long prejudice against nicotine consumption (attributed to a long history of lies and misdirection from the tobacco industry) will take time to shift to one of harm reduction. Opponents of the vaping industry misconstrue, or simply do not care, why vapers are so adamant in their support of this product. E-cigarettes are at least 95% less harmful than combustible tobacco, and they are effective at stopping people from smoking.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), under the Obama administration, clearly was not interested in promoting public health as they spearheaded draconian measures to ensure the death of the vaping industry in the form of the “deeming regulations” – a defacto prohibition on vapor products in the U.S., while leaving deadly tobacco cigarettes unscathed. Much has been debated about the deeming regulations, but one thing is clear no matter which angle you view them from – they are a death sentence for the vaping industry in America. In fact, even without their full implementation, the regulations have halted innovation and caused a shift in focus from saving lives to just trying to survive for the thousands of business owners across the land, many of whom have invested their life savings into this industry. America has tried prohibition, and it does not work. People will go to extraordinary measures to live their lives with liberty and free will. Prohibition does more harm than good by creating black markets and turning once law abiding, peaceful

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citizens into back alley criminals. And for what? Nicotine consumption? I think few have ever accused the government of being reasonable, but the deeming regulations ratchet the irrationalism to a whole new level. What was once the American dream has become the American nightmare, and it is time for us all to wake up and snap back to reality. There are various strategies in play to overcome the deeming regulations and save the industry from the guillotine. This article will explore these and shed some light on how the industry can reverse course from doom and gloom to prosperity. Mistakes have been made in the vaping industry over the past several years with regards to strategy and unification. But if our mistakes have taught us one thing, it is that we cannot let our mistakes define us. We must learn from them and steadfastly march onward to victory; there is no other option. Last year, Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) and Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA) introduced the Cole-Bishop amendment to the 2017 Agriculture Appropriations Bill with the goal of moving the predicate date in the deeming regulations from an unreasonable and unrealistic February 15, 2007 to a

Representatives Tom Cole (R-OK), left & Sanford Bishop (D-GA), right

much more equitable August 8, 2016. The former date means an end to the vapor industry in America. The Federal government has a history of poor fiscal management and did not address the 2017 budget with a long-term solution, but instead provided a stop gap approach until the end of April 2017. The end of April came, and with a budding Presidential administration taking root in the first quarter of this year, new issues arose requiring funding – many of which were contentious, and many of which were opposed vehemently by the minority Democratic party. With opposition from Democrats to riders being added to the budgetary extension (this is where the Cole-Bishop amendment fits in), closed door sessions took place and the predicate date change was not included. The fiscal extension now runs through September, and while there is a small chance the Cole-Bishop amendment could be included in the next round of ‘pass the buck’, with each day the likelihood of that diminishes. Understanding this was a possibility, Representatives Cole and Bishop teamed up again in early 2017 in a bi-partisan effort to change the predicate date with the introduction of HR1136. This legislation would accomplish essentially the same thing as their amendment by modernizing the predicate date, but is not reliant upon the uncertainty of the Federal government’s budgetary process to get the job done. Since introduction, HR1136 has received support from both sides of the aisle, garnering 48 Republican and six Democratic co-sponsors. If there is any chance of success, there must be increased bi-partisan support. Historically, this has been difficult to achieve as some Democrats appear to be anti-vaping while most of the support for the industry has come from the Republican side of the aisle. That said, HR1136 comprises the vaping industry’s most viable option for survival by providing an immediate ‘stop the bleeding’ solution. A continued push with previously unseen fervor from industry and consumers alike is the only way HR1136 succeeds, particularly as it relates to garnering support from liberals. The newest addition brought to the table is legislation introduced by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), current vaper and former smoker, in the last week of April 2017. HR2194 (The Cigarette Smoking Reduction and Electronic Vapor Alternatives Act) is a comprehensive overhaul of

Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA)

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the way tobacco harm reduction products – such as electronic cigarettes – are viewed and treated by the Federal government. The Bill calls for a complete redefining of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products and places emphasis on promoting harm reduction while quantifying risks associated with various products used by consumers to intake nicotine. Still in the very early stages, HR2194 holds promise for the future as it is the first Federal legislation introduced that would address and define vapor products as a separate, less harmful, class of products than traditional combustible tobacco. Amid these legislative actions, litigation is pending at the Federal level, notably in the form of the Nicopure/Right 2 Be Smoke Free lawsuit brought against the FDA. Oral arguments were heard by Judge Amy Berman Jackson (US District Court – District of Columbia) from the parties in October 2016. While there has yet to be a ruling issued in

Dr. Scott Gottlieb Awaits Senate Confirmation To Become The Next FDA Commissioner

this case, the industry is hopeful that Judge Jackson will err on the side of public health and harm reduction, and grant relief to the Plaintiffs in the near future. Furthermore, there are various other lawsuits pending, and notably on May 1, 2017 the FDA postponed all deeming regulation deadlines by three months citing pending litigation, and a desire to determine direction from incoming leadership, i.e. Dr. Scott Gottlieb. Dr. Gottlieb has passed all hurdles up to a full Senate vote, and awaits confirmation as the next FDA commissioner in the coming days. This delay clearly signals the FDA is not prepared, at least at present, to implement the deeming regulations as they are currently constructed.

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Other recent developments inspire positivity in the vaping community as well. There are ongoing efforts by the Village of Hartland, WI to challenge the veracity of the deeming regulations based on an obscure, but to date very effective, clause in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) known

as ‘coordination’. Coordination requires Federal agencies to seek input from local governmental bodies on regulations that could adversely affect their citizens, and the local government itself. This approach is pending, and the results remain to be seen. However, after three days of testimony at their local hearing this past week, facilitated by Mr. Fred Kelly Grant (former Federal prosecutor, proponent of local rights, and coordination expert), the Village voted in favor of sending their findings to Mr. Tom Price, Secretary of Health and Human Services, for review and consideration. The Village of Hartland, home to Johnson Creek Enterprises, is hopeful that the FDA will set aside the deeming regulations, but are willing to head to court for a decision if that isn’t the initial outcome. The industry and vapers are hopeful that creative and intelligent minds are working from many angles to ensure the defeat of the FDA deeming regulations and realize a resurgence of the vaping industry from the verge of a death sentence. One thing is certain, if nothing is ventured, nothing is gained, and in this case, there is much more at stake than the death of an industry. Lives will continue to be lost at staggering rates annually to combustible tobacco. If there is a chance to change that via harm reduction devices that actually work for smokers (such as e-cigarettes), each and every one of us has an obligation to do something to facilitate the process. The tide may finally be turning in the favor of truth and harm reduction in America. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but built it was...

‘PRECEDENCE’ THE MOST DANGEROUS WORD IN LEGISLATION By: Bill Tarling

W hile the vaping world appeared to be falling into turmoil, the warning cries of advocates went mostly disregarded as foolishness. A quick look around, and you could see how quickly vapers had grown in numbers, far beyond what could have been predicted. Our vape family had grown closer together in a sense of comradery and kinship never found as smokers. We were too powerful to be stopped – but the danger signs were all there…It’s easy to forget just how big the world is. Thanks to the internet, we’re no longer restricted to just our local backyard for finding friends and hobbyists who share our thrill and passion for vaping. We can now jump online at almost any hour, and chat away with our fellow vapers across the globe. As hobbyists and vapers, social media has been great for sharing interests and the latest vape news; however, it can also have negative effects when fighting for local vaping rights. Don’t forget, just as easily as we can get info on the latest vape regulation news and media coverage from elsewhere, so can the politicians and anti-vaping groups – and you can be damn sure they’ll use those restrictions and bans to claim proof that more vape restrictions are needed in your area as well. JUST THE FACTS… The most common misconception about regulatory law is thinking they are based on decisions resulting from extensive fact checking. “We just need to educate them about the truth about vaping” is the usual cry of action, but it’s too frequently a failing approach for one simple reason: law and politics are not based mainly on fact or fairness -- they are built around posturing and power positioning. Consider seemingly common sense issues from past parliamentary arguments. Even when all parties agreed, very little proceeded without long drawn out disagreements and flaring disputes from all sides. What should have been logical cooperative non-partisan votes usually develops into mired pomposity. In the political game, the opposition will argue about ‘ruling validities’ to create a winning pretense for their party: if the passing legislation turns out to have been flawed or bad, they can claim they ‘tried to stop it’ – if it works out well, they can claim they supported it and helped make it stronger by ensuring everything was properly worded. Things get even more complicated when a legislative bill centers around a controversial subject matter. All the parties will pontificate and spew nonsensical claims, as we have seen time and time again with every piece of vaping related ruling. Facts and truth go right out the window as the politicians switch to their snake oil sideshow pretense of indignant blustering. FICTION VS. TRUTH We’ve all seen the sensationalized headlines: ‘E-Cigs Filled With Toxic Chemicals’ – ‘Vape Poisonings Increasing In Epidemic Numbers’ – ‘Vape Pen Explodes In Fireball Right Beside Baby’ – ‘E-Cigs Market To Kids To Get Them Addicted To Nicotine & Smoking’ – ‘E-Cigs Linked To Cancer’ …

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We cringe every time we see the latest anti-vaping headline, not just because we know it’s untrue, but rather because the public [and legislators] don’t know it’s fake, and will believe the fear mongering. Sensationalism also sells misinformation quickly. Consider which you would find more attention grabbing and memorable: “A man had a flat tire, and pulled over to the side of the highway to change it.” or “The tire blew without warning at high speeds, making the vehicle dangerously hard to control. The terrified driver swerved precariously off the road through oncoming traffic, missing near collisions by just feet.” The same tactic is used in the media to dramatize enhanced dangers by headlining ‘E-cigarette Erupts In A Ball Of Flame’ as it’s more exciting to make it sound like vapers are all walking around with deadly explosives. Additionally, pointing fingers as if ‘that vape devices blew up’ encourages people to be leery whenever they see one. Ordinary batteries are too common place to draw much apprehension (we’ve all lived with drawers filled with loose household batteries), so calling attention and blaming ‘that strange looking thing these people are putting in their mouth’ is a much more exciting sell. INFERENCE BY OMMISSION One of the easiest ways to present a deceptive claim, without lying, is by simply letting the listener or reader fill in the blanks, subconsciously drawing their own conclusion based on only partial information. A perfect example of this ploy is how often ‘alarming escalation of use’ or ‘rapidly increasing occurrences’ is used to again generate a sense of urgency and impending danger. It creates a simulated credence that these devices must be brought under control immediately – or else!

portant omission the ANTZ (Anti Nicotine & Tobacco Zealots) don’t want the public to know is the plain and simple fact that the main reason there’s been such an impressive growth and usage, in such a surprisingly small span of time, is because the products work! If vape products weren’t so successful or effective as a safer alternative, then there simply wouldn’t be such a high demand -- or even any vape community activity. You don’t see millions of NRT users around the world gathering for celebrations and events – anxious to check out the latest foodie flavorings and high tech collectable nicotine gum, patch, or inhaler…NRT products are boring, but then again, it’s hard to get excited about a product that only has about a 3%-8% success record – especially compared to the 70%-80% success rate of vaping -- in cutting down smoking, and creating millions of ex-smokers so quickly. It’s no wonder Pharma is desperate to hide their abysmal figures. In what other industry would a 90%+ failure rate be considered a good thing? Then again, it was much easier to keep that poor performance out of the spotlight when there was nothing to compare it against… and then those nasty vapers just had to come in, exposing how badly their high cost NRT products worked. That can really hurt sales. The solution: Pharma keeps the smiling showmanship mask on, barking how wonderful it is that their products have saved so many smokers from doom – and how, sadly, there simply isn’t any proof or information to show vaping as having any effect. Sometimes it’s best for business to just skip over unnecessary details like all the studies and reports which prove the superiority of vape products [by a landslide] … and of course, please don’t look at those anecdotal vapers – they don’t really count, so just ignore them.

Of course, we know it’s a gross misrepresentation of the figures, because the products were rarely even available at the start of their timetable. It’s easy to chart an impressively dramatic climb when going from zero sales to millions of devices in under a decade. To public perception, the numbers sound credible – and once you add in hyped danger claims, it creates heightened fears and panic: ‘We must stop these deadly products before they kill us!’ An im-

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Also, listen to the pacing and the way they deliver both sides of their argument. When talking about how fantastic Pharma and Health Organizations have been in fighting the battles; their voice is smooth, soothing, happy, excited. When talking about smoking or vaping, they’ll speak in short beats or segments, sound harsher or severe, frowning almost as if they have a disgusting taste in their mouth. If challenged with actual facts, they’ll often simply chuckle dismissively – mocking the facts, and giving the impression the pretend data [real facts] shouldn’t be taken seriously. THE ART OF DISTRACTION Since controversial or bad legislation is harder to pass on its own, a lot of unrelated filler is often added to act like a magician’s misdirection. If someone looks too closely, the real intentions and flaws in the trick will be spotted so: distract, deflect, and misdirect. For anti-vaping regulations and campaigns, the distraction abuse is easy. Since they don’t want the public looking too closely at what they’re really doing, they simply switch any talking points to: • We must protect the kids! • The nicotine will turn your kids into addicts or it will kill them! • Smoking deaths and health costs have been proven, so we must stop vaping which is contributing to those figures, and they should have to pay for all the damage they’re causing! • We only have public safety in our hearts, and are doing everything we can to stop these vaping people from poisoning you, and putting you at risk of being killed in a massive flaming explosion! Now, as vapers, we all know their deceptions are blatant falsehoods or intentional distortions and misrepresentations of the facts – but so what?! Vapers and those in the industry aren’t the ones they’re trying to fool -- their target audience is the public and other lawmakers. If they can keep us busy trying to defend or correct their misinformation given to public perception, then they know we won’t have enough dedicated resources to fight back. BIG TOBACCO PLAYBOOK Early on, the tobacco and oil companies developed highly effective marketing techniques that could easily be used to counter any negative publicity. It’s all about steering the conversation away from provable facts, and sowing seeds of doubt about their validity. DISTRACT: If the vape industry gets the chance to include factual information, simply cut it off with unrelated material to change the subject. DISMISS: Want to bring up RCP studies? They quickly dismiss the value as if it’s completely irrelevant to the argument - “we can’t really use that information because their market is completely different”. It doesn’t matter that the markets (and lungs) are pretty similar, sharing many of the same devices and juices in common; just make it sound unimportant, and switch subjects away from the professional study results. DEFLECT: When the pro-vaping side brings up tangible and citable proof, counter with vagueness. “There’s a lot of inconclusive opinions on both sides, but there are thousands of studies and reports against what you’re saying”. They don’t even have to cite any specific counter studies. MISDIRECT: If the ANTZ are challenged to cite specific studies, they can simply pick any generic report [real or

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What information or data you leave out can make a bigger impression than disclosing all the legitimate facts when you want to make something appear bad. They just lead the public to whatever mistaken conclusions they want.

The human mind is desperate to fill in logical connections to missing pieces of a thought, and will do its best to fill in likely words and links. Think Caveman style: “Pharma… Medicine Make Better… Pharma Make Medicine… So Pharma Good ---Vaping… Is Smoke… Smoke Bad… Smoke Is Fire… Fire Hurt… Vaping Hurt… So Vaping Bad”. As simple and silly sounding as the caveman example is, that’s pretty much all the ANTZ do. They just include negative words or concepts when talking about vaping, knowing the listener is likely to form their own impression that the negatives and vaping are associated or the same thing.

fabricated]. Even if the industry has already completely debunked the results, our side must then veer away from the proven studies to explain how and why their named study wasn’t accurate. They can repeat the deflection over and over with a new named ‘report’. If they keep us busy having to explain why their sources were wrong, then we can’t argue our own points and proof. To give appearance that we’re lying (and so that they can switch completely to a different subject), they can often end the debunking counter with “So everybody is wrong except you?” ACCUSATORY ASSOCIATION: Pay close attention to any media or legislative presentation by ANTZ groups or organizations, and you’ll quickly notice how they intermingle completely unassociated products and vaping in the same presentations: • Cigarettes kill, so we must stop kids from vaping so they don’t get addicted • There are so many toxins in smoke, so nobody should have to breath in their vape fumes • We worked hard on bringing down smoking rates, but now e-cigs use is escalating and undoing all our work by increasing tobacco usage again • Tobacco companies lied to us for years and said smoking were safe, just the way they’re trying to do with their electronic cigarettes now • We all know cigarette companies used shows and cartoons to market their products to kids [e.g. The Flintstones commercials for Winston cigarettes], and we banned advertising to youth. But now these e-cigarettes specifically market their products as a youth appealing lifestyle in ads and commercials again, and need to be stopped. [Note: they’ll almost always use (tobacco owned) Blu adverts as their example] • Of course these vaping products are going to tell you they’re “safe” so they can keep marketing and selling them, just like the tobacco companies did before we stopped them • We all know cigarettes are made to get smokers addicted to nicotine, and these new products are made to get a whole new generation addicted • I lost a family member to smoking, and I don’t want the same thing to happen to other people getting addicted smoking these new untested electronic cigarettes and other tobacco products • People are using these vaping pens to smoke drugs • When people “smoke” these e-cig and vaping products

THE KIDS CARD: The total devastation ploy to gain immediate support – “We Have To Protect The Kids!” Even when their policies will have the complete opposite effect, and can cause harm rather than “protect”, there’s no argument against it. By making the bold statement, the listener is left with the mental option of either agreeing or else to be accused of wanting to harm children. The intended effect is “either you believe us and care about children, or you don’t care about children and should be ashamed of yourselves.” Whether or not kids are even legitimately part of the issue, simply claim that’s your motivation and you are looked at as the protective good guy – and the other side becomes the abusive uncaring bad guy who only cares about their own profits. In fact, the playbook tactics are so effective that they’re used almost daily by environmental agencies, activists, and even governmental departments. Don’t believe it? Just consider every argument used by the FDA, CDC, Surgeon General, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Health Canada, and other health organizations encouraging anti-vaping regulations. DISSEMINATING DECEPTIONS Here’s where it all starts to tie together, allowing each precedence to begin its impact. Negative reports are like gossip: people love to spread the shock value, retelling the story with their own emphasis and speculations. Each person stretches the narrative into their own version of the events or claims until it becomes an unrecognizable whopper. Nobody cares about the real truth; misinformation and juicy gossip spreads much faster. Another advantage negative claims have over facts is they can be changed, adjusted, moved around, misdirect, and even use fabricated data to create any results desired.

Issue 1 May/June 2017

That’s the biggest difference…while the ANTZ can make up any facts of associated pretenses they want, the vaping industry is fighting the battle based on what true facts are currently available – and those facts are usually rigid and unchanging without new evidence. That puts us at a huge disadvantage right from the start.

The anti-vaping attackers already know every proven report or talking point we can use in debates – so all they need to do is distract away from the proof. When confronted with actual facts, the ANTZ simply yell out: “Lier! Deceiver! Destroyer Of Our Children!” – Truth and evidences are inconsequential to them, because they don’t have to win. If they lose, they can simply adjust their story for the next location – and if they win, then they claim that victory as proof that they are in the right. It becomes a Salem Witch Hunt lose/lose defense for vapers: “Throw them in the water! If they [vapers] are lying witches, they will float and should be killed [banned] – if they drown [go out of business so vapers go back to smoking] then we were wrong. Unfortunately, after we’ve drowned to prove ourselves, it’s a little too late to help all the businesses that were forced to close, and for the renewed smoker market. It’s important to realize that negative and positive precedents are not balanced equally. We’re closer to “guilty until proven innocent”. THE CONTAGIOUS PRECEDENCE As stated, the ANTZ don’t need to win every battle, they just need to win a few to start the steamroll process. Go back just a year or two, and the general response was, “No, we aren’t looking at taxing these vape products like tobacco”. Yet several states tested the waters, seeing if they could get a small cash grab tax passed through. Most were defeated without too much effort early on – but once they saw where their arguments were weak, they reinforced them for more serious attempts. It didn’t take long before a localized sin tax (even prior to the FDA Deeming Regulations taking effect) was passing Council approval. So then their neighbor in the next County or State presented their case: “Those guys got it approved, so that proves we can legally do so as well.” Suddenly, at lightning speed, new bills and bylaw submissions started being proposed all around the country. Taxes, raise the age to 21, ban both smoking and vaping from public areas, ban indoor usage, regulate vaping the same as smoking – it became a rapid-fire assault on vapers. We manage to defeat some of the unjust attacks on vaping, but the battles have now gotten more frequent, costlier, and ever more contagious with each loss. We are now faced with an epidemic crusade against our industry, and are fighting just to stay alive. THE 20/80 PANDEMIC BATTLE As if it wasn’t hard enough trying to protect our rights against the unethical tactics used by the anti-vaping lobbyists and government organizations; the Precedence Factor has one more huge kick to our mods waiting for us. When the ANTZ get a victory (i.e. anything to restrict or impose penalties on vaping and the industry), the precedence has huge political weight to do the same elsewhere; however, a win for our side sadly doesn’t automatically carry the same impact to other areas. That doesn’t mean a win in our column doesn’t have an effect or value, but rather that we need to remember politicians are more readily swayed to erring on the side of caution: “It may be safer than smoking, but we don’t want to be responsible for allowing it in case we can be blamed if someday it’s shown it really was bad.” Harm reduction, health improvements over smoking, and science may seem like a logical no-brainer decision; but all the other side needs to do is plant a little doubt to coerce the decisions against us. It doesn’t help when the ANTZ can also dangle the “look at all this free tax money you can have” carrot in front of their eyes.

“It can take two years to pass a law, 10 years to change a law, But it takes a lifetime to undo the damage done by a bad law.”

All you need to do is point and accuse the vape industry of lying – you can even be vague and just make up new ‘alternative facts’ if arguments aren’t going your way.

aren’t banning the products, we’re just making sure they aren’t hurting us like smoking did.” The ANTZ just leave out the fact that the restrictions take away all the aspects which helped create the 70-80% success rate to create ex-smokers. Once the new regulations and laws take place, businesses start to shut down, unable to afford staying open. Once the businesses and suppliers close, there are fewer options for vapers and smokers to stay off cigarettes. Granted a black-market growth is imminent, but with dwindling suppliers and increased prohibitions, even they will start resorting to homemade supplies… and, for smokers, the ANTZ claims that our products are ‘as dangerous or worse than cigarettes’ could become true. The ANTZ can use every win to spread the ban infection further and further. We need every single win, no matter how small, to gain an impact elsewhere. I call it the 20/80 Pandemic Precedence Battle to give everyone an idea of how much each win is worth for Vapers vs. ANTZ. For every win or gain, they get in unfair restrictive legislation -- we have to fight at least four times harder just to stay even. The next time you hear of a Call To Action or new proposed legislation taking place in another place, don’t sit back thinking “I’m glad it’s not us” … because if they lose, there’s a good chance you’ll be hit with the exact same assault at home. We can’t lazily say a battle in another State, Province, or Country is their problem, not ours. Every fight, regardless of where it happens, puts us all in jeopardy.

Have You Read The Truth About Vaping? It’s At Least 95% Less Harmful Than Smoking. Click The Image To Read The Report.

Don’t forget, most of the politicians and public are not vapers. They have little understanding of why we’re so protective of vaping. They’re just told “vaping is bad – vaping is smoking”, and then the hard punch: “We

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Issue 1 May/June 2017

The Consumer View By: Albert M. Harper & Jessica K. Harper

In vaping, there are two key classifications that de-

termine where you fall in the community: industry and consumers. There are businesses, who either manufacture, distribute, or retail vapor products; and consumers, who purchase the products for use in various ways to suit their personal style. Each classification plays an integral part and contributes to the community, neither able to survive without the other. Vaping is a consumer created answer for a tobacco problem. Although it may not seem that the consumers hold much sway within the industry, they are indeed the foundation from which it was created. That holds true today as much as it ever has. We, the vapers who purchase vaping products, choose what innovations take flight, what dies, and most importantly, set the tone for how we are portrayed. With false information flowing from many sources about electronic cigarettes and their components, the ignorance brought forth has caused many concerns. From inaccurate media reporting, destructive business practices, and unyielding regulations, persecution has caused consumers to question if it is worth the aggravation. At the same time, potential consumers (smokers) question the industry’s standards and believability that this technology is lifesaving. The ramifications of how vaping is portrayed to smokers with misinformation will leave a billion lives lost in the next century. We can do better. A vast majority of current end-users are unaware that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set forth regulations condemning vaping as tobacco products. Due to the misinformation, categorizing vaping products as tobacco products and effectively banning them in the United States will be the death of innovation and will create future complications for current and potential vapers. As of August 8th, 2016, vapor products are subject to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, as amended by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Acts. These regulations are a scheme to extinguish the vaping industry, ultimately leading millions of

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adults in the US to continue to smoke. In 2015, per the Center of Disease Control, about 15 of every 100 US adults smoked cigarettes. Since cigarettes are the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, one would assume a successful tobacco harm reduction product would be accepted, not negated, by the FDA. In these “deeming regulations”, the FDA added a clause that allows a change to the rules as they see fit, at any point in time. The struggle to adapt to newly formed and ever changing regulations has led some vape shops to use creative business strategies, structures and advertising. Some unsavory industry professionals don’t care about the consumer, only the almighty dollar. This is causing the regulations not to be enforced, or properly implemented at the business level, which causes more confusion to vapers. Not only does that cause there to be a lack of education about current events, but also leads ignorance about the current state of the industry and the potential decimation of the very products they use to not smoke.

What Is The Vape Shop’s Role? Vape shops stand at the frontlines of this small industry. They are the first contacts and mentors to consumers. A vape shop’s focus should be helping smokers switch to a healthier alternative (vaping) from one that will certainly kill them (combustible tobacco), but that is not always the case. Proper education from shop to end-user is vital. Whether it is product safety knowledge or advocacy information, shops should always put their best foot forward when it comes to educating their customers. Again, neither entity can survive without the other. Knowing that, shops should understand that these regulations can eradicate their business, and cost businesses around the country thousands of jobs. Keeping themselves and their clientele up to date on current information, encouraging positive public perception and safety, and supporting local and national advocacy organizations are key to the success of the vaping industry.

consumer. Since the end user is the one that is most publicly viewed, many challenging problems can arise if a vape shop does not properly mentor their customers. This is essentially where the media spins their stories and creates propaganda. If a consumer harms themselves on faulty equipment, then vaping becomes ‘dangerous’ or ‘lethal’. Blowing large clouds in public becomes ‘unhealthy second hand vapor’. Intellectual Property (IP) theft of established brands becomes ‘appealing to children’. This is now fed into the general population and essentially confuses smokers on the benefits of vaping. We’ve all seen the headlines, magazine articles, ‘health studies’ and campaigns against vaping. The constant bombardment of anti-vaping rhetoric is nothing more than bad press and gives a negative outlook on the industry. Vapers are in a battle of ignorance daily. Not only do they see the vaping industry at war with authoritarian agencies, but they also see conflicts within the industry itself. Let’s face the facts: smokers are the future of the industry and the customer of tomorrow. How are these people supposed to react when they finally see what’s going on?

What Is The Consumer’s Role? An essential way to help cure this bad image is by educating yourself and others, as well as holding shops accountable. It is hard to fight facts, and it empowers others around you to have a realistic view of vaping. Also, work within the local community by giving your business to shops that have the best interest of the industry at heart. Don’t support shops or manufacturers that allow unsafe or unlawful practices, or those not supporting advocacy efforts. Do reach out to your elected officials and let them know that you, their constituent, supports vaping. Your personal story can sway the minds of many, especially legislators. They understand that your vote counts. Join or support an advocacy organization that fits your personal ideals. Look at your state organization(s) – they can make you aware of issues in your home state. Most importantly, doing something is better than nothing. No one person can save this industry, but we can play a significant role in ending the unfair propaganda and confusion. It will take all vapers, acting in unison, to ensure vaping stays around for smokers who have yet to make the switch.

Have You Contacted Your Congressperson And Asked That They Co-Sponsor HR1136? Click Here To Find Your Representative

If a shop is not successfully running their business to support this industry, the ultimate hardships fall on the

Issue 1 May/June 2017

INNOVATION WITH AMNESIA By: Patrick Riffe #sonoflibertyradio

I started vaping in 2011, back when vaping was an infant. The technology was new and wonderful. That is not to say that in 2017 it still isn’t wonderful, but it is not the same.

In 2011 everyone had to struggle.

There weren’t thousands of flavors and hundreds of tanks and devices to choose from. Hell, we still call our devices “mods” now even though we called them that because they were modified flashlights or you had to modify them to make them better. You don’t have to modify anything anymore to find a good vape now. I am not trying to sound like the crazy old fart down the street always chasing the kids of his yard, but new vapers today have it much easier than we did. It was a struggle to rebuild cartos. You had to hunt to find a good liquid. But, it was worth it. We knew in our hearts that we were saving ourselves from the grips of smoking. We were passionate and hungry for this miracle. New things weren’t arriving every day like they are now. We had to wait for innovation. We weren’t running to the convenience store for a pack of smokes so it was worth it. That is something many in this industry either didn’t experience, or have forgotten. There are still smokers out there. They are waiting for us to reach

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out a hand and help them find the path. It’s so easy now, we have advanced so much since 2011. We have no excuse to not provide a pathway for smokers to become vapers. Why aren’t we doing it? There are plenty of people in this industry that have lost sight of where they started on the journey. Lots of vape shops don’t stock simple devices that won’t scare a novice. If you make e-liquid do you make a simple tobacco flavor? What about a higher concentration of nic? Only 0, 3 and 6? The first thing a thirty-year smoker will ask about when they walk into a vape shop is, “Do you have anything that tastes like my Salems?” “Marlboro?” “Cigarette?”. If your answer is, “No, I don’t stock tobaccos because they don’t sell well.” Or, “No, but I have a great fruit loops flavor.” You are not serving the smoker. What most people aren’t thinking about is that the vapers of the future are the smokers of now. Much of this industry has evolved, they’ve evolved and changed to serve vapers. They sell products that appeal to vapers. You’ve evolved. You don’t vape like

you smoked. Smokers don’t want devices that go up to 300 watts, they don’t want fruit loops, they don’t want something they have to rebuild. Smokers want something that resembles smoking and tastes enough like their cigarette that they can substitute. Finding that in the current industry is getting harder and harder as the industry continues to evolve. We call ourselves a “community”, but we make it hard to bring in new members. If we see a smoker, we rush away so we don’t have to smell them. We complain that we are forced to vape where the smokers smoke. Instead we should sit down and wait for one of them to make a comment or ask a question. It will happen. If the current trend of innovation with amnesia continues we will eventually fade away. Fewer smokers are adopting, many vapers are transitioning away to nothing and the market will shrink to nothing. We must try to embrace smokers and offer them a solution to smoking. While we fight the legislative battle, we must also begin to court the public. Our advocacy efforts have remained in the vaping community and now more people than ever believe that smoking is less dangerous than vaping. That means smokers believe that the cigarettes they are smoking with thousands of carcinogens are better than vaping. If we continue to only educate vapers this will only get worse. Grandma, Uncle Fred, wives, cousins and friends will continue to die at the rate of 480,000 a year if we continue to turn a blind eye. Stagnation is never a good thing and innovation is the life’s blood of our industry. We must continue to do what is necessary to grow without leaving the future of vaping behind. Innovation in areas of hardware that are simple to use and provide the draw for a smoker with the ability to advance are necessary. The new pod systems are a step in the right direction, however they need to be available, and affordable. Shops aren’t picking them up because either the price point is not right for them or they don’t use enough e-liquid to justify selling them because we all know e-liquid is where the money is

at. They complain that higher nic e-liquid doesn’t sell well. Of course, it doesn’t, high nic vapers use less. So, they buy less. The shops have forgotten. Smokers are very loyal. Most of us stuck to one brand. We smoked the same brand year after year. The only thing that will make a smoker change brand is price. Marlboro smokers will stick to that brand if they can afford it and only switch to another red brand when the price gets too high. If you provide a quality experience with a smoker on conversion they will stick with you for a long time. They may evolve into a different state of vaping and you will sell them more gear, more eliquid. You will be successful in their success. If you don’t offer what they want. They will go somewhere that does fill their need or they will continue to smoke and eventually die. That is not a failure we as an industry or “community” should feel comfortable with. If we forget about the smoker we have failed the most important mission that we can undertake. My name is Patrick Riffe and I am a vaper. I will fight for as long as it takes to save vaping for the lives of the smokers who will die if I fail.

“We have no excuse to not provide a pathway for smokers to become vapers. Why aren’t we doing it?”

Issue 1 May/June 2017