JUUL Dumps Flavoured Pods In A Desperate Bid To Kiss Trump’s Ass

‘Vape’ giant JUUL has announced the complete halt of online sales of flavoured pods from its American website, whilst tobacco and menthol flavours will remain.

Sales to the rest of the world, including here in the UK, will continue for the time being at least.

It has also pulled it’s support in the fight to stop the vape ban in San Francisco and says it will be:

…refraining from lobbying the Administration on its draft flavor guidance and will fully support and comply with the final policy when effective.

Imagine my shock.

Most definitely a case of keep our heads down guys and do what they tell us – do anything to keep our profits high – the brand relevant and f**k everyone else including our customers.

Jesus H Christ talk about bending over and taking one from Trump for the ‘team’ – this is a sickening show of pandering to the politicians and sucking up to the anti-vape soccer moms.

I really shouldn’t be surprised given last year I called JUUL’s removal of flavours from shops as ‘capitulation’ – should have used a much stronger word 😉

It was back in November last year and in a move I considered a ‘sell out’ the company pulled all of its flavoured pods from vape and convenience stores across the USA – all 90,000 of them.

Sell out is the operative phrase here, because once again the so called ‘vape manufacturer’ with the lion’s share of sales in America, has shafted the vapers of America screwing them in the derriere without any lube…literally.

JUUL users who enjoy and have successfully quit smoking using the company’s pod flavours – mango, creme and cucumber – are now going to be left high and ‘dry‘ and forced to use plain tobacco or menthol, OR, and which hopefully is more likely, switch to another brand all together.

• 7 Best Pod System Vapes 2019 – Simple, Compact Vape Pods
• JUUL Duel: Are There Better Alternatives to the JUUL Pod Mod?

Flavour Ban Opens the Door To Dangerous Black Market Pods

Earlier this year the controversial company took counterfeit JUUL pod makers to court in a bid to halt the sale and marketing of fake pods.

Given the current spate of deaths and illnesses from contaminated THC cartridges, by removing its own flavours – JUUL has opened the door to what could become a thriving and lucrative fake JUUL pod underground market and we know all to well how that ends.

Once again this echo’s the short story I wrote last New Years Eve – the Rise of the Vapesters which was meant to be a fictional look at the after effects of a complete vape ban hitting America, including the lines:

Starter and pod kits reached a high of $150 each that summer whilst the price of dual or triple mods were only for the stockbrokers and bankers on Wall Street. One consignment of JUULs saw the price of each one rise to $250 – it was a crazy time.

A crazy time indeed – and a time looking more and more likely as each day passes – and once again truth is stranger than fiction…

IMHO any JUUL users in the US who have ‘enjoyed’ the flavours should switch to a new brand immediately – *f**k them as they’ve f***ed you and the wider vaping industry and for the love of God DO NOT buy counterfeits for obvious reasons.

JUUL Bends Over Yet Again

JUUL announced its own flavour ban yesterday – and it’s the latest bid to of course, protect its profits and literally f***k vapers and the rest of the vaping industry outside of Big Tobacco control and influence.

The self imposed flavour ban is part of the JUUL management shake up, with Big Tobacco wunderkind and new company CEO K.C. Crosthwaite attempting to put out the fires raging all around the JUUL brand.

KC had the gall to associate JUUL with the wider vaping ‘industry’ suggesting a lack of trust was a factor in the current state of the US vape – *insert ironic chuckle here*.

In a statement Crosthwaite said:

Given the lack of trust in our industry, we believe the FDA’s PMTA process and its “appropriate for the protection of the public health” standard are the best ways to assess the role these products can play in helping adult smokers move away from combustible cigarettes while also being kept out of the hands of youth.

We must reset the vapor category by earning the trust of society and working cooperatively with regulators, policymakers, and stakeholders to combat underage use while providing an alternative to adult smokers.

He also said JUUL wasn’t about to go away and announced it would be submitting Pre Market Tobacco Applications [PMTAs] for its device and pods.

As I reported yesterday Reynolds Inc has already done that hoping to get the VUSE Solo pod kit FDA approved.

He said:

As we evaluate what products to submit for PMTA, we will continue to develop scientific evidence to support the use of these flavored products, coupled with strict measures to combat underage use, as we believe these products can play an important role in helping adult smokers move away from combustible cigarettes.

All very PR – wish they’d say what they really think without all the spin…

One man who has been surprised by JUUL’s announcement is our old frenemy and former FDA supremo Scott ‘Mafia Boss’ Gottlieb.

He wonders if JUUL knows something the rest of vaping doesn’t…is Trump REALLY about to bring in a total countrywide flavour ban as his ridiculously uninformed press conference last month hinted at?

Gottlieb reckons that may be the case tweeting:

He really can’t keep away can he lol.

Anti-Vape Campaigners Not Impressed

If JUUL was hoping this self imposed flavour ban would be received warmly by the bat shit crazy anti-vape brigade of America, they were wrong.

Anti-vaping billionaire Mike Bloomberg said it was “too little, too late” adding:

Juul’s decision to keep mint- and menthol-flavored e-cigarettes on the shelves is a page right out of the tobacco industry’s playbook.

Whilst Paul Billings, the senior vice president for advocacy at the American Lung Association, said:

The tobacco industry has a long history of making loud, public pronouncements and then failing to follow through.

Indeed it does.

One thing is clear, the JUUL flavour ban has made a lot of people very rich overnight.

Remember Big Tobacco giant Altria – a spin off from Phillip Morris Inc – owns a 35% share in JUUL.

Indeed the new CEO K.C. Crosthwaite is one of the boys so to speak and steeped in Big Tobacco business.

So he along with the board and shareholders must have been very pleased with themselves to see their stock price soar:

As I said in yesterday’s article – it’s NEVER been about public health – it’s always been about the money.

So why not hit them where it hurts – in the wallet and #BoycottJUUL.