Trump To Dump E-Cig Flavours – Is This the End Of Vaping In America?

In a shock announcement President Donald Trump has said he wants flavoured e-cigarettes and e-liquids removed from sale across America.

His move comes on the same day it was announced billionaire and staunch anti-vaper Michael Bloomberg pumped $160million into a campaign to ‘fight’ the supposed teen-vape epidemic across the country.

Let’s just let that sink in for a moment.

It now looks almost certain the 13million plus vapers in America will be left high and their tanks dry with many having no choice but to return to smoking.

OR, and this is extremely worrying, turn to what will become a huge – profitable, but possibly deadly black market of e-liquids that will be unregulated and contain God knows what.

So, and let me get this straight in my head.

The plan to tackle deadly black market THC cartridges is to ban all flavoured e-liquid so creating an even bigger black market of unregulated home-brewed e-liquids and run the risk of even MORE deaths and illnesses?

FFS! You just couldn’t make this shite up!

Though you might remember I did indeed ‘make this shite up’ in my post vape ban short story where vaping is banned and criminalized in the USA and the Mafia moves in: The Rise of the Vapesters.

The First Lady had tweeted earlier this week about her concerns around ‘youth vaping’. I almost mentioned it in the Midweek Vape News but really didn’t want to give any more publicity to the THC cartridge scare, or indeed spend any more time on debunking the teen vape ‘crisis’ we all know is hyped up rubbish.

It looks to me the Trumps have been suckered by the media scaremongering about the 6 dead and over 450 people with serious respiratory illnesses from vaping illicit street bought cannabis cartridges.

Every single one of those tragic cases is linked to street bought cannabis cartridges most containing Vitamin E acetate – known as tocopheryl acetate – and a rogue diluent known as Honey Cut.

And none of them are linked to shop bought nicotine or zero nic e-liquids!

Read my article for more information: Vaping Is NOT About To Kill You – But Black-Market THC Cartridges Might.

The Trumps have simply allowed the two stories to become intertwined – as have most of the wider public.

And given the First Lady needs some kind of ‘project’ – rather than just being a sometimes smiling designer label clothes horse – this is the one that’s been chosen for her.

However, the former nude model is a little late to the whole ‘teen-vape epidemic crisis’ – that crap has long been blown out of the water as BS.

I wrote at length about this here: Teen Vaping and Smoking – The Cold Hard Facts Revealed

As you can clearly see, the number of US kids vaping just ONCE, has spiked and is now dropping away as most rebellious teen fads do over and over again!

Trumps Falls For Fake Vape News

As myself and much of the vape community have been arguing for an absolute age – if you ban what is essentially a harmless yet life-saving technology, the massive void will be filled by the unscrupulous looking for a fast buck and to hell with the consequences.

Absolutely criminal.

So what has The Donald said?

For a President who believes in ‘helping businesses’ both big and small – he seems to have been influenced by the First Lady and indeed what he’s so fond of calling ‘Fake News’.

It looks to me he’s only bothered about calling out mainstream media BS and bias when it’s about him…shame on you Sir.

Speaking from the Oval Office with his wife [with her serious face on] by his side he told reporters:

We can’t allow people to get sick, and we can’t have our youth be so affected

And I’m hearing it, and that’s how the first lady got involved.

She’s got a son, together, that is a beautiful young man and she feels very, very strongly about it.

She’s seen it.

We’re both reading about it.

Reading the fake news that is.

For a so called ‘businessman’ the President also seemed less informed about vaping from a business aspect admitting he understood it was profitable before burbling on about China and how he supported all businesses!

Tell that to the 10,000 plus vape shops and manufactures you’re about to close down with all those job losses and impacts on families – shame on you Mr President.

Trump got tough saying the Government would be clearing the shelves of all flavoured e-liquids in the very near future:

…people are dying with vaping, so we’re looking at it very closely, and if nothing else this is a [news] conference that is going to let people know about it because people are going to watch what we’re saying and parents are going to be a lot tougher with respect to their children.

The Trump administration is making clear that we intend to clear the market of flavored e-cigarettes to reverse the deeply concerning epidemic of youth e-cigarette use that is impacting children, families, schools and communities.

A lot of people think vaping is wonderful, it’s great. It’s really not wonderful.

And there you have it from the supposed most powerful man in the world – and the guy who reckons he is the king of the businessmen – flavoured e-liquids and pods WILL be removed from sale in the USA.

You have to feel for all the vape businessmen and women out there who pretty soon are going to have to call staff meetings and without making light of this dire situation – tell them all:

You’re Fired!

What the Actual F**K is going on over there?

Can Flavoured E-liquids Be Saved?

It looks highly unlikely at this stage if I’m brutally honest.

We’ve seen the wave of flavour bans both passed and proposed sweep across America and this looks like the final nail in the coffin – it don’t get bigger when POTUS steps into a debate or argument.

Vapers and advocacy groups across the world have been shell-shocked by the news.

The Vapor Technology Association [VTA] said Trump’s ban order will mean the deaths of million of US vapers and smokers and urged for a rethink:

Banning flavors would be a public health travesty.

More than two million Americans have died from cigarette smoking related illnesses over the last five years.

If a federal flavor ban is enacted, more than 10 million adults will be forced to choose between smoking again (something the FDA has said will happen if vapor products are pulled from the market) or finding what they want and need on the black market.

President Trump shouldn’t follow the lead of San Francisco, Mike Bloomberg, and the far left anti-business extremists.

This type of government overreach, that will surely shut down more than 10,000 American small businesses, is something we’d expect from other administrations.

We urge this administration to change course before millions of Americans are forced to switch back to deadly cigarettes, small businesses around the country are forced to close their doors, and tens of thousands of people are laid off.

Dan Marchant, spokesman for the UK Vaping Industry Association [UKVIA]

It is a shame that the US President has been poorly advised on the facts; this decision is based on misleading information and will only serve to deter smokers from making a life changing switch to a far less harmful alternative.

In the UK, we are proud to be a standard bearer for a consumer-driven industry which has already helped millions of people across the world stop smoking.

We will continue to work with the public health community in the UK to spread the facts about vaping, which Public Health England continue to advise is 95% less harmful than smoking and is the most effective way for UK’s remaining 7 million smokers to quit.

Flavours play a hugely important role in encouraging smokers to switch to a less harmful product, and crucially in providing enough consumer variety to ensure those smokers stay switched.

At the same time, there is no evidence of any link between flavours and youth vaping; in the UK recent stats show that rates of vaping among young people remains at less than 2% and is almost exclusively confined to those youths who regularly smoke.

Last word to Matt From SMM who is an American based YouTube vape review and staunch vape advocate.

He at least saw the funny side of things with this Tweet:

Whilst I’m one of those people that can smile during a crisis and find black humour in the most dire of consequences, smile now but once those flavours disappear off the shelves the end result will be no laughing matter.

BTW, every year I write for the Ashtray Blog’s Vape Predictions for the following year.

Last year I wrote the words that have sadly come back to haunt me:

If 2018 sounded the death knell of vaping in the US then 2019 could see the final act.

Let’s hope I’m wrong.

Sometimes it hurts to be right.

OK, on that note we shall of course keep you informed of what happens next and please do leave your thoughts in the comment below.