I wonder how good it is for public health if Juul is able to grow this market. Do the health benefits from cigarette smokers switching to e-cigarettes offset the young people who never would have dreamt of smoking cigarettes heavily, but regularly use Juul?<p>I had no idea how pervasive Juul was for college students until my sister told me that multiple people were "Juul-ing" in all of her classes. Highly recommend this New Yorker article to understand the cultural phenomenon: <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/14/the-promise-of-vaping-and-the-rise-of-juul" rel="nofollow">https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/14/the-promise-of...</a>
For those who don't know, Juul is the inventor of the "salted nicotine" vaping trend which makes the nicotine spike much faster in the bloodstream than earlier vape juice, which is more like cigarettes. They have a patent but it appears to be ignored by the vape industry as "nicotine salts" are widely available (added benzoic acid). The nicotine level is also much higher, allowing for lower wattage devices and smaller vape clouds, and a harsher hit that more closely resembles smoking. I think this technology is great if it can reduce the harm of smoking and get people off of cigarettes.
It's pretty incredible how fast Juul took over the market. Even a year or two ago nobody I knew really vaped or smoked. But now Juul has basically made vaping popular. It's super easy to get, lightweight, and amazingly effective (i.e. addictive). I watched my friend go from never smoking a cigarette in his life to getting a Juul, to having serious stress and mood swings if he couldn't find his Juul. If he lost his Juul, he bought a new one <i>immediately</i>, no matter the price.
Very dubious about the long term health effects of e-cigarettes. Unfortunately, a startup can move much faster than proper regulation.<p>I hope I'm wrong.
I have heard that you can’t find a stall to save your life at my kid’s high school because they are all constantly being used by Juul-ers. One has to wonder whether this is a good idea, hooking kids on nicotine, even if it’s free of smoke.
I've never been a smoker, but I do like vaping. Nicotine is a useful chemical when it's not accompanied by all the junk that comes with burning adulterated plant matter. I self-medicate with it for ADD. It helps me focus, more than caffeine does alone. I used to use the lozenges that are advertised for smoking cessation, but I switched to vaping about a year ago.
after almost 18 years, i quit smoking and vaping altogether a year ago and i couldn't be happier now. it feels great to be finally free from smoking. i used to think smoking is good for relieving stress, but after i quit, i realize, it was smoking that created the stress every couple hours for me to light up another one.
My concern is more about the young age of many of the new users and the perception that vaping is safe. While I don’t doubt that vaping is much safer than smoking, I am not sure if I want to see 13 year olds vaping given it appears to be just as addictive as smoking.
Why is vaping more popular than Nicotine gum, and Nicotine patches?<p>A third party can't even tell their is anything special about your gum. So you would think it could be popular among high-school students and people on the air plane and the other situations that don't allow vapor clouds.
Personally I like my Phix... twice the amount of nic juice, about the same price and bigger battery. Definitely more action for about the same amount of money. They're not the best kid on the block..just the first in this category.