Diversity in the Marketplace
My 66 year old, smoking aunt has watched nearly my entire family switch from smoking to vaping over the past 6 years. She never showed any interest – “too much fuss” she said, so we never pushed it. We even set up a smoking area, on our screen porch, for her when she moved in with us a few weeks ago.
A couple of weeks ago, we were at Walmart and I casually mentioned that a disposable cigalike being sold was the most realistic I’d ever tried and, to my surprise, she bought one! A week or so (and 3 disposable ecigs) later, she mentioned she’d like it if it could be recharged and refilled. So I picked up a rechargeable cigalike, with extra cartos, for her when I was in Walgreens.
Yesterday, my husband and I stopped in a vape shop for supplies and she came in with us. She is now the proud owner of a new, shiny, red mod (100% her idea.)
At the store, she told me,
“I’m finding that I’m using it (the cigalike) more often then smoking and I’m really enjoying it. I’m only smoking in the morning. So, I may as well get something better.”
This story, folks, is a perfect example of why we need to keep fighting for diversity in the marketplace. Without that first cigalike and unbiased guidance, in a safe, comfortable and reassuring environment, she was unlikely to walk into a vape shop. This can be extremely important for a smoker’s journey from smoking to vaping. (On a side note, this shop only had 2 straight tobacco flavors. Shop owners would be smart to have more than that for smokers.)
It also shows a classic case of a typical “dual user” that the ANTZ are wringing their hands over. Most dual users just haven’t finished their journey. To do so, they need truthful information and gentle guidance, not pressure to jump in over their head with advanced devices and low nicotine levels or to quit smoking right away.
And it makes an important point that many “dual users” are smokers who had ZERO interest in quitting, yet they are now cutting down their smoking and likely on a path to quit that they wouldn’t have been on with only NRT as an option.
This is what CASAA is all about – getting out truthful information about ALL low-risk alternatives!
Originally posted on Facebook by Kristin Noll-Marsh 27th September 2015 – Reproduced with kind permission.
I was lucky, I started my vaping journey before the TPD came to the EU and I knew nothing about the threats to vaping. I started with a disposable cigalike although I moved to rechargeable ones in a few days, then 2nd gen for some months, finally stopping smoking completely when I could afford a VV mod from the money I saved by smoking much less (kit was much more expensive then).
But I find it much harder to get friends to switch now because they all know about the TPD, I drive everyone crazy talking about it and the damage it will do to vaping. Some still start the vaping journey but I don’t know if any will also stop smoking. I’ve been told that starting vaping is pointless because everything but, maybe, disposable cigalikes will be banned so switching would just be a waste of money. Others enjoy vaping but they still smoke, although much less. The reason for that is a fear that when they are forced by the law to go back to smoking they’ll not enjoy it as much as they’ve heard that cigarettes taste nasty after exclusive vaping. A few have forgotten to light a cigarette for a day or two and that worries them.
So the EU TPD Article 20 has definitely stopped at least a few in my circle from stopping smoking when they really would like to because they don’t want to give up the pleasure they get from both smoking and vaping. Some would much rather be vapers rather than dual users but they are afraid because vaping will probably be banned, for all devices that work. Most of the people I know didn’t believe the vaping scare stories because I pointed them to the facts and they know I’m alive and far healthier than when I smoked. The thing that frightens them away from vaping is the TPD.
Everybody else I know are either long term vapers, never-smokers or have successfully quit. Or else they are elderly, have smoked al their lives and would probably carry on smoking even if cigarettes were illegal, could only be stopped by physical restraint.
This is a perfect example of why the TPD will keep smokers smoking. If all there is available is inefficient, unsatisfying cgi-a-like type products, many smokers will not successfuly make the switch. Great story!