Vaping has been around for quite some time. Its proponents often tout it as a safe alternative to smoking cigarettes. Its adversaries deem it far worse than cigarettes ever have been or will be. While vaping probably lands somewhere between the two camps, it’s been the subject of very heated debate over the past few years.
Juul’s Meteoric Rise
Juul took the market by storm in 2015. They quickly went from riding along on the vaping bandwagon to piloting it. Juul dominated the E-cigarette market decisively. By late 2017, their brand accounted for over 40% of the sales generated by the E-cigarette industry. They took a few too many liberties though, got greedy, and now it’s costing them dearly.
Juul’s plummeting value and credibility
The demographic that has suffered the most from Juul’s simultaneous prevalence and irresponsibility are teens. Middle and high school students across the country use Juul more heavily than other demographics, and not by accident. Mounting evidence suggests that Juul intended their products for a younger crowd. According to a Forbes Article from 2018,
“archived Juul ads are filled with attractive young models socializing and flirtatiously sharing the flash-drive shaped device, displaying behavior like dancing to club-like music and clothing styles more characteristic of teens than mature adults.”
Furthermore, users accuse them of false advertising. Their products contain plenty of nicotine, yet they chose to advertise Juul products as a way to quit smoking.
Another scandal arose as well, involving a massive number of contaminated Juul pods. One Buzzfeed Article shares that roughly 250,000 mint refill kits, or what would otherwise fill one million pods, were made using contaminated e-liquid, shipped to retailers, and ultimately ended up in the hands of customers. Even worse, Juul allegedly decided against issuing a recall even after the contamination came to their attention. The general public still has no idea what the e-liquid was contaminated with.
Although more speculation than certainty, Juul use might be linked to seizure onset as well. Many say nicotine causes the seizures. Others note that even when chain smoking was more widespread, we didn’t see users seizing from excessive nicotine intake.
Vaping in general: Juul isn’t the only problematic brand
Vaping has come under fire in recent months for causing chronic respiratory issues for many users. This occurs frequently enough that an acronym for the phenomenon developed. It’s called EVALI (E-Cigarette/Vaping Associated Lung Injury). As of this point in time, the CDC maintains that the culprit of this specific condition seems to be vitamin E acetate. Many E-juices contain it. At their smoking and tobacco use information page, the CDC states,
“Vitamin E acetate usually does not cause harm when ingested as a vitamin supplement or applied to the skin. However, previous research suggests that when vitamin E acetate is inhaled, it may interfere with normal lung functioning.”
Fortunately, the CDC notes a marked decrease in cases of EVALI since they peaked in September of 2019. Hopefully that downward trend continues. The general public knows increasingly more about the risks of vaping. In turn, folks have started making more informed decisions about using vape products themselves. The future of vaping appears murky at best, but it may decline precipitously over the coming months and years. Users see many vape companies in a different light now due to shady practices.
4 Corners Cannabis’ approach
At 4 Corners Cannabis, it’s quite the opposite. While our Glycerin Tincture works with vape devices, it has no nasty additives that other vapable products have. It contains no propylene glycol or diacetyl (both thought to cause respiratory issues of their own), nor does it contain vitamin E acetate or any fillers/additives. It contains only three ingredients: Organic Vegetable Glycerin, Limonene (an extract from orange peels), and our tried and true premium hemp extract. The fact that it can be taken under the tongue or mixed with your beverage of choice is another indicator of its quality.
We also manufacture our products on a scale that is manageable for our company. With our quality control and attention to detail, nothing ever leaves our facility unless we know it lives up to our standards and yours.
Choosing products responsibly
While we focus heavily on quality control and providing our customers with the best of the best products and ingredients, not every company does. Juul and many other vape companies have not acted very responsibly or in their customers’ best interest. It may seem excessive, but always research the companies that you buy goods from, consumable or otherwise. When you vet companies in this way, it allows you to vote for the best ones with your dollar and simultaneously vote bad players out of the market.
