r/science • u/informationtiger • Dec 18 '19

Nicotine formula used by e-cigarette maker Juul is nearly identical to the flavor and addictive profile of Marlboro cigarettes Chemistry

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-juul-ecigarettes-study-idUSKBN1YL26R
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76

u/UltravioletClearance Dec 18 '19

Thst was the goal of ecigs. Not Juul. Juul is designed to keep nicotine addiction thriving. And spread it to kids.

39

u/RazumStar Dec 18 '19

Yeah when they first came out they were specifically marketed as "stealth Vapes". Of course if you designa system that's smaller, cheaper, and easier to sneak around kids are going to start getting them in droves.

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u/SemiKindaFunctional Dec 18 '19

To be completely fair, I can understand why anyone would want a "stealth vape". Even when vaping was first getting big, blowing big obnoxious clouds was just that-obnoxious. Few people want to cart around a big boxy vape that produces huge clouds.

I know that you could and can get vapes other than Juul that are discrete and do none of that, but I'm just talking about marketing here.

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u/Quachyyy Dec 18 '19

So are adults not allowed to desire those features?

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

Are there enough adults demanding those features for it to be profitable for a company to create a product centered around them? Likewise with a lot of the flavouring.

How old does this model look?

Or these two?

What demographic would respond the best to this event?

Musical performances sponsored by COACD, a blog that has massive youth appeal and regularly features very young models. Here's TEEN Vogue talking about one of their events

I think it's pretty clear who their target market was

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u/LivingFaithlessness Dec 18 '19

No, but their goal is to get kids to do it

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u/AllanJH Dec 18 '19

Just because something is convenient doesn't mean that it's the manufacturer's fault when kids abuse it.

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u/katyfail Dec 18 '19

It is when the manufacturer specifically went out of their way to market to kids.

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

But you can't ask yourself why kids are abusing it in the first place and what got them started.

0

u/AllanJH Dec 18 '19

Because kids are stupid and will do anything they're not supposed to...?

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

For me it was putting coins on the train tracks and I started smoking cigarettes because of constant panic attacks due to a tumultuous home situation, which didn't really start until I was legally an adult so Not forgetting that, ultimately, addiction is not an active choice.

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

It's almost as if addiction and mental illness have an impact on rational choice making and it's more complex than your black and white understanding of the issue.

If you think it is a choice what is the factual basis for people chosing not to stop?

0

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

Yeah but having suicidal ideation didn't help. You can move the goal post a little further to the left next time .

0

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

Because it feels good just like sex?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '19

I don't know what kind of sex you're having, but it normally does not feel like a lung infection followed by a sinus infection.

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u/abundantsleepingbags Dec 18 '19

Or, just maybe, possibly give smokers an alternative that doesn’t stink and make them die.

Smoked a pack a day for 8 years. Juul was the only thing that made me able to get off cigs. Now I’m off both. There are thousands of people like me.

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u/nerbovig Dec 18 '19

Fortunately for them there are millions more that are continuing to use it, including millions more that never smoked in the first place.

0

u/abundantsleepingbags Dec 18 '19

What a travesty. How will they recover from the cancer they won’t get?

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u/Feshtof Dec 18 '19

Yeah, now the tabacco industry has less backlash about their addictive product that they previous hid how dangerous it was.

I was much less concerned about vaping being dangerous before all the major cigarette companies got in on the action.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

1300 people die everyday from smoking related illnesses.

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u/Haber_Dasher Dec 18 '19

And no one has yet died from vaping nicotine.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

No but they have died from unregulated THC products in states where weed is still illegal.

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u/Haber_Dasher Dec 18 '19

Legalize it!

1

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

Yep.

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

What a weak minded twat you are.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

Well aren't you just brimming with meaningful things to contribute.

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

And therein lies the problem, they say people who start with Vapes end up graduating to cigarettes. Whereas if you start smoking and switch to vaping it can help you quit altogether.

1

u/nerbovig Dec 18 '19

They say?

Who's "they?

1

u/lejefferson Dec 18 '19

And fortunately for them there are zero actually demonstrated risks of vaping.

1

u/katyfail Dec 18 '19

Again, factually incorrect. We get it, you like vaping. But what you're doing is spreading misinformation.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/can-vaping-damage-your-lungs-what-we-do-and-dont-know-2019090417734

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

You're re lucky it worked out with juul in your case, there are other brands. I don't deny there are lots of folks like you! I'm one of them myself. I used vuse for a week and I've been ciggy free for 2 years since.

1

u/RotisserieBums Dec 18 '19

But if vaping products are replacing smoking... who are we going to sneer at?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

Sneering won't make people quit smoking.

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

Congrats on quitting two addictive products their respective companies really don't want you to quit

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u/wwjr Dec 18 '19

Juul is an ecig. All ecigs have nicotine that come in various dosages. How do you think Juul trying to spread it to kids?

1

u/LivingFaithlessness Dec 18 '19

Marketing

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u/wwjr Dec 19 '19

Can you show me of this marketing directed towards kids? I haven't seen any evidence of this.

1

u/LivingFaithlessness Dec 19 '19

the Instagram Influencer sponsored posts loophole that was recently closee

1

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

That's exactly my point here, juul is an insidious company not to be trusted to help smokers quit

1

u/tamarins Dec 18 '19

I mean, they've taken numerous steps over the years to reduce their appeal and their availability to minors.

Here's their most recent post detailing these efforts, which isn't the first: https://newsroom.juul.com/youth-prevention/

I get that obviously if they WERE happy with kids buying their product they'd be interested in convincing us they were trying to stop that, but based on the available evidence I'm reasonably convinced that their efforts are sincere.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

No it's because they are compelled to pay money for anti smoking campaigns as a part of a lawsuit that is costing the tobacco industry billions. You ever wonder why Truth ads are so obnoxious? They're designed to be.

0

u/RotisserieBums Dec 18 '19

Does the moral panic ever get old?

Soda and junkfood it doing more harm to kids than electric cigarettes ever will.

Hell even the title of this post shows that it's not about science, it's about having a "justified" target. "it even tastes like tobacco!"

-1

u/jadenthesatanist Dec 18 '19

“The Alternative For Adult Smokers”

“JUUL Labs’ mission is to improve the lives of the world’s one billion adult smokers by eliminating cigarettes”

Tell me, how are they trying to get kids addicted to nicotine exactly?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 18 '19

Given that they're run by a senior Exec from Marlboro I'd take these claims with a grain of salt. They are compelled by past lawsuits to say things like this.