Electronic Cigarettes are NOT Tobacco Products

In this post we continue on and build upon the idea we started in our previous post, which talked about how it has become quite obvious to us in the electronic cigarette industry that there is more happening beneath the surface with the bans on electronic cigarettes and how Big Tobacco seems to be involved in a very subtle way. One of these ways is purporting that electronic cigarettes are tobacco products which, in fact, they aren’t. Why does this play into Big Tobacco’s favor? Well, let’s find out.

One of the biggest reasons why the electronic cigarettes industry is resistant about having electronic cigarettes classes as tobacco products is because tobacco products are subject to a lot of restrictions, heavy taxes, and other forms of regulation. Should electronic cigarettes be classed as tobacco products, these regulations will of course have to apply, and that is something that the fledgling electronic cigarette industry will not be able to deal with.

How greatly will such regulations affect the electronic cigarette industry?

It will cause the removal of certain freedoms. Electronic cigarettes have enjoyed one very important privilege for quite a while now, and that is freedom. The freedom to smoke anywhere you want is frequently used as a marketing strategy by many electronic cigarette retailers. However, with the restrictions that limit electronic cigarette use, many of these marketing strategies will fail.

Why is it important to maintain these marketing strategies? Because it simply is one more way chronic smokers can be coaxed off smoking the more significantly harmful traditional cigarette.

It might mean that smokers and vapers being grouped together. Many electronic cigarette users are often quick to distance themselves from smokers; physically, socially, and/or mentally. Why? Studies have shown that practically 100% of all electronic cigarette users today were smokers before switching, partially or wholly, to electronic cigarettes.

A large majority of electronic cigarette users have also tried to quit at one time or another.

Because of this, although not advertised as smoking cessation device due to governmental regulations, electronic cigarettes are viewed by many of their users as a “way out.” Many of them attribute a better state of health to electronic cigarettes, and therefore, try to stay away from real cigarettes as much as possible; to avoid health problems, to avoid being perceived as a smoker, and/or to avoid possible psychological need to pick up the habit again because of the presence of an actual cigarette or peer pressure. Electronic cigarette users do not wish to be labeled smokers; in fact, electronic cigarette users have coined their own term for their identification: vapers.

Heavy taxes will discourage consumers. Although electronic cigarettes have come down in price considerably since they were first introduced into the market and are forecasted to become even cheaper in the coming years, heavy taxes too soon will smother another vital component that the electronic cigarette industry banks on to draw consumers away from the infinitely more deadly grip of Big Tobacco.

Even now, electronic cigarettes are considerably less expensive to use on a regular basis than ordinary cigarettes. Conservative estimates show that the average smoker can save about $500 - $1000 a year by switching to electronic cigarettes, and heavy smokers – who need the kind of help for their health that electronic cigarettes can provide – can save even more.

It will give the public the wrong impression. The electronic cigarette industry has always stood behind one cause in the fight against Big Tobacco: harm reduction. Most governments have stood behind the “stop smoking or die” approach to decreasing tobacco consumption, however, according to many studies, this approach clearly has failed. Although annual cigarette use continues to follow a downward trend, cigarette use reduction has slowed significantly since the late 80s.

Electronic cigarettes are the first real alternative that could deal a significant blow to the tobacco industry, and to lung cancer rates the world over. Medical experts have agreed that although truly objective studies yet need to be made, electronic cigarettes pose a far more reduced threat to human life than ordinary cigarettes. Most of these assertions come from medical experts who work under the umbrella of a national healthcare system such as in the UK, where the acknowledgement of this fact will save the country’s National Health Service billions of dollars from the reduction of smoking-related illnesses that the government will have to spend to care for. Similar assertions have been made by doctors in the US, but due to Big Tobacco’s apparent control over the FDA, many of them haven’t been heard.

Electronic cigarettes are NOT tobacco products anyway.

Finally, electronic cigarettes should not be classed as tobacco products simply because they aren’t. Although the government clearly doesn’t seem to think we’re telling the truth, we can tell anybody firsthand, with the insider knowledge of a manufacturer, that the only component that relates electronic cigarettes with tobacco products is nicotine. And we can go even further with our assertions there because electronic cigarettes do not necessarily have to contain nicotine, and many electronic cigarette users do lower their doses until they eventually vape zero-nicotine e-liquid.

And not only that, electronic cigarettes are not the only things with nicotine that are NOT classified as tobacco products, nicotine replacement products contain nicotine and yet are not regulated in the same way that tobacco products are. In fact, in many countries, nicotine replacement gums and patches are available over the counter.

Clearly, it isn’t hard to see Big Tobacco’s hand at work when you look at how aggressively the governments of some countries are about stopping the proliferation of electronic cigarettes amongst smokers. The electronic cigarette industry could easily break Big Tobacco’s back if given a chance, and for the sake of millions of smokers out there suffering smoking-related illnesses, we wish to be given that chance. Of course it will kill all the income governments get from Big Tobacco, but it will save lives.