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Comment by unethical_ban | Hacker News Reader

There is a journalism campaign against Juul in particular, and I don't know why. They continue to run stories about how kids are getting addicted to it, and that somehow Juul offering flavors (like cotton candy) are targeting kids specifically.

Again, I don't vape, but have occasionally done Hookah. Flavors were the whole point of it, and I was well above 18 when I made the choice.

Warn against the dangers of vaping, sure, but I don't see what this company in particular has done. And I don't see how people don't realize the dangers of vaping nicotine.

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Juul is also, by far, the most mainstream product on the market (at least, as far as school-aged children go). That's how it goes ... biggest target gets the bullet.

> but I don't see what this company in particular has done.

They've developed a special formulation of vape juice that causes a much more dramatic spike in blood nicotine levels, which experts confirm increases the risk of addiction dramatically compared to the gentle plateau of blood nicotine caused by other vaping products [0].

Maybe this is beneficial on net (Juul confirms outright that the nicotine spike is the entire point of their formula, but they say it's intentional to help people quit smoking) but don't try to muddy the issue by claiming they're being singled out for no reason.

[0]: https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/3/17529442/juul-vapes-nicoti...

If any of the multiple NPR pieces I've heard mentioned that, my comment would have been more moderate. I have heard nothing about altered Nicotine composition, only that "vaping liquids can have a pack of cigarettes' worth" of Nicotine, and separately, that Juul has flavors, as if that's what draws teens into it.

I feel it's partly because Juul is "mainstream" vaping. So you have a weird "hipster" thing with people who vape. They want to talk to you about amperage, coils, batteries, and whatever. It makes them feel smart to a degree. With Juul, there's none of that. You get a small, discreet device, you replace pods, and that's it. It does the job it is designed to do, vaporize liquid.

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