Writer Jacob Sullum, who covers “the war on drugs from a conscientious objector’s perspective” at Forbes magazine, is a friend of electronic cigarettes.

Or at least he’s not an enemy, irrationally venting about how vapor might be toxic, and e-liquids might poison the children, or e-cigs be a gateway to start smoking.

Sullum uses logic and reason, skepticism and facts to expose the war on drugs in general, most specifically and often marijuana, and so personal vaporizers and their content fall under his loupe.

Sullum might not even be pro-vaping or a vaper himself, but it’s certainly nice if truth and rationality has him on its side.

For example, he actually does research, and recently posted a riposte to senator Jay Rockefeller’s ridiculous claim that flavored vapor cannot appeal to adults. In Forbes. Nice.

Note that Sullum is senior editor at Reason magazine and a nationally syndicated columnist, as well as the author of the books Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use and For Your Own Good: The Anti-Smoking Crusade and the Tyranny of Public Health.

Forbes is an important outlet to the “upper” minds of society. It is hoped they can be reached before ludicrous legislation can be enacted.

Yaknow?

The Transport Security Administration at airports has gotten a little out of hand (pun intended), but you really can’t blame them on this one.

While looking for positive electronic cigarette news to lighten the mood around here, we found one particularly crunchy morsel.

TSA agents checking a traveller’s carry-on came across a really neat-looking vaping-mod. Shaped like a grenade.

The picture was posted on the TSA Instagram, and while they don’t mention if it caused a panic, the post does explain anything that looks like a grenade “can cause significant delays while explosives detection professionals resolve the alarm.”

EcigBeat mostly covers cig-a-like personal vaporizers and basic, off-the-shelf ecigs that make it easy for smokers to convert. Non-vapers may not know what a “mod” is.

Basically it’s a modification on the original, a variation: some people get into it, and build their own mods, or order them custom, or, like the grenade-thing, buy them pre-made.

Mods tend to be bigger, contain more e-liquid and bigger batteries to last longer than standard vape-sticks.

The TSA has ruled you can check-in or carry-on personal vaporizers, though actual use is up to “the airport, airline, and local laws.”

Regardless, vaping virgins or veterans (pun intended), it stands to reason you don’t bring anything that looks like a bomb to an airport!!!

With all the hullaballoo recently over FDA regulations, CDC Studies, exploding batteries, nicotine juice poisonings,  as well as mergers and acquisitions and Big Tobacco getting into the picture, you can lose site of what it’s all really about.

The electronic cigarettes, the vapor, themselves!

For example, since Blu E-Cigs was bought by Lorillard, they’ve grown to be first in market and have not only expanded their advertising, they’ve expanded their flavors.

So now not only do you get the basics – tobacco and menthol – Blu has branched into the “bar scene” if you will with e-liquids like Peach Schnapps and Pina Colada, as well as the café atmosphere with Java Jolt and Vivid Vanilla.

And this is not to mention the infamous Cherry Crush, which was soundly denounced at a certain senate hearing against marketing vapor flavors to children.

And there you go. Can’t get away from it can we? Silly wabbits, Trix are for kids, vape-sticks for adults – especially the delicious ones.

There are plenty of studies and information about the health impacts and air-quality effects of vaping and vapor available for the FDA to consider regarding their deeming regulations on electronic cigarettes.

Much if not all of it has probably been submitted to them during their “commentary” period prior to “finalizing” the regs.

But of course they’re sorta having none of it.

So, they’re blowing hundreds of millions of dollars on their own research. Which probably won’t breed results for a few years.

So will the regs wait on these? No, says the FDA. They will use the available evidence.

Problem is, do they consider current independent and other studies not conducted by themselves as worthy? Or will they go with stooges like Stanton Glantz and CDC’s Tom Friedan (sp?) and their politically recognized but scientifically skewed “conclusions” of the few government-sponsored “studies”?

Time will tell…

Could be good, could be bad, who knows? At least the FDA is finally doing some footwork.

It’s not complicated. Just replace the gun-related text with electronic cigarette juice or liquid or flavors, and keep the part: if kids find it, they’ll play with it…

The gun-ad is hilarious and multi-layered, since they’re equivocating the “horrors” of sex (and toys) with the horrors of gun fails caused by bad storage and supervision, and places responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the adults, parents and owners who leave their dangerous devices without child-proof measures…

So just watch and laugh…

While some are getting a little nervous about Big Tobacco’s entry of the electronic cigarette market with some credible, savvy acquisitions and well-publicized proprietary developments, not all tobacco conglomerate moves can cause one to worry.

For example, Philip Morris has announced the upcoming launch of a dry-vape stick they’ll call their Marlboro HeatSticks, initially in Japan and Italy.

Which is all fine. But they just bought UK-based NicoCig… and haven’t done a thing about it. No new promo, no social-action. They just bought it.

So why the dry-vaping e-cig? As an interim product, a bridge, a… dare we say it? GATEWAY?

Oh ahahah. Obviously, big tobacco is going to have to get out of tobacco, or shed those leaves progressively over time, and become Big Nic.

So be it. And maybe having a product that still uses tobacco may be a smart move.

But from here it’s just looking like Phil is spreading it thin and weakening their market hold…

It’s wonderful  FDA has extended the time for comments on Deeming Regulations for “tobacco products”, but don’t think it has anything to do with electronic cigarettes.

The Office of Management and Budget were pressed to “re-write” some of the upcoming regulation, though probably not by the Vapor lobby.

It would seem reason for the extension was cigars. Not just regular cigars, but pricey, high-end “premium” cigars.

Apparently, the cigar industry weren’t the actual movers and shakers who fought the new regs overhaul, but suits on the Hill itself – lobbyists and regulators opposed to warnings or labels imposed on the “niche” (some would call it rich-guy fetish) which is “much like fine wines”.

Extension requests on the comment period were mostly anonymous, but the Food & Drug Administration must be expecting more input, maybe from senators and others with (suit-tie-cognac) vested  interests in fine cigars.

Not that it’s bad for e-cigarettes. The Cigar-People wanted requirement of only face-to-face sales to exempt their premium smokes, so OMB did by turning it into an option, as well as redefining the “face to face” rule – which could have made buying e-cigs online illegal. As it is only vending machines are barred.

So… second-hand “smoke” can be beneficial, after all!

E-marijuana may be a kick in the face to vaping if they’re not careful about marketing.

In case you’re unaware, a company in the Netherlands (of course!) has introduced the “E-Njoint”.

It’s interesting, considering all the fearmongering about people using e-cigarettes to vape pot.

This is maybe a more robust combustion system, meant to vaporize marijuana oil or some variant. But their e-liquid actually has no THC (what makes you stoned). And none of their flavors are “marijuana”.

It makes you wonder why, beyond the cute little cannabis leaf in the green LED at the tip, they call it an e-joint?

One can guess from their rechargeable (refillable) model, which is currently out of stock, according to their site (as is their dry-herb vaporizer).

Or maybe it’s a Netherlandish way of marketing regular vaping? At any rate, only the disposables are available, and only in that country…

While there’s nothing wrong with the idea of pot smokers becoming pot vapers, electronic cigarettes seem to be having a hard enough time on their own without e-reefers joining the fray, no?

The senate hearing on Aggressive E-Cigarette Marketing and Potential Consequences for Youth was basically a big piece of political theatre-in-the-round.

The grandstanding was reminscent of the McCarthy hearings.

Supposed “experts” and senators surrounded the only two representatives from the e-cig industry – Jason Healy, founder of Njoy Electronic Cigarettes and Craig Weiss, president of Blu eCigs - and basically blasted away.

This wasn’t just an opportunity for the anti-vapor cloud to rail about the children! the children! incessantly, it was a parade of the usual crow against e-cigarettes raised to a new level.

Yes, they kept referring to “the gateway” – even though studies debunk this. Nicotine-poisoned infants (no mention of bad parenting)? Check! Misrepresenting the CDC study about kids and e-cigs? Yep!

All the dumb tropes were expertly paraded.

While it’s unfortunate the two industry figures never replied with facts and figures, it must be said they remained composed and reasoned throughout.

But occasionally, due to accusations of “guinea-pigging” children just to make money (both men are ex-smokers who started their own companies), they were admonished by senator Jay Rockefeller, who was “ashamed” of them:

Claiming vapor may be “more dangerous than pornography”, he said, “I don’t know how you go to sleep at night. I don’t know how you go to work in the morning.”

Having decried their affront to the “integrity of corporate culture”, he said to their faces, “I think you’re what is wrong with this country.”

No. Really.

However the debate and eventual regulations for electronic cigarettes evolve, that committee hearing showed us what is really “wrong with this country”.

If  “concerned” people are worried electronic cigarettes are promoted as cool things that act as a gateway to smoking, rather than tobacco substitutes that have helped hundreds of thousands of people to switch from smoking, they should blame the laws which prevent e-cig makers even quoting from their own testimonials.

These same concerned folk may also be interested in a recent study from Harvard School of Public Health which covered over 26, 000 people across Europe and found e-cigarettes are indeed a gateway – but away from smoking.

Which is something vapers have known all along.

There’s no clear line where studies of the sort will tilt the scale on the effectiveness of personal vaporizers. Despite considerable studies, both small and large such as the Harvard research, prohibitionists are using the “we just can’t know” and “there is no proof” lines and lies, while in fact we do and there is…

It’s reached a point where the media and government must simply not be doing any research on their proclamations, and “researchers” such as Stanton Glantz must be dissembling and lying outright.

We can come to no other conclusion. The blind are indeed lead by the one-eyed king.