A new Vaper from Oz

[Triwuffus]

Greetings to the vaping World from Tasmania,
I started vaping on Christmas day after receiving my first e-cig as a gift from my partner who being a reformed smoker can not stand the smell of the cancer stinkies. I cannot believe the benefit of vaping! Indeed at first I thought these e-cigs to be some sort of gimmick and ignored them for the simple reason that nic e-juice cannot be legally purchased in Australia and the nearest place we can legally buy it is New Zealand with a limitation of a three months supply, whatever that is and how you work that out to me seemed like rocket science. The e-cig I received was a generation 1 ciggy the type with the disposable 'non-refillable cartrige' which by the way after surfing the net I soon learned how to refill and how to make my own nic e-juice. The type one e-cig is the only one in Australia that is currently available from retail outlet shops; of course there are numerous sites that sell the generation two and three atomisers and batteries on line. However I became some what peeved at PayPal, as I will not put my platic fantastic on line as having been scammed in the past. I will only pay by Pay Pal and no I will not do EFT. I queried why I could not pay by Pay Pal and purchase supplies from the USA etc., where as from other countries I could. I got this reply this morning:

"Thank you for contacting PayPal. I'll be happy to answer your questions about e-cigarettes. I can understand the frustration and confusion caused by some suppliers allowing PayPal and some not allowing PayPal to be used. Currently due to FDA warnings about health risk PayPal has decide to not process transactions for e-cigarettes in the United States, Brazil, and Canada. All other countries at this time will be allowed to use PayPal for e-cigarettes sales.Sincerely,
Daniel
PayPal, Brand Risk Management
PayPal, an eBay Company"

This to me is unacceptable as this looks like discrimination and restrictive trade practice against the USA, Canada and Brazil. Furthermore it appears to me that the FDA has been swayed by tobacco companies and other pharmacutical interests. Now friends note this: The signature of the respondent from Pay Pal tells me that Pay Pal is an eBay company, then if that is the case of the FDA, then why is eBay still listing e-gigs and accessories for sale on their site from the USA?

Somewhere there seems to be double standards in that land of freedom of yours, on one side the parent company allows the advertising and sale of the vaping goods and on the other side their subsidiary (Pay Pal) will not allow you to pay for them using their facility???? This to me would be an interesting challenge for a good lawyer to take up and I am sure you peeps have many a brilliant lawyer now happily vaping! Since all this I have written several articles on my blog site about my vaping experiences and praising the vapes and you can read some of it here Greenacres

Happy 2014 to all and to defeating the tobacco companies.
Jim
From Tasmania.

 

[Stosh]

Welcome to ECF !!!

and welcome to the totally insane government, business, and general public attitudes toward vaping...
here in the states, different local, state and federal government nannies have put or tried to put restrictions on vaping, selling PV's, nic liquid, flavors...etc...

The paypal thing has been going on here for years, no logic to the action, but as a private business they can get away with it, not fair but we've learned to live with it....

 

[Triwuffus]

Welcome to ECF !!!



The paypal thing has been going on here for years, no logic to the action, but as a private business they can get away with it, not fair but we've learned to live with it....

Thanks for the welcome, indeed the more I hear about individual states of the USA and their attitudes to vaping the more confused I become. What appears obvious to me is that the legislators are in the pockets of the tobacco companies and pharmaceutical companies as they are in my country. Furthermore sales of stinkies here attract tremendous excise taxes as does alcohol. Both have been proven to be detrimental to ones health, the latter not so if taken in moderation. On the other hand, e-juice, which by the way I have now been able to source in Australia (Tasmania) to my liking is in the majority a food grade product and reading the ingredient specifications one sees the nicotine content by volume is less than 6% I would consider this and I am not a industrial chemist, to be less than the nicotine concentration of the coffin nails.

Food products cannot be taxed in our country and utensils used for the consumption of food products cannot be taxed beyond the normal GST (Goods and Services Tax) or in some countries aka VAT (Value Added Tax) this is somewhat of a dilemma to legislators world wide. Smoking utensils can be taxed out of existence and some like those for the consumption of illegal (?) substances banned and have been.

I thoroughly agree that the nanny's in all states and countries should be put out to pasture and that can only be achieved at election time. I do believe that voting in the USA is not compulsory and a fair size majority of USA residents do not bother. In Australia it is compulsory and I for one take a very active part in politics and kicking the rears of slack politicians either through various blogs, and or media. My firm belief is that if smokers of this world unite and truly wish to kick the demon tobacco then we can force the FDA and our TGA to see sense and that can only come through intense lobbying and massive pressure on politicians.

Regards to All and happy Vaping

 

[Stosh]

I thoroughly agree that the nanny's in all states and countries should be put out to pasture and that can only be achieved at election time. I do believe that voting in the USA is not compulsory and a fair size majority of USA residents do not bother. In Australia it is compulsory and I for one take a very active part in politics and kicking the rears of slack politicians either through various blogs, and or media. My firm belief is that if smokers of this world unite and truly wish to kick the demon tobacco then we can force the FDA and our TGA to see sense and that can only come through intense lobbying and massive pressure on politicians.

Regards to All and happy Vaping

Quite true voting is not compulsory here and many cities, districts only get 30% turnout, yet other cities and districts manage to have 110 - 120% turnout (yes, over 100% registered voters somehow vote in an election, not a typo...) Our other problem is many voters that do participate decide who to support dependent on how they part their hair, what sports figures or Hollywood stars they hang out with, promises of free stuff (so long as they can raise taxes to pay for the "free" stuff).

Compulsory voting sounds good, but the quality of our voters scare the heck out of me....

 

[Triwuffus]

Compulsory voting sounds good, but the quality of our voters scare the heck out of me....

Never truer words were spoken, the scare me too here.....like you say dangle a carrot all be it a stale one before their muzzles and they will follow it to doomsday! 8-o