After getting an email a couple of days ago explaining that my order my be delayed due to massive demand... I got my nJoy King (3%). It comes in a little carrying case... and a TINY little cigalike inside. Looks like a cigarette, from the 'filter' to the paper wrapped body all the way down to the end that lights up red and is textured to look like an ash. Vapor is ... meh... TH is... meh... flavor isn't all that strong, though it does have a distinct tobacco taste. I guess it'd be good if I was in a bind.
And it got me to thinking... it struck me how important these things are to everyone who vapes. Leaving the morality of the rather insidious dealings of big tobacco aside... these cig-a-likes that you see in your local convenience store have an importance that I don't think is really appreciated. They are becoming ubiquitous, available at pretty much anywhere, right there next to the stinkies.
Regardless of what many here may say, most of the setups we have here pale in comparison, convenience-wise, than those disposables. You buy one, vape it till it's dead, chuck it and break out a new one. There's fiddling with coils, voltages, filling tanks, waiting for juice to steep, etc. And it is that ease of use, as easy as buying and smoking a pack of Marlboros, that will draw in the smoking masses.
And it is becoming 'masses'. The e-cig market is growing fast, and the majority of that market right now is supported by those cig-a-likes that people here often pan. But we shouldn't. They may not be our cup of tea, but many of us here (including yours truly) wouldn't have been introduced to vaping without them.
I've always drawn parallels between vaping and the beer industry. Beer drinkers tend to break down into three main catagories... First, the largest, are those that go the big brewer route... the Buds, Millers, etc. Then you have the craft beer drinkers... they purchase from local breweries, the premium beers or micros... They are looking for a more refined taste and where the first group tend to stick to a small number of brand, these guys sample wide varieties and styles, some even planning road trips to sample countless small breweries across the country. Then you have the smallest, third group; the home brewers... they dispatch the middle man all together and brew their own recipes in their basements and garages, catered to their own particular tastes. And while you have your fair share of beer snobs (and I know many), the bigger brewers often see the value in those smaller guys. Companies like AB (or whatever they are now) aren't really threatened by the dude making a blueberry stout in his basement...
vaping falls along similar lines... From those buying offerings from Blu and Greensmoke... to those with more refined tastes, buying juices from places like HHV and running on VV mods and evods, all the way down to the DIY crowd, vaping their own custom juice blends on home made box mods and high-end RBAs. With Big Tobacco jumping in, headlong, into the e-cig market, I really hope that they will look at us just as a brewer like the Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) looks at home brewers...
So when you here about someone unsure about what they see as a complicated alternative and thinking about picking up a Blu instead... don't scowl at them... let them, ENCOURAGE them, to try that Blu.... Make that transition easy for them rather than throw at them the dizzying array of equiptment choices available to us (even to those with some vaping under their belt, the sheer number of options at even the smallest vape vendor can be intimidating). Let them get their feet wet and allow them to see the light at the end of the tunnel (or NOT see the light I guess)... then you can show them the wonderful, albeit sometimes frustrating world of more specialized vaping.
As long as their are vaping!
And it got me to thinking... it struck me how important these things are to everyone who vapes. Leaving the morality of the rather insidious dealings of big tobacco aside... these cig-a-likes that you see in your local convenience store have an importance that I don't think is really appreciated. They are becoming ubiquitous, available at pretty much anywhere, right there next to the stinkies.
Regardless of what many here may say, most of the setups we have here pale in comparison, convenience-wise, than those disposables. You buy one, vape it till it's dead, chuck it and break out a new one. There's fiddling with coils, voltages, filling tanks, waiting for juice to steep, etc. And it is that ease of use, as easy as buying and smoking a pack of Marlboros, that will draw in the smoking masses.
And it is becoming 'masses'. The e-cig market is growing fast, and the majority of that market right now is supported by those cig-a-likes that people here often pan. But we shouldn't. They may not be our cup of tea, but many of us here (including yours truly) wouldn't have been introduced to vaping without them.
I've always drawn parallels between vaping and the beer industry. Beer drinkers tend to break down into three main catagories... First, the largest, are those that go the big brewer route... the Buds, Millers, etc. Then you have the craft beer drinkers... they purchase from local breweries, the premium beers or micros... They are looking for a more refined taste and where the first group tend to stick to a small number of brand, these guys sample wide varieties and styles, some even planning road trips to sample countless small breweries across the country. Then you have the smallest, third group; the home brewers... they dispatch the middle man all together and brew their own recipes in their basements and garages, catered to their own particular tastes. And while you have your fair share of beer snobs (and I know many), the bigger brewers often see the value in those smaller guys. Companies like AB (or whatever they are now) aren't really threatened by the dude making a blueberry stout in his basement...
vaping falls along similar lines... From those buying offerings from Blu and Greensmoke... to those with more refined tastes, buying juices from places like HHV and running on VV mods and evods, all the way down to the DIY crowd, vaping their own custom juice blends on home made box mods and high-end RBAs. With Big Tobacco jumping in, headlong, into the e-cig market, I really hope that they will look at us just as a brewer like the Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) looks at home brewers...
So when you here about someone unsure about what they see as a complicated alternative and thinking about picking up a Blu instead... don't scowl at them... let them, ENCOURAGE them, to try that Blu.... Make that transition easy for them rather than throw at them the dizzying array of equiptment choices available to us (even to those with some vaping under their belt, the sheer number of options at even the smallest vape vendor can be intimidating). Let them get their feet wet and allow them to see the light at the end of the tunnel (or NOT see the light I guess)... then you can show them the wonderful, albeit sometimes frustrating world of more specialized vaping.
As long as their are vaping!
