Identify the problem, then find a solution

[rhdelaney]

I think one of the main obstacles we are facing as a community is that Pv usage is dispersed all over the country. What we need in order to be heard is a localized concentration on PV users somewhere. The organizations that are causing so much trouble for us has localized concentrations, which allows them to be heard far more clearly.

The main reason for this, as I see it, is that the main people who are selling locally are Smoking Everywhere and their ilk. You know who I mean, the people selling at mall kiosks. They are giving us exposure, but, as has been pointed out before, they sell to anyone with the ability to pay, giving our enemies ammunition, and allowing them to accuse the industry as a whole of selling to minors. Additionally, their products are just terrible. SE was the first one I tried, and I remember thinking to myself what a great idea it was, but someone out there must be selling a product that actually works.

When the group within our vaping community with the highest visibility is selling a sub-par product, it makes all of us look like idiots. Also, if I remember correctly, and please correct me if I am wrong, wasn't SE the company that the FDA seized and found carcinogens and nicotine levels not consistent with the labeling?

My point is, we need cities around the country where vaping is commonplace. If we had even a few of these in strategic locations, we would have a much easier time fighting for our cause.

 

[quasimod]

[...] My point is, we need cities around the country where vaping is commonplace. If we had even a few of these in strategic locations, we would have a much easier time fighting for our cause.

Are you suggesting that we all move, or that we force everyone in some small town to start vaping?

 

[Israfil]

Are you suggesting that we all move, or that we force everyone in some small town to start vaping?

Yes...we need to do these... lol

Actually what we need are enough people in any specific locale to start vaping and we need to know about it so that physical vapeshops can open. Right now I think there might not be enough sustained income from an actual storefront with the exception of the crap that Smoking "anywhereyouwant" sells. There may be something in their pricing...Maybe they just aren't getting enough interest.

We also need the FDA and news media on our side to get the word out, that way shops like that become profitable and eventually mainstream. It seems to be a vicious circle.

 

[Scorched]

The only thing that comes to mind is a protest type of deal. This would mean gathering a larger number of electronic cigarette users somewhere indoors to showcase all the great thing about PV's. This would mean creating alot of pamphlets and picket signs. The most difficult part would be gathering enthusiasts in your area.

 

[Israfil]

I'd like to see a protest where everyone flies to washington dc and walks towards the capital building with a huge plume of vapor overhead... But I always had a flair for the old melodrama.

 

[rhdelaney]

I put up a thread the other day about a bar in my area providing pvs for their customers, but, to tell the truth, I am the one who put them there. People in the Columbia area are going to see the same thing in a number of other bars in the near future. That is the best idea I have come up with so far to get the ball rolling.

As a side note, customers in there ask me all the time if e-cigs work. Many of them have tried crappy ones in malls and dont expect much. I tell them that, since all of the bar tenders and most of the servers are using them that, yes, they do work. Bar staff are notoriously heavy smokers, and not likely to change, unless the alternative is equally satisfying.

 

[quasimod]

There are regional vaper "meet-ups" going on all over the country, maybe they should consider ways to attract and include non-vapers...