Older Folks and Vaping Front Porch - Part Three
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Got that earlier today, but been mostly off the 'puter. But, I did email them all this:
I am writing as a voter and taxpaying Washintonian to express extreme
concern and opposition to HB 1645. This bill would severely limit
adult access to low-risk, smoke-free vapor products that are helping
millions of former smokers like me maintain a safe distance from
combustible cigarettes. Such an extreme price hike imposed on
products that help people quit smoking simply makes no sense. Although
I agree with the state’s desire to limit access to these products to
minors, this bill will limit adult access and, in fact, put myself and
others at risk of returning to smoking. Rather than endangering the
lives of adults that have made a conscious choice to improve their
health, the state should enforce the existing law that prohibits sales
of vapor products to minors.
Vapor products contain NO tobacco and are significantly LESS harmful
than smoking tobacco. MY health has improved since I made the switch,
MY doctor and MY dentist have both remarked on it. Taxing it out of
viable reach as a HARM REDUCTION method makes absolutely no sense.
Simply stated, vapor products should not be treated the same as
traditional combustible cigarettes. While nicotine may be what causes
many smokers to continue to smoke, nicotine use in and of itself is
not particularly hazardous. Rather, it is smoking -- lighting
something on fire and inhaling the products of combustion -- that
causes the whole host of very serious health problems associated with
smoking. E-cigarettes do not involve combustion and are estimated to
be 99% less hazardous than smoking.
Ostensibly, taxes on traditional cigarettes are intended to discourage
use and offset expenses incurred by taxpayers due to health problems
attributed to smoking. However, due to the fact that e-cigarettes
have not been shown to be a threat to public health (and, in fact, are
a health boon to those who have made the switch or who have reduced
their smoking using e-cigarettes), discouraging use is counter to
goals of reducing smoking rates. Taxing e-cigarettes in a manner
similar to how cigarettes are taxed sends a confusing and inaccurate
message to would be adopters that these two very different products
present similar risks. The result of this message is that more
people, those that otherwise would have switched to a smoke free
product, will be encouraged to continue smoking -- 1.1 million
Washington residents will actually be encouraged to continue smoking
instead of making the switch to low-risk product like e-cigarettes.
HB 1645 creates unnecessary, complicated, and expensive hurdles for
businesses (onerous requirements regarding licensing, shipping, etc.).
This is not only bad for businesses, it’s bad for consumers. These
requirements will dramatically increase costs, force many (if not
most) businesses to close, and severely limit my access to the
products I rely upon to remain smoke-free.
Banning internet sales appears to be an infringement of my rights to
interstate commerce.
Banning all components (Section 15) includes, among many other common
items, the screws that hold vaping devices together. So are Home Depot
and McLendon's going to have to get waivers? Flashlights were used to
build some early vaping devices. Are they to be illegal to buy on the
internet?
I look forward to your response on this issue. I, along with my fellow
members of CASAA (Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives
Association), thank you for considering my comments and hope you will
oppose misguided attempts to limit adult use of smoke-free
e-cigarettes. Please keep me informed of the progress of these bills
as they move through the legislative process and feel free to contact
me with any questions you might have regarding this issue.
(Feel free to use, cut and paste, etc
)Only one reply - from my State Senator's office:
David,
Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns about HB 1645. We can appreciate your perspective and have printed out your email for Senator Becker to read. This bill has not had any action in the Senate. However, that could change at any time.
This has been a widely discussed issue here in Olympia and across the state. Senator Becker has not favored taxes in the past, and will be paying close attention to these bills as the session comes to a close this month.
Thank you for your input and your involvement.
Best regards,
Stephanie DeHart - Session Aide to
Washington State Senator Randi Becker
Keep writing and calling!
Fantastic letter David .. thank you for sharing the info.
I think this has a LOT to do with it
Tobacco Bonds May Be Dangerous to Your State's Financial Health
They borrowed all that $$$, spent it, and now that the revenue from the cigarette tax is dropping, they are in trouble, when it comes to paying it back . ... like a lot of states.
Also, note on the chart how much of that $$$ they actually spent on "Smoking Prevention"
They need to keep you on the cigs, or find another way to get the tax $$$. ...wa laa ...vaping !!
Our address is always listed as a PO Box unless we know that UPS (or whatever) is delivering it because UPS won’t deliver to a PO Box. They refuse to drop it at the PO, which is 3 miles closer than our house is. They didn’t even deliver USPS mail out here until recently. We’ve never bothered to put up a box. Our PO on the other hand, is actually pretty good.
I can't believe the absurdity of some of this. Can you imagine Safeway carding you for cotton balls and keeping your personal information on file for five years? How about your local mom and pop store. Are swat teams going to converge on them if they don't? Who makes this stuff up? You've committed a felony if you mail VG to someone in Washington? I used to think California was bad but you guys win.
Not going to quote the whole thing on the same page as the post but, hot damn David, excellent letter! I don't envy you guys up there (except for the scenery) at all.
I agree.......some of the states with the most in bonds, have fought the hardest, and proposed the most taxes, except florida, they were proposing high taxes as well.
O.K. THAT was one of the better responses I've yet seen. Still made no promises, but you can identify that this is someone in the Senator's office and that the senator has instructed them to bring concerns like this to attention.Got that earlier today, but been mostly off the 'puter. But, I did email them all this:
I am writing as a voter and taxpaying Washintonian to express extreme
concern and opposition to HB 1645. ...
(Feel free to use, cut and paste, etc
Only one reply - from my State Senator's office:
David,
Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns about HB 1645. We can appreciate your perspective and have printed out your email for Senator Becker to read. This bill has not had any action in the Senate. However, that could change at any time.
This has been a widely discussed issue here in Olympia and across the state. Senator Becker has not favored taxes in the past, and will be paying close attention to these bills as the session comes to a close this month.
Thank you for your input and your involvement.
Best regards,
Stephanie DeHart - Session Aide to
Washington State Senator Randi Becker
Keep writing and calling!
Did get a response from my State Rep on the previous version/alternate bill earlier, and he said he'd be voting against it if it made it out of committee... so hopefully he's still of the same mind with this version, but haven't heard...
Yup, all about the $$.
What's new?!
The only thing we can do is keep making noise and make them think about election time...
Yup, all about the $$.
What's new?!
The only thing we can do is keep making noise and make them think about election time...
- Dec 18, 2013
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As long as the news media stays away from it, except for the negative things,... we're in trubblez.
Excellent letter David!... and Thanks for permission to copy/paste it. I put it in a Word doc for future use.
Folks, I am lovin' my pif'd (black) Lemo, and the (black) iStick 20 I got in a trade!
I got lucky and nailed the perfect coil on the first try (~1.1Ω), the iStick powers it perfectly at ~13-15w, and the combo has been my constant companion for two weeks today.
They look and work great together, and is a big step up from a modded Protank 2 on a mech clone. Air flow is set wide open and is more to my liking, and 5ml. capacity is double the PT2. This rig is so efficient I've lowered my nic % from 8-10mg/ml to 3.57
(I had a bunch of 50/50 @10mg. already mixed up, and to dilute it and get the pg/vg ratio to 70/30 and lower nic to below 5mg. at the same time, that's where the nic ended up.... suits me fine.Lowering VG to 30%, drinking a tablespoon of diluted apple cider vinegar every morning, and drinking more water has all but fixed my throat (phlem) problem.
I'm mostly using non-flavored nicquid, but:
Bonus!: The Lemo upper chimney air tube diameter is large enough to look down and see the coil/wick with the drip tip removed. A few days ago, as I was peering down the tube, my little light bulb lit up. Eureka! So I carefully dripped one drop of French Vanilla straight down the tube and onto the coil/wick. I like the French Vanilla, but can't take a whole 5ml. of it... this way, I get 5-10 minutes of flavor before it washes out. Again, perfect.
I still really like my SubTank Mini/iStick 30, and if not for the Lemo I'd still think it was the best thing since humans figured out a round wheel was better than a square one, but the STM has taken a back seat to the Lemo/iStick 20. Both are pocketable, bullet-proof, make nice big vapor and a just-right TH, and fit my active lifestyle with aplomb.
Using the two of those in tandem, exclusively, for a couple of weeks now... and you'd have to slap this stupid grin off my face to get rid of it.
ciao y'all
While there are many (TOO many!) calls to action in too many places, it seems that often folk are reluctant to make the contacts because they don't feel they have the proper words to do so effectively. So if my words - edited to be appropriate for the local bills, of course - can be a starting point, go for it. It's for the benefit of us all to be active in defending vaping, and anything that makes it easier is a good thing. (The above does not apply to the great American novel I'm not writing.)
Huh, using the Lemo as a dripper... Cool! Hadn't thought of that!
I used a stock OCC in the subtank mini when I first got it and it lasted around three days then the vape quality was lowering.So I thought well it is good so I can pull it apart now and I did and then went on to rebuild it.
Then there was some trial and error.
This one has been going for a week today and still relatively good. Probably close to the end of its life and sure to have much build up but still functioning.
So this rebuilt OCC has lasted longer and performed just as good - possibly better than the original stock OCC.
I think when its time to change it I'll put in a new coil and wick. Could just pull the wick out but then the coil would be all gunked up and could dry burn it but the gunk would just fall down inside the casing and its easy enough and fun to rebuild.
Then there was some trial and error.
This one has been going for a week today and still relatively good. Probably close to the end of its life and sure to have much build up but still functioning.
So this rebuilt OCC has lasted longer and performed just as good - possibly better than the original stock OCC.
I think when its time to change it I'll put in a new coil and wick. Could just pull the wick out but then the coil would be all gunked up and could dry burn it but the gunk would just fall down inside the casing and its easy enough and fun to rebuild.
Satisfaction. I broke a bottle of flavoring from RTS, trying to get the lid off. Sent them a message, and got a quick apology. Replacement is in the mail.
Iffy, just noticed it's 4 years for you ------ BIG CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!! Ginger
Whoa Iffy! Happy 4th Vaperversary!
Yeah, he ate the other candle.
Dude, we want a speech!
Yeah, he ate the other candle.
Dude, we want a speech!
Sweet ginger,
Thanx and my-my aren't you observant!
Actually, my main objective today was filing my Fed income tax return. Yepper, da vapeaversity has, thankfully, become a cherished ol' hat. What a true blessing vaping has been fer moi!!!
BTW, gettin' a whoppin' $27 refund...
Truth be told, I have no income tax withheld from my two retirement checks; USAF & last employer. I'd rather handle my money throughout da year dan da polytickians. Just fortunate, fer now, dat it all 'worked out'.
Again, nice 'catch'!
Wahooooooooo Iffy!!!! that's wonderful!!!!!!! Jup......speech.......speech!!! lol
Very true, the media could put a ton of good light on this. Greg Gutfeld from Fox does his share and then some!! He gets downright nasty with em. I don't twitter.......but I know he can be contacted there......would be good for folks to support him in his efforts. Let him know it means a lot to us and to keep it up. I was trying to find how to email him...... but couldn't find it. @greggutfeld on twitter and you can find him on facebook if you do facebook.
So glad you love the lemo!!
David......thanks for letting us know that it's ok to use your letter as a starting point. I have a hard time coming up with words so I often put a small message of my own, and let them know the rest is from CASAA but it says it better than I could and I agree with every word of it. I'm a creative writer, but have always had a hard time with technical writing.
As long as the news media stays away from it, except for the negative things,... we're in trubblez.
Very true, the media could put a ton of good light on this. Greg Gutfeld from Fox does his share and then some!! He gets downright nasty with em. I don't twitter.......but I know he can be contacted there......would be good for folks to support him in his efforts. Let him know it means a lot to us and to keep it up. I was trying to find how to email him...... but couldn't find it. @greggutfeld on twitter and you can find him on facebook if you do facebook.
So glad you love the lemo!!
David......thanks for letting us know that it's ok to use your letter as a starting point. I have a hard time coming up with words so I often put a small message of my own, and let them know the rest is from CASAA but it says it better than I could and I agree with every word of it. I'm a creative writer, but have always had a hard time with technical writing.
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