What companies do you think WILL stay in the Market after August?

[ENAUD]

I have been surprised just how many more options there are. I just hate that it is so much more expensive and we know why.

As a former server I was surpised how many people could not have gluten. My boss was really cool and ended up getting gluten free dough for our gourmet pizzas. I was also surprised when someone asked at the various places I worked that had no idea if something had gluten in it. They the few places I worked would shrug and say maybe or I don't know it should be fine. It made me mad because it is a big deal and I was not going to serve someone something that even had the possibility of having it. I told my customers that as well.

I was just reading something the other day not on here where a few people who were totally ignorant as hell about celiac and were like suck it up. It can be done in moderation. Ugh!

My daughter is gluten intolerable but does not have celiac. I asked her doctor if I should put her on a gluten free doctor and she was like well, I guess. I did it and it really helped her. Now that she is on her own she doesn't always adhere to it and she does pay for it. She gets so miserable.

I really can't fault people for not understanding, why would they? Even servers etc, they just don't have the knowledge for the most part. Me, I was cooking at a restaurant at 15 years age, so it's a no brainer, If I don't cook it, I don't eat it. Traveling is very difficult...

 

[zoiDman]

I wonder if I started a Gluten Free thread if it would go Off Topic and people would start talking about Companies Going Out of Business?

 

[Yiana]

One more off topic gluten post:

I try and avoid as much wheat/gluten as I can myself (not because I have to, I just don't think it's a healthy thing to eat a lot of) and here are a couple of bread options you might not be aware of:

Paleo Bread™ By The Julian Bakery

breads - Gluten-Free

The first one I bought when I was trying the paleo thing and enjoyed it but it is not cheap ($9/loaf iirc) . They make it fresh, ship it 2 day air, then it must be frozen for long term storage and refrigerated for the loaf you are eating. I could also buy it frozen at some local health food stores at a significant mark up vs ordering direct.

The 2nd I can find at the local Krogers for half the price of the former. It is vacuum sealed and has great shelf life with no preservatives. Once opened it has to be refrigerated to last for a week or so, if kept on the shelf after opening it you only get a few days from it.

If you make breads yourself and do lots of other cooking/baking then Bob's Red Mill has lots of great GF ingredients.

I love Bob's Red Mill.

 

[ENAUD]

I wonder if I started a Gluten Free thread if it would go Off Topic and people would start talking about Companies Going Out of Business?

Sorry Train...Back on topic, Vuse, Blue, and Mark Ten...those will be available until the end of time...
Market consolidation at it's best

 

[Alien Traveler]

The PA tax doesn't apply to internet purchases. The floor tax, which will close most all PA vape businesses, will result in a net loss for PA in terms of both ongoing tax revenue and employment. Of course, just like the FDA regs, they aren't explicitly BANNING anything. Yeah, right.

Edit: I believe there will be a tax on internet purchases to be reported and paid by the buyer as well. Self reporting much like sales tax on internet purchases. Damn.

By the way, PA simultaneously rises tax on cigarettes ($1 more now) and makes new tax in digital downloads. They are really broken.

 

[Fozzy71]

I wonder if I started a Gluten Free thread if it would go Off Topic and people would start talking about Companies Going Out of Business?

yes, it would

 

[ENAUD]

yes, it would

herding cats..,

 

[WillyZee]

Sent via iPhone

 

[DaveP]

Do not know about your nic consumption, but as I understand for many (most?) vapers level of cotinine in blood/saliva can be as high as for smokers. So, Nicorette may be not a good enough excuse.

If they do an actual blood test they would see the actual Cotinine level. If they did a urine test strip it would just report negative or positive. The test strips are very sensitive.

At 3mg/ml I'm not nearly as "positive" as I was when vaping 24mg/ml years ago. I also don't consider myself a smoker, although I use a product that contains low levels of nic.

I've followed threads where some people who vaped 3mg passed the cotinine test, while others didn't. It's an iffy proposition that depends on metabolism and how much water you drink.

OTOH, Nicorette explains away the positive, especially since it no longer requires a prescription. I personally have a problem being lumped in with smokers for higher health insurance rates. The article below is about how vapers have similar issue with being rated as a smoker

Insurance Surcharge Has Vapers Fuming

 

[satchvai]

I think the concern with surgery and nicotine needs to be questioned as well. It's my recollection the concern doctors had about smoking before surgery wasn't related to nicotine per se but to the carbon monoxide and other poisonous gases present from combusting burning leaves that would interfere with the procedure. I could be wrong but I think that was the concern.

 

[DaveP]

Yep.

BTW - Another thing I can do if I am a Business in Pennsylvania and they Trump Up a 40% Sales Taxes on what I sell is to Pack Up my Inventory and Move to Another State.

But with this Wholesale/Floor Tax, I would Still have to Fork Over 40% for the Wholesale Value of my Entire Inventor if it was still in Pennsylvania on the Day that the Tax went into Effect.

It used to be that way in Georgia with fireworks. When I was a kid you could buy fireworks in GA. That law changed, the vendors moved over the Georgia-Alabama state line, and we all had to go through Alabama on the way back from Florida to buy fireworks for the 4th of July. Stories say that state troopers would sit in view of the fireworks store looking for Ga tags. They'd follow you to the state line a half mile away and confiscate your fireworks purchase before you crossed over, presumably for their personal use on the 4th.

 

[DaveP]

Nicotine isn't the problem. It's more the loss of revenue to BT and their ability to pay off the MSA to the states and still make multi-billion in profits. Tobacco companies were smarter than we thought.

In my case nicotine is a good way to maintain cognitive benefits and help my brain stay as sharp as it can, being a recently retired guy.

The Secret Health Benefits of Nicotine They Don’t Want You To Know

Forget what you think you know about nicotine. Most people see nicotine as a vile, fiercely addictive substance that takes a large share of the blame for the multitude of deaths occurring around the world as a result of smoking.

But there’s another side to the story. As well as having medicinal benefits, nicotine has untapped potential as a cognitive enhancer, boosting attention, working memory and more. The problem – which you undoubtedly guessed – is that using nicotine by smoking cigarettes for its cognitive benefits is like mainlining ...... to treat your cough: it might work, but the negatives considerably outweigh the positives.

However, vaping is changing all of that.

Nicotine is Not the Bad Guy
The big misconception about nicotine – one held by most smokers questioned in several different studies, usually about two thirds of them – is that it causes cancer. It doesn’t.

The reason for opening with this is because it’s a persistent myth and it offers a hint as to why there’s so much misunderstanding about the risks of nicotine. The simple answer is that it hangs out with a bad crowd.

It’s obviously undeniable that smoking tobacco is a significant cause of cancer and a cacophony of negative health effects. Nicotine, as potentially the most widely-known chemical component in tobacco, is inherently linked to these health impacts in the minds of many people: because it’s believed to be only encountered as part of tobacco smoke, nicotine is assumed to carry a lot of risks.

 

[Alien Traveler]

If they do an actual blood test they would see the actual Cotinine level. If they did a urine test strip it would just report negative or positive. The test strips are very sensitive.

At 3mg/ml I'm not nearly as "positive" as I was when vaping 24mg/ml years ago. I also don't consider myself a smoker, although I use a product that contains low levels of nic.

I've followed threads where some people who vaped 3mg passed the cotinine test, while others didn't. It's an iffy proposition that depends on metabolism and how much water you drink.

OTOH, using Nicorette explains away the positive. I personally have a problem being lumped in with smokers for higher health insurance rates. The article below is about how vapers have similar issue with being rated as a smoker

Insurance Surcharge Has Vapers Fuming

I know it all. Starting January I am paying additional $50 for health insurance. What I wanted to say (not exactly about your case) is that generally vaper should not hope he/she has lower cotinine level than smoker and can easily pass test.

 

[zoiDman]

It used to be that way in Georgia with fireworks. When I was a kid you could buy fireworks in GA. That law changed, the vendors moved over the Georgia-Alabama state line, and we all had to go through Alabama on the way back from Florida to buy fireworks for the 4th of July. Stories say that state troopers would sit in view of the fireworks store looking for Ga tags. They'd follow you to the state line a half mile away and confiscate your fireworks purchase before you crossed over, presumably for their personal use on the 4th.

I can Recall doing the same thing with Fireworks runs to Pahrump Nevada.

What is Particularly Disturbing about this new Pennsylvania Law is just like many types of Fireworks in my State, there appears to be provisions for the Criminalization of Possession of Untaxed e-Liquids.

Check out Section 1207-A in the Post below...

All of us here in PA are hurting today. This is a well crafted guillotine designed to kill the industry and all use of vaping supplies in any fashion.

In fact, even supplies that you have in your own possession in PA, regardless of when you bought them, may be covered:

Section 1207-A. Sales or possession of tobacco product when tax
not paid.
(a) Sales or possession.--Any person who sells or possesses
any tobacco product for which the proper tax has not been paid
commits a summary offense and shall, upon conviction, be
sentenced to pay costs of prosecution and a fine of not less
than $100 nor more than $1,000 or to imprisonment for not more
than 60 days, or both, at the discretion of the court. Any
tobacco products purchased from a wholesaler properly licensed
under this article shall be presumed to have the proper taxes
paid.
(b) Tax evasion.--Any person that shall falsely or
fraudulently, maliciously, intentionally or willfully with
intent to evade the payment of the tax imposed by this article
sells or possesses any tobacco product for which the proper tax
has not been paid commits a felony and shall, upon conviction,
be sentenced to pay costs of prosecution and a fine of not more
than $5,000 or to imprisonment for not more than five years, or
both, at the discretion of the court.​

So, if you're walking around with a bottle of juice you've had for years, or DIY? Apparently, it's up to a 5 year prison sentence.

So lets say you CAN find a vendor who meets all criteria, and you get some liquid from them, paying a price that'll cover the extra taxes... wait, you lost the receipt??

Section 1214-A. Failure to furnish information, returning false
information or failure to permit inspection.
(a) Penalty.--Any taxpayer who fails to keep or make any
record, return, report, inventory or statement, or keeps or
makes any false or fraudulent record, return, report, inventory
or statement required by this article commits a misdemeanor and
shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay costs of prosecution
and a fine of $500 and to imprisonment for not more than one
year, or both, at the discretion of the court.​

Prison time, again. It should say retailer, or wholesaler, but it doesn't. This entire section of law makes it clear that these rules all apply to individual persons as well, not just the businesses or their representatives.

"Unclassified importer." A consumer who purchases tobacco
products using the Internet or mail order catalogs for personal
possession or use in this Commonwealth from persons that are not
licensed.
...
1202-A (c) Unclassified importer.--The tax is imposed on an
unclassified importer at the time of purchase at the same rate
as in subsections (a) and (a.1) based on the unclassified
importer's purchase price of the tobacco products. The
unclassified importer shall remit the tax to the department​

GET ANGRY. CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES.
This is all effective before the FDA hammer even comes down.

Seems like it is a Very Bad Time to be a Smoker in Pennsylvania who has tried to Quit and Can't. And would like to Try e-Cigarettes as a means to Quit or even Cut Back.

 

[mostlyclassics]

Add Pennsylvania to my list of states never to visit.

Theoretically I, a resident of another state and with all my eliquid and vape gear, could be toking while strolling down the street and get hauled in for being an "unclassified importer."

Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and other things had been on my bucket list to visit. But Americans' symbols of freedom are surrounded by a bunch of totalitarian thugs now.

 

[Bob Chill]

PA is going to learn a lesson similar to my state (if the real intent of the tax is to increase revenue).

MD cig tax revenue was $268M in 2006. They doubled the tax in 2007 to $2/pk. Tax revenue "peaked" @ $395M in 2010 and has since declined. Yes, less people are smoking but it's estimated that at least 20% of all cigarettes consumer by MD'ers are from other states (VA and DE in particular). It didn't go as planned. Now they are considering raising to $3/pk. lol.

It's estimated that over 50% of all cigarettes consumed in NY are smuggled or residents simply purchase elsewhere. Being an island of imposing high taxes on a consumable product is counterproductive and can be outright stupid from a fiscal standpoint. I think States often underestimate their residents' witts and wills.

I buy all my big ticket items (like lawn tractors and furniture etc) from DE. Zero sales tax. Saving 6% on a $5k purchase is a no brainer. I only have to drive 3 hours round trip. I don't do it often but all my bigger purchases are strategically planned.

PA's move will cause a temporary spike in revenue but unlikely to reach the estimates they are predicting (especially with vapor products).

 

[DaveP]

I know it all. Starting January I am paying additional $50 for health insurance. What I wanted to say (not exactly about your case) is that generally vaper should not hope he/she has lower cotinine level than smoker and can easily pass test.

There's lots of stories around about ECF members trying to pass the nic test at work for health insurance.

 

[DaveP]

I buy all my big ticket items (like lawn tractors and furniture etc) from DE. Zero sales tax. Saving 6% on a $5k purchase is a no brainer. I only have to drive 3 hours round trip. I don't do it often but all my bigger purchases are strategically planned.

I hear you. I used to ride to Atlanta with my wife to do Christmas shopping. Sometimes, I'd get her to drop me off at Guitar Center or Newegg Computers and pick me up when she changed strip malls.

These days I just order it online and wait for the post office to deliver it.

 

[DaveP]

I can Recall doing the same thing with Fireworks runs to Pahrump Nevada.

What is Particularly Disturbing about this new Pennsylvania Law is just like many types of Fireworks in my State, there appears to be provisions for the Criminalization of Possession of Untaxed e-Liquids.

Check out Section 1207-A in the Post below...

Seems like it is a Very Bad Time to be a Smoker in Pennsylvania who has tried to Quit and Can't. And would like to Try e-Cigarettes as a means to Quit or even Cut Back.

What's the difference in DIY? You paid the appropriate tax on the ingredients. What's next, a fine for not hiring a contractor to do handyman work because the state didn't get income tax on his profits from you? Or a penalty for buying the boards from Home Depot and not paying someone taxable income to nail them together for you? Wait! Home Depot pays taxes in your state. That'll make them happy.

It's getting a little crazy. State governments are losing tax on interstate shipments and trying to stay afloat by gouging citizens.

 

[zoiDman]

What's the difference in DIY? You paid the appropriate tax on the ingredients. What's next, a fine for not hiring a contractor to do handyman work because the state didn't get income tax on his profits from you? Or a penalty for buying the boards from Home Depot and not paying someone taxable income to nail them together for you? Wait! Home Depot pays taxes in your state. That'll make them happy.

It's getting a little crazy. State governments are losing tax on interstate shipments and trying to stay afloat by gouging citizens.

I hear you Dave.

And I'm Not Sure what it will Take for people to say Enough is Enough.