Officially a month old now…
July 21st, 2009
and still I’m a smoker. It’s not for lack of trying. But now I know that I can’t buy from Blu any time in the near future, as they are no longer able to ship into Canada. And it appears that this will be increasingly true of vendors in the US – and likely other vendors as well. But I don’t want to get into the whole Health Canada thing right now… I’ve got a lot more to say on that one later.
Meanwhile, I wanted to share a discovery with you. As I have shopped, read, browsed, called, emailed and read some more across a wide range of sites and countries, I’ve come to an interesting realization. There are really only a few companies that are actually making e-cigs and their supplies. Whether bottles or cartridges, there are only a couple of different formulas (so far) that are available in large quantity to even come close to meeting the growing demand. I see a number of the larger sites also offering affiliate programs that are of course designed to encourage faster growth and to ‘share’ the wealth a little bit at a time, while increasing volume so that in the end, the companies are able to reach more clients and take more orders and increase their bottom line profits. But I have to ask this – Why would I want to invest thousands – even tens of thousands of US dollars into a business that has a high risk of failure due to the incredible competition that is showing up already? Why would I want to risk it all for customs issues and customer complaints? When I can get a small piece of the action without any risk at all. And I mean NO risk!
I’ve already eared a few dollars as an affiliate to just one company. And all I have to do is bring traffic to a link and when they click on that link, when they order, I earn. Simple. No inventory. No shipping. No Customer Service. None of the headaches. I just wait to see how many successful orders are placed and filled and collect my monthly payment. And in truth… if it covers a little of my actual costs related to e-cigs, then I’m a happy guy.
Sure… we are all tempted by the impression that this will become a MASSIVE market and will claim billions in revenues, and we all want our little share of that. I know I do! But what I really want is the ability to help others to make a choice that will, in at least one way, increase their chances of surviving a terrible addiction. It’s been said many times that nicotine addiction is perhaps the hardest to break, and there are many reports that claim that all of the stop-smoking techniques out there suffer a staggering 98% or higher long-term failure rate!
So I’ve been blogging on this whole e-cig thing for a solid month and have learned a ton. Along the way, I’ve shared some of that knowledge with you, and some of you have responded. It’s been interesting, frustrating and maybe even a little therapeutic at times. So I wanted to toss a few words here for now to let you know that I am looking back on the first month as a success and will most certainly be working forward in the hopes that I will actually have more to talk about on this subject in the next few days. Maybe even be able to tell the world that I’m actually using an e-cig soon!
And of course, I will be posting on the state of the market as the FDA, Health Canada and other government agencies work to put a strangle hold on these products.
But for now… it’s off to my last smoke of the night (outside!) and then off to bed. So I wish you a good night and promise – I’ll be back!
Cheers
njw
Posted in General | 
Tags: blu, e-cig, e-cigarette, electronic cigarette, fda, health canada, opinion, personal, smoking, tobacco, vaping
5 Responses to “Officially a month old now…”
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- An interesting article By John E. Calfee
- Another interview at ecigarettedirect
- Detailed analysis on one brand of e-cig by Health NZ
- e-cig blog and store
- e-cig.com
- e-cigarette forum
- Electronic Cigarette Association
- Health New Zealand – Some warnings
- Nicotine Addiction 101…
- PETITION to the FDA to save e-cigs!
- Propylene Glycol Safety Researh Article
- Quitting Benefits Timeline
- Survey comments from ex-analog smokers…
- Tobacco Atlast
Media, Media, Media, Media. They only way to change things is through the media. this thing needs a lot of media attention. constant and consistant media coverage. I know SOOOOO many people that have never even heard of them. Thats why they can get away with this. There is not enough people screaming at Health Canada to back off. Of all the studies completed on them at this time you can not deny they are Healthier than cigarettes. you’d have to add a lot of chemcal to the finished product. Spread the word. unfortunately harder to do if you don’t have one to show people. PG wont kill you, glycerine harmless, Nicotine will make you sick way before you can hurt yourself with it.
Russ: Thanks… I got a copy of that one as well, and I am quite sure that a lot of people did. I’m not weeping, however. I’m Vaping! Check out the E8 and E9 (E8 kit image on the right will link to the site) and see what I’m using instead of the Blu. It works – rather well. There are certainly some ‘getting used to it’ things, but I understand that these are common to all varieties of e-cig. And… I’m happy to report that they were able to ship into Canada (so far anyway!).
So we just pick another vendor with a similar product – or perhaps better from what I’m hearing – and move on. I’ve been vaping now for more than 5 full days and have not even craved a tobacco cigarette since receiving my kit on Friday.
Good Luck Russ! I hope you find something that you like as I’ve done.
njw
Here’s the e-mail I just received,read it and weep,i did….
Dear blu Customer,
Regrettably, due to Canadian regulations, we can no longer accept orders for blu with Canadian shipping addresses. Recent orders have been seized by Canadian customs preventing us from shipping any future orders to Canada.
If you have a pending order with a shipping address in Canada, the order will be cancelled and your credit card account will not be charged. The “Authorization Hold” that was placed on your account when you submitted your order will automatically expire, typically within 7-14 days of the hold being placed. Please contact your credit card bank if you have any questions regarding the “Authorization Hold” as blu Customer Service cannot access that information.
While we can no longer accept orders with Canadian shipping addresses, your account will remain active and accessible. Should you wish to place a new order, blu continues to ship to US addresses.
We share in your frustration with the limitations imposed by regulations that are preventing us from meeting the ongoing product needs of our customers. We encourage you to contact your local government representatives to express your viewpoint. We hope that with the support of our customers we can change the current environment and once again be able to ship to Canada.
Sincerely,
blucigs.com
Well Hey there Kevin and thanks for Posting. I’ll start with spelling… I don’t usually bother, but when I saw the name Keivn I figured that I should fix that one for you.
Great comments. I appreciate your thoughts very much, as I do anyone’s. HC is pushing PG as an irritant – and as you said, not mentioning that analog cigs contain SEVERAL known irritants. The anti-freeze stuff is still kind of out there in my mind. It’s quite new, and I believe that it related to an agent that is used to dry tobacco. Of course they will find traces of those chemicals… but still I’m betting it’s a lot lower than would be found in an analog. I think that the REAL message that needs to get out to everyone here regarding e-cigs – at least from MY point of view – is that I ADMIT there may be risks. I know this for sure. But what I’m also 99% certain of at this point is that no matter what they find in e-cigs, and no matter who produces them, THEY ARE STILL LESS LIKELY TO KILL ME THAN TOBACCO! And not by just a little bit either – Cigarettes are thousands of times more likely to kill me! I don’t need a prescription to go to the CONVENIENCE STORE and drop my money on the counter for tobacco cigarettes! So tell the Chinese to stick warning labels on their product. Tax me at 20-30% on the products. And let’s get moving forward! And as for making e-cigs in North America… It HAS TO HAPPEN! If we start moving from analog to e-cig, we could be putting a lot of people out of work. Hell… if I had interests in a tobacco company I’d be looking at how to start production of e-cigs asap.
I really do agree with everything you have posted so far. I believe that governments that rely on the tax money for tobacco products will make it next to impossible for any product such as the e-cig to be sold. This is the same as our oil companies and the use of alternative fuels.
From what I have been reading, Health Canada put a stop to e-cigs because PG is a know irritant and nicotine can result in nicotine poisoning or addiction. The satement made by Health Canada does, however have holes, mainly because the 4000 other chemicals in tobacco (identified by Health Canada) are also know and proven irritants and nicotine can be found in other products that could lead to posiing and addition such as patches and inhailers.
Although, the statements made by Health Canada may be, for a lack of a better word, stupid; the hold on e-cigs may be a good thing. When reviewing tests on the e-cig cartridges, almost all had additional chemicals and varying amounts of nicotine (didn’t matter what strength). Checmicals such as those found in anti-freeze plus others. I’m sure this is not what prompted Healh Canada to get their hands in this, however, what i really hope to see is research and development of the product.
By this I mean, in the near future, I would like to see the FDA and Halth Canada test the IDEA of e-cigs, not the products. Because most e-cig products today are made in China, most will be found illegal with issues that I stated above. Instead, I would like to see the FDA and Health Canada authorize the production of e-cigs in North America, with strict safety standards.
Even if they were taxed like tobacco products, I would be fine with that. I live on a low to mid income, so I am not rich by any means, but my heath is more important to me than my wallet. If e-cigs could be manufacturered and sold in North America, I would be willing to pay the same as what I pay now for my tobacco products, just knowing that there is no/minimal health risks.
I hope this post makes it’s way to the public. Please feel free to correct any spelling errors along the way. And feel free to let me know that you think.