While vaping on an e-cigarette, Damon Jones shows off the wide variety of flavors available at Smoke City in Orange Park.
14 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | NOVEMBER 6-12, 2012
“Tobacco Free Florida also has concerns about electronic cigarettes utilizing candy flavors and the unique appeal these may have to young people,” it stated in a news release. “Youth has always been a target of the tobacco industry, and our department will not sit by and watch,” stated Dr. John D. Armstrong, state of Florida surgeon general and secretary of health, in a news release about the use of candy-flavored tobacco products. “Companies perceive youth as an easy target and develop products like flavored tobacco and marketing campaigns aimed at them.” Shane Johnson, who runs a company in Mandarin that produces flavored juices for e-cigarettes, disagrees and said, “I will not sell to anyone under 18.” There is nothing harmful in his juices that are inhaled by users of e-cigarettes, he said. “It’s basically glycerin, liquid nicotine and flavoring,” said Johnson, who runs fuZionvapor, an online business in Julington Creek, producing such flavors as “Endless Summer,” “Purple Pieman” and “Bob Marley Blood.” With an e-cigarette, users can determine how much nicotine they want to inhale ranging from the maximum, which is 24 mg, down to zero, he said. “Most people, when they start vaping, want to mimic the cigarette and a tobacco flavor,” he said, adding that they often switch to one of his candy-flavored concoctions. “Vaping is significantly better than any kind of smoking,” he said. Johnson expects to see the government try to regulate and tax e-cigarettes, which will make prices go up. “The FDA is in cahoots with the medical community and Big Tobacco,” he said. “They don’t want vaping to become mainstream.” That might already be happening, though. In April, the nation’s third-largest producer of cigarettes, Lorillard of Greensboro, N.C., which makes Newport, Kent, True, Maverick and Old Gold, acquired the assets of blu ecigs, an electronic cigarette company based in Charlotte, for $135 million in cash. “blu ecigs is the best-selling e-cigarette brand, with the look and feel of traditional cigarettes — without the tobacco smoke, ash or
smell,” the company said in a statement. An estimated 2.5 million users spend about $300 million a year on e-cigarettes, stated the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association. One claim by those who support e-cigarettes is that they can be smoked anywhere, because there’s no flame or smoke. Despite that, they are still banned in many places, creating a patchwork of confusing and inconsistent regulations on when and where e-cigarette users can “vape.” In 2010, Susan Kurland, U.S. Department of Transportation’s assistant secretary of Aviation & International Affairs, testified in a Senate hearing: “Smoking of electronic cigarettes is already banned on U.S. air carrier and foreign air carrier flights in scheduled intrastate, interstate and foreign air transportation.” Unlike tobacco products, e-cigarettes are permitted at Jacksonville International Airport and users can vape in the terminal, said JIA spokesperson Debbie Jones. They can be carried through security, but can’t be used aboard aircraft. Carnival Cruise Lines tightened its policy on using both cigarettes and e-cigarettes on its ships last year, said Aly Bello-Cabreizia, a Carnival spokesperson. On some ships, e-cigarettes and tobacco are allowed only in jazz clubs and designated smoking areas. As of Dec. 1, 2011, smoking and use of e-cigarettes is prohibited in all guest staterooms. Smoking is permitted outside on balconies. All spa suites and staterooms are entirely smokefree on the ships Carnival Splendor, Carnival Dream, Carnival Magic and Carnival Breeze. Guests who smoke in staterooms are subject to a $250 cleaning charge. The University of Florida bans both tobacco and e-cigarettes on its Gainesville campus and at health care facilities in Jacksonville and Gainesville. However, neither Jacksonville University nor University of North Florida has a campuswide smoking ban and e-cigarettes are allowed. There is no State University System policy. Because of Florida’s indoor smoking laws, Johnson said those using e-cigarettes at restaurants and bars sometimes get a second or third look from the manager or a police officer.