It's all about the vape

A Little Rock lawmaker's proposal for an electronic-cigarette tax is to be reviewed in committee today. Rep. Charles Blake's bill would add a 71/ 2 -cent tax on e-cigarettes and the fluid used in the devices.

Locally, there's a mixed response to the Democratic legislator's measure, but proponents of e-cigs, or personal vaporizers, see it as imposing an unnecessary tax on people using the devices to quit smoking.

Beyond using them as a smoking cessation tool, personal vaporizers have become a pop culture accessory, although retailer Kim Mellembakken says the concept behind them has been around "a long, long time."

House Bill 1156 is on the agenda for the House Select Committee on Rules when it meets at noon today. Rep. Kelley Linck, R-Flippin, is a member of the committee. As proposed by Blake, HB1156 would create the E-Cigarettes Tax Act. The measure defines an e-cigarette as "an electronic oral device that provides a vapor of nicotine or another substance" that simulates smoking and uses a "consumable product" composed in whole or in part of pure nicotine.

Blake recommends a 71/ 2 -cent tax per fluid milliliter (ml) on the liquid. While the fluid, or "juice," is sold in different quantities, a 10ml bottle generally is the smallest size, which would add 72 cents to the cost of a bottle.

In addition, it would require manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers to obtain a state license to sell e-cigs or consumable product.

Revenue from the juice tax would be equally divided among the Child Care and Early Childhood Education Fund of the Department of Services, the Adult Services fund of DHS, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the State Apportionment Fund.

Starting a conversation

Blake, who has said he doesn't smoke but has "vaped" with friends, told an interviewer he filed the bill to get a conversation started about e-cigarettes and where tax revenue would go. Some believe it is an effort to generate revenue that's been lost from the state's tobacco tax due to people who successfully have quit smoking.

"We're against it," said Mellembakken, owner of American Vapes in Mountain Home, who added she doesn't see the tax as a deterrent to vaping. "I don't think it would stop people from vaping," she said.

"I don't smoke anymore, but they tax everything they can," said Anita Vazquez of Mountain Home. "They want people to quit smoking, and when people do and start something that is supposed to be better, now they figure, 'better tax that, too.' I think it's wrong."

"If the excessive tax on tobacco was supposedly a ploy to make people quit smoking, why start taxing the method they are using to help quit?" asked Geneva Sinor of Mountain Home.

"I don't smoke, but have several loved ones who do," said Brittni Gibbs of Mountain Home. "My uncle, who had smoked for 30-plus years, was finally able to stop smoking with the help of the vapor stuff. Why another tax?"

Others think the e-cigs and liquid should be taxed.

"They should be taxed like any other item that is sold in a store," said David Maycunich of Mountain Home. "I'm not sure why people think that some things should be taxed more or less than others."

"Yes, they should be taxed, just like cigarettes," said B.J. Lawry of Cotter. "And no, they don't help. I've tried them ... no help at all."

Alternative to smoking

Mellembakken and other proponents of vaping, however, say it can be an effective alternative to smoking. A vaper herself, Mellembakken said both she and her husband have stopped smoking tobacco, adding she hasn't smoked in a year.

She said her brother and his wife got them interested in vaping, and that her brother hasn't smoked in about 31/ 2 years. Mellembakken and her husband opened American Vapez in February 2014, and she said in that time she has seen customer who were smokers begin vaping, then quit tobacco completely, and ultimately quit vaping.

Mellembakken's clients, most in their 40s or older who have smoked for 20 years or longer, are looking for help quitting. There have been some who have tried other methods and failed, she said, and even some long-term smokers who repeatedly failed to quit smoking were referred by their doctors.

By stepping down the amount of nicotine received, vaping can be effective in quitting smoking, said Mellembakken, plus vapers do not get the tars and other carcinogens in cigarettes.

Regina Ellis, who coordinates the smoking cessation program at Pietz Cancer House, said vaping generally is not recommended as a way to quit smoking. Getting people off nicotine is the objective, she said, and even the use of nicotine gum or nicotine patches in only temporary as people try to get it out of their system.

Pietz Cancer House offers a regular smoking cessation program, and Ellis said the next one begins March 9.

More testimonials

However, many people credit vaping with getting them off cigarettes

"I stopped smoking in December by switching to vaping. I have not wanted a cigarette since," said former Mountain Home resident Cameron Lincoln, who now lives in Columbia, Mo. "The ingredients are well-known, the health risks are minor. We should be encouraging vaping as an alternative to smoking."

"I quit smoking Oct. 15," said Paige Griffith of Mountain Home. "I feel so much better. Vaping is way healthier than smoking. I prefer vaping to smoking. I don't smell, my taste buds are back, I stopped smoking, and I know what is in my vape."

"I have been vaping for a year. I immediately put down cigarettes after my first vape," said Stephanie Hazelwood, formerly of Mountain Home. "I feel so much better. I also save about $120 a month, so I am not for a tax."

"I smoked my last Marlboro Light on Dec. 15. I've been using vapor since," said Carisa Johnson of Seymour, Tenn.

"I smoked 45 years. I tried everything that came along to quit smoking; nothing worked," said Larry Richards of Norfork Lake Estates. "But, after using e-cigs for four months, I never craved another cig and now I am smoke-free — thank God and e-cigs."

"I was a pack and a half a day smoker for over 10 years, and I tried just about everything to help me kick the habit," said Laurie Reed. "Thanks to e-cigs, I quit smoking in February of 2014."

"Yes, I smoked for years," said Brandon Scallion of Mountain Home. "I bought a vape and used it sparingly. I've been smoke-free since November. They truly work, but I'll add that without some will power, nothing will work."

Not a new concept

The concept of personal vaporizers isn't new, according to Mellembakken, who has antique vaporizers from the 1940s that were used in hospitals. They worked on the same principle as the modern e-cigarette, or personal vaporizer. A substance is added to a liquid and heated — by electricity in the antique models and small batteries in the modern version — and the vapor is inhaled. In essence, they were an early form of respiratory therapy.

Only instead of a bulky glass container, today's personal vaporizers, or PVs, are available in a variety of shapes and sizes — from the size of an ink pen to a modified version, or "mod," with a battery pack the size of a small cellphone.

A PV consists of the heating unit with a rechargeable battery, the fluid container, an atomizer and a mouthpiece. The battery or coil, heating the juice, creates a vapor transferred through the atomizer to the user.

The juice can contain a variable amount of nicotine as a smoker weans himself from tobacco, or no nicotine at all. Mellembakken said they can make juice with zero to 2.4 percent nicotine. Samples at the shop contain zero nicotine.

According to Mellembakken, their product contains four ingredients; three if there is no nicotine, and she noted some vapers do not use nicotine. Their juice is made with USDA-approved food flavoring, propylene glycol (PG) and vegetable glyceride (VG). There are no additives or other ingredients, and a small bottle of juice can last the average smoker about five days for $7.99, which Mellembakken said is far less than the cost five packs of cigarettes.

Juice is available in different flavors, including fruits, candy, coffee, and even tobacco.

Regulation is needed

While Mellembakken doesn't agree with the tax proposal, she said there should be some regulation of the vaping industry. American Vapes is doing such things as using child-proof caps on the liquid bottles and labeling the bottles. Mellembakken said the shop also won't sell any vaping materials to anyone younger than 18.

"I don't believe teenagers should start vaping," she said.

Mellembakken did say some non-smokers have become customers, and as with all their clients, they talk with them to learn why they want to vape, and what they expect. Some begin vaping for social situations, she said. Kate Wood, of San Antonio, Texas, said she has vaped to avoid "social smoking" when out with friends.

"I get custom-made juice without nicotine," the former Mountain Home resident said. "It's kept me from ever becoming a cigarette smoker."

Mellembakken said sometimes a spouse will try vaping, because their partner smokes, in the hopes of getting him or her to switch to vaping and quit cigarettes. She noted vaping seems equally popular among both men and women.

There still are questions and concerns about the safety of vaping and its long-term effect. Mellembakken doesn't believe it is harmful, "certainly not as harmful as smoking."

"If I thought this would do harm to anyone, I wouldn't be in business," she said.