“Influencers” worry they will be collateral damage

When the Trump administration announced Wednesday that it plans to ban most flavored e-cigarettes, Matt Culley knew within minutes that he had a job to do. He turned on the camera in his home office in northwest Montana and started a live stream that went out to 280,000 subscribers, many, if not all of them, adults who vape.

“You know, I’m always the sort of person that says ‘don’t freak out, don’t freak out,’ ” he said, “I mean,” the 37year-old took a brief pause, then looked straight at the camera. “Everyone should be concerned right now.”

Culley, known as “Matt From SMM” on YouTube, is one of dozens of American adults who not only vape regularly but have made a career producing vaping-related content. On YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitch, there is an ecosystem of users who publish videos of themselves performing vape tricks (playing with the smoke that comes from ecigarettes), reviewing flavors and equipment or showing users how to create vape liquids. Millions watch them every day.

In recent weeks, this community has been rocked by the national discussion around vaping, driven in part by the federal investigation into nearly 400 cases of lung disease related to e-cigarettes, including six deaths.

People such as Culley, who call themselves “vape advocates,” “vape influencers” or “professional vapers,” have feared for days that amid the highly publicized reports of these deaths, officials might respond to pressure from vape critics with a blanket ban on flavored e-cigarettes. They worried that adult vapers — their peers, their subscribers and themselves — might become collateral damage in a debate that has focused predominantly on the negative effects of vaping on youth smokers.

On Wednesday, they said, these fears were confirmed.

“It was one of the worst days that I’ve experienced in the vaping community,” Culley said in an interview.

“My first reaction was that I almost threw up,” added Mathew Elliott, a 28year-old “vape influencer” from Long Island, N.Y. “I was sick to my stomach.”

Some of these influencers, nearly all of whom turned to vaping as a means of quitting smoking, worry that without flavored e-cigarettes, they will slip back into smoking regular cigarettes, which health experts agree is more harmful than vaping. Others say that they will “figure out a way” to get their favorite flavors, but that the proposed ban likely will create a wider black market for first-time users, including children. Several influencers who produce vaping-related content for a living are starting to consider alternative careers.

As of 2017, slightly less than 7 million adults use ecigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Professional vapers allege that this number is much higher today and that a significant percentage will turn against President Donald Trump if he pushes the ban through.

Supporters of the ban say it is meant to target the growing use of e-cigarettes among teenagers, who favor fruity, menthol or mint flavors. But Tony Brittan, who uploads vaping videos under the handle “VaporTrailChannel” on YouTube, says the range of flavors is also what draws many adult users away from cigarettes and toward vaping. His personal favorites are cereal- and oatflavored liquids.

Illinois lawsuit filed against top e-cigarette maker.

HICAGO» An Illinois

C teenager who fell ill with a lung disease after vaping for over a year has sued a leading e-cigarette maker.

Attorneys filed the lawsuit Friday in Lake County Circuit Court on behalf of 18-year-old Adam Hergenreder.

The 85-page suit says Juul Labs deliberately marketed to young people to suggest vaping can boost their social status. It also says Juul doesn’t disclose fully that their products contain dangerous chemicals.

Lawyer Antonio Romanucci says his client couldn’t avoid “getting hooked” on what he called “toxic timebombs.”

San Francisco-based Juul said in a Friday statement that the product is never marketed to youths and that the company tries to combat underage use.

“It’s the thing that differentiates vaping from the cigarettes. After you taste some of these flavors, you won’t want the tobacco ones,” he said. “If they take the flavors away, I don’t know how I’m going to stay off the cigarettes.”

Culley said most adult vapers agree that tobacco liquid tastes bad.

Elliott, who has worked in a vape shop and at an eliquid company and now works full time as a professional vaper, said if the ban goes through, he expects that he will have to find a new line of work.

“I’m going to have to go back to security or bartending,” he said. “I based the last five years of my life around this industry.”

Other influencers say they are less concerned in the short term because they serve an international market and have developed direct relationships with firms that are based overseas, although they note that the future of the industry remains murky.

“Because of this antivaping backlash, could YouTube ban us at some point?” Culley asked. “We really don’t know.”