Shop Talk with Thomas Kirsop

Well now that that bit of unpleasantness is out of the way... So now I've had my say about the Canadian Vaping Association's regulatory demands of the federal government, I suppose we should get some things out of the way. Like who the hell do I think I am? What the hell is Shop Talk? How dare I say the things I do? What the hell do I think I'm going to accomplish by doing this? My name is Thomas Kirsop, as it says in the blog title and like most in the vaping industry my background had very little to do with what I do now, but a huge influence in how I do it: I've been a night watchman in a city core, where my main interactions were with the homeless, the addicted, the psychologically fractured. Those who sold themselves and those who sold others... and drunks... a lot of drunks. Way too many drunks. From this part of my life I learned a lot about empathy, and judgement. I learned about force of will and humanity; the better of our nature and the worse. I also develope...

I normally avoid referencing organizations and people by name when I disagree with their position statements or viewpoints. It’s considered bad form, and as I sit on the board of directors for such an organization that is not without it’s own vaping industry controversy, it’s generally a grand invitation to start a very public squabble that would accomplish little beyond providing a “Jerry Springer Show” like entertainment extravaganza for an afternoon. I am not going to do that today. On May 7 th of 2020, the Canadian Vaping Association published the following tweet, referencing a CVA press release published via GlobeNewswire (1) on the same day: Figure 1: https://twitter.com/thecvaofficial/status/1258446790225006593 The CVA followed up with a couple of self replies singling out Vype and JUUL products, their high nicotine strength and concealability, and made the following statement (2) : “The UK has not seen a rise in youth vaping as a result of established nicotine limits.” That i...