I used to work in news department of an Asian TV station in Houston. I operated camera and edited the interviews footage, I know a few things about interviewing. These suggestions maybe helpful for you.

1/ google up her name. What is her general view on the subject ? Is she friend ? Or enemy ? Or frienemy ?

2/ask for the questionair or major topics that will be discussed. That way you can have some preps done and gather the facts that support your opinion. It’s totally fair. If she is not comfortable giving you those questions, she is questionable :)

Sure, there is always a chance that she wont stick to the scripts. But thats on her. If she want to fcuk you/us up, she will find a way

3/ be honest. Only answer if you are comfortable. It’s fine to say “I don’t think I can give you a proper answer .... “ “ I don’t think I am qualified to answer ... “ . If you dont want to represent the community , just say “in my opinion, in my knowledge”

4/ dont be an asshole.

5/ if you are way too uncomfortable, dont do it.

Best of luck!

1. vaping helped you quit smoking cigarettes

2. so far the science from neutral studies show vaping to be much much safer than cigarettes

3. you are disappointed with the over-reaction by uninformed politicians and will be sure to vote against them

you will be one of many people she interviews and may not even make the cut for the article. don't try and script anything and focus on bullet points, no one is expecting you to be an expert they just want the take from joe schmoe on the street. So focus on the positives, you are healthier, you no longer smell like smoke, you've been saving money, you understand that there is no long term studies but so far the only people who have really gotten sick were the THC cart people and people who fell victim to exploding batteries that they didn't take care of. this is just a cheap political ploy and you wish your politicians would take care of real problems like the water in flint, other local issues or the mass shootings across the country rather than going after something that has had such a positive influence in your life while not banning cigarettes.

You say your truth, dude. And if you're not comfortable talking to her, you don't have to.

Simple as that, man.

I wouldn't tell her a damn thing about diy. She'll just write up a report and turn it in then they will use that to go after DIY. They less they know the better.

If you are worried about it, maybe don't make that call. But it's... Your call.

Yea i would be careful what you say about DIY maybe look into this person do some

research on her.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/09/07/what-we-know-about-mysterious-vaping-linked-illnesses-deaths/

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Just looked and here is an article she made it's actually not bad, it mentions how the

illnesses were linked to THC cartridges with Vitamin E acetate etc, her history dosen't seem politically motivated either.

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I'm not sure whether you should take the interview

on one hand it might bring some more truth to the public, but we need to change the

perception on vaping or DIY is doomed anyways so it seems pointless here.

This could bring the wrong kind of attention for DIY and added to the list of bans.

She’s probably reading this.

Be careful with what you have to say. Don’t tell them anything inflammatory or anything that they could run off with and make a story with.

Media and police are the same. Keep it short and to the point.

If I were you, I'd say:

edit: ow and I would say, "I would only want my words published if I get to read the article before release, and have the power to pull out and not be quoted if I feel I am being misrepresented".

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• Community takes underage vaping seriously
• Community is driven by a want to stop smoking
• From your experience talking to hundreds of vapours, very few are moving onto cigarettes, and very few are going from not smoking or vaping to vaping
• Issue seems to be quality control - some rogue producers are putting additives into some liquids. A ban would create a black market where the government had even less control over this
• The issue here is the sale to minors, not the product itself. More specifically it is the illegal sale to minors - none of the policies enacted would in any way stop that
• Like all "sin trades", it is obviously a gray area. Contrast vaping to alcohol that is advertised to kids (sugary, cheap, colourful), gambling in video/mobile games
• Or even foods that fuel obesity that are again, targetted at children with multibillion dollar media campaigns - fast food, candy.
• Even if teen vaping is a problem, there are bigger issues that are hurting children. For example, more kids have been killed by school shootings in the USA than vaping. Government is doing nothing about firearms

Hope I'm not too late.

/u/aberz0202 's write up is tremendously accurate. Definitely do all of that.

Also, to add to it/elaborate, don't try to put any bullshit into any of your answers. If you don't know the answer to something, simply say so, and he provides great examples of how to do that. Spinning bullshit, or trying to act like you know everything doesn't look good for you, DIY, or vaping in general.

Do your research on the reporter, as he says. Links below to help out.

Here's her most recent article on vaping. It seems pretty standard, and not really for or against it, IMO. Draw your own conclusions though.

Based simply on scrolling through her other articles, here, to save you the effort, she seems to be at least left-leaning.

So, my personal advice:

1. Be careful of questions which she may try to spin as negative for the community, or for vaping in general.

2. She may ask about marijuana vaping. She mentions it in the above article. I personally think they're in the vast minority of DIYers, but your own opinion may vary.

Most of my friends that vape marijuana do it via herb itself, normally called 'dry-herb vaping, feel free to look that up if you want to know more, or ask me, don't wanna spout info you don't need/already know. Those that do 'traditional/our style' vaping buy carts/juice that already contain THC, rather than making it themselves.

3. Try to avoid making DIY sound ridiculously dangerous, but also try to avoid making it sound very easy and safe. This keeps her from possibly spinning it as "DIY is super dangerous, NEVER DO IT!" or even "DIY is so easy, that anyone can do it easily."

This obviously depends on if she asks about it, which she probably will. It's a hard balance, for sure.

Make sure you start off any question about the process/how easy it is/etc by recommending people do their research prior to starting DIY. Make sure to emphasis that as long as you do your research, and wear proper protective equipment, it is rather safe, but without research/safety gear, it can be dangerous due to the improper handling of nicotine, using improper flavorings (oil based), etc.

4. Be yourself. You're new! You're an average person trying to start DIY. Make sure that's known in your interview. You don't, and can't know everything. If you get a list of questions, feel free to post them here, we can help you out if you feel overwhelmed. Or at least look them over, jot down some notes (don't do a script, but do make some keypoints/notes for the questions to keep your from going off the rails), be ready to let her know when you do or don't know something.

Good luck man! If she posts up an article with your interview, let us know. I know that I, at least, will be interested in reading it.

Don't trust anyone

Just don't do it, les your words get edited and next thing you know your reading the article going "I didn't even say that! " but, you did say those words, just not in that order.

ITS A TRAP. Tell them it's impossible to make vape juice at home lol

If you decide to talk to her, just be honest and let your voice be heard. Don't try to be something you're not.

Speak the truth bro.

Give her first unquestionable facts before feelings, Solid numbers that make your case
eg x million smokers quit with vape
x number of legitimate jobs & business that sell only to adults will close down with a ban
The UK positive experience with links

DIY is not a current issue on the table, so try to focus more on vaping

On the personal side, you should be comfortable expressing how you and yoyr family as other vapers are grateful to vaping for the health and financial saving, it should come out as truth straight from your heart

I don't think any media or political bias points will go through, but if you feel it might, have a couple of non-rant well worded points ready at hand, good luck!

Grimm put it nice and short on the VLOG today:

Banning flavors does no one any good.

1. Only a very niche group of vapers DIY their liquid.

2. Most people won't attempt to do it because it's daunting and a lot of work. (You can't expect 65-year-old Gladys to start DIY'ing if flavors are banned)

3. When you take away flavored liquid, you're putting the risk into the hands of the consumer, feeding the current issue. Liquid is made in FDA approved sterile laboratories, and they want to force people to now DIY in their germ-infested kitchens?

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I mean, as unintelligent and brain dead as the current trash can of an administration we have right now is, they know exactly what they're doing. They know people won't DIY because it's a huge hassle, and they will go to big-tobacco made e-cigs or just back to cigs. It's a damn mystery that an alleged Washington Post journalist can't do 4 minutes of research to figure that out.

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I'd also go watch Grimm's most recent vlog and maybe tell her to contact anyone Nick Green or someone that he mentions in that vlog who are all ultra-knowledgable on all vape-related issues.

You may not even be quoted, but if you want to, something that might make it if she asks about the ban.. "Considering Prohibition and the War on Drugs, obviously they believe the third time's the charm" (or something like that.)

Man, please highlight just how ridiculously simple these recipies are.

Oh no! Eliquid is full of all kinds of chemicals??

Nicotiene flavor concentrate Vegtable glycerol

It always throws off anxious hippies when I explain that VG is literally basic sugars, from plants! Its all natural brooooo.

In my experience in dealing with the press, they already have a story or agenda, and they need your words to frame it. There will be a good chance that you will be misquoted or your statements will be taken out of context. You will feel angry later. Just do your best.

Rather than exact answers, I'm going to have two parts. One with advice/cautionary words, the other with how I'd answer everything. Just cause I feel like it.

Overall, the questions are pretty inoccuous, so if you don't go crazy when you answer them, it'll be pretty hard to fuck up, haha.

Advice:

1)How did you get into vaping?

Pretty straightforward. Tell her how you got into vaping. Maybe lie a bit if you got into it because it looks cool. ;p

2)How did you get into DIY?

Same thing here.

3)How easy or difficult is DIY to do? Are there any common challenges/mistakes people make?

This would be where you put in the cautionary words, and make sure to hit that research is absolutely needed.

4)Do you have a sense of how the DIY e-juice community has grown over tome?

Up to you.

5)What has your reaction been to all the recent vaping related news i.e. the illnesses that have been covered so much, the planned flavor bans? What will these policies mean for you?

Obviously up to you here on everything. I will mention that most of the recent illness I've read from vaping have been from THC/marijuana vapes, much as her article I linked previously says.

6)How much you'd anticipate people getting into DIY e-juice as a result of the planned flavor bans...

Your opinions. Possibly reiterate how important research is for anyone planning on getting into DIY.

My answers:

1)How did you get into vaping?

I smoked cigars when I was right out of high-school for about a year. A few years later, I was tempted to start again, but picked up vaping instead. Partially picked it up as a new hobby, with building coils and then later DIY.

2)How did you get into DIY?

I ran into a guy at work who was into it. Tried some of his juice out, and it was surprisingly, at the time, really good. Talked to him about it for a while afterwards.

I always research stuff a ton, so I started looking into it, and after a week or so, ordered my first set of stuff.

I was interested, since as I mentioned, vaping was a bit of a hobby for a while. So the thought of messing around with new flavors, and developing my own flavors was a bit enticing. I also like to hop around flavors a lot, so being able to try so many more combinations was hard to resist.

3)How easy or difficult is DIY to do? Are there any common challenges/mistakes people make?

If you do the proper research, there's not much that's really difficult about it. You need proper protective equipment, and to know what kind of flavoring to use, which not to use, as well as which vendors are reputable, that kind of thing. Once you get that all figured out, it's as easy as mixing up any kind of mixed drink, but with rubber gloves on, and using a scale instead of eyeballing it.

I'd say the common mistake that a lot of new people make, and that I made myself, is trying to mix by volume rather than by weight. Mixing by volume on ejuice takes more time, and is much more difficult, as well as producing more things to wash or throw away. Mixing by weight is simple with a decent scale, and makes the whole process much faster and easier.

Alongside that, a challenge people might run into, if they want to make custom flavors, rather than following recipes, is that they tend to add TOO much flavor, and the whole juice ends up tasting washed out. It's a weird conundrum when you first do it, since in your head, more flavor in the mix equals more flavor in the vape, but that's not normally correct.

4)Do you have a sense of how the DIY e-juice community has grown over time?

I haven't been in the community that long, so I can't really say. The couple of communities I'm a part of, and joined when I first started, were all tremendously useful to me, and generally pretty accepting of newbies. They've helped me out a ton, such as getting me to mix by weight instead of volume, as I mentioned before. There's lots of newbie resources, and having them all right there, compiled by people who knew what they were doing was super nice.

5)What has your reaction been to all the recent vaping related news i.e. the illnesses that have been covered so much, the planned flavor bans? What will these policies mean for you?

I'm not tremendously concerned. Since I make most of my own juice, I know pretty much everything that's in them, so I don't have to worry too much about any additives that may get slipped in.

Most of the illnesses I've read about fall into two categories for the most part: THC vaping, and older stuff from many years ago.

THC vaping I don't know much about, so I can't comment there.

Older news reports I recall reading shortly after vaping became a bigger thing, and it was reports like popcorn lung, anti-freeze in juices, etc. I don't recall the validity of these, but my understanding is that these were all taken care of when vaping blew up, and the ingredients were all hammered out, and people started doing more research into what can and cannot be vaporized, for example.

Planned flavor bans won't affect us DIYers much. A lot of the flavors that we use are simply flavors used in cooking, baking, etc. So they'd be hard pressed to ban the actual ingredients that we use to mix juice.

I'm not happy with the flavor bans, though. I feel like they're taking away choice from the people who want to quit smoking, and are using vaping as a means to do so. Quitting smoking is a mental addiction just as much as any physical effects the nicotine has on your body, so if a starting vaper can only buy tobacco flavored juices, for example, I feel like it would make it that much harder for them to quit, than if they can buy flavors that are disconnected from smoking, as a way to turn off that switch in their head.

I don't find the reasoning behind the flavor bans particularly sound, personally, either. What I have read says that they're trying to keep kids from being interested in vaping. There's a whole HOST of reasons that vaping has been picked up by some kids, and it's not JUST the flavors. Ease of use/hiding. No residual smell, either on you or in the area, easier to discretely vape in a bathroom, there are a lot of reasons, and restricting flavors won't do much to quell kids vaping. Kids have ALWAYS smoked, and cigarettes don't taste good.

6)How much you'd anticipate people getting into DIY e-juice as a result of the planned flavor bans...

For the average person, it's a bit daunting to get into, so I'm not really sure. I feel like a lot of people on the fence will definitely end up hopping over into DIY territory, but I'm not sure about the average consumer.

This isn't just due to a 'technical' issue of actually mixing the juice, since that's really not that difficult if you do the proper research. It's also the upfront cost of the flavors, bases, nicotine, scale, bottles, gloves, etc. that could and likely will deter someone. You need a wide array of flavors to make a lot of different juices, so if someone likes to hop around flavors a lot like me, it'll be a pain for them. Still cheaper overall than buying juice from a store every week or so, and with a lot more variety, but it has a hefty up front cost that is hard to ignore if you're planning on starting.

Tbh just stay quiet, you might as well go blabbing to the feds about what they need to ban/make illegal to make it harder for us to get what we need. Just say the normal things like how it helped you quit smoking and that you feel so much healthier. The last thing anyone needs rn is vg, pg, nic and flavorings to be viewed as some meth lab shit.

Personally I'd be really cautious with the state of the news these days for two reasons. Any interview can be spun into whatever they want to enforce their bias, not necessarily the bias of the reporter but the bias of their editors. DIY ejuice info is widely available but why shine a spotlight on it? If it can fly under the radar, let it. They couldn't easily regulate flavors, PG and VG but liquid nicotine could be regulated overnight by making it only available to companies that have a legitimate need.

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