Publishers Weekly
★ 04/12/2021
Journalist Ducharme charts the meteoric rise, subsequent missteps, and resulting misfortunes of e-cigarette company Juul in her brisk and thorough debut. Juul started as a graduate design project in 2005 by cofounders James Monsees and Adam Bowen; their aim was “to change what it meant to consume nicotine.” It quickly exploded into a multibillion dollar start-up with the launch of the small, sleek Juul e-cigarette. Ducharme describes questionable company decisions: employees conducted “buzz-testing” by vaping different concoctions in order to find the most potent and addictive nicotine solution, and a social media campaign mimicked decades-old cigarette company tactics when it aimed to “ ‘own the early adopter’/‘cool kid’ equity” and may have led teenagers to use the product. When it became apparent that tens of thousands of teenagers were, in fact, using Juul, the company continued to borrow from the Big Tobacco playbook by creating a health curriculum for schools. Its reputation was further damaged by the appearance of a mysterious lung ailment related to vaping that sprang up in 2019 (though the cause was determined to not be tied to Juuls). Ducharme presents an evenhanded retelling of the company’s scandals up to the point, in 2020, when Monsees and Bowen left. Fast-paced and impressively researched, this detailed account sings. (June)
From the Publisher
"Ducharme shines a light on the company's exceptional rise in this un-put-downable saga."
—Newsweek
“Ducharme provides a balanced, methodical account of how an addictive new smoking product with unknown health hazards became ubiquitous in American high schools.”
—Washington Post
"Fair and well researched...Ducharme zooms in squarely on the inner workings of Juul...willing to accept that we may have, partially, panicked...[a] nuanced assessment."
—The New Republic
"It’s a whirlwind ride to the top...a story of unexpectedly high drama...for those wondering how a smoking cessation product could seize so much public attention, Big Vape holds some fascinating answers."
—Boston Magazine
“[A] riveting exposé…this well-rounded journalistic narrative is consistently informative and alarming. Intensive, exemplary reportage on a controversial industry cloaked in scandal.”
—Kirkus (starred review)
"Journalist Ducharme charts the meteoric rise, subsequent missteps, and resulting misfortunes of e-cigarette company Juul in her brisk and thorough debut. Juul started as a graduate design project in 2005 by cofounders James Monsees and Adam Bowen; their aim was 'to change what it meant to consume nicotine.'....Ducharme presents an evenhanded retelling of the company’s scandals up to the point, in 2020, when Monsees and Bowen left."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Big Vape is a dazzling story that crackles with the energy of a nicotine buzz, mixing tales of groundbreaking innovation with those of corporate greed and government dysfunction. More than anything, this is a story about American capitalism today, and it explains why a new generation is hooked on the most addictive of drugs. This is a landmark piece of investigative reporting."
—Christopher Leonard, author of the New York Times bestseller Kochland
"Big Vape is more than just brilliantly reported and elegantly written. It is also a richly populated book—filled not just with human characters, but with matters of science, finance, invention, ambition, ethics, hubris and blazing ingenuity. Even the cunning little product at the center of the story—the Juul itself—becomes a sort of character in Jamie Ducharme’s hands. Ducharme brings the best skills of journalist and lyricist to tell an exceedingly important story—and to tell it irresistibly."
—Jeffrey Kluger, bestselling co-author of Apollo 13 and author of Apollo 8
"The rise and fall of Juul is an instructive tale, and Jamie Ducharme does an excellent job detailing how one bad decision after another led the company astray in this deft rendition of grand start-up dreams gone up in smoke."
—Reeves Wiedeman, author of Billion Dollar Loser
"Combining meticulous research with gripping storytelling, this is a must-read with important lessons for policymakers, CEOs, and public health professionals alike. As a physician, I witnessed firsthand the harmful impact of vaping on young people. Big Vape explains how this happened."
—Leana Wen, M.D. author of Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health
"Big Vape illuminates the direct threat to life when sharp, well-funded minds can harness addiction to pursue profit over health. As with the Theranos saga, Ducharme's urgent story shows that medical safety is the last place that venture capitalists should be aiming their wrecking balls.”
—Joseph Menn, author of All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster and co-author of The People vs. Big Tobacco
Library Journal
06/01/2021
Vaping, a new way of smoking, found its way into mainstream culture in the early 21st century. It was initially seen as a way to reduce health risks associated with cigarette smoking; more recently, some disastrous effects have led to more vaping regulations in the U.S., though still far fewer than the regulations applied to cigarettes. Did vaping solve the issue of smoking? This wide-ranging book by health and science journalist Ducharme discusses a particular vaping device, the Juul, from its launch as a grad school design project in 2005, to the present day—including extensive research and testing, and how teenagers were drawn to Juul and how schools responded in turn. The author begins the book with a story line that she follows throughout, making for an interesting read. The narrative is enhanced by Ducharme's accessible writing and her time lines of events in the quick rise and steady fall of Juul. VERDICT Ducharme grabs readers' attention early on. This is not a scientific book, but rather a social examination of the rise of the vaping industry. For fans of Sherri Mabry Gordon's Smoking, Vaping, and Your Health.—Adesh Rampat, Miami
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2021-04-14
A deep investigative dive into the electronic cigarette behemoth.
In this riveting exposé, Time health and science journalist Ducharme chronicles the history and problematic future of Juul, which quickly rose to prominence after a series of missteps. She profiles friends and former smokers James Monsees and Adam Bowen, who, during a 2005 Stanford product-design program, sought to develop an alternative to traditional tobacco-burning cigarettes. Focusing on harm reduction, they positioned their prototype as a way to “improve the lives of adult smokers” by helping them transition to the supposed safety of vaporizing pens, which heat a liquid but avoid combustion. Piggybacking on lessons from earlier, less-successful vaping devices, Monsees and Bowen, aided by Japanese investors, laid the groundwork for a successful venture—but not without a host of problems that did not go unnoticed by the Food and Drug Administration and would reemerge later to cloud their success. With briskly paced writing, Ducharme details the “buzz-testing” conducted by Juul employees to gauge the addictive potency of the nicotine formulations in the vape pods and how the “cool kids”–friendly product marketing campaign became “the company’s religion.” As the author writes, "more news stories suggested that Juul had torn a page from the Big Tobacco playbook and purposely hooked teenage customers for profit." By 2015, Juul vaporizers were widespread, and the company started to record significant profits. However, when reports of underage users emerged, Juul dispatched representatives to schools to warn about the dangers of nicotine, “sprinkling in references to how safe Juul was and how it was going to get FDA approval any day now.” Juul then partnered with big tobacco corporation Altria, and the emergence of a mysterious pulmonary illness ignited anti-vaping activists and public health watchdogs. In the wake of hundreds of lawsuits set to hit courtrooms in 2022, both Monsees and Bowen have “abandoned ship.” Based on dozens of interviews with former employees, investors, doctors, and researchers, this well-rounded journalistic narrative is consistently informative and alarming.
Intensive, exemplary reportage on a controversial industry cloaked in scandal.
