Vape King Juul Wants Everyone to Chill Out

Few startups are as hot as Juul Labs Inc., the three-year-old e-cigarette maker with 71 percent of the U.S. market and a $15 billion valuation. But that’s not the story the company wants to tell. As its sneaker-clad workforce lined up this spring for a steak-and-quinoa lunch at its new San Francisco headquarters, Chief Administrative Officer Ashley Gould said her team had failed. “We acknowledge kids are using the products,” she said. “We’re committed to stopping it.”

Juul says its signature brushed-aluminum, thumb-drive-shaped vape is intended to help adult smokers switch to a healthier alternative, and there’s reason to believe it’s making some progress on that front. But it’s also become ubiquitous in America’s schools, prompting a backlash among critics who say it’s hooked a new generation on nicotine. In conjunction with anti-tobacco groups, users have sued the company for allegedly leading them into addiction, a claim the company says is without merit. In June, San Francisco voters banned the sale of flavored tobacco products, which include 75 percent of Juul’s liquid pods. Critics paint the company’s flavors, which include mango, cucumber, and crème brûlée, as dangerous gateway drugs created from little-studied chemicals. The company says they’re the cornerstone of its benevolent mission.