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Backfired: The Vaping Wars
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Narrated by:
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Leon Neyfakh
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Arielle Pardes
About this listen
When two Stanford graduate students set out to create a new kind of cigarette that wouldn’t kill them, they didn’t foresee all the obstacles that lay ahead — or the powerful forces their invention would unleash. Nearly 10 years after the launch of the JUUL, Backfired: The Vaping Wars asks: Could e-cigarettes have been the solution to one of the world’s most pressing public health problems—or was this technology doomed to introduce a whole new generation to nicotine, and end up perpetuating an intractable addiction?
Backfired is the latest podcast from Prologue Projects, the award-winning team behind Slow Burn, Fiasco, and Think Twice: Michael Jackson. Backfired is a show about the business of unintended consequences—what happens when solving one problem inadvertently leads to a host of new ones?
In this tale of opportunity, addiction, and good intentions gone awry, hosts Leon Neyfakh and Arielle Pardes offer a definitive account of Juul Labs’ rise and fall, as well as the ubiquitous illegal vape market that sprouted up in its wake. Through dozens of original interviews, they gain access to the key players who got swept up—sometimes unwittingly—in the firestorm that reshaped the culture of nicotine.
For a list of books, articles, and documentaries used in the research for this podcast, please visit bit.ly/backfiredbib.
The senior producer of Backfired: The Vaping Wars was Sam Lee. The editor was Kim Gittleson. Producers were Dustin Desoto, Leon Neyfakh, Arielle Pardes, and Katherine Sullivan. The assistant producer was Arlene Arevalo. Sound design by Andrew Parsons. Archival research and fact-checking by Francis Carr. Theme song and score composed by Emma Munger. Audio mix by Erica Huang. Backfired was co-created for Prologue Projects by Kim Gittleson.
©2024 Prologue Projects (P)2024 Audible Originals, LLC
About the Host
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About the Host
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Black girls and women disappear every day, but not without a trace. Join actress and activist Erika Alexander in a neo-noir, true crime drama as she searches for Tamika Huston, a 24-year-old Black woman from Spartanburg, SC who went missing in 2004. Her case became a rallying cry for other missing Black women in America and led to a growing demand to expose a system that ignores missing girls and women of color.
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Cynical conflation of two tragedies
- By Buretto on 03-26-22
By: Erika Alexander, and others
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Benefits with Friends
- Starring Mae Martin and Sabrina Jalees
- By: Mae Martin, Sabrina Jalees
- Narrated by: Mae Martin, Sabrina Jalees
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Original Recording
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Sex, money, religion...all topics that we’re told to avoid in polite company. But exactly the kind of conversations you should be having with your bestie, according to best friends of more than 20 years, Mae Martin (Feel Good) and Sabrina Jalees (Roast Battle). Romantic couples are often guided through the conversations they should be having before committing to each other–but what are the topics that best friends should be covering to truly get to know each other?
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great energy!
- By Anonymous User on 02-15-25
By: Mae Martin, and others
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The Wonder of Stevie
- By: Wesley Morris
- Narrated by: Wesley Morris, Michelle Obama, Barack Obama, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Original Recording
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The year 1972 saw the beginning of a five-year span in which Stevie Wonder released five groundbreaking, critically acclaimed albums, garnering him more than half a dozen Grammys and more than 10 million albums sold, securing his place as one of the most important American musicians and songwriters in history. For the first time, uncover the untold story of an extraordinary artistic journey that shaped the greatest creative era in popular music history.
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Good but not great
- By Anonymous User on 09-14-24
By: Wesley Morris
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This Is Not a Game with Marc Fennell
- By: Marc Fennell
- Narrated by: Marc Fennell
- Length: 3 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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This Is Not a Game is the extraordinary untold story of the internet’s first conspiracy theory, the legend of Ong’s Hat. Marc Fennell will dive deep into a previously unexplored world of tech hippies, eccentric web subcultures and simmering paranoia, uncovering how this tongue-in-cheek artistic experiment backfired on its creator and went on to influence much of what’s wrong with the internet today.
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WOW!
- By pondo on 05-09-24
By: Marc Fennell
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The Debutante
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Original Recording
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Thirty years ago, award-winning journalist Jon Ronson stumbled on the mystery of Carol Howe—a charismatic, wealthy former debutante turned white supremacist spokeswoman turned undercover informant. In 1995, Carol was spying on Oklahoma’s neo-Nazis for the government just when Timothy McVeigh blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.
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Interesting but not compelling
- By Gail Jester on 04-15-23
By: Jon Ronson
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How to Win an Election
- An Ancient Guide for Modern Politicians
- By: Quintus Tullius Cicero, Philip Freeman - translator
- Narrated by: Doug Kaye
- Length: 1 hr and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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How to Win an Election is an ancient Roman guide for campaigning that is as up-to-date as tomorrow's headlines. In 64 BC when idealist Marcus Cicero, Rome's greatest orator, ran for consul (the highest office in the Republic), his practical brother Quintus decided he needed some no-nonsense advice on running a successful campaign.
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How to be a politician ...
- By Benedict on 07-31-13
By: Quintus Tullius Cicero, and others
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Ask Not
- The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed
- By: Maureen Callahan
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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The Kennedy name has long been synonymous with wealth, power, glamor, and—above all else—integrity. But this carefully constructed veneer hides a dark truth: the pattern of Kennedy men physically and psychologically abusing women and girls, leaving a trail of ruin and death in each generation’s wake. Through decades of scandal after scandal—from sexual assaults to reputational slander, suicides to manslaughter—the family and their defenders have kept the Kennedy brand intact.
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Amazing
- By cathy in maryland on 07-29-24
By: Maureen Callahan
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Getting Along
- How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People)
- By: Amy Gallo
- Narrated by: Amy Gallo
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Work relationships can be hard. The stress of dealing with difficult people dampens our creativity and productivity, degrades our ability to think clearly and make sound decisions, and causes us to disengage. In Getting Along, workplace expert and Harvard Business Review podcast host Amy Gallo identifies eight familiar types of difficult coworkers—the insecure boss, the passive-aggressive peer, the know-it-all, the biased coworker, and others—and provides strategies tailored to dealing constructively with each one.
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Getting Along
- By Anonymous User on 02-09-24
By: Amy Gallo
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There Is No Ethan
- How Three Women Caught America's Biggest Catfish
- By: Anna Akbari
- Narrated by: Anna Akbari, Justin Price
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2011, three successful and highly educated women fell head over heels for the brilliant and charming Ethan Schuman. Unbeknownst to the others, each exchanged countless messages with Ethan, staying up late into the evenings to deepen their connections with this fascinating man. His detailed excuses about broken webcams and complicated international calling plans seemed believable, as did last minute trip cancellations. After all, why would he lie? Ethan wasn't after money—he never convinced his marks to shell out thousands of dollars for some imagined crisis.
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An instant classic
- By 6catz on 06-07-24
By: Anna Akbari
What listeners say about Backfired: The Vaping Wars
Highly rated for:
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- Kathleen
- 06-24-24
Truly EXCELLENT podcast
Lost both of my parents to smoking related lung disease and have always had a negative perception of vaping. This well-researched podcast shows the complexity of this issue. This first episodes had me furious about the targeting of youth (and greed of companies). The research behind health benefits and harms of vaping and discussion of harm reduction efforts in the UK all provided a well rounded picture. WELL worth the listen. Truly excellent job.
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4 people found this helpful
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- kristin
- 06-26-24
Great Info
Great research done on such a complicated subject. I loved the different perspectives from everyone impacted by this industry. I really enjoyed the interviews done on founders of different vape companies.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 06-26-24
the ending!!!!
Mom should be a politician. She has my vote! I loved seeing both sides and having her view at the end.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Alfredo
- 06-29-24
intriguing history about vaping
Never vaped myself. So learning more about vaping and the whole controversy around flavored pods was pretty intriguing. I will say it's disappointing about how the show has no accountability for the parents. Like the one mother who sues other companies magically finding out from her son about vaping and then wants to go ahead and sue. That story doesn't fly with me. Also the father who's a smoker buying a vape for their kid. Come on. That's like buying non-alcoholic beer for your kid, because you drink. That doesn't make any sense. You know that that's a slippery slope, but whatever. No accountability, right? Kids are already messed up. Parents who smoke already know what nicotine does to them, but hey, let's buy our kids this stuff. Then act surprise when they go down that slippery slope and now their nicotine heavy and their depression is higher and they're more irritable and everything that they experience when they smoke, so lets sue the company and not our bad decisions as parents.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Ryan Arndt
- 06-28-24
Great Info
Open to both sides and did a great job splicing in interviews. I am not a smoker or vaper but was still interested in the topic just for the sake of learning and it satisfied me
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2 people found this helpful
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- Zack
- 07-09-24
Eye opening deep dive into Vaping
I was blown away at how thorough and captivating this deep dive was. The hosts did a fantastic job looking at all sides of the story and bringing guests and perspectives to their story. It was a great intersection between capitalism, addiction, technology, and politics.
Very well done, would love to see them tackle more topics like this.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Martin
- 07-13-24
Great and covered a lot
definitely learned a lot and covered a lot of the how we got here. The host were able to get great access to a lot of people, bit only really posed the hard questions to the vape side. Not really to government or parents. most surprisingly the one thing in trying to place responsibility to government or industry there was no responsibility on the parents to parent.
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- Mogrith
- 07-12-24
even handed. parents groups vape makers FDA all made thier cases
good rapport between co-hosts. they while not trying to fix blame, they did search for causes
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- Lauralyn
- 08-26-24
Fascinating blend of the science of emotions behind the vaping industry.
I found myself intrigued from start to finish. I don’t smoke or vape (never have), but I’m a parent and teacher, so I was interested in hearing what the podcasters had to say. This was an excellent listen! I teach high school students how to read peer reviewed literature and, as a result, tend to be critical of the way science is presented. Kudos to the podcasters and their thoroughness.
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- Victoria Dennis
- 11-18-24
Insightful & Well-Researched
This podcast gave an extensive insight into the vaping industry without being over the top on whether vaping is “good” or “bad.” It’s also really interesting to know the history of it, since sometimes it can feel like vaping has been around forever, and the coverage of it in a lot of media and by a lot of political figures can be sensationalized and misleading. The kind of meta-coverage of media added a helpful dimension in understanding how it’s been covered and how that’s shaped the public understanding of vaping was fascinating.
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