Folks, I have some bad news about one of the few remaining workarounds for accessing Juul’s beloved Mango pods.
Back in 2018, Juul yanked all of its best pod flavors from sale in brick and mortar stores before eventually pulling from sale online last year. But flavors beyond menthol and tobacco remained available for sale in Canada, meaning that if you really, really wanted Mango or Cucumber pods—and who could blame you—you could still, in theory, get them there. (Or get your Canadian friend to help ya out with a package.) But no longer. Juul has announced it’s temporarily halting production of its Mango, Cucumber, Fruit, and Vanilla flavors in Canada too, citing an “ongoing review of company practices.”
“JUUL Labs is putting the trust of each country’s stakeholders at the center of what we do as we work towards resetting the ENDS category, earning the trust of society, and working cooperatively with regulators, policymakers, and stakeholders,” a spokesperson for Juul said in a statement to Gizmodo. “The leadership team will continue to review JUUL Labs’ global policies and practices and will take appropriate actions as the company works to combat underage use and preserve the historic opportunity to transition adult smokers off of combustible cigarettes.”
To be clear, Canada was not the lone remaining option for acquiring the since-banned flavored pods. As one example, Vice reported in November that some bodegas in New York City were still selling their stockpiles of flavored pods—though that’s likely going to be a lot harder to pull off with recently enforced restrictions on the sale of flavored pods overall. Still, with respect to Canada, one less option for acquiring legit flavored Juul pods is still a bummer.
Juul, once the veritable darling of cessation devices, is currently reeling from a host of public relations crises related to its products as well as their use among kids and teenagers. The problem is so bad the federal government has both banned fruity pod flavors from sale in the U.S. and raised the legal age for tobacco products to 21 from 18. Juul, meanwhile, is being sued left and right, and a federal investigation into the company was found to have surfaced 2,600 complaints about adverse health effects through an FOIA request by Bloomberg.
In other words, don’t expect to see those delicious, fruity pods returning to sale anytime soon.