Backfired: The Vaping Wars
5.0/5
Critic Rating
From the creators of Fiasco and co-creators of Slow Burn, welcome to Backfired, a new Audible Original series about the business of unintended consequences. When two Stanford graduate students set out to create a cigarette that wouldn’t kill them, they didn’t foresee what lay in store. Did their invention provide the answer to one of the world’s most pressing public health problems — smoking — or did it introduce a whole new generation to nicotine, spreading an intractable addiction? Hosts Leon Neyfakh and Arielle Pardes unravel the polarizing story of Juul Labs, and dive into the illegal vape market that sprouted up in its wake in Backfired: The Vaping Wars.
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Rebecca Lavoie, Kevin Flynn, Lara Bricker & Toby Ball • Crime Writers On • Sep 5, 2024
"Lara loved hearing their real-time investigation into the latest vapes, as well as Neyfakh's transparency about his own struggles. Toby appreciated the series's exploration of the industry's origins and current path. Big thumbs up from the whole panel."
Score: 5
Jenny McCartney • The Spectator • Jul 6, 2024
"Pardes and Neyfakh, a confirmed and regretful vaper himself, are informative and genial hosts, delving into the detail of a sinuous history without becoming dull. Yet their portrait of a seemingly unstoppable industry makes me more anxious than it seems to make them."
Score: 5
Miranda Sawyer • The Guardian • Jun 29, 2024
"...quite scary...It’s also enraging...It’s hard to find a single likable person in it, especially when people are given thumbnail descriptions...Never trust a corporate hippy."
