This report presents the findings from an online survey of tobacco control leads in local authorities in England. Findings include that many opportunities exist for local authority commissioners of tobacco control and stop smoking services to build on their past successes and improve their local offer. These include joint working with colleagues in other local authority services, partnering with the NHS (now newly engaged in smoking cessation thanks to the Long Term Plan), and pursuing population approaches within Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships and Integrated Care Systems.
Their Key findings are summarised below:
The Recommendations made by ASH and CRUK:
I'd be the first to say that vaping isn't risk-free — anything that exposes people to some form of chemical that could accumulate in the lungs has the potential to produce harmful side-effects.
But set against the staggering danger smoking poses to health, using e-cigarettes is considerably safer.
]]>Who had this to say on the subject:
I'd be the first to say that vaping isn't risk-free — anything that exposes people to some form of chemical that could accumulate in the lungs has the potential to produce harmful side-effects.
But set against the staggering danger smoking poses to health, using e-cigarettes is considerably safer.
Regular tobacco cigarettes contain thousands of chemicals, many of which are toxic including arsenic and cyanide.
The exposure in e-cigarettes doesn't compare. Little wonder they are endorsed by the NHS to help people stop smoking. And I'm not alone in thinking this: the Royal College of Physicians states that vaping is a 'substantially less harmful alternative to smoking'.
People who dismiss vaping as unsafe seem to be forgetting the colossal health issues smoking can cause — not least the fact it causes around seven in ten lung cancer cases in the UK, and is responsible for 83 per cent of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (an umbrella term for chronic lung diseases including emphysema and chronic bronchitis).
There's barely a part of the body that isn't adversely affected by smoking cigarettes, from gum disease to eyesight.
Having spent more than 30 years studying drug and alcohol addiction, I've had countless opportunities to witness first-hand the damaging effects of smoking, including dealing with patients with terminal lung cancer.
But I've never seen anything to suggest vaping causes the same extent of damage. What's more, the dangers of passive smoking are reduced when you vape. Second-hand smoke is responsible for an estimated 3,800 deaths a year in the UK, including, famously, entertainer Roy Castle.
E-cigarettes just release water vapour and don't produce the tobacco smoke with its lethal cocktail of toxins, carcinogens and irritants that can lead to cancer in others over prolonged exposure.
But the biggest gain from vaping is its importance for smoking cessation. Vaping has contributed to the overall decline in the numbers of people smoking — and I'm not surprised the anti-smoking charity Action on Smoking calculated that it helped an extra 70,000 people to quit in 2017.
Vaping is still relatively new — and there's scope for more research into the implications for health if used long term +4
Of course, it's vital that vaping is seen as a cessation tool rather than as a permanent substitute to cigarettes. Contrary to popular opinion, however, there's no evidence e-cigarettes act as a gateway to smoking. There are other net benefits, too. Although many people have now received the anti-smoking message, some parts of the population remain hard to engage — not least those with mental health problems who are known to smoke at higher rates. Vaping provides an alternative for people in places such as hospitals, prisons and hostels where smoking is banned, but vaping is permitted.
Yes, vaping devices need proper quality control. Regulations in the U.S. and UK are dramatically different, with American products more heavily nicotine-based and more aggressively advertised. In contrast, all UK vapes are regulated stringently by the MHRA, as are all drugs.
Vaping is still relatively new — and there's scope for more research into the implications for health if used long term. But at this point the balance of evidence is very much in their favour; there is simply no question that vaping is safer than lighting up.
]]>The financial implications of buying packets of cigarette is one of the main consideration for those who now vape instead, the survey found. As well as saving money, smelling resher and no longer having a bad smoker’s cough were also lauded as reasons why people have switched.
Other positives of abandoning cigarettes included having better teeth and improved breathing, according to three in 10 of those surveyed.
A total of 43 per cent said they felt less stressed after switching and over two thirds said they would "never" go back to smoking.
“There are now over three million vapers in the UK who have made that life changing decision to switch from smoking," said Dr Christian Jessen after viewing the results from the survey which was commissioned by the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA). “But yet, according to Public Health England, an incredible 40 per cent of smokers have never even tried vaping.”
The research carried out also found since saving money, three in 10 have then saved up for a holiday or put money into a savings account.
Eighty per cent of respondents would recommend converting to e-cigarettes to those who are trying to quit. On average, those polled used to get through a staggering 5,216 cigarettes a year.
Every brand of cigarette has a different price so we will use the average cost. In the UK, this is £10.40 for a pack of 20.
For smokers who go through a pack a day, the maths is simple: £10.40 per pack x 365 days in a year = a whopping £3,796 a year!
AS we can see smoking is expensive! on top of that the government usually increases the Tax on Cigrattes on a yearly basis
To calculate the cost of a basic vape setup there are several parts to consider:
The E-Cigarette
There is a bewildering choice of e-cigarette devices on the market but to buy a decent one along with a tank you would be looking to spend about £50
Coils
Coils require replacing on average every 2 weeks (this depends on how heavy you vape and the eliquids used) so this would equate to 26 coils per year. An average price for a pack of 5 coils would be £10.99 which gives us an annual total of 6 packs X £10.99 = £65.94
Batteries
If your device has a separate re-chargeable battery, they dont need replacing often, but we will factor in a spare pair at £7.99 each so a total of £15.98
E-Liquids
Finally we come to the eliquids. We will assume that as you have just quit you will require a higher strength to start with (12mg or 18mg). This would be available in 100ml Bottles for £17.99. If you were a heavy smoker you may get through 10-30ml per week, less if you were a lighter smoker.
We will assume a heavy use of 25ml per week which would mean the 100ml Bottle would last 4 weeks meaning you would require 13 Bottles for the year at a cost of £233.87
The grand total for vaping for the year is:£365.79
This represents an approximate saving of: £3,430.21 !!
Even if you doubled the amount of e-liquid and coils required, you would still be saving over £3000.
Just think what you could save for or buy by switching to vaping .... and thats not even including the health benefits!
]]>A new study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) at the start of April 2018 is the culmination of a segmented regression analysis of repeated cross sectional survey data in England, Scotland and Wales.
This report once again indicates that an acceptance of vaping for its many cessation benefits is not leading teens into a life of smoking. The new report was met with the usual mixed reaction, the vaping community feels vindicated, while the anti-vaping lobby seem to refuse to accept the truth.
A reasonably large team of researchers was led by Dr. Britt Hallingberg of the Center for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement at Cardiff University in the UK. The report was published in the Tobacco Control Journal,with the primary aim of the researchers primarily to foster a deeper understanding of the impact vaping plays on teen smoking, which is a hot and controversial topic in the vaping world.
They gathered information from nearly 250,000 teens aged 13-15 and asked several questions about their relationship with smoking and vaping. After analyzing all their data, the team put forward some compelling theories about teenage smoking and vaping.
Firstly, they found the number of teens who believe trying a cigarette is okay dropped from 70% in 1999 to just 27% in 2015. But more impressive is the increased speed of smoking decline after 2011, when modern e-cigarettes first became widely popular.
These stunning figures were not lost on the team, as they immediately re-enforced claims the so-called “gateway theory” is being overstated (if not wildly exaggerated). One of the key researchers said, “These findings suggest that fears over a resurgence in youth tobacco smoking because of the rise in e-cigarette use are largely unfounded to date. Negative attitudes towards smoking among young people continued to increase during a period where we saw a rapid rise in the use of e-cigarettes.”
The team even went as far as to say there is absolutely no evidence e-cigarettes are in any way reversing currently declining smoking rate trends; on the contrary they are in fact speeding them up.
This recent piece of evidence boosts what we already know about their impact. But it’s not the first report which strongly suggests the “gateway theory” is overblown.
A report conducted by Action on Smoking and Health of over 60,000 teens concluded only between 0.1% and 0.5% of non-smoking teens are ever picking up a vape more than once or twice. This means even fewer are ending up smokers in any way that can be traced to vaping. Not only that, but we also have reason to believe it’s an incredibly useful smoking cessation tool.
A report by researchers at the University of Louisville tested all the most common smoking cessation tools and methods before determining it was actually vaping most likely to succeed.
This study and others like it which analyse such a large demographic of Teens and clearly demonstrates that vaping is not leading to smoking in any way is the only way to fight back against the onslaught of false hoods generated by the anti-vaping lobby, which in fact is a mask for the still powerful Tobacco industry. Not a day goes by without some form of negative press aimed at vaping , hardly surprising when the lost Tax revenue and declining Tobacco sales are motivators behind the scenes.
]]>Given that these GPs and other healthcare professionals are in the front line of healthcare and often the first point of contact for members of the public who want to quit smoking, this endemic lack of knowledge about the positive benefits of vaping as a pathway to quit smoking and lack of awareness of the stated positions of Public Health bodies in the UK is inexscusable.
Dr Jo Brett, Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at Oxford Brookes University, said:
"Smoking is a well-established risk factor for many common cancers. It is the single biggest avoidable cause of cancer in the world.Problems caused by smoking continue after a cancer diagnosis. It increases the risk of treatment complications, cancer recurrence and the development of a second primary tumour, leading to an increased risk of death. So it's vital that these patients are encouraged to stop smoking."
"E-cigarettes are now the most popular intervention for smoking cessation in the UK. However, little is known about health professionals' knowledge and attitude towards e-cigarettes and whether they are endorsing use of e-cigarettes with cancer patients."
"These results suggest that there's a lack of clear policy on e-cigarettes at the local level."
Yes we can! In fact the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT) has an online training resource aimed directly at solving this issue.
Funded by the department for health the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT) is a social enterprise committed to support the delivery of effective evidence-based tobacco control programmes and smoking cessation interventions provided by local stop smoking services.
It has created a detailed online training resource , free for use and aimed at healthcare professionals such as GPs to use and learn about e-cigarettes as a cessation tool
So next time you are with your GP, politely ask if they have seen this officially recognised resource and if not then give them this url
http://elearning.ncsct.co.uk/e_cigarettes-stage_1
]]>
"If one uses electronic cigarettes as a method to stop smoking, it has to be managed by medical doctors and specialists, to be sold in pharmacies and not in supermarkets."
]]>In this telling interview the EU Health Commissioner (Did you get a vote to put him in charge?) reveals their desire to regulate vaping so that only Pharmacies and Doctors can dispense and monitor eCigarette products. He further states that (contrary to many studies we all know about) that Nicorette or similar products are the best way to quit smoking ....not vaping
The next European Commission will propose strengthening tobacco regulations, based on a report showing how the Tobacco Product Directive (TPD) works in practice, the EU Commissioner responsible for health, Vytenis Andriukaitis, stated in a recent interview.
“We have two issues: one is to collect information about electronic cigarettes but also different novel tobacco products. They will have a lot of work to do. They need to show how the TPD works in reality and explore possibilities to improve it,” Andriukaitis said.
The EU official , who recently announced he would run for Lithuania’s presidency, lashed out against the tobacco industry (apparently confusing e-Cigarettes with Cigarettes) saying that it has not realised the damage it has caused.
“I can organise a guide to an oncological department to see what they are doing because they’ve never been there. They never understood the suffering of people. Especially if you have cancer patients in front of you,” he said.
Arūnas Vinčiūnas, the head of Andriukaitis’s cabinet, came under fire recently for comparing electronic cigarettes to “poison” but Andriukaitis dismissed those criticisms.
“It would be strange if the industry did not accuse the head of my cabinet. I’d be surprised,” he said.
“My question to the industry is the following: is it harmful or not to smoke? Does it cause cancer or not? Harm is harm. No matter if it’s less or more,” he added.
Andriukaitis said tobacco was an “accidental product” in Europe as no one on the continent smoked before Columbus brought it here. He said nicotine was a completely different issue compared to alcohol, whose consumption indeed needs to be controlled, but alcohol has had 10,000 years of culture in the continent.
Contrary to the EU executive and the World Health Organisation’s strict approach, the tobacco industry claims that vaping is a good way to replace smoking and eventually quit, and should, therefore, be encouraged.
Andriukaitis insisted it was better to use smoking cessation aid such as Nicorette ( perhaps some associates in Big Pharma?). He added that if there was a real possibility to help heavy smokers kick the habit with the help of electronic cigarettes, then a specific methodology should be followed.
“If one uses electronic cigarettes as a method to stop smoking, it has to be managed by medical doctors and specialists, to be sold in pharmacies and not in supermarkets.”
“But in reality, you see a different picture. The industry proposes dangerous products and they use different loopholes in the directive. And they use different advocates to say they are less harmful. Young adolescents who have never smoked before try to smoke electronic cigarettes. It’s ridiculous,” Andriukaitis said.
]]>
In a scheme backed by Trafford council, pharmacies will be handing out e-cigarette starter kits to anyone who signs up to the latest smoking cessation pilot in Trafford. People who enrol at a pharmacy will be given a four week 'e-cig' starter kit and a consultation with a stop-smoking advisor.
Health commissioners behind the scheme hope it will improve residents' health and save them money. Spurred on by the fact that Public health researchers say 'e-cigs' are 95pc safer than tobacco.
"While e-cigarettes contain nicotine, just like traditional nicotine patches and gums, they don’t produce the cancer-causing carcinogens that are produced by burning tobacco,” says Ben Fryer, Public Health Registrar at Trafford Council.
"As a result, Public Health England estimates that e-cigarettes are 95% safer than tobacco."
E-cigarettes are recommended as one option to help people stop smoking by Public Health England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the medical royal colleges.“
The trial is available to Trafford residents who smoke, are aged over 18 and are not pregnant.
It's open until the end of March 2019 at the following pharmacies: Broomwood Pharmacy, Timperley, Limelight Pharmacy, Old Trafford, Davey’s Chemist, Partington. Malcolm’s Pharmacy, Urmston, Hollowood Chemist, Sale and Harry’s Pharmacy, Stretford.
Judith Lloyd, Executive Member for Health and Wellbeing at Trafford Council, said: "One of the best things that anyone can do in 2019 to improve their health and wellbeing is to stop smoking."
“We are offering Trafford residents a free e-cigarette starter kit, with professional smoking cessation support to encourage people to stop smoking in 2019.If you currently smoke but would like to quit, and would like to try a free e-cigarette, please visit one the 6 pharmacies in Trafford who are offering this service before the end of March.”
]]>A mother's body erupted in painful burn-like rashes after she suffered an allergic reaction to vaping.
Lisa Santiago-Griggs, from Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, was released this morning from hospital after being admitted on Sunday.
She claims a reaction to propylene glycol, an ingredient in the e-liquid, left her feeling like she was 'on fire'.
The 42-year-old has now shared shocking images of her 'unbearable' side effects. It is unclear if she went into anaphylactic shock.
She said: 'I've never had an allergic reaction to anything before - this was horrible.
'It was a covering my body, very painful, and it felt like my skin was burning from underneath, burning up from the inside.'
Ms Santiago-Griggs took several anti-histamine tablets to fight the rash but they had no effect.
She went straight to Southmead Hospital in Bristol. Ms Santiago-Griggs said: 'It was starting to blister, and getting serious.
'They took me straight in and I've been here ever since. They are treating me with steroids and I'm on a drip.
'I have to stay in until it's calmed down and they can work out exactly what is going on. I am 100 per cent convinced it was the vape.'
She added: 'It's not like I've been out doing anything else. It was the first time I'd ever had a vape and I didn't realise it can cause this kind of reaction.
Although its easy to dimiss this story as another anti-vaping article , which it is, the point is that some customers can have an allergic reaction to either VG or PG must not be forgotten. Always enquire with a customer if they have any known allergies or if in doubt recommend they seek advice from a GP.
This story which has appeared in several mainstream news channels is another example of making a mountain out of a molehill. The number of people who suffer from such a reaction is a tiny percentage of those who vape. More people suffer from nut allergies ... and we dont see the same level of false outcry condeming Snickers bars!
Smoking continues to kill more people every year than any other preventable cause, making it as important as ever we have effective harm reduction and smoking cessation tools. Despite being only a little over ten years old, modern vaporizers have proven to be invaluable in this fight according to a growing pile of peer-reviewed research. Despite this growing consensus among academics, the majority of legislators and parents remain skeptical of what effect e-cigarettes are really having.
That’s why it’s great to see another piece of evidence published which strongly suggests the value vaping provides far outweighs any potential downsides. While it’s unlikely to have a significant impact by itself, it shows a growing sentiment among public health experts that smoking is much worse than vaping and should remain the primary focus of smoking cessation programs. So as the debate over how to regulate vaporizers continues, supporters now have another solid piece of research which proves the risk is well worth it.
The report was conducted by a team of researchers hailing from several respected institutions and schools, led by Dr. David B. Abrams of New York University. The team wanted to understand the real-life impact of accepting vaping compared with continuing to treat it as merely an alternative forms of tobacco, as is currently the norm in America. To do this, they went back over years of reports and data to uncover any relevant connections and trends. The team ultimately concluded that if most cigarette smokers switched to exclusively using a vaporizer, it would save an estimated 6.6 million lives over ten years, resulting in 86.7 million fewer life years lost due to smoking.
While this was their most shocking revelation, it wasn’t their only one. The team first established vaping is a worthwhile endeavor in virtually all scenarios. In fact, the team concluded that only their most unreasonable simulations found the effect of vaping to be a net negative for public health, with most seeing it as a significant gain. They also made a strong argument for the often uncomfortable truth about the nature of vaping, “Even if the risk of harm to some youth who otherwise would not have smoked is marginally increased, such risks must be weighed against the substantial and immediate benefits of displacing smoking with safer nicotine products among both youth and adults.”
Aside from this latest report, we already have a robust list of evidence supporting many aspects of what makes vaping an effective harm reduction and smoking cessation tool. For starters, we can say with near certainty that vaping is much safer than smoking. In fact, going back as far as 2015 we got a report from Public Health England which concluded vaping is at least 95% safer than smoking. Backing up these findings have been many reports over the last three years which also indicates e-cigarettes significantly reduce your exposure to harm, including a report published in December which concluded vapor has around 93% fewer toxicants than cigarette smoke. But perhaps most impressive is the report which found the excess lifetime cancer risk of a smoker is roughly 57,000 times higher than a demographically similar vaper.
Going past the harm reduction value and there’s still a lot of reason to support vaping. For instance, a report by researchers at the University of Louisville concluded that not only is vaping a useful smoking cessation tool, but it’s more likely to be successful than anything else, including prescriptions drugs. But for many, one of the biggest reasons to question the value of vaping is their impact on teens. Luckily, we have a report of over 60,000 students which concluded only between 0.1% and 0.5% of non-smoking teens are ever picking up a vaporizer full time. Which means a lot less are ever turning to combustible cigarettes.
Studies like these are increasingly vital in the fight for vaping rights. Most experts can now agree that vaping has plenty to offer society, but now the question is what are the unintended consequences and are they worth the price? Evidence like this which looks directly at this question is our best chance to look into the future and see what sort of impact our policy choices will have. With the debate over the value of vaping reaching a head, its never been more critical for the vaping community to band together to help teach those in our lives about what e-cigarettes have to offer. If we ever want to end the smoking epidemic once and for all, this report indicates we must utilize vaping to its full potential.
]]>A French tourist claims police in Thailand first tried to extort money from her, and then arrested and charged her for possessing an e-cigarette. After that, things got a whole lot worse.
Cecilia Cornu was on vacation in Phuket when four Karon police officers stopped her on Jan. 30 for holding an e-cigarette, according to the Phuket News. Cornu had been riding a scooter with her fiance. Karon is a resort town on Phuket Island, a popular tourist area on the Indian Ocean. Cornu, 31, was there with several family members.The police confiscated her ecigarette and demanded a bribe of 40,000 Baht (about $1,260 U.S.). Cornu refused to pay, and was arrested and taken to the police station. She was charged (the specific charge is unclear) and released on bail. Her passport was seized, and a trial date was set for Feb. 11 — nearly two weeks after she had planned to leave the country.
Vaping products are illegal to sell, manufacture, or import in Thailand, and the country’s vape ban is one of the strictest in the world. In 2017, a Swiss tourist was charged with importation for bringing vaping devices for personal use into the country.
Cornu was convicted in a Thai court on Feb. 11 and fined 827 Baht (about $26). She was told to report to the immigration office in Phuket and assumed this was to get her passport back. However, upon arriving she was told she would be transferred to Bangkok — more than 500 miles away — for deportation.
Cornu says she spent four nights in a dirty prison cell waiting to be deported. According to Cornu, she shared space with 60 other women, and slept on a hard floor with no sheets or blankets — all for a crime that was settled with a $26 fine.
The French woman says the entire legal nightmare cost her 8,000 Euros (about $9,100), and more than two weeks of her life.
Last October it was reported that Thailand was rethinking its vaping ban, which has been in place since 2014. A commerce ministry panel is currently studying the issue. One of the major issues is damage to the country’s tourist industry by news stories about harsh enforcement like the current example. The U.K. government even issued an advisory to travelers urging British tourists to avoid taking vapes to Thailand.
The government of Thailand generates revenue not just from excise taxes on cigarettes, but also through sales by the Tobacco Authority of Thailand. The government agency itself produces cigarettes, which bring in billions for the state, so vaping is seen as a direct threat to this revenu stream.
Once again the health and well being of citizens comes second place to the desire to raise money for the state, a similar driving force to the TPD legislation in Europe and the recent anti-vaping attitude of the FDA in the US.
]]>Many smokers successfully quit by switching to e-cigarettes (vaping), but doctors can’t recommend this treatment without good evidence from clinical trials. They now have this evidence. Our latest study confirms that e-cigarettes are indeed an effective way to help smokers quit.
In the trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine this month, almost 900 smokers seeking to quit were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group was given nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) – mostly combinations of nicotine patches with a shorter-acting medication, such as nicotine chewing gum, inhaler or mouth spray. The other group was given a refillable e-cigarette, with one or two bottles of e-liquid, and taught how to use the device. They were then encouraged to buy more supplies of their choice, with nicotine strengths and flavours that they liked. Both groups also received weekly face-to-face support over at least the first four weeks of the study.
When heavy smokers try to quit, they often feel miserable for a while, struggling with urges to smoke, irritability and low mood. The group using e-cigarettes experienced fewer of these symptoms than the group using NRT. They also found e-cigarettes more helpful and more satisfying, although they didn’t find e-cigarettes or NRT as satisfying as cigarettes.
Those who vaped maintained their early advantage over the course of the study. At the end of the year, almost twice as many people in the e-cigarettes group had been abstinent throughout the year compared with the NRT group (18 per cent vs 10 per cent).
Early in the study, both groups used their treatments nearly every day. Over time, though, a strong difference emerged. Some 40 per cent of smokers in the e-cigarette group were still vaping at one year while only 4 per cent in the NRT group were still using their nicotine replacement product. Among those not smoking at one year, the proportion using e-cigarettes was 80 per cent, and using NRT was 9 per cent.
Among smokers who didn’t manage to quit, there were some in both study groups who reduced their smoke intake by at least 50 per cent, but there were significantly more of them in the e-cigarette group (13 per cent compared to 7 per cent).
Ongoing vaping among the long-term abstainers, however, could be seen as a bad thing if using e-cigarettes for one year leads to vaping over many more years, and if this causes health problems. Although the risks of long-term vaping on health are estimated to be less than 5 per cent of the risks of smoking (no health risks from vaping were found in one gold-standard study looking at over two years of e-cigarette use), this could still present an avoidable risk.
But the fact that many of the heavy smokers in our study who stopped smoking carried on vaping could be seen as a good thing. Dependent smokers who quit with NRT and continue to use these products in the long-term are known to reduce their risk of relapse, so extended use of e-cigarettes might also reduce the risk of relapse. Also, ongoing vaping protected these heavy smokers from the usual side effects of quitting, such as feeling irritable and gaining weight. And an issue that is rarely discussed is that some smokers actually enjoy smoking, and vaping may help them retain this enjoyment.
These ex-smokers are, of course, still continuing to use nicotine through vaping, but this does not have the major negative effects on health that cigarettes have. The health risks of smoking are mainly from combustion chemicals released from burning tobacco. People who use nicotine without combustion do not seem to suffer negative health effects, while smoking causes premature death in about half of middle-aged smokers.
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A recent study has compared e-cigarettes with their traditional tobacco based counterparts to assess how they affect indoor spaces – and, it appears vaping really does have less of an impact on the surrounding air.
While particles from conventional cigarette smoke linger in the air for upwards of 45 minutes, researchers found that clouds originating from vaping products evaporate within seconds, even indoors!
Even in the ‘worst case scenario,’ where there was no ventilation in a room, the researchers found the particle counts quickly dropped to background levels in trials with commercially available e-cigaretts.
The new research comes as part of a collaboration between Kaunas University of Technology in Lithuania, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, ETH Zurich, and Fontem Ventures.
The Participants, who were already regular vapers, were tasked to use their e-cigarettes in varying conditions of ventilation with Researchers then measuring how particle concentrations changed in the surrounding air.
Within seconds, the researchers found the liquid aerosol droplets generated by vaping evaporated, returning the enclosed space quickly back to the normal levels.
‘No accumulation of particles was registered in the room following subjects’ vaping,’ says Dr Grant O’Connell, Corporate Affairs Manager at Fontem Ventures.
‘This shows us how fundamentally different exhaled e-vapor particles are compared to those released when smoking conventional cigarettes, the latter of which linger in the air for longer periods of time.’
Immediately after the participants exhaled, the researchers say initial particle concentrations for e-cigarettes were in the same order of magnitude as those seen with traditional cigarettes.
But, the incredible difference came in their decay.
According to the researchers, it was 30-45 minutes before particle concentrations returned to background levels with conventional cigarettes, which caused an increase with every puff and means nearly an hour of poor air quality for non-smokers exposed to the smoke.
‘Exhaled e-vapour aerosol particles have a different chemical composition to a cigarette smoke and here we show the physical properties are also significantly different,’ Dr O’Connell said.
‘This data strengthens the growing body of evidence that vaping indoors is unlikely to pose an air quality issue.’
]]>When it comes to vaping we are lucky in the UK as common sense (aside from TPD ) has prevailed. For those in many other countries Vaping is either restricted or out-right banned
So if you are travelling abroad this year (2018) and want to know what countries have restrictions around vaping then continue reading.
Please note that although we have tried to present an accurate guide to vaping regulations in various countries, these are subject to change and you should always double check before you travel
Most European countries still allow vaping, although increasingly heavy taxation is becoming more common which can make buying vaping supplies while on holiday more expensive. Most EU members adopted the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) from 2017 and this makes their general approach to vaping roughly similar to that of the UK.
Some EU countries have added their own additional laws that you need to be mindful of though.
Status: Allowed
Details: Where better place to start than our own green and pleasant land. The UK is very much pro vaping and is one of the most progressive countries in the world in their views to e-cigarettes. Generally vaping is permitted anywhere smoking is allowed and vape stores can be found in virtually every town and city if you need to stock up on supplies.
Status: Allowed
Details: France is vying with the UK for the highest number of vapers in Europe and as with the UK you can vape safely wherever smoking is allowed. New laws were passed in 2016 prohibiting vaping on public transport or in areas where children are present. If you’re in any doubt ask someone who looks local!
Status: Allowed
Details: As with the majority of EU member states they have adopted the TPD and therefore vaping is allowed with similar restrictions to the UK. You can purchase vape supplies easily and restrictions on vaping in public are largely permitted in areas where you can smoke.
Status: Allowed
Details: As with the majority of EU member states they have adopted the TPD and therefore vaping is allowed with similar restrictions to the UK. You can purchase vape supplies easily and restrictions on vaping in public are largely permitted in areas where you can smoke.
Status: Allowed
Details: Italy has a large number of vapers but has also introduced some nasty new tax laws at the end of 2017 which makes vaping more expensive than smoking. Even more new taxes are planned that may kill off the industry in Italy altogether. Vaping is permitted anywhere you can smoke but getting supplies locally may get trickier as vape shops start to shut up shop.
Status: Allowed
Details: Ecigs are legal in Greece with vaping permitted anywhere smoking is allowed. Buying supplies should be relatively easy in major cities and towns but will be more difficult if you are visiting the Greek Islands.
Status: Banned
Details: Vaping in Turkey is ‘technically’ banned. However, many UK holidaymakers have reported being able to vape freely whilst visiting. If you plan on going and packing your device, do so with caution and do your own research before leaving.
Status: Allowed
Details: As an EU member their vaping laws largely mirror the UK’s. Vaping is allowed in areas where you can smoke but there is now a total ban on smoking in all bars, restaurants and workplaces.
Status: Allowed
Details: Portugal is following the example of Italy in heavily taxing vaping products so if you do plan to visit take your own e-liquids. Smoking/Vaping bans in bars, clubs and restaurants are not yet in place but are planned so double check the status before visiting.
Status: Allowed
Details: E-cigarettes are classed tobacco products by law so are treated in the same way. Vaping in all public enclosed areas is banned. If you need to stock up on supplies whilst visiting then you’re well catered for in tourist hot spots.
Status: Allowed
Details: As you would expect the Dutch attitude is fairly liberal towards vaping. E-cigs are legal to buy and use and buying supplies whilst visiting shouldn’t present any issues.
Status: Allowed
Details: It is legal to buy and use e-cigs in Ireland and vape shops are plentiful. Ireland, like the Dutch, takes a fairly liberal approach to vaping and at the time of writing there are no plans to change this approach.
Status: Allowed
Details: Not an EU member state and therefore not subject to the TPD regulations. Vaping is currently unregulated which has allowed a thriving market including vape shops and cafes to develop. Some major cities are looking at classing e-cigarettes as a tobacco product which would mean new laws to govern their use. If you plan on visiting during 2018 check what the current status is.
Status: Allowed
Details: Until recently vaping products were classed as medical supplies and were therefore banned from general sale. Happily, the introduction of the TPD pushed the Danes in line with the rest of Europe, legalising the products and making them available to the consumer. Vaping is permitted in public places but don’t expect that many vape shops as the industry is only starting to establish itself.
Status: Allowed (Potential to Change)
Details: Sweden, like Denmark, had classed e-cigarettes as medical products meaning they were banned from sale to the consumer. This was overturned in 2016 allowing for their free sale which opened up the market. Despite being in the EU, Sweden has not passed the TPD into law which means that vaping products have no regulation. This will soon change but it’s not clear which way the country will go. If you plan on travelling to Sweden in 2018 and want to vape do your homework first.
Status: Allowed
Details: Vaping products are classified in the same way as cigarettes so the same rules apply. Wherever smoking is banned so is vaping.
Status: Permitted with Limitations
Details: Vaping is permitted, however, the sale of nicotine-containing products is not. Norwegians can buy vaping products abroad but only if they can prove it is to help them quit smoking. If you’re travelling to Norway then the rules are equally woolly. If you plan on staying for a while then you’ll require a doctor’s note to show that your vaping to help quit smoking. Without this, your device and liquids may be confiscated. If you’re making a shorter trip then you shouldn’t have any issues.
Status: Allowed
Details: Vaping is allowed wherever smoking is permitted but this is another country that has gone down the heavy taxation route. You can buy supplies in Hungary but expect to pay above the odds for liquids.
Status: Allowed
Details: Vaping is common in Malta and it’s easy to get hold of supplies should you need them. E-Cigarettes are classed as tobacco products and therefore the same rules should apply.
Status: Allowed
Details: Surprisingly for a country that has been considered ‘smoker friendly,’ their vaping laws are pretty tough. E-cigarettes were only legalised as a consumer product in 2016 and they are classed as a tobacco product so get hit with the same restrictions as smoking. Vape shops exist but mainly in larger towns and cities.
Status: Allowed
Details: One of the more liberal countries in their approach to vaping. There are few restrictions on where you can vape and it is permitted indoors, although it’s always worth checking with a member of staff first. The vape market is pretty strong and you should have no problems buying supplies whilst visiting.
Status: Allowed
Details: Another great place to visit for vapers. Ecigs can be purchased and used pretty much anywhere.
Status: Allowed
Details: Vaping is allowed but only where smoking is permitted. Vaping indoors is banned as are certain public places such as bus stops.
Unlike Europe where the approach to vaping is relatively consistent, Asia is very much the opposite. Laws vary from outright bans to no regulation at all so if you’re travelling through the area check the local laws of each country you’ll be passing through.
Status: Allowed
Details: China is the country that invented e-cigarettes and it still produces around 90% of the entire worlds vapour products. Vaping laws tend to vary from region to region but e-cigarettes are permitted throughout China so just check on any regional variations before you visit.
Status: Allowed with Limitations
Details: Vaping is permitted but using e-liquids that contain nicotine are not. Any juice with nicotine is considered to be an unlicensed medical product.
Status: Allowed with Limitations
Details: In Hong Kong nicotine is classed as a poison so any e-liquids containing it are banned and their usage is considered a criminal offence. There are plans to ban vaping totally so if you plan on travelling to Hong Kong make sure you check the current status.
Status: Banned
Details: All vaping products are illegal to buy, sell or use. Even having a device in your luggage could land you in hot water with customs.
Status: Banned
Details: The maximum penalty for vaping is ten years in prison. If you look at travel forums many people report being able to vape in public without any issues, however, it’s not something we suggest risking.
Status: Allowed
Details: Vaping products are regulated as a tobacco product and so the same restrictions apply to vaping as do to smoking. You can purchase vaping products fairly easily but they are heavily taxed and therefore expensive.
Status: Allowed (Potential to Change)
Details: The situation in India is complicated and liable to change during 2018. Currently, vaping rules are governed at a state level and Jammu, Kashmir, Karnataka, Punjab, Maharashtra and Kerala have banned the sale of vape products. Tourists using e-cigs still seem to be tolerated but a nationwide ban looks to be on the horizon.
Status: Allowed
Details: Another country where state and national laws conflict. There is no national ban on ecigs but several states prohibit the sale of vape products. There seems to be no issue for tourists bringing e-cigarettes into the country but it’s highly advisable to check local state laws before travelling.
Status: Allowed (Potential to Change)
Details: Vaping is currently permitted although a ban on smoking in public areas may be extended to cover e-cigarettes in the near future.
Status: Banned
Details: The use and sale of e-cigarettes and vaping accessories are illegal.
Status: Banned
Details: Another country with a straight ban. However, many people on travel forums have indicated the government do not enforce the ban with ecigs being openly sold in tourist areas.
Another continent of contrasts with Australia veering towards a total ban and New Zealand embracing vaping.
Status: Allowed with Big Limitations
Details: Vaping is not banned but using e-liquids that contain nicotine is. Purchasing e-cigarettes is banned in some states but legal in others. Overall it’s fairly confusing picture but for people who vape juices with nicotine then Oz is not a great country to visit.
Status: Allowed
Details: Unlike their neighbours, New Zealand has a far more progressive attitude to vaping that is more in line with the UK. Towards the end of 2017, the New Zealand Health Ministry endorsed ecigs as a harm reduction and smoking cessation tool . New Zealand has few restrictions on vapers and vape shops are plentiful if you need to stock up on supplies.
Status: Allowed
Details: Vaping is permitted and they have a number of vape shops should you run out of the essentials.
Generally, North America is vaper friendly with most countries classing e-cigarettes as tobacco products and therefore applying the same restrictions.
Status: Allowed
Details: Another country that doesn’t like to make life easy for vapers with each individual state setting their own laws. Generally vaping is allowed with the variation coming in the form of where you are allowed to vape. A number of states have total bans on vaping indoors, some leave it to the discretion of the business owner and some simply have no bans.
Status: Allowed
Details: Canada has no restrictions on vaping and it is 100% legal throughout the country. There are some regional differences regarding where you are allowed to vape so check before pulling out your device. Vape shops are also plentiful.
Status: Allowed with Limitations
Details: Vaping is legal in Mexico, however under federal law, you can not sell, trade, promote, distribute or produce any vape related products. Unbelievably, e-cigarettes are governed by a law first introduced to regulate the sale of candy cigarettes. There is no law against taking your ecig with you when you visit Mexico but there have been reports of devices being confiscated by customs.
Status: Unclear
Details: Vaping is legal and you can travel to Cuba with your device and liquids. Smoking is generally still permitted pretty much everywhere, as is vaping. The confusion arises with trying to leave as a large number of people have had devices confiscated by customs officials. There is no legal basis for this under Cuban law but if you are planning to travel take a device with you don’t mind leaving behind.
Status: Allowed
Details: E-cigarettes are classed as a tobacco product and so the same rules apply to vaping as they do to smoking. There is a ban on smoking/vaping in indoor public spaces plus any outdoor terrace with more than one member of staff.
Status: Allowed
Details: Another country where ecigs are regulated as tobacco products so the same rules apply. You can take your own devices and liquids into the country and use them where smoking is permitted.
Status: Allowed
Details: Classed as a tobacco product therefore vaping is only allowed where smoking is permitted. There is also a ban on imports with many people having devices confiscated when trying to enter the country.
Status: Allowed
Details: It’s difficult to get a 100% clear picture but vaping appears to be unregulated with little limitations placed on vapers. There are vape suppliers on the island and you are free to take your own device with you.
Status: Allowed
Details: Classed as a tobacco product and therefore vaping is only allowed where smoking is permitted. Smoking is banned in all public spaces including outside terraces of bars and restaurants.
One of the less vape friendly parts of the world with several major tourist favourites being very much anti-vaping. Outright bans exist across much of the continent and where bans don’t exist the laws are unclear.
Status: Banned
Details: A total ban exists in Brazil meaning you can’t buy, sell or use e-cigarettes.
Status: Banned
Details: Vaping is illegal throughout the country.
Status: Unclear
Details: There was a total ban in Columbia but this appears to have been lifted. The picture is a little foggy here so if you are planning to visit take a device that you’re happy to leave behind if needed. Kind of ironic seeing as what their biggest unofficial export product is!
Status: Unclear
Details: It’s not totally clear but many travel forums have users reporting they have used their ecigs freely and purchased supplies whilst visiting the country. This doesn’t mean it is legal, it may simply be authorities turning a blind eye so proceed with caution.
Status: Banned
Details: Vaping is illegal throughout the country.
Status: Allowed
Details: Vaping is legal and treated much the same as smoking. No smoking/vaping is permitted in indoor public buildings unless permission has been explicitly given.
Of all the continents we’ve looked as Africa is perhaps the hardest to get clear information on. If you plan on visiting Africa we suggest taking devices and liquids that are fairly inexpensive as there is a chance they could be confiscated.
Status: Permitted with Limitations
Details: E-cigarettes are legal but e-liquids that contain Nicotine are prohibited. Users of travel forums report shops selling nicotine e-liquids are common but keep in mind that by purchasing and using them you will be breaking local laws.
Status: Unclear
Details: At the time of writing (Jan 2018) no known regulations seem to exist that cover vaping. The major cities and tourist hot spots have vape shops and there are no current issues taking you device and liquids with you when travelling to Morocco.
Status: Allowed with Limitations
Details: Ecigs are legal but vaping in public is not. Users of travel forums report no issues vaping in the main tourist areas but it’s worth checking with your hotel/resort staff about local laws.
Status: Unclear
Details: Currently, the National Board of Tobacco and Matches (RNTA) is the only body permitted to sell vape products in Tunisia. This gives the government a monopoly on the sale of vape products and also heavily limits supply and options. Vape shops do exist but they have been known to be raided and closed down by authorities. The laws on carrying your device and liquids into the country aren’t clear but if you plan on trying we recommend not taking anything of value in case it is confiscated.
Status: Allowed
Details: E-cigarette usage is legal with few restrictions.
Status: Allowed
Details: Vaping is regulated by the same laws as smoking and therefore you are permitted to vape in the same areas you can smoke.
Status: Allowed
Details: Vaping is legal with few restrictions.
Status: Allowed
Details: Vaping is regulated by the same laws as smoking and therefore you are permitted to vape in the same areas you can smoke.
Status: Allowed
Details: E-cigarettes are legal but vaping is not allowed in public.
Status: Banned
Details: E-cigarettes have been banned since 2016.
Status: Unclear
Details: There is no information available on the laws for Tanzania, however, users of travel forums report no issues. Taking and using your device should be done so with caution and it’s not recommended to travel with anything of value.
Status: Allowed with Limitations
Details: It is not 100% clear but vaping does seem to be permitted but not in public.
Status: Allowed
Details: Vaping is regulated by the same laws as smoking and therefore you are permitted to vape in the same areas you can smoke.
Status: Allowed
Details: Vaping is legal with few restrictions.
Status: Allowed
Details: Vaping is regulated by the same laws as smoking and therefore you are permitted to vape in the same areas you can smoke.
]]>The Vaporesso brand is associated with excellence in almost every facet of vaping. Their devices are superbly designed and perform in excess of expectations, and they always feature some new technical innovation that other mods just can’t compete with.
One of their newest offerings, the Vaporesso Swag Kit is another of these pieces of Vaping excellence.When you open the box containing the kit you get the following contents:
Packaging on the Vaporesso Swag kit is very nice. On the first level of the box, you get the mod, the tank, and a spare coil, just below the plastic insert of the box, there is a high-quality USB cable to be found.
The Swag device itself is compact, snug and has an attitude about it. With is dimensions (75mm x 48mm x 25mm ) and its light 64g weight, it truly is a discreet pocket sized vaping device. Its In-Mould-Label face plate gives it a definite gripability and also durability. Smooth yet satisfying to hold.
With nine sharp colours to choose from (The austentatious gold to the in-your-face orange) there is a Swag for every taste appealing to both male and female vapers alike.
The top battery cover catches your eye as first impressions lead you to think it may be a control knob of some kind but rather it allows for quick removal and replacement of the single 18650 battery the device uses.Many mods have a point of weakness with their hinged bottom battery covers where dropping the device and break the battery cover or its latch, not a problem on this mod!
Along the side of the mod, you’ll find the OLED screen, the firing button, and the mode selector button.The OLED Screen is fine indoors but can be a bit hard to read in strong sunlight.The plus/minus selector buttons are on the front of the device located close to the rest of the controls.
On the top side of the mod, next to the battery cap, is where the 510 connection is located. As with most Vaporesso mods, the 510 connection on this mod is of great quality. There is a firm spring loaded gold plated 510 pin. Around the 510 there is a stainless steel plate, smooth with no indentations or cutouts whatsoever. The only negative point is that as the battery cap is quite close to the 510 no tank wider than 22mm will be able to fit on the device.
Branding is subtle on the mod and the side panel has a Charging and Update port as the Swag firmware is upgradable. With 2 amp internal charging available via this port the mod charges its single 18650 battery quickly.
The mode button lets you scroll through different options in the menu system and has become a staple with Vaporesso mods.
To turn on the device, you click the firing button on five times. If you have no tank attached, the OLED screen will display a “change atomizer.” warning. When you’ve connected the NRG SE to the tank, the smart mode on the mod will automatically adjust the wattage to suit the attached tank.
The Swag mod uses Vaporesso’s proprietary chip, the new 2.0 Omniboard, which has a full temperature control suite, a resistance range between .05 ohms and 5 ohms and a maximum voltage of 8.5 volts. There are temperature control settings for nickel (Ni), stainless steel (SS), and titanium (Ti)and a temperature control range of 200 degrees to 600 degrees Fahrenheit.
There is a wattage curve feature (Custom Curved Wattage CCW) as well as a temperature control curve feature (Custom Curved Temperature CCT)and a TCR function with two memory slots.
The Vaporesso Swag uses both CCW and CCT modes to let you designate the power and temperature your vape begins and ends in with each session. It also enables you to decide how long you want the mod to vape at either your preferred temperature or wattage. You could for instance set the device to slowy increment the temperature every 20 seconds from a specific starting temparature in order to find you flavour sweetspot, the CCW and CCT modesallow you to pre-program the deviceto go exactly where you want it to go.
The Swag also has three different (high, normal, and soft) vaping modes dependent on which coils you are using in the tank and there is of course a bypass mode which allows you to do away with all the adjustable settings and use the Swag like a mech mod.
The Swag has an embarassment of customisation settings which on the one hand will give you endless hours of vaping fun exploring them but on the other can be frustrating to completely get a handle on. The biggest gripe is accessing all the settings (even some of the simple ones) through the menu system could be a better experience. Sometimes you just have to press too many times on the buttons to get to the settings you want.
The tank included with this kit is the NRG SE 22 mm Sub-Ohm tank. It is a more compact version of Vaporesso’s NRG tank with its easy to fill twist-open top fill system.
The filling port for the NRG tank is located under the top cap, beneath the slider and there is a white gasket around it. You will be able to fit needle nose bottles in there with no problem but be may struggle with some of the more bulborous of tips
This is a bottom airflow tank,with two airflow slots located opposite each other on the base of the tank. The Air Flow Control is smooth and easy to adjust with have stoppers on both ends so you are less likely to accidently open or close the airflow.
The 510 pin on the NRG tank is silver-plated and the threading around the 510 is stainless steel with a smooth well machined finish which fits flushly onto the mod.
The drip tip is a Vaporesso custom version and if you use your own you will need to make sure they match the circumference of the protruding ring on the top cap otherwise they may not fit as snugly.
This kit does come with 2 coils. One is the .5 ohm GT CCELL ceramic coil and the other is the .4 ohm GT2 coil. The GT2 vapes best within the range of 40-80 watts and the GCell within 20-35W.
Vaporesso provide acurrate information for its coil range and their optimal settings for High , Normal or Soft vaping modes.
The cotton on these factory coils are packed in very tight, so you need to give them time to soak up your eliquid after priming, especially when the coil is brand new.
The coils for the NRG range of tanks are flavoursome and cloudy from the get go but can sometimes lack longevity, interestingly the tank is compatible with Smok Baby Beast coils which allow for an alternative.
It’s a really nice, high-quality vape from a high quality device. This mod is extremely accurate in power mode and TC mode. The firing is instant with no delay between clicking the fire button and the coils igniting and of course the huge selection of settings on the device allow for very customised vaping experience if required or a more straightforward plug-in-and-vape approach.
It is a portable device ideal for nights out where you want something which looks good but doesnt get in the way. It has a well balanced trade off between power and bulk. The quick charge function is especially useful when out and about as you may only be able to nab a few minutes charging time on someone elses charger.
The Swag is a fantastic addition to the Vaporesso line up. It performs solidly and is a great kit for beginners and a more than satisfactory second for seasoned vapers. The poorish coil lifespan and fiddly menu are irksome but by no means deal breakers. We would give this a 9/10!
Pros
Cons
Thats easy, Motivape sell all nine colours of the Vaporesso Swag right here!
Space Jam has been a force of nature on the vaping scene since 2012 where it was one of the original premium e-liquid companies in such exhalted company as Beard, Cuttwood and Suicide Bunny.
They have produced a line of famous (and much imitated ) flavours such as Astro and Adromeda which have been popular for many years. With the release of their High VG range in 2017 they are aiming solidly at the sub-ohm market.
Based on popular demand we have started to stock some of their High VG range and will add to this as the weeks go by
The new range of flavours with their description (courtesy of the Mums Home Baked Website) are:
Astro is described as Apples and Strawberries with a little peach thrown in to the mix and a hint of candy somewhere in amongst it too. If you like a fruity vape Astro is a smooth classic which just keeps on giving.
Eclipse is for the tobacco flavour lovers out there. It combines a classic Cavendish tobacco with a sweet notes of vanilla bean.It’s smooth, full bodied and has a well deserved reputation for being one of the most realistic tobacco flavours available.
Pluto is a complex liquid bursting with flavour. The initial hit is a well balanced mix of watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe which then combines beautifully with the bubblegum flavour and delivers very subtle notes of mint in the background. This is a light refreshing vape which is definitely one for lovers of fresh fruit flavours.
After a strong showing at the Expo in 2017 Mums Home Baked launched a range of desert inspired products which were very popular and well reviewed. After a brief absence from the market while they refreshed and relaunched their product range they are back with a bang!
A range of new flavours in 10ml as well as Shortfills include some of the previously popular flavours and a whole new line up of line up to tantalise us with.
The new range of flavours with their description (courtesy of the Mums Home Baked Website) are:
A British Classic from the heart of the peaks. Rich warm buttery pastry encases warm almond notes blended with cherry jam, iced with silky sweetness.
An all-weather favourite, Gloriously Indulgent toffee notes marbled with smooth, creamy banana lavished over a crumbly pastry base
A British Classic from the heart of the peaks. Rich, buttery pastry encases warm almond notes blended with sumptuous cherry jam, iced with silky sweetness.
A truly luxurious combination of deep, warming butterscotch perfectly suspended in fresh creamy custard.
A light and zingy favourite from across the pond! A golden biscuit base with heavenly whipped cream infused with Brazilian lime oil and sprinkled with lime zest.
A mainstay for any afternoon tea! Delectably fluffy aerated sponge dusted with golden sugar and drenched in a sweet, zesty Lemon reduction.
A family favourite from the Northern Powerhouse! A delicate and crumbly pastry base, layered with fresh raspberry jam, followed by a generous helping of rich, creamy custard crowned with sweet Icing sugar and finished with a twist of desiccated coconut.
A delectably light, fresh fried doughnut lovingly glazed with a sticky-sweet raspberry and strawberry infusion, with an oozing heart of gooey jam to match
With the bewildering array of choice available in today’s e-cigarette market it can be a daunting and seemingly impossible task to choose an e-cigarette. There are dozens of manufacturers and many similar devices not only in price but in styling and performance as well. This can be a problem for seasoned vapers , for novices it can be a nightmare.
The vast majority of e-cigarettes are manufactured in China and most of the top brands are Chinese. The manufacturers websites can leave a lot to be desired in terms of layout and information so research is the key to success. Use other people’s experience and knowledge to help with your decision.
The first step to choosing a brand and ultimately a particular device is to work out what your vaping needs are. Have you just quit smoking ? Is this your first e-cigarette? Do you want something small and discreet or are you looking for something bolder and brasher? Are you looking for something quick and simple to use or do you want to get involved in wrapping your own coils? These are some of the questions you will need to consider before looking at specific brands, it can be a good idea to put a list of requirements together so you are ready for the next stage. There are several types of e-cigarettes on the market, each with their own strengths and weaknesses and choosing between them also involves a great deal of personal preference. Your first step to choosing a brand is to identify what kind of e-Cigarette you may want to use.
Disposable one-piece devices which are similar in size and sometimes appearance to a cigarette are a cheap and basic option. They offer a discreet way to quit smoking and many people are happy to use them as a permanent replacement for cigarettes. They give roughly the smoking equivalent of two packets of cigarettes and are intended to be disposed of after use. These devices can be found in most supermarket chains or small high street convenience stores.
Pros: Small, cheap, readily available and discreet with a low output of vapour.
Cons: Very limited range of flavours or strengths, quality can vary, ultimately they are not re-usable or upgradable in any way.
Similar in size and appearance to the disposable cig-a-likes, rechargeable cig-a-likes can be re-powered with a USB charger as well as having replaceable e-liquid cartridges (which are disposable).
Pros: More economic in the long term compared with the disposable cig-a-likes while retaining the small discreet appearance with low vapour output.
Cons: Once again a limited range of flavours and strengths as well as the e-liquid cartridges still being disposable. Short battery life and often poor performance.
The next step up from the cig-a-likes are Vape Pens. These are usually slender and compact resembling a pen (hence the name ) but on the whole bigger than cig-a-likes. Styling can vary from very basic and functional up to elegant and sleek. These devices usually comprise of a USB re-chargeable battery section and Clearomiser section. The Clearomiser section contains a coil and wick (for vaporising the e-liquid), mouthpiece and e-liquid reservoir. Vape Pens have a wide range of quality and features from simple ones such as the Kangertech Evod Battery and BCC Clearomiser to the more sophisticated devices such as the Aspire PockeX.
Pros: Cheap and readily available in most supermarket chains, easy to use, compact and relatively discreet. Low volumes of vapour. Rechargeable and refillable from a much larger range of e-liquids. Much better battery life than a cig-a-like.
Cons: There are many poor quality vape pens on the market which can result in a poor first vaping experience. Limited power can compromise enjoyment of flavour.
The ultimate destination for vapers are Mods and Tanks.
What is a Mod? Essentially it is a container for a set of larger and more powerful batteries (Which may need an external battery charger )and some electronic circuitry to regulate power. There are thousands of models of Mod from dozens of brands with a rich set of features such as Temperature and Power variable controls, automatic recognition of Coil resistance, safety cut offs, sophisticated touch sensitive LED screens and styling for every possible taste.
Mods are much larger and boxier than the cig-a-likes and vape pens, but many are still very discreet and fit snugly into the palm of your hand. The idea is to be able to control your vaping experience to the smallest detail and for those who like it sub-ohm vaping and generating big clouds of vapour.
The natural companion to any Mod is the Tank which consists of a sturdy glass and metal reservoir for the e-liquid and a replaceable coil. It is fair to say the market is flooded with choice. Most of the manufacturers who make the Mods also do accompanying Tanks and their respective coils. The TPD laws in the EU limit tank size to 2ml but you can still buy expansion sets to enhance capacity.
If you are new to vaping it is likely you would try a Vape Pen first and then graduate to a Mod and Tank combination, but if you know what you want there is no harm in plunging straight and purchasing a Mod.
Pros: Complete control over your vaping experience, massive choice in styles and functionality. The ability to swap tanks easily. More vapour production and enhanced experience of flavour.
Cons: Some Mod and Tank combinations come with a hefty price tag and this doesn’t always include the cost of batteries or a charger. You will really need to understand some advanced Vaping terms and techniques to get the best from a good Mod. Most powerful mods are quite bulky and produce far more vapour than a Vape pen.
So now you are aware of the main types of e-cigarette available on the market and may have a good idea about your own preferences, how do you start to identify a good brand or even a specific device? Follow the suggestions below and you will be selecting a brand and device in no time.
#1 Sign up to Vaping forums and groups
Vaping groups on Facebook and the numerous forums and bulletin boards are a great place to start. Once you have signed up and acknowledge the rules for the group or forum you have joined you will find that any questions you might have about a particular brand or model will be answered, sometimes in great depth by the other members. This can be a double-edged sword as sometimes you can get too many opinions and you may end back where you started and no closer to choosing a brand.
#2 Visit a high street Vaping Shop
Most high streets have a vaping shop nowadays. It makes sense to pop to a local shop and get some one-to-one advice from someone who hopefully knows a fair bit about vaping. In an ideal world your local store would have a good selection covering the various device categories and popular e-liquids, combined with words of wisdom from a seasoned vaper with in depth knowledge of the products they sell. In a lot of cases this is exactly what you will get and you should leave the store knowing more to help in your decision or perhaps even clutching your shiny new e-Cigarette.
A caveat to beware of is that not all Vaping stores are like this and some have staff who are not necessarily as knowledgeable as they should be. Some stores only stock certain brands and will push them to make a sale rather than offering impartial advice.
It is also worth noting that as physical shops have larger overheads than online stores, the e-cigarettes and e-liquids will be more expensive than if you purchased them online.
On the plus side you can at least see and handle various devices directly in a shop to get a feel for their quality and size. Attributes which can be hard to judge when purchasing online.
#3 Check out You Tube reviews
Another great place to see a particular e-Cig in action is to watch one of thousands of You Tube reviews. These are usually carried out by vaping enthusiasts and can give a balanced opinion on a device or brand. It is also a good way to judge how a device looks and how complicated or simple it is to use and re-fill.
#4 Actively seek out negative reviews
One of the problems you face with any reviews is that many of them are sponsored, in that the reviewer gets a nice stream of freebies from a particular brand and therefore will generally say positive things about it. This introduces a bias into the review process so it is worth actively looking for negative reviews for a particular brand. There will always be people who are not happy with an e-cig or unfortunately buy a faulty item but if there is an overwhelmingly large number of negative reviews or poor press surrounding a brand then it is probably a good idea to give it a wide berth.
#5 Accept that you may choose a turkey
Just like purchasing a car or any household goods, you may, despite your best efforts choose a turkey or unsuitable device! Perhaps you were swayed by a salesperson or put style before substance or maybe the device you purchased just happened to be faulty. The upshot is that you own a device which either doesn’t work or is giving you a poor vaping experience.
This is not as uncommon as it should be. Even experienced vapers can be found regularly complaining in forums that their latest acquisition Sucks!
If the device is unsuitable you will find that you can quickly re-sell it on one of the many online Facebook groups or forums, so you will at least get some of the purchase costs back.
If you have purchased a faulty device you are protected by consumer rights laws and will be able to ask for a refund or replacement.
Don’t let this put you off especially if you are quitting smoking…persevere and you will find that the world of vaping is so much richer.
Rather than single out a few good brands in this article we think its best you make up your own mind, but if you want any friendly advice or to chat through some of the choices or terminology please feel free to contact us.
]]>A touch of numbness on the tongue, a ghastly lack of flavour. The dreaded vaper's tongue has awoken.
If you're a regular vaper, there's a high chance you've been blighted by this affliction at times in the past. People who vape a lot while trying to quit smoking might find themselves disproportionately affected by the condition.
But don't worry, the symptoms won't last forever. Here's how to break the curse.
It's a condition where your sense of taste diminishes to the point you no longer enjoy, or can't taste, your e-liquids.
During this time, you might even think some of your e-liquids have gone 'off' as all of a sudden they taste disgusting to you. They probably haven't changed at all. It's you, not them.
This is a common problem, and happens often after a period of heavy vaping.
You'll notice it for a few days, and then your ability to taste e-liquids will return.
Really, it's your nose being affected by the condition and not your tongue. But sufferers will often feel an odd sensation on the tongue while they're affected, which is where the name comes from.
Your olfactory system has become overloaded with the flavour, and needs time to recover.
Swapping out your e-liquid for another flavour might help, but there's a low chance of this working.
Some people find this method solves the problem. Though to be honest, this is quite a rare outcome.
A stronger flavour might help some people for a bit, but it won't solve the underlying problem.
More humorously, there have been some reports of people buying food flavouring after mistaking it for vape juice. Then leaving negative reviews when it tastes awful.
If this is you, head to our store pronto to get the real deal. No judgment here. Well. Maybe a little.
Put down the vape for a bit.
Your nose needs to spend a little time without being bombarded with the vapour.
This is the easiest and most reliable solution, though of course if you're trying to whittle down on your nicotine intake it might be an unpleasant few days.
You might like to try gum or patches for a week while your olfactory system gets back to normal. Then you can start hitting the e-juice again!
If you're in the midst of a cold, bout of flu, or other illness, you might have a blocked nose.
Since vape 'tasting' is going on in your nose rather than your mouth, a blocked nose can cause similar symptoms to vaper's tongue.
You might have to wait until the symptoms go away before things taste right again. Drink plenty of water and rest, and take it easy for a week or so.
Broken the curse of vaper's tongue?
You need to stock up on some sweet new flavours to celebrate the occasion. A toast of champagne might be the one to celebrate with, but we'll leave that part up to you.
Be sure to check out the rest of our blog for more vaping tips, tricks, and advice.
]]>When you're new to vaping and e-cigarettes, there's a lot of weird sounding technical terms to get familiar with. RDA is one such example.
Our blog posts aim to help you understand these terms and concepts. So you can get the most out of vaping.
The RDA type of atomizer, also known as the dripper, is a bit different from the typical tank. It's a bit trickier to get started with but it lets you increase flavor and vapor. And it's a convenient, small size.
This article will clear the fog around these atomizers, so you can use them to make the fog you like.
The name is short for "rebuildable dripping atomizer." An atomizer is the part of your vaporizer that heats the e-liquid and turns it into vapor.
The signature trait of dripping atomizers is that there's a wick onto which you must drip your e-liquid. Rebuildable dripping atomizers aren't meant for disposable vaping devices. They're built to last and give you lots of enjoyment without constant replacements.
Rebuildable dripping atomizers have a small well compared to normal tanks. This lets you drip small amounts of juice if you like. This is great if you're new to vaping, if you like to use different flavors, or if you're sharing.
It's a simple process. You drip the e-liquid onto the atomizer coil and put the atomizer back in the vaporizer. Now it's ready to use.
Keep in mind that it's a rebuildable component. Once in a while, you'll have to replace your wicks or atomizer coil to keep it functioning at maximum capacity.
Replacing the parts is simple enough. It takes a bit of practice to get comfortable with the process. But it isn't hard.
You'll need a set of tools to do it though. Pliers make it easy to work with coils, and you need small screwdrivers to remove and reattach things.
Different coils are made from different wires. The coils differ in electrical resistance and how they heat up. Once you've picked a coil, wind it around the posts of the deck that conducts the energy to the coil. Screw it on tight.
Once it's in place, add the wick and put the casing on.
That's all it takes to rebuild your dripper.
These atomizers are designed to enhance your vaping experience by letting you customize it to your preference. Simpler e-cigarettes and disposable vaporizers can't do that.
If you like creativity, experimentation, and DIY, you'll have fun making your ultimate vaporizer. The results won't disappoint you either.
Drippers give you a flavor sensation that's hard to achieve with other atomizers. The biggest reason is the ability to saturate the wicks as much as you want with your choice of juice. This also means you can mix juices.
You can also achieve bigger clouds with this setup. If you like doing tricks and making huge clouds, you should try one to see the difference.
RDAs will also make it easier to find your favorite flavors. You don't need to empty a big tank before you can try the next flavor. You just replace the wick and add the liquid.
It's easy to get started with rebuildable dripping atomizers. It'll take a bit of practice before you can replace parts with ease, but it won't take long.
It's the next step toward becoming an advanced vaping enthusiast.
Components are always evolving, so take a look at vaping components often to stay up to date.
Do you have more questions about RDAs? Contact us here.
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What is squonking? No, it's not a Rick and Morty made-up word. A squonk is actually a vaping mod that is as curious as it sounds.
Named after mythical creatures so ugly they're constantly in tears over their hideous appearance, these vaping mods are a lot like their namesake. Squonking mods, also known as bottom-feeder mods, can provide a constant supply of e-liquid (tears) from the bottom of the device to the top where the atomizer is located.
Want to know how to get your squonking on? Read on to find out.
Bottom-feeding mods started as a do-it-yourself project in 2009 by Carlos49 at the E-Cigarette Forum. At the time, he called his Radio Shack plastic creation the 'Juicebox'. Another ECF member, Jack Murray, was the first to call the design 'squonk.'
The juicebox didn't take off because of two reasons. First, you cannot service the integrated atomizer that came with the box without sending it back coupled to the modder. Second, the demand was high and he was not able to fulfill the orders.
Another ECF member, Robert O'Neill, became impatient waiting for Carlos49 to deliver the bottom-feeding mod he pre-ordered so instead he created his own squonking mod, the REO. He began selling REOs to great success and his design is still being used by modern squonking mods.
As mentioned earlier, one of the reasons for the failure of the juicebox was the inability to self-service the integrated atomizers. This is why modern squonking mods use rebuildable dripping atomizers or RDA. Rebuildable means that you can replace the wicks and coils in the atomizer yourself.
The use of RDA alone without a squonker has its own set of problems. You have to carry a bottle of e-liquid around with you at all times. And manually dripping the e-liquid to wet the wicks can get very messy and bothersome.
Squonking mods are the yin to the RDA's yang. The squonk is a type of box mod that houses an e-liquid bottle together with a battery. The bottle attaches to the RDA at the top to supply the e-liquid from the bottom.
All of the components are encased inside the squonker. This solves the problem of having to carry an e-liquid bottle separately.
The e-liquid bottle connects through a tube into a hollow 510 positive pin of the RDA. Since the whole system is sealed, the e-liquid can travel up the tube into the atomizer without spilling. No more mess.
The basic goal of e-cig devices is still the same. Get e-liquid to wet the wicks and coils of an atomizer, supply electricity to the wicks to heat them up and turn liquid into vapour. This process is also followed by squonking mods but these devices do so in a more convenient, easy to operate, and self-contained way.
Just squeeze the bottle with enough force to push the liquid into the RDA (the housing has a cut-out for squeezing). The amount of e-liquid you push in depends on how concentrated you want your vapours to be. Then just press the power button on the device and get your vape on.
Is this the first time you've heard of squonking? If you have questions about squonking and other stuff about vaping, contact us.
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Smoking levels in Britain have hit a new low, with more than 3.2 million switching to e-cigarettes instead.
That's pretty impressive.
But vaping isn't just for ex-smokers - it's also popular with those looking for a new hobby, or a way to reduce stress and relax.
Are you keen to give vaping a go?
You're probably feeling overwhelmed by the amount of choice available.
Maybe you've heard terms like 'mod', 'coil', and 'clearomizer', and been left scratching your head. Luckily, there are plenty of vape starter kits which make vaping easy for even the most inexperienced user.
Keep reading for a complete guide to what you should look for in your first vape starter kit.
There's not much point in buying a vape that's too big to carry around with you... unless you only plan to vape at home.
Starter kits vary massively in size and portability, and taking a look at a few vapes side-by-side is a good way to compare.
The smallest models can easily slip into your pocket, making them ideal for smokers looking for a replacement. Other models are much larger, but boast a great capacity and longer battery life.
The smallest e-cigarettes usually require you to pop a cartridge onto a battery, while larger vapes are manually refilled with vape juice.
When deciding on a size, think about where you're most likely to use your vape, and how often you plan to travel with it.
Some vapes are a lot more involved than others, and usability can be a big concern when choosing your first vape.
To help you choose, we've broken down the different types of starter vape, with details on how easy they are to operate.
These are vapes which look similar to real cigarettes - they'll usually be similarly sized, with an LED tip which lights up when you take a drag.
These are one of the easiest options, as they're generally ready to use right out of the box, with no need to charge a battery or fill a tank.
However, e-cigarettes tend to be disposable, which means they're not ideal for long-term use.
If you're not sure that vaping will be for you, it's worth buying a cheap e-cigarette as a test, then upgrading if you decide you're a fan.
Vape pens are the next step up from e-cigarettes.
They tend to be a little thicker, housing a large battery which lasts longer. Rather than using once and then throwing away, you'll refill your vape pen using vape juice.
You'll benefit from more vapour, a longer battery life, and a stronger flavour.
This is a great option for beginners who don't mind having to charge and refill their device.
Seen people vaping using a large, blocky device?
That's a box mod.
These are large batteries, with a tip attached to one end. You'll be able to regulate the power, altering the strength and level of vapour that's emitted.
Box mods last longer and provide more power than e-cigarettes and vape pens, so they're a great option if you want to create large clouds.
Want a more advanced version of an e-cigarette, without the hassle of mods?
A pod mod could be perfect for you.
Designed to resemble a regular cigarette in size, pod mods work by attaching a cartridge to your battery, then vaping to your heart's content.
You won't have to mess around with liquids - all you'll need to do is charge your vape occasionally.
Pod mods don't offer as much choice in terms of flavour, but they're perfect for anyone who wants to quit smoking without becoming an expert in vaping.
Vape tanks are available in two main types: direct lung, and mouth-to-lung.
Pretty self-explanatory - if you want your vape to work like a traditional cigarette, you'll choose mouth-to-lung, requiring you to inhale after you've taken a drag.
If you want a direct hit, then direct lung is the choice for you. You'll get a looser draw, and won't need to inhale twice.
Vape tanks are a little more complex than the previous options, so they're not usually the best choice for beginners.
Cigarettes don't run out of power when you need them - and you don't want your vape to, either.
When it comes to battery life, you might have to compromise on size. The smallest vapes don't tend to last long, while larger options won't let you down.
Some starter vapes include a battery indicator, which is really handy and means you're less likely to be taken by surprise.
Vapes are charged by plugging into a USB port, so they're pretty easy to keep topped up if you're close to a computer - but tricky if you're travelling without technology.
If you're buying a vape that you plan to use for a long time, check that there's a warranty on the battery.
When you're smoking, you're limited to tobacco or menthol.
When you get hold of your first vape starter kit, however, you'll have a whole world of choice.
If you choose a vape which holds vape liquid, you'll be able to choose from literally hundreds of flavours - from strawberry to peppermint, candyfloss to apple.
If you pick up a pod mod or e-cigarette, your choice of flavours will be a little more limited - although this isn't an issue for everyone.
Desperate to try every flavour out there? Go for a box mod or vape tank.
Shopping for your vape starter kit can be a pretty confusing experience.
To make sure you choose the right kit, be sure to get your priorities clear beforehand.
Are you looking for a portable device? Do you need a long battery life?
How much do you care about flavour? Do you want a vape that works out-of-the-box, or are you keen to learn more about complex mods and tanks?
Once you know exactly what you're looking for, compare the different types of vape starter kit to find the one that fits best.
And voila - happy vaping!
Want more advice on everything vape-related? Check out our blog.
]]>With more than 2.9 millions adults now vaping regularly in Britain, the range of vape products is growing constantly.
When you're new to vaping, it can be tricky to get your head around mods, coils, atomizers and the like - and that's before you even think about buying liquid to fill your device.
If you've been shopping around, you might have noticed that the price for vape juice can vary massively.
Wondering whether there's much difference between the cheap juices and their more expensive counterparts?
We're here to help.
Keep reading to find out exactly why it's worth investing premium e-juice.
When you buy poor-quality vape juice, you aren't only risking a substandard vaping experience - you could also damage your precious vape.
Cheap juices can contain corrosive chemicals which eat away at the inside of your vape, damaging the coil and tank.
You might also find that the juice forms into thick gunk which clogs up your vape and makes it impossible to take a drag.
If you've spent money on a good vape, don't risk damaging it with cheap juice.
When you buy premium e-juice, you're buying into an entire lifestyle.
The packaging will range from luxury to novelty and is sure to catch the attention of your vape-loving friends. Think glass bottles, skull-shaped vials, and seriously well-designed packaging.
If you want to support cool vape companies and let the world know that you've got great taste, you need to spend a little more.
Many premium e-juices cost more because manufacturers have spent time developing their own unique flavours, using special compounds and secret recipes.
Say goodbye to generic apple and raspberry, and say hello to pumpkin pie, cotton candy, chai latte, and more.
When you're willing to splash out a little, you open up a whole world of flavour potential. If you're bored of standard flavours, now's the time to start treating yourself to premium juices.
Ever bought a flavour that looked amazing, then been sorely disappointed when you started vaping?
We've all been there.
While cheap e-liquids might sound appealing, they typically have weak flavours that are hard to differentiate from one another.
When you pay for premium, you'll get strong, full-bodied flavours that are unique and memorable.
If taste is a big part of your vaping experience, you need to start buying premium juices. Be warned - you might struggle to go back.
If you want the best possible vaping experience, you should steer well clear of cheap vape juices.
Premium juices won't damage your device, are available in a much wider range of flavours, taste better while vaping, and come in awesome packaging.
The more you enjoy vaping, the less chance you'll be lured back to smoking traditional cigarettes.
Treat yourself to premium vape juice today - you might be amazed by the difference.
Want more expert vaping tips and tricks? Check out our blog today.
]]>By now, you most likely understand just how dangerous smoking is as a habit and a lifestyle.
1n 2014, cigarettes killed almost 80,000 people, making it the most common preventable death in the UK.
That's where ecigs come in.
A lot of people today are turning to these e-cigarettes due to the fact that they receive the enjoyment of tobacco, without some of the life-threatening health effects.
When you're looking to get the most out of this, you need to first learn the reasons that these e-cigarettes are safer to use than traditional tobacco smoke.
Let's take a look below to learn these three points.
Tobacco smoke is deadly not only to people who smoke, but also those who come in contact with it.
For instance, people who live around tobacco smoke account for 11,000 cancer-related deaths each year. People who smoke are also more likely to develop heart disease and can develop respiratory problems.
When you use ecigs, you're not giving any smoke whatsoever.
As a result, you'll be able to enjoy your tobacco without affecting people who live with you.
This is crucial if you happen to have roommates, pets or children.
Since smoking tobacco creates one of the largest cancer risks, you can't go wrong by ditching these products for e-cigarettes.
Using a vape device has been shown to reduce the amount of cancer-creating toxins and chemicals that you take in.
Cancer is at alarming levels today, so switching to one of these e-liquid devices can help you to steer clear of this deadly disease.
While e-liquids do contain nicotine, they don't have the same carcinogens that you'll find when you're smoking cigarettes or other tobacco products. You'll also be able to take in the tobacco without burning your throat, lungs, and lips.
A lot of people who smoke cigarettes actually want to quit, but find it incredibly difficult to do so.
There are a number of methods for quitting -- including cold turkey, counseling, nicotine products, and addiction therapy.
Today, many people have been able to wean themselves off of cigarettes by using e-liquid. These devices will give you the same experience you enjoy with cigarettes, without the harshness that comes with the territory.
In fact, many people find that they enjoy these devices more than actual smoke.
When you have access to e-liquid flavors like bubblegum, cantaloupe, and cheesecake, you'll take to these devices and will want to collect as many as possible.
There are a lot of companies that can sell you e-cig flavors and devices that suit you, so it's important to do your research.
Since you now see why e-cigs are the superior health option, it's important for you to find a company that sells these products.
If that's what you need, be sure to shop our inventory. Motivape is a leading retailer of e-cig products, so we're positive that you'll find something that you love.
To learn more, contact us.
]]>There has been a recent resurgence in fearmongering propaganda about e-cigarette vapor exposing vapers and bystanders to “particles.” Anyone with a middle-school level understanding of science can see why this is nonsense. It is really quite simple: Inhaling some kinds of solid particles can cause harm, even when the chemicals in them are harmless, but nothing similar is true for the liquid droplets produced by e-cigarettes.
Size and shape matter for inhaled solids, which are called “particulate matter” in the context of air pollution. Asbestos is not chemically toxic – eating it is harmless – but some of the particles can lodge in the lung and cause disease because of their size and shape. Very small particles of soot that are created by combustion (often called “ultrafine particles” or “PM2.5”) can lodge in the lungs or pass through the lungs into the bloodstream. Because they remain solids, they can lodge elsewhere in the body causing harm.
Evidence suggests that these small particles are a particularly harmful component of air pollution (though the science there is far weaker than you might believe from reading newspaper accounts). Recent research suggests that much of the cardiovascular disease from smoking is caused by the deposition of small particles in blood vessels. Smoke, in contrast with vapor, contains solid particles.
The liquid droplets created by e-cigarettes have no fixed shape. Their size has some effects, but those are not similar to the effects of solids. Smaller droplets tend to reach lower into the lungs before depositing on a surface of the airway (which allows faster uptake of nicotine); larger droplets increase the local concentration of their chemicals when they land (which could be bad if the chemicals harmed tissue, but they do not). Liquid droplets cannot lodge in the lungs or anywhere else. They dissolve into the bloodstream and the body’s other liquids. Only their total volume affects what is then in the body; their original size and shape does not matter at all.
The conflation of droplets with actual particulate matter and its harmful properties seems to trace back to gross negligence rather than malice. Researchers whose favorite equipment cannot detect the difference between liquids in solids in aerosols mistakenly reported seeing “particulates” in the vapor. (E-cigarette “vapor” is really mostly an aerosol, not technically vapor.) Users of such equipment tend to refer to both particles and droplets as “particles” because both look the same to them. That does not cause much trouble until they port this language, and their inability to distinguish, to a health context. There it is extremely misleading.
But the real problem was created by anti-vaping activist and pseudo-scientist Stanton Glantz pushing the false message that droplets are particulate matter. This resulted in statements from him and his followers that falsely imply, and sometimes out-and-out claim, that droplets from e-cigarettes have the same health implications as inhaled particulate matter. There is no way to write this off as an innocent mistake. Anyone with minimal scientific literacy can see it is false, and most everyone trafficking in this falsehood gets feedback that it is wrong (Glantz has gotten plenty of that). Thus, this is yet another intentional falsehood from anti-tobacco activists, who do not hesitate to both lie and to promote scientific illiteracy in order to support their lies.
In case the difference between solids and liquids is not sufficiently obvious, consider an analogy: A glass bottle lying on the beach may be aesthetically annoying, but it is physically harmless. But it becomes a health hazard if shattered because the size and shape of the shards mean they can cut someone’s foot. Eventually the shards are crushed small enough or polished smooth, becoming harmless again. The chemicals comprising the harmful and harmless glass were always the same, and indeed were basically the same as the sand, but the shape of these solids mattered. By contrast, whether you pour a bucketful of water on the beach or spray a mist, the outcome is the same. You can put the water in a vessel shaped like a shard of glass, but it will not cut someone’s foot if it is poured on the beach.
It is really that simple. It does not require any additional explanation or scientific expertise to see the fundamental error of the “e-cigarette particles” claims.
For more depth on this topic, you can read what Dr Phillips has written on this topic at the above links, particularly the second one, and here.
]]>Part 1 in our 'Quit Smoking and Switch to Vaping' series takes the personal experience of one of our regular customers Paul and in their own words gives you an insight into their journey from being a heavy smoker to a happier vaper.
The long-term effects of vaping are beyond my ken. The long-term effects of smoking, however, are well known.
I started smoking in my mid-teens.
I was a cross country runner for my school and my county as well as playing football for my school and a local team. My lungs being of paramount importance in both pursuits.
In to my twenties. No cross country, but still a keen footballer. 'I’ll stop smoking before I’m thirty', I thought.
In to my thirties. Still a keen footballer, but hack-hack-wheeze, started to worry a bit about being out of breath/coughing. 'I’ll stop smoking before I’m forty', I thought.
In to my forties. No more football. Hack-hack-cough-splutter-wheeze. I’ll, hack-hack, stop, cough, smoking, splutter, before, wheeze, I’m, hack-hack-hack-hack, fifty, I, gurgle, thought.
I got to forty-seven. Coughing up revolting brown whelks. Am I going to get to fifty, I thought? Then – drum-roll – I discovered vaping.
I smoked rolling tobacco: strong stuff. Capstan Full Strength. Park Drive. Senior Service etc. I put myself in the hands of a clown at what was once my local vaping shop.
He started me off on the ‘pens’. Even though I was on 24mg juice, I simply could not get a decent drag. I told the clown that I wanted to ‘upgrade’.
I got a tiny device the size of a matchbox. Same problem. I ‘upgraded’ again: a slightly bigger matchbox.
He was, the clown later told me, concerned that due to my age – forty-seven – I would not be able to handle a beefy bit of kit. These experiences with inferior devices almost put me off vaping. A valid point, methinks. Another vape shop opened. I took my custom there.
Things started to get better although I was Still on feeble minor devices and using 24mg liquids.
I am not technically minded. PG? VG? I asked for some juice I fancied from the shelf of my vape shop. I was then told that my device was not suitable. Eh? Something to do with PG/VG so I asked for a device that was suitable.
Bingo! I was told that 6mg was the maximum strength juice advisable for such devices. I wavered: would that assuage my nicotine habit? I got some 6mg juice.
However, on returning home, I discovered that I had two bottles of 24mg juice in the cupboard. It won’t hurt, I thought. Ye gods! The stuff blew my throat to bits. I went on to 6mg. Hello? Still too strong. I went down to 3mg. Bingo!
To be honest, I can’t recall any of the devices I used before getting my hands/lungs on my first really decent bit of kit: the Smok G320 Powerful Marshall. This is what I had always wanted. One big drag filled a room with vapour. I felt fulfilled. I needed two devices, though, really: one for getting knocked about whilst out and about, and one for at home.
I was then, in my local vape shop, rubbing shoulders with people half my age or less, as an equal: I had a decent device. Anyway, I was then shown a Wismec Reuleaux RX300. Ha! Just my cup of tea. This was before the T.P.D. debacle. So I got myself a giant Ornate tank; well, I actually got myself three; a wise move indeed.
The coolest vapers at my local shop were all ‘drippers’. They told me I should do it too. I demurred. I am a reader. I sit and read for hours and hours. I fill my giant Ornate tank. I sit myself down. I sit and read and puff – well, billow – away for aeons. Drip-drip-dripping all the time is not practical for me.
Putting my book down and dripping. Picking it back up again. Billowing. Then having to do it all over again. Nah.
Back to my health: I, aged forty-nine, took up the martial art taijiquan. I went to five lessons a week. And a four-hour ‘workshop’ once a month. I cycled to all classes (I now have private lessons with the sifu).
I, being an established vaper by the time I started, noticed that I seemed fitter and more full of beans than 90% of the other students; regardless of age. I was, for decades, fitter and more full of beans than most people; I sort of took it for granted.
Oh, I didn’t mention: I had a massive heart attack aged forty-one. Would have killed most people, so I was told by the cardiac surgeon. I shrugged it off. Anyway, I have always taken my health and fitness for granted. I have spent 99% of my life in rude health. I sort of forgot about the hack-hack-hacking. Forgot about sneaking out of the cardiology ward, along a corridor, two floors down in the lift, along another corridor, out into the carpark, and puffing away on a roll up behind a Portakabin. Taking my toothbrush and toothpaste with me. Cleaning my teeth on the way back. ‘Smoking, nurse? Smell my breath…’.
In a nut: since vaping, I don’t cough up revolting brown whelks any more.
I don’t – hack-hack-hack – cough.
I don’t get short of breath;
I took up running again, at the age of fifty-two.
My flat doesn’t stink of smoke. I don’t stink of smoke. No smelly ashtrays.
I don’t have cravings.
I spend a hell of a lot less on vaping than I did on smoking.
I vape, yes: I enjoy it; but I do it because I want to – not because I need to. I spend many, many vape-free hours; I don’t even think about it. No, ‘I’ve got to go out for a fag’ urges. Smoking was never a choice: it was a necessity. I had to get my nicotine through smoking hyper-regularly. Two hours without a smoke was an ordeal.
Has vaping saved my life? Hmmm.
Has vaping improved the quality of my life? Yes, yes and thrice yes!
I feel as fit and full of beans as I have ever done. Even with the arterial thrombosis I came away with from the heart attack. I tried patches, inhalers and crap to stop smoking. I (ha!) had an allergic reaction to the patches. I wouldn’t have stopped smoking before I was fifty. It was a (excuse the pun) pipe dream. I genuinely don’t think that I would have got to fifty had I continued to smoke like a trooper. I couldn’t deal with my martial art as a smoker. Just cycling to lessons would have been all the exercise I could have took. I am massively keen on taijiquan. It has myriad health benefits in itself. Apart from stopping me binge drinking; the cause, so I was told, of my massive myocardial infarction. Had I not switched from smoking to vaping, well, I wouldn’t be practising taijiquan for hours in a daily basis. Wouldn’t be running. I would most likely be dead, or a coughing and spluttering wreck. I, personally, think that vaping has saved my life. If vaping didn’t exist, well, neither, most likely, would I. Res ipsa loquitur.
]]>New data shows that smoking has reached an all-time low across the UK. The number of smokers is now down to 17.2% of adults, compared to 20.1% in 2010.
This is the lowest figure since records began in 1974, a fact that the study attributes to the growing use of e-cigarettes.
And, although the NHS does not currently endorse e-cigarettes, it does recognise that vaping "can help people to quit".
Read on for a comparison of how vaping compares to other smoking cessation methods and which is the most effective.
Here are the most common methods to help you quit smoking within the three key tactics for breaking any habit: remove, reduce or replace.
If you currently smoke a pack a day, going cold turkey means going from 20 to zero overnight. This forces you to rely solely on willpower to get you through.
Unsurprisingly, a combination of nicotine addiction and environmental factors make going cold turkey very difficult. Many people who try to quit smoking with no help at all often experience several failed attempts.
Many smokers try to gradually cut down with a view to stopping altogether. This can mean waiting longer periods between each cigarette or only smoking half a cigarette.
But, while cutting down can help your addiction, you are still prolonging your exposure to the dangerous chemicals in tobacco.
Whether you decide to cut down or quit suddenly, access to alternatives are often essential to help you through nicotine withdrawal.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT):
Forms of NRT include nicotine gum, patches, inhalators and nasal sprays, all of which are available on NHS prescription.
Patches would be best suited to you if you smoke continuously throughout the day as they supply a steady stream of low-dose nicotine. But if you are more likely to smoke in reaction to cravings or stress, then other forms of NRT such as the spray give an instant hit of nicotine.
Zyban
Zyban is an anti-smoking pill which helps to reduce cravings and nicotine withdrawal symptoms. The drug works by manipulating chemicals in the brain, such as dopamine and beta-endorphins.
Vaping
Vaping refers to the use of e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes are handheld electronic devices which heat an e-liquid to produce a vapour the user then inhales.
These e-liquids usually contain nicotine to help ex-smokers through their withdrawal symptoms. However, e-cigarettes are 95% safer than regular cigarettes.
Although NRT and Zyban are effective, the habit of smoking involves more factors than just an addiction to nicotine.
As well as the nicotine addiction, many smokers describe smoking as a ritual and need a way to occupy their hands while they are trying to quit. Then there are environmental influences, such as working with smokers or the association with drinking and smoking on a night out.
The action of vaping is the only smoking cessation method which provides a true replacement for all of these factors.
Ex-smokers can enjoy the ritual of loading their e-cigarette with e-liquid. And vaping gives them a way to occupy their hands while also relieving their need for a hit of nicotine.
E-cigarette users also don't need to feel left out as they can join in when their colleagues and friends go outside to light up.
And, since the amount of nicotine in the e-liquid can range from 1.8% to zero, e-cigarette users can gradually reduce their dependence on nicotine over time.
Here you can see that vaping is the most effective smoking cessation method, thanks to the way it replaces the different factors involved in the habit of smoking.
Has vaping helped you quit smoking? Leave a comment below or contact us for more information about vaping.
]]>Looking for a new aspire tank to customize your vape pen? This post is for you! We're revealing the top Aspire vape tanks of the year right now.
Aspire vape tanks have become more popular for vapers. It's no surprise because they have a huge selection of tanks to meet the needs of every vaper out there. Aspire has grown to be the go-to vape tank manufacturer.
They have a huge selection of tanks to meet the needs of every vaper out there.
Aspire Co. sells more than two dozen tanks and has become the go-to manufacturer for quality vape kits.
How do you know which tank will work for your needs?
If you're a beginner, a heavy hitter, or fall somewhere in between, you'll want to keep reading. There are the top Aspire Vape Tanks on the market.
As more and more people are turning from smoking to vaping, we thought to start with a brief primer on the type of tanks available.
There are two common types of vape kits, MTL and sub-ohm.
A sub-ohm kit uses more juice, and you get more flavour. That's because these types of kits have a larger flow channel. It's also called direct to lung smoking. That's because you don't let the flavour linger in your mouth before you inhale the vapour into your lungs.
An MTL kit simply means mouth to lung. An MTL kit will give you an authentic smoking experience. MTL mimics smoking and this is usually where beginners and people looking to quit smoking start.
Out of all of the Aspire vape tanks on the market, this is the most popular. The Nautilus Mini has a 2ml tank.
This ensures that beginners don't take in to much too soon. It's also an MTL tank, which makes it perfect for folks who have just quit smoking.
This is a massively popular tank on the market today because of its appeal to beginners.
What makes this tank so great is that it features four air flow settings. The widest setting is 1.8mm and the smallest setting is .9mm.
The Nautilus Mini also utilizes BVC coils, which means that it's a bottom vertical coil. The coil is vertical, not horizontal.
It's also one of the most durable tanks, as it's made from stainless steel and pyrex glass.
This sub-ohm tank is great if you're looking to use higher VG liquids.
The Aspire Atlantis EVO is a 4ml tank. In the UK, a 2ml tank is available to comply with TPD regulations.
It's a short tank, and it still manages to keep the vape cool even though it's closer to your mouth.
The larger cotton exposure is paired with lower wick points. The double wicking tank is incredibly efficient for juice flow.
That makes the flavour almost instant. Each draw is smooth and the flavour has a lot of depth to it.
Overall, the tank is well designed and well made. Like what you'd expect with Aspire vape tanks, filling your tank is easy and convenient with the top-fill design.
The K3 is a newer addition to the line of Aspire vape tanks. Similar to the Nautilus line, the K3 tank has a cotton BVC coil.
The design of the tank makes it easy to refill and to monitor how much juice is left in your tank.
The standard size of the K3 is 2ml. It's a non-adjustable tank. Not to worry, it's still highly recommended for people looking for a smoking alternative.
It's a versatile tank. It's a good fit if you're a more experienced MTL vaper looking to experiment and try different builds. It's also a fine product for everyday use.
The most notable things on the Aspire Cleito EXO is the top fill and top airflow design.
It's a non-adjustable tank. What's unique about this tank is that that the airflow starts with the top side air channels, then flows to the bottom of the tank to the coils. Then you get the vapour.
What that means to you is that flavour and vapor production are enhanced.
On top of that, Aspire guarantees that your e-juice won't drip.
This is a sub-ohm tank that can work for almost anyone.
Do you like to make huge vapour clouds? If you said yes, you will want this tank.
The TPD version holds 2ml.
It's a top-fill tank and bottom adjustable. The fill tank is big enough to make filling your tank a mess-free experience.
The Athos tank has two types of coils - the A3 and A5. The A3 has three coils to be used at 60-75 watts.
The A5 is a power vaper's dream. It has five coils and is recommended to be used at 100-120 watts.
The Athos can be taken apart very easily. That makes cleaning a simple and fast process.
Get this tank for maximum flavour and vapour clouds.
There are a few clever hacks you can use to make your tank last. The most important one is really simple.
Clean your tank. That's it.
Cleaning your tank will make sure the flavour of your e-cig is what it's supposed to be. If you don't clean your tank, the flavour will be bitter or worse. You could have some flavours mixing that just doesn't taste right.
One common characteristic you'll find with Aspire vape tanks is that they're very easy to clean.
Now that you know the basics of vape kits and which tanks serve a what purpose, it's time to fill your tank.
At Motivape, we have top quality e-cigarettes and juice flavours for just about any taste.
One of the best parts of our job is that we test these products for you. You can be sure you're getting a quality product.
Order today! We accept orders in the UK and abroad.
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Did you know that most traditional cigarettes contain about 9 mg of nicotine? As someone new to vaping, you may want to select your e-liquid strength to be as strong as what you're used to in regular cigarettes to prevent withdrawal symptoms.
Or, if you're trying to transition to a smaller nicotine level, you may want to choose an e-liquid strength that is only 1 or 2 mg less than what you're used to per day.
E-cigarette sales have the potential to reach more than 20 billion euros in just the next few years and 2.9 billion people already use them in Europe which means more and more traditional smokers are choosing to vape versus smoke a cigarette.
If this sounds like something you would be interested looking into, you're going to want to make sure that you're selecting the right e-liquid strength as selecting an e-cigarette that's too strong or too weak can leave you with some horrible physical symptoms.
Needless to say, choosing your e-liquid strength can be difficult and confusing. Read more to learn what e-liquid strength means and how to select the right one for your first vaping experience.
Before choosing your e-liquid strength, you need to figure out how much nicotine you consume on a daily basis.
Cigarettes - As stated above, cigarettes have on average about 9 mg of nicotine but that amount can range anywhere from 4 mg to 14 mg per cigarette. Try to find a reputable source of the nicotine content of your cigarettes and multiply that by a number of cigarettes that you smoke to determine your average nicotine level.
Snuff or Chewing Tobacco - Figuring out how much nicotine you consume when you use snuff or chewing tobacco can be a bit more difficult. On average, there is 144 mg of nicotine in a single can of snuff which equates to about 80 cigarettes or 4 packs of cigarettes.
Oral consumption of nicotine provides a slower "spike" of nicotine in the bloodstream. This matters because vaping also deliver nicotine to your bloodstream at a much lower rate. This is important to take into consideration when deciding what level of e-liquid strength you want to start off with.
Once you've determined how much nicotine you consume on a regular basis, decide what your goals are. Do you want to cut back on nicotine or do you want to increase your nicotine consumption?
Believe it or not, nicotine by itself is not a carcinogenic product. The chemicals and other toxic ingredients found in cigarettes are what makes them toxic. In fact, nicotine can actually help lower depression and lessen your risk of Alzheimer's Disease.
E-liquid is held in the cartomizer of an e-cigarette. When you purchase your e-liquid, you're going to want to know what the mg means and how many drops you want to use for each vaping session.
For example, if you purchased 100 mL of e-liquid with the strength of 18% or 18 mg, that is 180 mg of nicotine or about 18 mg per 10 drops of e-liquid. So, if you use about 3 drops of e-liquid, that's about 5.4 mg before your next vaping session.
It's also important to note that you will not be able to absorb all of the nicotine while vaping. In fact, you'll only be able to absorb about half of what you could while smoking cigarettes.
With this in mind, you will have to experiment a bit to figure out what level of e-liquid strength is right for you.
The consequence of picking an e-liquid that is too light at first could mean that you begin to overcompensate smoke to make up for the amount of nicotine your body is craving. This can lead you to smoke or vaping too much.
Alternately, you could also start off with an e-liquid strength that is too strong. Some symptoms of an e-liquid that's too strong are:
If you feel yourself experiencing any of these symptoms, take a step back from vaping as much by reducing to a single vaping session per day or start using e-liquid one level in strength down from what you're currently using.
Reducing the level of the strength of your e-liquid and reducing the number of times you vape per day should significantly cut down on any symptoms you may be experiencing.
If you're ready to try e-cigarettes, you don't have to settle for boring flavors. You can also have the ability to choose whatever e-liquid strength you think is best for you.
In addition to having a variety of e-liquid strength levels, you can select from dozens of tropical and unique e-liquid flavors here. With our unique and fruity flavors, we strive to make your vaping experience a pleasant one.
If you ever have any questions about our e-cigarettes or e-liquids, please don't hesitate to contact us.
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NHS Health Scotland said it wanted to "clarify" confusion around the harms and benefits of vaping devices.
More than 20 organisations have signed up to the consensus, which was led by NHS Health Scotland.But health chiefs said that using e-cigarettes while still smoking did not provide any health benefits. The consensus statement, published by Scotland's national health education and promotion agency, was agreed by the Scottish government, health boards, academia and charities such as the British Lung Foundation and Cancer Research UK.
There are estimated to be about 2.9 million people in the UK who use e-cigarettes. More than half of them have given up smoking tobacco, a recent study has suggested. Other research for Public Health England concluded that e-cigarettes were 95% less harmful than normal cigarettes. However, about nine million people still smoke in the UK despite the rise in e-cigarette use since 2012.
Dr Andrew Fraser, director of public health science at NHS Health Scotland, told BBC Scotland: "E-cigarettes have been around for a number of years now and we are learning more and more about them but I think it is safe to say that they are a lot safer than cigarettes.
"If we are trying to help people make a decision about giving up smoking tobacco then e-cigarettes are a good option to consider."
Dr Fraser said vaping was not available on NHS prescription, unlike some other treatments, but it was an option for those trying to give up smoking cigarettes.
"We would encourage people to consider them and we would encourage people providing smoking cessation serves to offer them as an option to people who are willing to pay for them," he said.
Dr Fraser said he wanted to deliver a "positive" message for e-cigs, saying they "weren't anything like as dangerous as cigarettes". He said there had been reports that likened the risk of vaping to smoking tobacco but this was not the case. However, he added that e-cigarettes were not risk free.
"They contain nicotine, which is addictive in itself, and they contain and a number of other combustible materials," Dr Fraser said. "But if you take it all in the round and compare it with the alternative they are a lot less harmful than cigarettes."
He added that ideally vaping would be used a way to give up smoking entirely and he advised against "double running" - taking both tobacco and e-cigarettes.
Last year, Scotland's largest health board ruled that e-cigarettes could be used within the grounds of its hospitals.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde decided to allow restricted use of the devices after new evidence that they helped tackle tobacco smoking. Tobacco smoking was banned across all health grounds in Scotland in April 2015, but health boards were given discretion over the use of vaping devices outside buildings.
Sheila Duffy, chief executive of Ash Scotland, a charity aiming to reduce the harm caused by tobacco, said the joint statement on e-cigarettes brought "clarity" to the issue.
"There is now agreement that vaping e-cigarettes carries less risk than smoking tobacco," she said.
"Although we still don't know the long-term health effects of vaping, we can be confident that any smoker switching entirely to e-cigarettes will be taking in far fewer cancer-causing chemicals.
"Tobacco is lethal and I'd encourage anyone who smokes to find a way of quitting that works for them, which could include using e-cigarettes, and to make use of the free NHS stop-smoking support available to help."
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