Monthly Archives: February 2020

5 EASY WAYS TO CLEAN A SQUONK BOTTLE

Sometimes (like when wanting to switch flavours in your squonker) you may find that there can be a lingering trace of the previous liquid tainting your vape. Occasionally you may notice a slight  funky or “off” taste, perhaps ruining for you entirely that bottle of premium high end (and expensive!) eliquid you’ve saved yourself  for a “treat”. This is something that drives me completely bananas, and I genuinely have rage quit squonking more than twice, reaching out for an RTA or Dripper instead.
Why is this? Am I just  manky? Well, yes, but that’s not wholly and entirely to blame. You see, there’s loads of reasons why your vape just isn’t right, ranging from old liquid and bacteria trapped in your 510 and squonk tube, to “suck back” (oo-er) of microscopic cotton fibres down into your bottle. The list is as long as your arm. More often than not though, and through no fault of our own, e liquid can just make your bottles smell. Usually rather quite a lot like the e-liquid inside. And no matter how many quick rinses under the tap you give them, sometimes it seems like it’s never, ever going away. Shout out to Red Astaire and Heisenberg right here.
DON’T PANIC !!
A rage quit and squonk flounce really isn’t needed. Just try these simple methods below. Whilst none are 100% guaranteed (some liquids just never go away) each will give you the best chance of extending the lifespan of your bottles, and will hopefully save you money and  much gnashing of teeth on the way.
OPERATION: CLEAN SQUONK
1: Washing Up Liquid and Warm Water
Yes. It’s obvious. But you’d be surprised how many people just don’t seem to bother. A good washing up session every three days is the first line of defence in keeping those whiffs at bay. Whilst our Goldilocks squonk bottles are made to FDA and LFGB Certification standards (and therefore leeching is not a concern), we recommend giving your bottles a thorough scrub every three days (perhaps with a small bottle brush) in washing up liquid and warm water, then a damn good rinsing under the tap. Allow to air dry in a well ventilated area, and your bottles will be staying fresher for longer than if you didn’t. Fact.
2: White Vinegar
The next level up in the stench removing scale is that staple of cleaning everybody should have, the magical stuff known to the experts as ” White Vinegar”. This stuff is great for cleaning all sorts, and squonk bottles is definitely no exception. Simply fill your bottle (or a container if you’re doing several) ¾ full with the vinegar, and top off with warm to hot water. Leave to soak or stand overnight, then rinse and wash as above. Most often this will be enough to bring your squonk or squonk refill bottle back to their initial fresh tasting glory and delight.
3: Bicarbonate/ Baking Soda
Again using something you may already have in your household, this method can be relatively easy and quick to deploy. Simply mix a solution of baking/ bicarbonate of soda (2-3 teaspoons per cup) with warm water, fill or soak your bottles overnight. Again, unless you like the taste of bicarb, wash, rinse and air dry until all’s good. This one is particularly handy if you don’t have any of the last two method ingredients to hand.
4: Vodka/ Isopropyl Alcohol
Alcohols, in purer forms, are  well established disinfecting agents, with Isopropyl (especially when mixed to 70/30 % with distilled water) being a particularly effective cleaning and disinfectant solution (p8-13; https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr5116.pdf).
 If you don’t have any Isopropyl to hand, then cheap vodka will suffice, with both being capable of shifting stubborn odours. Simply wash, rinse and then fill or soak your squonk bottles with your alcohol of choice (don’t whatever you do drink the Isopropyl) and leave it to work wonders overnight. Then wash, rinse and dry as above. Simple.
5:Baby Bottle / Denture Sterilising Liquids and Tablets
An excellent way to disinfect and clean your squonk tubes and bottles, but be sure to wash and rinse thoroughly at the end. Simply fill a container with the requisite amount of tablets/ liquid  (according to manufacturer’s instructions) and let your squonk items soak in it for as long as the labels instruct. As always, wash, rinse and dry thoroughly prior to use, and before long you’ll be bang at the #squonklyfe once more.
 I’ve found denture tablets to be a great “travel option” when going to Expos and Vapefest, as these are small,  portable and really easy to acquire. You need never be caught short in a socially embarrassing squonk based scenario again.
As well as the above tried and tested methods, there’s a few other more left field ideas I’ve seen people swear by, such as Mouthwash mixed with 3 teaspoons of english mustard. An interesting combo, and perhaps a good idea for a liquid, but I think I’ll just stick to the Milton or Sterident tablets for now ….
But sometimes, after all of the above, a bottle just isn’t coming back to its glory. At this point we must say our farewells and move on. But when it comes to new bottles, I like to play it safe, and want something that at least gives me some kind of head start. Stealthvape Goldilocks bottles, as mentioned above, are made to FDA and LFGB Cert standards, and not only this, are sterilised in a medical grade autoclave at 134 °C for 10 minutes before being sealed in an airtight packet. This ensures that the bottles reach the customer in the cleanest possible state, meaning contaminants are kept at bay right up to the point of initial use. With good care and “hygiene” these bottles last long, so try them yourself and see if others compare.
Above all remember: Cleaning is cool. Being a bit manky isn’t. Fact.

Dry Burning and Pulsing your Coils: What You Need to Know…

What is “Pulsing” a Coil?

“Pulsing” a coil, irrespective of type and constituent materials, is the act of passing short “pulses” of current through the unwicked element in order to heat it slowly. The aim of this (alongside “strumming”  and “squeezing” with tweezers etc.) is to eliminate “hotspots” and to allow the current to pass through the coil, making it glow evenly outwards from the centre of the element. This will prevent nasty, burnt tasting draws when in use, and stop the wicking material becoming damaged in isolated spots.

Further to this, many people who use cheaper wire of dubious origin and constitution have experienced issues with machine oil, residue and detritus contaminating the coil, and believe that by pulsing the coil any potential contaminants are burned away and nullified. This is not a problem we’ve personally encountered with our resistance wire, but we’ll look into “coil hygiene” in a later article.

What is “Dry Burning” a Coil?

“Dry burning” is similar to pulsing a coil, only this time after the wire has been put to use. Vapourising e-liquid will, after a time, cause the coil and wicking material to “gunk up” with matter that can affect the taste and performance given from your atomiser. To answer what that “gunk” is would be a lengthy exercise in chemistry and physics, but for our purpose here it will suffice to say that the manky stuff found after some time is a result of eliquid failing to vapourise effectively.

The most common cause of coil gunk is the sweeteners that can be found in many of today’s popular eliquid varietals. Alongside juices which are darker in colour, sweetened liquids are thought to contain denser, “heavier” molecules which are more difficult to vapourise completely.This means that as the liquid vapourises, those constituents which don’t vapourise entirely are left behind and maintain a solid form which then “burns” as more heat is applied to it. It will also “clog” and prevent the wicking from transporting liquid optimally and this, at least to the taste of most people, can give a somewhat overall unsatisfying and yakky vaping experience.

Most vapers will clean and reuse their coils to extend the usability and life span of their build set up, and in doing so most will “dry burn” the coils in the process. Quite how this is best done shall be looked at in a later article, but before we do that there are some things we need to be aware of before we decide  if dry burning is going to be for us.

The Composition of Wire and Oxidisation.

Many different varieities of metal and alloys of metal can be used as resistance wire coils in RDAs, RTAs and other types of vaping atomiser. We’ll have a quick look at the three most common below, returning to look at “Temperature Control” specific wires (like Ni200, NiFe and Titanium) another time.

i) Kanthal

Kanthal (FeCrAl) wires are a ferritic iron-chromium-aluminium alloy, which is extremely oxidation resistant and stable right up to

temperatures nearing the melting point of 1500℃. These wires are composed of mostly iron (72%), chromium (22%) and aluminum (6%). As Kanthal is heated it becomes coated with the thermodynamically most stable oxide. Since aluminum oxide is more thermodynamically stable than either chromium oxide or iron oxide, a layer of aluminum oxide forms on the surface of this wire. This “protects” it and provides longevity under thermal duress. Coupled with its malleability and relative low cost, this has been the traditional material of choice in vaping for a long time, and is probably the most widely available atty wire or coil building material to date.

ii) Nichrome

Nichrome (NiCr) is an alloy of Chromium and Nickel, available in various percentage mixes, the most common being Nichrome 80 (80% Nickel,  20% Chromium). This alloy is often referred to in vaping as Ni80 or N80. When heated to high “red hot” temperatures an outer layer of chromium(III) oxide develops, which acts to protect the heating element from further oxidation, making it last much longer. This variety of wire is renowned for its fast heating action (“ramp up”) and relatively lower resistance, often favoured by mechanical mod users because of its awesomely quick vapour producing effect. Popular amongst the cloudsbroclouds community contingent, pariculary as a ribbon or flat wire.

ii) Stainless Steel

“Stainless steel” is the generic term used for a number of different alloys used primarily because of their resistance to corrosion. Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, and when at least 13% of chromium (Cr) is added to the alloy, it is then known as “stainless”, meaning that it does not rust. Other metals present in austenitic SS (the “300” numbered varieties) depend on its type. For example SS316L also contains small amounts of molybdenum (Mo – 2.5%) and manganese (Mn – 2%). These different additive metals are there to alter or give certain desirable qualities to the alloy. SS316L contains less carbon than 304 Stainless steel, which makes it preferable for higher temperature uses and exposure to corrosive element applications.

Just as in the case of Nichrome, the amount of Chromium in a stainless steel alloy is sufficient to form a protective layer of chromium oxide, protecting it and providing increased stability when heating.

Stainless Steel also has a quick “ramp up” time and a relatively low electrical resistance, making it ideal for use with mechanical devices. Further to this, it has an excellently predictable TCR and TFR pattern and is superb for use not only with straight wattage providing devices, but also with “Temperature Control” and DNA “Replay” devices such as those using DNA75C or DNA250C regulation boards. More info on this can be found in our earlier article here.

Particulate Matter.

As we have seen above, all of our vaping wires occur oxidisation, and oxidisation is a desirable condition when using metals to evaporate eliquid. It protects the material to a degree and enables us to to vape using reatively stable and efficient coils. However, there is a bit of a potential drawback to this, something which is increased by pulsing or dry burning your build, and that’s them pesky things known as particulates. As chemist Miroslaw Dworniczak puts it:

“In a nutshell: dry-burning definitely changes the inner structure of the metal/alloy. This, in turn, can affect the integrity of the coil, allowing tiny metal particles to be leached by e-liquid. When the liquid forms the aerosol, some of these particulate matter may be present in it, so then it can also enter vaper’s respiratory system.”

M.Dworniczak, 2016 “E-cigarette coils from a chemist’s point of view”, https://nicotinepolicy.net/blogs/guest-blogs/23-miroslaw-dworniczak/138-e-cigarette-coils-from-a-chemist-s-point-of-view

Pulsing and dry firing a coil may cause atomic alterations in the metal, potentially allowing constituent elements/ by-products to fragment alongside dislodged oxidised matter. In effect, we potentially run the risk of inhaling deep into the lungs teeny tiny incy wincy microscopic amounts of undesirable metallic materials. This sounds like a horrendous thing, and exactly the kind of thing anti-vaping zealots may get a froth on about. But as with all things in life, context here is vital. As the Royal College of Physicians advises:

“In normal conditions of use, toxin levels… are probably well below prescribed threshold limit values for

occupational exposure, in which case significant long-term harm is unlikely………Some harm from sustained exposure to low levels of toxins over many years may yet emerge, but the magnitude of these risks relative to those of sustained tobacco smoking is likely to be small.”

“Nicotine without smoke:Tobacco harm reduction”, 2016, p79, Tobacco Advisory Group, Royal College of Physicians,  https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/nicotine-without-smoke-tobacco-harm-reduction-0

Conclusion: So can we dry burn our coils then or what?

Well, being woke AF chilled out folk here at Stealthvape, we think that its entirely up to you. Although there is a risk of exposure to microscopic quantities of undesirable and potentially harmful by-product particulate matter, we believe that that decision is one which you should make for yourself. It is up to you as an indiviual to offset any potential risk of harm against the increased longevity and perfomance functionality provided by dry firing and pulsing your wire. As Farsalinos & Carvalho say:

“We will repeat our honest opinion that dry-burning the coils will not make vaping similar or worse than smoking. This is clear and there is no need for over-reactions. However…..If something can be avoided, vapers should be aware of it so that they can avoid it if they want to.”

K.Farsalinos and P.Carvalho,”Dry-burning metal coils: is it a good thing?”, 2015, http://www.ecigarette-research.org/research/index.php/research/research-2015/212-db

The answer to our conundrum then is really quite simple. There is a small risk (but risk nonetheless) of potential harm caused by dry burning and pulsing your coils. Whether or not you think the level of potential harm is negligible and worth taking in order to have a more convenient and pleasurable vaping experience, well that is entirely up to you as a responsible autonomus adult. As with all aspects of vaping, do some research, don’t be afraid to ask questions and make your own decision based upon your findings. Explore the possibilities and learn stuff along the way. And pass on the knowledge to those new to the vape community. Above all be courteous to those that may just happen to disagree.

It needn’t be a drama and it needed be a bore. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law!

400 Watts?! Why??!!

To achieve the repeatable experience of Replay, the board cleverly monitors a mind boggling array of parameters and records them. When the mode is activated, the board balances all parameters to deliver the same result as the vape that’s just been recorded. It will compensate for any changes in variables, delivering more or less power more quickly or more slowly (as well as tweaking all sorts of other things along the way) depending upon the environment and status of the atomiser at any given time. So, if you Replay a vape you took whilst in a very hot kitchen, then went outside into the snowy freezing cold, the board will compensate for that temperature change and deliver the boost of power necessary as fast as possible to bring the coil up to the temperature it was in the kitchen when you took that awesomely tasty sweet spot vape. This may be an extreme example, but it illustrates how having a large headroom of power available to yield instantly satisfying  results is definitely a desirable quality. And of course, with Replay’s monitoring of the coil’s status, a dry hit from the surge of power won’t be happening. It’s genius. Absolute vaping genius. 
 
Alongside the benefit of power headroom in Replay mode, there are also other reasons why having a high wattage capacity is something desirable by certain groups within vaping. Although the statistical majority of vapers will vape below 100 watts, there are many who prefer to use high-mass complex clapton coils, yielding voluminous quantities of vapour at high temperatures. This is the case in the PWM and Series mods scene, wherein vapers use higher voltages  (thus drawing less amperage from their cells) to push large amounts of power to coils which take a comparatively long amount of time to “ramp up” to cloud producing temperature. In these instances having a board and device capable of instantly driving huge amounts of wattage to big, chunky clapton coils is definitely going to be a major factor in device selection. Some vapers just need that power to warm their coils up. To many it’s hard to believe, but some folk just love a vape way over the power levels provided by most mainstream devices for vaping.  
 
There’s also a couple of other technical reasons why having that much power available is actually rather a boon. The DNA 250C will have different wattage output limits dependent upon how many cells (in Series) it has available to use. So with 2 cells (2S = 4.4v) it will output 200 watts; 3 cells (3S = 12.6v) is 300 watts; 4 cells (4S = 16.8v) a whopping 400 watts. The advantage that having the voltage of 4 cells available gives is that of efficiency (albeit marginal) and also less stress being placed upon the cells due to current draw (Amps).
 
 Firstly, it is generally considered that it is more efficient to “buck” down voltage than it is to “boost” it. Although the gains are minuscule, it still adds to the overall efficiency of the board (which is a remarkable 98%) being able to utilise a high voltage to step down to the one required to provide your desired wattage output. Having the voltage of four cells available as opposed to two is obviously going to give longer time between charges, but is also going to result in less power lost delivering the required voltage than with a fewer number of available cells. It’s just a more efficient way of delivering the power to the atty than boosting the voltage. Tiny, but the difference is there nonetheless.
 
Secondly, by drawing a lower current from your cells, less stress is being placed upon the individual cells, thus increasing the overall life time of the cells, and also helping to reduce the chance any problems that can can result in thermal runaway occurring. Obviously it’s not a reason to neglect good battery hygiene, but it’s definitely good to have that extra margin of safety. Running a build that needs 100 watts is always going to draw less current from each cell using the voltage of 4 cells in series as opposed to two. 
 
So what can we learn from the above then? In simple terms, more volts available is more of everything that we as vapers we want. A regulation board in a device with enough cells, capable of providing huge amounts of power is desirable in several different ways. We can use “Replay” more effectively; we can vape mahoosive coils for outrageous cloudage easily; through increased efficiency we can vape for longer, and we can do so within greater margins of safety. Even a tootlepuff 12 watt vaper like me can benefit from a mod capable of giving 388 more watts than I need. With a 4S DNA 250C I can’t even tell you how long it is between charges. I seem to only be able to judge it by the length of my beard. “Need a shave? Probably should charge the mod as well then” seems to be the way that it goes for my particular vaping style.
 
After all that discussion, if you feel you’d like a super efficient, super powerful device, check out our Independent Mods 4S DNA 250C here. If you’re a modder wanting to build your own powerhouse device, then Evolv boards, screens and mounts are also available here. For modders wishing to purchase quantities of 50 boards or above, then please contact us for wholesale quotation at sales@stealthvape.co.uk
 
Cos who doesn’t want MOARRR POWAHH!!?!

 

Evolv DNA250C – What we know so far

You can find our Evolv DNA250C listing HERE
 
 
Due to some regulation or other, the USA version will have a slightly different output with a 3s battery configuration. As we understand, there is nothing that prevents either firmware being used regardless of geographical location or point of sale.
 
Battery Configuration USA INTERNATIONAL
2s 200w 200w
3s 250w 300w
4s 400w 400w

**RUMOUR UPDATE – The USA firmware is limited to 250w for 4s**

 
 
  • Usable as 2s, 3s or 4s
  • Colour Screen
  • Button layout as DNA75C (Fire, up, down, select)
  • Charging current has been confirmed at 2a
  • Maximum input voltage is 16.8v
  • Maximum output voltage is 12.4v
  • Maximum output wattage 400w

Board dimension are slightly different. Most notably the board is 2mm wider.

 
 
A new feature called Replay has been mentioned by Brandon in the below video interview by DJLsb Vapes. Replay lets you in a sense record your perfect vape by selecting replay directly after having that vape then future vapes follow the same power profile.
 

 
So that’s what we know. On reflection the main points of interest for us with the DNA250C are the colour screen and the potential of the new replay feature, but most of all the extra watt hours that an extra cell provides. We’ll still vape day to day at our regular wattage of just a touch over 100w, but with a starting voltage of 16.8v for a fully charged 4s pack we expect a significantly longer run time from a single charge.
 
To compare using the watt hour calculator in Escribe, a 3s 1300mAh  lipo works out @ 14.43Wh, and 4s 1300mAh @ 19.24Wh an expected increase of 33%.  So expect to get a third extra usage using a similar mAh pack in 4s.
 
We’ve made an DNA250C enclosure that supports a 4s 2200mAh lipo.
 
4s / 2200mAh is a whopping 32.56Wh. So if you were a fan of our DNA250 enclosure that used a 3s 1300mAh @ 14.43Wh you can expect at least double the usage on a single charge.
 
Here’s some useful links
 
DNA250C Enclosure BLACK / PLAIN
 
We warranty Evolv products. To find out more about how we protect your consumer rights please read this post
 
 

Dead or Alive

 

For the benefit of people currently going out with, married to, or actually are men attempting to grow fantastic beards: we are referring to the 1980s, not the second rate Victorian wannabes. Like Disraeli and Gladstone knew anything about cool facial hair! Pfft.

OK, so it’s a digression, but what was so great about the Victorian times? What was happening in January 1880?  A bad fog in London. Big whoop, right? What happened in January 1980? The Specials were at Number 1 with Too Much Too Young. One-nil to the Twentieth Century, clearly.

Michael J. Fox could leap from one point in time to another, it’s true because I’ve seen the films. It actually happened. But then he stopped hanging about with his science mate and parts of the car went off to be repurposed for David Hasselhoff.

Then Michael starred in a show that was all about the politics and lies. It was now the late 90s and lies were more popular than the Princess of Wales. It was a time of Tony Blair and spin-doctors and Michael J. Fox’s Spin City.

Politicians lie, the news seems to lie, everything seems to be one big fat lie. And then there’s scientific research – these people are meant to be their country’s brightest and best. They spend year after year studying tough subjects and sitting impossible exams. Surely if anybody knows the right way to behave then clever people should?

But we know different, don’t we.

We know that, as has been pointed out in the recent ACSH article that gave this piece its inspiration, scientists are as happy to lie about their research as Gary from Marketing. Or John in Sales, when he makes out the boost in orders came from his endeavours and not some freak series of events. Or Ffiona in purchasing when she claims the reduction in costs were from her efforts and not the fact that a shift in the exchange rate benefitted the company.

People lie.

There’s ‘oh, I never realised I scratched that car’, through to ‘I really love that band you’re into‘, and culminating with ‘ecigs produce toxins and should be banned‘.

Where are we going here? To “‘Spin’ in published biomedical literature: A methodological systematic review“.  Piece of research that concludes: “Spin in biomedical research is prevalent across a range of study designs, including trials, observational studies, diagnostic accuracy studies, and systematic reviews.”

And there are those who beg us to accommodate the fact that scientists are human too, too excuse their willingness to adjust the truth. Which is all fine and well – but any child of the 80’s knows that You Spin Me was by Dead Or Alive…and that’s what harm reduction boils down to. There’s no room for spinning here.

Solving Vape Crime Together

 

The issues affecting vapers is manifold: if the crime is committed against a store or manufacturer then the costs are passed down the line to us, and if it’s our things being liberated then the victim is obviously us once again. Whichever way it cuts, we have a vested interest in solving the ones that take place and preventing future ones from happening

In many ways we are like cinema chains; we have the power to prevent anybody suffering another Fantastic Four film. If someone says they hate superhero films then it’s almost definitely because they saw one of the FF franchise. Cinema owners could have got together and used their superpowers to prevent another screening – but did they? No, no they did not. They allowed the awfulness to continue and now we have a society where vapers have to act as vigilantes.

Damn you, 20th Century Fox. This is all on you.

Since the great switch from mech to regulated, devices lend themselves nicely to built-in protection. The numerous online bait bike videos illustrate how easy it would be to have a password function, or fingerprint ID, that if by-passed could release an inconvenient number of volts directly through the power button. An enterprising manufacturer would combine this with a video and wireless function so everybody could enjoy the event in real time.

That doesn’t help the shop. Some predictions for us leaving Europe include a massive financial slide and long unemployment queues. The quick-minded of you will realise this is a boon for vape crime fighting. Combining idle hands, piercings and valuable devices together, through the medium of a length of chain, gives you lock-down security. And, should the worst happen and a theft occurs, the store owner has a readymade witness to the event. Plus, if this was an art student then they’ll have the composite sketch whipped up before the Police response vehicle has stopped at Tesco, the off-licence and a doughnut shop. Don’t be critical, the police can’t function on free KFC, free McDs and free pizza alone.

If society does go to Hell in an unpatriotic handcart then at least it means all of the bank vaults will be lying empty. What better use could there be than to rent them out for vape collectors to store their devices? Clearly, neither of these solutions work if Brexit is a huge success and everyone is lighting cigars with £50 notes.

So we propose a trained Vaping Defence Force (VDF) to patrol vape stores and act as emergency first responders in the event of vape crime. It won’t come cheap but we reckon Big T will fund it. Your average company pulls in 68 billion per year, give or take, so something like this is a drop in the ocean and would be brilliant PR.

Vapers don’t wheeze as much as they used to when they smoked, which means they can creep up on crimes in progress more surreptitiously. Plus, like proper superheroes (not the Fantastic Four) they have utility belts and bags full of kit: two mods and a length of Kanthal makes for brilliant crime-fighting nunchaku.

Yep, you could do this…

 

 

Genius At Work

 

Stan drove a pudgy finger into one of the seventeen folds hanging off his chin. The scratch sent dead skin tumbling onto his blank Mindmap sheet. Boys at school learn how to affect a certain expression, a practised look they summon up on command when a teacher asks the class a question. It says I’m thinking very hard about something so please don’t ask me directly.

Mart stroked his beard. Beard stroking is the international sign of a man who believes himself to be intellectually superior to everybody else in the room. Invariably, the absolute opposite is the case – but today, looking at Stan screwing up his face while pretending to think, Mart knew he really was the sharpest knife in this cutlery drawer. He began to doodle for inspiration.

I think,” Stan spluttered, “that we might have come up with all the ideas. I think the reason we can’t think of anymore is that we have thought of all of the ideas and now there are none left.”

It was a reasonable guess. The pair of them had invented lies about flavours, brand names and colours being used to target children. They’d laughed until their tummies hurt when they came up with the whole nanoparticle thing. Then they hit gold with the idea they could simply copy every piece of vape research but make up some numbers so it says the opposite. Each time Stan hears “Opposite Land” now he has to go and put on dry underpants.

Saying we’ve thought of everything isn’t an option,” admonished Mart. “And if we have thought of every thinkable thing then maybe it’s time to think the unthinkable.”

Stan nodded, his cheeks continued to wobble after he’d finished, but he really had no idea what Mart meant.

We need a danger that smokers and vapers haven’t been scared about yet. We need something that scientists can’t disprove – like when we made up that rubbish about the gateway effect…that it ‘could’ lead to smoking. Try disproving that, scientific community!” And Mart laughed.

Hang on a minute,” Mart shouted as he dropped his pencil. “Aliens!”

Stan’s expression changed to the one you find on a fat boy when a Greggs employee pulls a new tray of hot pies out of the oven. He could eat Martin up, every scrap.

We simply say that electronic vaping nicotine delivery device systems give out sub frequencies, acting as beacons for warlike pan-galactic alien races. Using nicotine in this way will ENDS the planet – that’s how bloody selfish vapers are.”

The duo managed to publish three finely crafted research papers in the five minutes after generating the idea, using drawings instead of data tables, depicting the carnage and mayhem. Donald Trump tweeted his congratulations for their patriotic work.

 

Vape Crime

 

Police are currently hunting for a group of young males in West Belfast after some school boys were attacked. They believe that a stun gun resembling an electronic cigarette was involved.

Three boys, aged between 12 and 13, were attacked and struck on the neck by the stun gun, and one fell to the ground. Detective Inspector Paul Rowland said: “Each of the boys felt something on their neck and one of them fell to the ground. Two of the boys subsequently attended hospital for treatment to minor injuries. While we believe some kind of small electronic device was used, we are keeping an open mind, but are appealing to anyone who has any information about this incident, or who may have witnessed it to contact detectives on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference 811 06/09/17.”

Stun guns disguised as popular items is nothing new; there were reports of iPhone versions back in 2015. The stun vape version hit the news last year and gang members were claiming they’d managed to import them from America: “The old bill has no idea. Everyone is on e-cigs these days so they don’t look out of place.”

It’s good to hear that none of the victims suffered any serious damage, but it’s troubling that this could reflect poorly on vaping if such weapons became more widely available.

We’ve helped to highlight attacks on vape stores and thefts of vape kit in the past. Each time there will be many comments about what people would like to do to the perpetrators. This actually happened in Indonesia recently.

A young man broke into the Old Vape House, South Jakarta, and is alleged to have stolen a mod worth around £100. Seven men are reported to have attacked him, resulting in his death. Four of them have been arrested while three remain on the run.

It serves as a caution to anybody thinking such things deserve direct action. For such an insignificant amount of money, one man is now dead and seven others face a long term in prison.

But Jakarta is no stranger to vape-related crime; the local police have also recently arrested a number of people for distributing drugs inside bottles of eliquid.

People would transfer around £150 directly into a bank account and wait for a person to deliver their 60ml bottle of narcotics. The police didn’t say what the drug was, just that it was “similar” to the effect of smoking marijuana.

A soft sentence for a soft drug then? Not a chance: the Indonesian 1997 Narcotics Law carries a maximum life sentence or the death penalty.

As Crimewatch’s Nick Ross said: “Don’t have nightmares, do sleep well.”

 

A Bunch Of Stunts

Long-term vapers have witnessed a transition from something that was just about harm reduction then blossom into a product that is on-trend and fashionable. But, obviously, vapers can’t simply enjoy vaping without someone telling them why they ought to stop. This week it’s the turn of people who enjoy doing vape stunts and tricks.

Published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, researchers from RTI International are warning about “risk factors” associated with “vape trick behaviour“.

Lead author Jessica Pepper explained the rationale behind conducting the study: “Earlier studies have shown that some teens vape because they think it looks cool. Others want to try the fruit- and candy-flavoured e-liquids used to make vape clouds. Vape tricks may be another factor. I can see why teens might be interested. Some of the tricks are fascinating.”

The paper the team produced states: “Vape tricks are an emerging and understudied risk behaviour for adolescents. Given the potential association between vape trick behaviour, motivation to use [vape devices], and increased exposure to [vape] emissions due to using more advanced devices, it is important to understand what demographic, psychographic, or behavioural factors are associated with youth engagement in vape tricks.”

Unfortunately, the authors of the study are beginning from the premise that vaping poses a big danger and, secondly, that these teens wouldn’t have otherwise gone on to smoke.

Serious flaws exist in this study; teens were recruited online (using a $20 Amazon gift card inducement) and then completed questionnaires online. Such methodology places a huge question mark over the reliability of the data obtained – which carries on through to the dubious conclusions the team come to:

  • Research suggests that [ecig] use is not free of harm.
  • Ecig users are more likely to progress to smoking combustible cigarettes.
  • The nicotine in e-liquid can be harmful.
  • Even e-liquid without nicotine produces harmful chemical emissions.
  • Vape trick behaviour also could influence health. For example, vaping blogs suggest different configurations of batteries and different types of e-liquid to produce the biggest clouds or do the best tricks.”

 

The group failed to take any measurements and are therefore totally unable to quantify any perceived danger. They remain as ignorant as to the performance of a trick (duration of inhale, components of the vape, impact on lung tissue) as they were prior to the research program’s inception.

In fact, it’s a struggle to work out what the point of the work was given how it has failed, by any measure, to move understanding forward. It’s also amazing that the company can make the claim: “RTI is at the forefront of research on e-cigarettes. Because of our wide-ranging expertise, we are ideally positioned to provide insights on these products from a variety of scientific perspectives, including public health and policy, pharmacology and toxicology, aerosol technology, and health communications.”

The full research paper can be accessed here.

iWire X

 

Say hello to a bright new dawn. Say hello to an exciting future. Say hello to the only must-have item in the world of electronic cigarettes. Say hello to the peak of Mount Vaping. Say goodbye to the contents of your wallet, purse, bags and pockets. Say “Bloody hell, I need that in my life!”

World, welcome iWire X!

 

Our new partner said to us that we’d be better off launching iWire 1 to the market. We scoffed at them. While that brand might know the fruit that’s always left uneaten in fruit bowls, and maybe phones, and computers, they certainly do not know vapers.

Vapers don’t want iWire 1. Whatever that concept was it became outdated a week later when we’d have launched iWire 2. By the following lunchtime, we’d have been doing a press conference about iWire 3 and announcing that all support for iWire 1 had been scrapped. No, this is the future and that means something with an X on the end of the name.

Class-leading features

Like any great product worth having, it is reassuringly expensive in the United States. At a cracking $129 a reel, it screams “aspirational vaping accessory“. Such a desirable product would be let down if we didn’t pretend that exchange rates and import duties justified the UK price of £189.

How many other reels of wire come in a bespoke box? None, that’s how many. And if they did then it wouldn’t be a white box with two free stickers and a dedicated set of matching earplugs. This is how you recognise quality – this is how people know you are a human of distinction.

 

The iWire X is ahead of the curve with a dynamic 6cm of width, a touch sensitive reel and facial recognition. Yes, that’s correct, you read it correctly – the iWire reel comes complete with face recognition. All you need to do is stare at the reel, take in its simple form while it processes the millions of points on your head. Then you are all set to go.

Clearly, there is no speaker or screen so you are going to have to take our word for it that facial recognition works…but when have we ever lied to you?Other reels are fiddly to use; everybody knows that. Wire spools off when you least want it to. So does the iWire, but that is a design feature so that everybody nearby can see you are using iWire and therefore attractive, intelligent and desirable.

Our iWire X is the very first wire for coiling that has had a roaming function designed into the product and will also accept MicroSIM cards. It won’t do anything with them afterwards, but it is comforting to know they are accepted.

Of course, iWire X only works with the iMod and iAtomiser. To purchase them you will need to book an appointment with one of our iGenies at the iStealthVapeStore. Once there, we can advise you of the best organs to sell in order to afford the complete package. Credit checks can be performed in-store to see if you qualify for our obscenely expensive loans.

iWire X – the product people want only because other people want it!