 Beware of Facebook ... lmao Ninj seems to have vanished for the weekend; seems strange to me it coincides with Madi Gras (just sayin') ... so thought I'd hack the TNV blog and share with you a blog post that was brought to my attention by a friend on Facebook ... it's useful for something after all ... hahahaha.
Anyway ...the post discusses a couple of studies / research papers that confirm that e-cigarettes generate virtually no toxins ... the vapour contains about the same levels of toxins as air ... fresh air ... the stuff we all breathe ... everyday. How cool is that! You can read the blog post on the Hit and Run Blog at reason.com, check out the abstract of the research paper : Levels of selected carcinogens and toxicants in vapour from electronic cigarettes (first published on 6 March 2013) or read the full findings of the study : Comparison of selected analytes in aerosol from e-cigarettes with smoke from conventional cigarettes and with ambient air (published 3 December 2014) on sciencedirect.com. As if you need scientific proof to back up your choice of an e-cigarette over smoking tobacco, but you may know some sceptics who would benefit by having a look over it. It's fabulous to have scientifically proven fact supporting e-cigs and their benefits out there for the World to see but, as always, there's two sides to every story and I feel it's important to present a balanced view. If you want to have a really good laugh, read what some American politicians are putting out there ... there's this little gem "Claiming E-Cigarettes Kill, California Legislator Pushes Vaping Ban" or the ever popular "California Declares E-Cigarettes 'Community Health Threat'". Ahhhh, those American politicians ... they're hilarious! Let's hope that the 'Powers That Be' in our own Government aren't as well informed and intelligent as those two in particular. PS - Don't tell Ninj I was here ... she'll never notice. Cheers, Julie  "Vapers’ Perspectives on Electronic Cigarette Regulation in Australia" (study conducted by Dr Coral Gartner and associates from the University of Queensland) Australia's vaping culture is already firmly entrenched and grows larger daily, so it's inevitable that the next big issue will be : "To Nic Or Not To Nic. That is the question".
While liquids containing nicotine remain unauthorised and e-cigs themselves walking a fine line in some States, the Government must soon be forced to look more closely at legislation and approval for e-cigs and liquids. And this is where it gets disturbing from my perspective. Dr Gartner's study shows the attitudes of a section of the vaping community (on-line volunteers made up the sample group) who pretty much agree that we'd be happy to have e-cigs and liquids regulated with minimum standards for labelling, packaging and quality (but not if it's going to restrict what we can buy), over 18's only and not prescription only. Universally, there's some fear attached to the eventual pricing levels. Seems we're a suspicious lot and have some questions as to the Government's motives when it comes to setting the pricing rules for e-cigs. Many feel that they'll go for broke (and maximum profit) by pricing them using current tobacco legislation, meaning e-liquids could end up costing the same as (or more than) a packet of cigarettes. The other topic making vaping chat rooms everywhere melt down is what happens if they DON'T approve nicotine use in e-liquids? Both of these scenarios have the potential to send even the most dedicated vaper straight back to analogs. So what's the point of this post anyway ... If vaping is to have a place in Australia, then vapers themselves must be part of the consultation process for any new legislation. Problem is, we don't have a unified voice ... yet ... And a major concern from my point of view (and heaps of other people too) is what stance will our Government take; will they blaze a logical trail despite what other countries are doing and seek consultation with vapers themselves or follow America and the UK's poor examples? (this may largely depend on who's in the hot seat at the time). So how do we get a unified voice to speak for us? I think that the first step is to make ourselves known, let Australia see that we're not just a few radicals, but an ever-growing and established community. We haven't taken up e-cigs blindly, we've done our research and we understand vaping, the benefits of vaping and whatever downside each of us has found in using an e-cig (can't say I can think of any specific downside off the top of my head ... unless you include being hassled out by Security the last time I visited a friend in hospital after the new legislation was introduced in Qld). I'm asking you to do a couple of things for me, for you too really ... well, for all of the vaping community if you want to get technical; if you're invited to take part in any e-cig research, do it! (unless health or some other serious issue prevents you). Join Change.org to keep an eye out for petitions that will start to circulate, (pretty soon would be my guess) add your name and send it on to everyone you know ... send it on to people you don't know if that rocks your boat ... start your own petition! Share your thoughts on-line, in social media and chat rooms, start the conversation and let people know that we're not going away ... Vaping is the new way to smoke. And there it is ... United We Stand. Divided We Fall. Your thoughts? I’ve been tasked with blogging for E-Cigarette International and I’ve been struggling with the first post. Seeing as you don’t know me from a bar of soap, I settled on discussing history … that of the e-cig and my own. You may call me Awesome, or you can call me The Ninja Vaper ... Ninj for short, everyone else does … I'm a proud vaper. I've been a vaper for over 10 years. I was vaping when e-cigs were carved from stone and e-juice was made from tobacco crushed by dinosaurs. I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly. Well, that’s enough about me … on to e-cig history … You may be under the misguided impression that e-cigs are a recent invention, a fad, a trend which will soon pass as all new techo gadgets do when they lose their novelty; yeah … well you’d be wrong. The very first e-cig patent was filed in 1963 by Mr Herbert A Gilbert. A revolutionary bloke way before his time, Herbert commented in an interview# that found the concept of inhaling burnt stuff a bit stupid and embarked on a quest to design a smoking alternative which didn't rely on combustion. So the first e-cig was born.  Herbert later claimed that the manufacturers he approached weren't interested in making his device until his patent expired, and tobacco companies weren't in any hurry to find a healthier alternative to smoking, they were raking it in. Cigarettes were advertised on TV, radio, roadside billboards and sponsored major sporting events, while Paul Hogan was “having a Winfield” long before he “threw a shrimp on the barbie” and the Marlboro man made many a young woman’s heart beat faster; everyone smoked - anywhere and everywhere.
But maybe Herbert wasn't so far off the mark with that statement about his patent ... it expired in 2003, which is about when an unassuming Chinese medical researcher, Hon Lik, (who'd lost his Dad to lung cancer and hated his own addiction) came along. He's said to have dreamt the concept after he forgot to take his nicotine patch off one night. In his dream he was drowning but as the water filled his lungs, it became a harmless vapour that he could easily breathe ... freaky stuff! His dream became reality when he released his first e-cig internationally in 2006. It consisted of a battery, a plastic cartridge filled with a nicotine solution suspended in PG (propylene glycol) and an ultrasonic atomiser. Around 2007, two brothers, Umer and Tariq Sheikh from the UK, recognized the flaws in the three component system and integrated the ultrasonic atomiser and cartridge into what we now know as a ‘cartomiser’ (no longer ultrasonic), holding the first patent in the UK for what is now the base design for most current cartomisers, atomizers, clearomisers and disposable e-cigs (or cig-a-likes – you know, the ones that look like a cigarette … or a toy, depending on your perspective). There’s one in every crowd and as e-cigs grew in popularity throughout early 2000, so did the subculture and there were those who wanted more from their vaping experience … enter the MOD. Put simply, a MOD is a modified e-cigarette and when you think about it, they’re really not that technical … a battery, a heating element and e-juice … can’t be that hard which is most likely why the starting point for most budding MOD builders was a torch battery; a hollow tube for the batteries with a switch and the threaded bit where you would normally screw in the bulb. If you look at the majority of MODs on the market, many show a marked resemblance to a simple torch design. From that point, progression was made to modifying the cartomiser, with people building coils from a variety of different ohm wire, changing wick materials, punching their own holes in cartomiser tubes submersed in e-juice filled tanks and further to different battery voltages and combinations, then even changing firing button designs and locations. Technology has progressed to the point where almost anything is possible in e-cig design and you can customise most of standard manufactured e-cigs via variable voltage batteries, replaceable coils of different ohms, single or dual and more recently, the introduction of air flow control valves, but that’s nothing compared to what you can create as a MOD if you’re so inclined … AND all of this technology has only developed over the last 10 years! E-cigs are still a very young product in the scheme of things and from what we’ve seen so far, there can be no doubt that the next generation of e-cigs will be even funkier than they are now. There’s a heap yet to be written into the history of e-cigs. Sometimes progress can be a truly beautiful thing … |
AuthorI'm The Ninja Vaper. 
Archives
April 2015
Categories |
RSS Feed
