Longhorn Vapor Co- Lone-Star

This E-liquid is to the E-cigarette Industry what the Mercedes Maybach is to the Automobile Industry.  It simply doesn’t get any better than this… Seriously!  Most of my reviews come from samples that are sent to me specifically for purposes of reviewing.  I came across this one through a friend of mine who received this Longhorn Vapor Company E-juice product at the recent Miami vape meet.  Obviously, I tried it, as I do with just about every E-juice offered to me by anybody… and I was immediately transported directly the the second top-most stair of that Blessed staircase of the 9th circle of Heaven leading up to the throne of the Almighty Himself.  This is a masculine vape, filled with the very best of pure-driven, testosterone-fuelled manly manliness.  If that black-and-white, boxing,, manly-man Internet meme were to take up vaping, Longhorn’s Lone-Star E-liquid would be the juice he would use in his E-cigarette.

The flavor of Lone-Star E-juice is one that I haven’t seen available anywhere else.  Take a shot of strong Kentucky bourbon, toss in a shot of amaretto, and then a dash of real (not imitation) vanilla extract (you know, the kind that’s actually 40 proof alcohol)… and you’ll have this superb Longhorn Vapor Company juice.  I suppose you would also need to add some VG and PG for it to actually vaporize in an atomizer… but that’s beside the point.  What a truly amazing combination of flavors this is!  And they certainly weren’t conservative with their flavorings.  All of the included flavors are pervasively present during every moment of inhalation, exhalation, French-inhalation, etc. stages of vaping.  The bourbon and amaretto blend together perfectly, but not so much so that you can’t identify each flavor.  The vanilla is simply there to tie the two main flavors together in a rich, sweet way.

The Longhorn Vapor Company has also accomplished another miracle; despite such a heavy, flavorful vapor the throat hit somehow manages to be as smooth as silk.  No throat irritation whatsoever occurred at all during the vaping of Lone-Star E-juice.  Of course, I was vaping a 4mg nicotine version of the juice, so a higher nicotine content might produce a little bit more of a kick to the back of the throat… but if you’re still on the higher nic contents, you’ve probably just recently stopped smoking, so you won’t notice the extra harshness.  This juice worked very well in a Pro-Tank III, an iClear 30b, as well as a Trident quad-coil setup on a mechanical mod running at a cloud-chasing .1 Ohm.  However, I should add that from experience, I’ve found that the “sweet spot” for maximizing both flavor and vapor production is somewhere around the 1.2 Ohm resistance mark.  I know there are plenty of cloud-size zealots out there who would disagree with that, but I have found that anything in the sub-Ohm range tends to drown out some of the flavor through excess heat.

All in all, Longhorn Vapor Co. hasn’t just hit a home run with their Lone-Star liquid… they’ve knocked it clear out of the park for a Grand Slam homer in the bottom of the ninth in game six of the series.  Essentially, they have won the championship.  I plan on purchasing about 600 kilo-gallons of this stuff as soon as I can afford it and then promptly retiring to an Island in the South Pacific, where I will fill my swimming pool with Lone-Star!  My work here is done.  I have found the golden fleece.  I’ll continue reviewing liquids for now, but I fear that some of the fun will now be drained out of the job, thanks to this absolutely marvelous E-juice.  Seriously, I suggest that you skip the electricity bill this month, or your car payment, mortgage, child support, etc. and buy as much of this stuff as Longhorn is capable of producing!

Tasty Vapor- Frosted Oatmeal Cookie

I rarely utilize the extensive lexicon of texting acronyms, but for this I make just one exception… O.M.G.!!  My initial response to vaping Tasty Vapor’s Frosted Oatmeal Cookie was to immediately get in the car (at 3:30 in the morning, I might add) and drive over to the nearest 24-hour Wal-Mart to buy a bag of those nostalgic, delectable little cookies.  I opened the bag in the car and ate one as I vaped, and I couldn’t tell the difference save for the presence/lack of crunchiness.  Everything is perfect right down to the tiniest detail in this E-liquid, so much so that I am having trouble trying to come up with another E-juice, anywhere, that has hit as close to their intended mark as did this one.  Kudos to Tasty Vapor for putting this masterpiece together!

The flavors present in Frosted Oatmeal Cookie E-juice are plentiful and complex, coming together in such a way as to trick your senses into thinking that you have actually just put a cookie in your mouth.  There is a hint of spice (cinnamon, possibly nutmeg, clove, etc.) underlying a pervasive, doughy, pastry-like taste that makes me wonder whether or not these are artificial flavors at play, or if Tasty Vapor actually succeeded in vaporizing cookie dough with a rail gun and collecting the resulting microscopic droplets in a bag.  As you vape, the presence of the icing/frosting begins to come through as a sugary, vanilla-y flavor overlaying all of the other wonderous taste-bud stimulators.  In my experience as a vape taste-tester, I have learned along the way that there are some flavors, many flavors in fact, that become apparent only once you are told what the flavor is supposed to be.  Once clued into the target taste, we often associate some element of that taste with whatever it is we are supposed to be tasting, and we lock that association in for future reference.  This juice is not like that at all.  I allowed a few of my friends to try this vape before telling them what it was supposed to taste like, and they all immediately guessed… ready for it?… “Oatmeal Cookie!”

As far as the mechanics of vaping Tasty Vapor’s Frosted Oatmeal Cookie go, this is one incredibly smooth vaping experience.  The throat hit on the inhale would be practically non-existent if it weren’t for the thick, dessert-like flavor.  The exhale carries with it a voluminous, more-than-respectable vapor production that is sure to fill your room (however large that room may be) with a dense fog within a few minutes.  I vaped this juice on several different set-ups, including my Pro-Tank III, running at 1.5 Ohms, and on a few mechanical mods operating between 0.2 Ohms and 1.3 Ohms.  A friend of mine even tried it in a Pro-Tank Mini II at 2.4 Ohms (or thereabouts) with the same intense flavor and almost the same volume of vapor clouds.

Obviously, there isn’t a single bad thing I can say about Frosted Oatmeal Cookie by Tasty Vapor.  This E-liquid has wowed me on several different levels.  I’ve also tried a few others of their offerings, which I shall review in due time, and they do not disappoint.  I think it’s safe to say that this is a very well-rounded company and I look forward to seeing how they fare over the next few years.  I expect they will do very well.

And Again… Funny Vape Memes!

Clancy’s Royal Vapors- King’s Elixer

I was once in a competitive exhibition drill team in high school.  Actually, I was cadet commander of the exhibition drill squad and platoon at Palm Bay High School’s Marine Corps Junior R.O.T.C.  During my senior year, at the national drill competition at Daytona Beach, FL, we all got a chance to watch the King’s Guard platoon put on their very precise and awe-inspiring routine in front of everyone.  It was truly an amazing thing to behold, and it marked the first time I became aware of the fascinating history of the Hawaiian Monarchy.  Obviously, there has been no reigning monarch in Hawaii since the island nation was annexed as the 50th of our United States, but the island’s cultural heritage still keeps alive that love of the royals.  Clancy’s Royal Vapors’ line of E-liquids all have a decidedly Hawaiian feel to them, and their King’s Elixer is an homage to the throne itself, capturing everything flavor-oriented (with the exception of Spam, of course… what is it with those Hawaiians and their use of Spam in their cuisine?  But I digress…) that comes to mind when the world thinks of Hawaii.

The first thing I noticed when tasting this ode to the Hawaiian monarchy was a strong, smooth pineapple flavor, which penetrates the entire process of both the inhalation and exhalation of this delicious vape.  King’s Elixer adds to the pineapple foundation a wonderfully enticing papaya highlight, and possibly hints of mango and/or starfruit.  To top off the entire package, and to really thrust this E-juice into the national spotlight, Clancy’s Royal Vapors has added a nice, creamy undertone which almost makes the vaping of this E-liquid similar to drinking a Hawaiian-themed Orange Julius beverage.  So, with all of these flavors combined, your tongue and taste buds will be swimming in the clear, blue waters of Hawaii’s world-renowned beaches while enjoying this masterpiece of E-liquid passion!

The inhale is exactly as one would expect from an E-juice of only the highest caliber.  All of the fruit flavors involved in the creation of King’s Elixer are known for their silky flavor.  Pineapples, papayas, mangos, and starfruits (and obviously the creamy undertone/flavor) are low on that typical, acidic tanginess present in many other tropical fruits.  The throat hit of this Clancy’s Royal Vapors’ juice follows suit with that smoothness and provides a light, airy lung hit, without any of the irritation and scratchiness found in lesser vapes.  If you are looking for a great dessert vape, or an all day, low throat hit experience, this is the juice for you!  If, however, you are newly converted to vaping from smoking traditional analogs, you might not be prepared to surrender your need for harsh throatiness in your vapor just yet.  This is the kind of E-juice that makes vaping it’s own animal, and not just a reflection of smoking.

Clancy’s Royal Vapors should be very proud of King’s Elixer.  Even the use of the word “elixir” in the title suggests that what you are about to experience is something soothing, gentle, and health-affirming.  Vaping this E-juice is definitely all three of those things; soothing, gentle, and health-affirming… with the addition of the phrase “extremely tasty and enjoyable.”  I am very much looking forward to getting off of work later today, so I can go taste another of these Hawaiian-inspired masterpieces of vaping perfection.

Vapourlites- Virginia Tobacco

Virginia tobacco, also known as bright leaf tobacco, is a naturally lighter and milder strain of the tobacco plant that has become synonymous with high quality, smooth-tasting cigarettes.  Many of the more luxurious brands of cigarettes, such as Dunhill, Craven A, Nat Sherman, etc. are comprised, either in whole or part, of Virginia tobacco.  Usually, in order to experience the delicious flavor of this type of tobacco leaf, one would need to shell out more than the average price-per-pack to their local tobacconist.  Thanks to the dawn of the new E-cigarette industry, we can now enjoy this rarity in our personal vaporizers without that oh-too-familiar shooting pain in our wallet-parts.  Vapourlites of the U.K. has found the perfect molecular combination for matching this most-desired of tobacco flavors for their Virginia Tobacco E-liquid, so now we can all enjoy the sensation and palatal experience of smoking an expensive, classy cigarette in lieu of that cheapo, harsh R.J. Reynolds/Philip Morris flavor.

Before I switched to vaping I considered myself to be quite the tobacco connoisseur, whether in the form of cigarette, cigar, or pipe tobacco.  I even occasionally used snuff (the snorting variety, not the lip-stuffing sort).  So, I became well aware at a young age of the many subtle differences between all of the different types of tobacco.  In my prime I could probably blind taste test the difference between fire cured, flue-cured, North Carolinian, Virginian, Turkish, British Virginian, Indian, and Indonesian tobaccos.  Virginia tobacco (especially the type grown on the British Isles) was always my favorite.  Historically-speaking, Virginia tobacco was discovered by accident and was actually found to grow in soil that would otherwise be considered infertile.  It’s leaves are brighter/lighted when cured and this contributes to that smoother taste.  Virginia Tobacco E-juice by Vapourlites captures the very soul of this elusive flavor in the form of vaporized glycerine and glycol.

I found that the throat hit produced via the vaping of Vapourlite’s Virginia Tobacco E-liquid is an exact match for the inhalation experience expected from the smoking of a well made, luxury-brand cigarette.  The mildness of this particular type of tobacco lends itself to a smoother draw and lung hit, but it is still a tobacco flavor and therefore ever-so-slightly harder on the throat than many of the non-tobacco E-juice flavors.  This is okay, because those of you looking for absolutely zero throat hit are more than likely not going anywhere near tobacco flavors anyway.  The best part about this Vapourlites juice is that it achieves that happy middle ground between mimicking an analog cig and highlighting the flavorful nature of Virginia tobacco.  So, regardless of whether or not you’re newly separated from your smoking habit, or a tried and true vape veteran, you will love this vape from start to finish!

I do love getting the opportunity to taste E-juice products hailing from outside of the U.S.  And I am happy to see that the practice of vaping and the availability of E-cigarettes and E-liquids are sweeping the whole world now, from London to the Philippines, from New York to Sydney, from… well, you get the picture.  Vapourlites E-liquid company is based out of the U.K., and if their Virginia Tobacco flavor is a good indicator as to the quality and flavor accuracy of their products, they are very likely to give many of our own, U.S.-based companies a run for their money, even right here in the States!  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go try out some of the other Vapourlites samples I have waiting for me in my kitchen.  Happy vaping!

7 Signs Premium Drip- Trumpets

I was remarking to a friend a few weeks back that I expect to see a new type of E-liquid branching off from the pack in the near future.  The impetus behind this move would be the growing community of “drippers” out there, who have come to expect a little more out of their “premium” E-juices.  Fast forward a few weeks to where I sit, at this very moment, vaping on Trumpets E-liquid by 7 Signs Premium Drip, finding as if in answer to a prayer, that someone has been thinking the same ingenious thoughts I have.  This flavor, as well as all flavors by 7 Signs, has been designed specifically for use in RBAs and RDAs (Rebuildable Atomizers and Rebuildable Dripping Atomizers).  That doesn’t mean that it won’t work in traditional clearomizers.  On the contrary, this flavor is quite exquisite in my iClear 30.  However, the VG/PG ratio, flavor concentration, and the nicotine content have been tailored more with the hobbyist vapor in mind rather than standard, refill-and-forget E-cig users.

The flavor of this glorious (if I may be so bold as to use a word like “glorious” to describe this awesome experience) is a perfect, well-thought out combination of all of our favorite types of savory/dessert vaping tastes.  Cinnamon, butterscotch, and caramel flavors all stand out immediately upon taking your first deep lung hit of 7 Signs Premium Drip’s Trumpet E-juice.  Those deep, rich flavors swirl around your taste buds delivering about a hundred types of enjoyment as you inhale this fine vapor.  When you finally exhale, the taste of batter, like the kind found in fresh-baked cinnamon buns, and even an ever-so-slight hint of warm apple is left on your palate long after the last remnant of vapor leaves your mouth in the form of a huge, thick cloud.  The combination of all these flavors together might seem like overkill for your sweet-tooth, but I can assure you that this is not just a 1:1 mixture of flavors.  The 7 Signs mixmasters must have toyed around with dozens of flavor combinations and intensities before they arrived at this masterpiece.

The actual inhalation of this juice’s vapor is meant to be a little heavy… but it manages to do so without any sense of throat irritation at all.  Remember, this is an E-liquid designed to be dripped directly onto atomizer coils and wicks, without the use of a tank/reservoir.  This means that the vapor production is more intense and more voluminous than that of any of your more basic clearomizer styles.  7 Signs Premium Drip knows exactly what the average “dripper” is looking for in his/her E-juice, and they have gone to great lengths in order to produce a drip-friendly, made-for-vapers-by-vapers kind of E-liquid.  Trumpets E-juice is a perfect example of how they have translated some of the most popular dessert flavors into the perfect drip-vaping experience with a throat hit to be strived towards by other companies looking to do the same thing.

I can’t even put into words just how excited I am to try out the rest of 7 Signs’ juices.  All of their bottles are sealed with red wax, complete with a signet stamp at the top.  Trumpets is probably going to help me lose some weight, in that I no longer need to eat dessert… I can just inhale it.  I hope that other E-juice manufacturers follow suit and begin to release lines of juices designed to be used on rebuildable atomizer coils.  But if they do, they are going to find formidable competition in the form of 7 Signs Premium Drip.

Ruthless E-Juice- EZ Duz It (On Ice)

I first came across Ruthless E-Juice at a vape meet in Tampa, Florida earlier this year.  If I could remember the name of the booth, I would certainly give them credit here, but unfortunately I can’t.  All I can say is that it was a vape shop’s booth and they had for sale both Ruthless and Five Pawns E-juices.  I picked Ruthless because I’m hopelessly lost in good, old-fashioned American consumerism, and they were offering a free T-shirt with the purchase of two bottles of E-juice.  The T-shirt was awesome, it had a snake on it, and I’m actually wearing it while typing this review (unplanned, by the way.)  Turns out I made the correct decision, and Ruthless E-juice is simply the bees knees of the high-VG (Vegetable Glycerine) vaping world.  EX Duz It (On Ice) is a truly fantastic vape that puts to bed that myth which claims that high VG concentrations reduce the strength of the flavor present in the E-liquid.

The flavor, as I’m sure you can guess by the clues in the graphic above, is a combination of strawberry and watermelon.  Those two flavors, mixed together just the two of them, would be enough to turn my head without any further addition to the mix.  However, to really drive the point home, Ruthless E-Juice went ahead and threw a menthol “kicker” into their EZ Duz It (On Ice) blend.  Unlike most juices that I try, I knew immediately how I was going to describe this flavor on paper (or computer screen, as it were) the very first instant this glorious vapor passed my lips.  The intense flavor of this juice is exactly like taking a deep breath of air on a 35 degree (Fahrenheit), sunny Spring morning while standing in the middle of an outdoor watermelon/strawberry farmers’ market.  That crisp, cool air mixes with the sweet, fruitiness of the strawberry and watermelon flavors so well, you’ll find yourself wondering why God didn’t create a strawmelonmint fruit right from the very beginning of  Earth.  Actually, now that I think about it, maybe that was the fruit that Eve ate when she screwed things up for everybody!  Guess we’ll never know in this life.

Because of the high (and by high I mean a whopping 90%!) VG content in this juice, the throat hit and inhalation of the vapor produced by EZ Duz It (On Ice) is smoother than a baby’s bottom.  I have a sneaking suspicion that Ruthless E-Juice exercises a great deal of patience in their E-liquid production process, and actually puts their juices through a respectable period of steeping before they seal them up in classy, glass, eye-dropper bottles.  Generally, those juices which exhibit a high VG to PG ratio need to be steeped for at least a couple days for the flavor to start really taking hold in the juice mixture.  I’m guessing that these juices were steeped at least a week, probably more, before even being bottled.  Then… if you are a patient man… you can steep it even further to really fine-tune that flavor intensity to your liking.  Inhaling this delicious vapor produces absolutely no throat irritation at all, unless you consider that cool, mentholated sensation in the back of your throat an irritation… which I do not.

Nothing I can say or write will do this juice justice.  Ruthless E-Juice has taken on a saturated market of E-liquid manufacturers and come out effortlessly on top.  Flavor is king when it comes to vaping, and those companies that choose to keep their VG levels high do so at the risk of losing some of that flavor intensity which has become so popular in the vaping community.  However, if EZ Duz It (On Ice) is an indicator as to the quality that is to be expected from the rest of their offerings, this company is an exception to that rule.  I can’t wait to try some of their other flavors, although I should point out that those other flavors have some big shoes to fill in order to measure up to this perfect vape!

One Step Ahead of the ANTZ!

I’ve been thinking about these ominous, looming FDA E-cigarette regulations a lot lately, as I’m sure many of you have.  I hate to see our side falling into a reactionary position and I would love to see a few things being done ahead of time so that when these restrictions and regulations are unleashed, we aren’t caught unawares.  These pre-emptive actions would be prepared in advance so they are ready to be put into play the moment they are needed.  I should add that I’m just a poor blogger (he’s just a poor boy from a poor family!  Thunderbolts and lightning… very, very.  OK, I’m done being ridiculous)… and I have absolutely no means, money, or ability to do any of these things myself, so this is just a collection of ideas without blueprints, so to speak.  If none of them can be accomplished, then none of them can be accomplished… but I feel, at the very least, that I should speak my mind, just in case one of these ideas snowballs into something big.  So, without further adieu, here’s my short list of brainstorm droppings:

• I feel like we should be (and quite possible already are) preparing a class action, antitrust lawsuit against the FDA and Big Tobacco now, in order to stay ahead of the proverbial power curve if and when regulations are put in place that effectively eliminate all but the extremely wealthy from participating in the E-cigarette industry.  If regulations are enacted that require unnecessary, multi-million dollar testing/licensing/equipping fees, the majority of this industry will be essentially banned from existence, along with the American Dream.  A move like this one by the FDA and other regulatory agencies would benefit only the pre-existing, monopolistic Big Tobacco corporations who already not only meet these regulations, but in many cases actually suggested to the FDA these very regulations that would benefit them.
• There are other species of vegetation that contain nicotine, besides the most popular of these, tobacco.  Potatoes are one such option.  Obviously, the amount of nicotine in a potato is minuscule next to that produced by a tobacco plant, but the science of hydroponics has come a long way over the years, thanks in no small part to all the stoners out there (was I not supposed to say that?)  There has to be a way of breeding a new, hybrid type of potato (or other nicotine producing plant) that is bred for the single purpose of producing a much higher concentration of nicotine.  Again, I have no idea how that could be done, but we’ve accomplished amazing scientific feats as a scientifically-advanced society and I refuse to believe that this undertaking can’t possibly become another one of them.
• In a similar vein as the previous suggestion, there are a number of herbs out there that are known to mimic the effects of nicotine, even to the point of molecularly adhering to the nicotine receptors in our brains.  Lobelia and Skullcap are two examples of these types of herbs.  I’m sure it’s entirely possible to convert these to E-liquid somehow, making the vaping of these chemicals perfectly mimic the vaping of nicotine.  If there is no nicotine, it can’t be a nicotine product, can it?
• I’ve written several times in the past about the potential of vaping vitamins in addition to, or in lieu of nicotine.  The health advantages of this would be very difficult for the almighty FDA to deny.  Suddenly, an entire segment of society would no longer be vitamin deficient (which I’m told is a growing issue here in the States), in addition to leaving their evil nicotine addiction behind forever.  A little research would need to be done, of course, to make sure that the vitamin molecules being used were light enough to emulsify in the vapor droplets of atomized glycerin/glycol, but I think that our industry would improve its staying power dramatically if we steered away from the E-“cigarette” stigma and started referring to our technology as a “vapor delivery system.”  There are, after all, very few similarities between traditional, analog tobacco cigarettes and E-cigarettes, the sole exception being the inclusion of nicotine.  Why not deliver other, healthy substances via vapor as well?
• It might come to a point where we will need to separate our flavors from the nicotine base.  This would change the industry dramatically, but it could be a way of keeping the E-cigarette community going if and when all of these ridiculous regulations are put into place.  A few larger companies could produce the nicotine in 36mg/ml concentration (so as not to be nearly as dangerous as the standard 100mg/ml concentration which is currently used by E-liquid manufacturers).  These 36mg bottles could be sold en masse, and it would be left to E-juice manufacturers to sell zero nic juices to be mixed together with flavors, according to the concentration desired, by the end user.
• And last, I will give a small taste of my bizarre, but sensible, political beliefs.  I am a distributist (as opposed to a capitalist, communist, socialist, Democan, Republicrat, etc.) which means that I believe in a fair market, and potential for growth within that market so long as that growth doesn’t outgrow obligations to compassion, charity, fairness, justice, and the like.  The few distributist strongholds in the world, such as the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation in the Basque Region of Spain, continue to survive in a very stable, unshakable society that has proven to be recession-proof as well as being resistant to extreme instances of both wealth and poverty.  The way this is maintained is through co-ops.  If E-juice companies were to form cooperatives together, designating a small percentage of their net income to a cooperative capital account, there would be a larger pool of financial resources to pull from in order to meet these potentially, incredibly expensive regulations on the horizon.  Also, pooled resources means more bargaining power in the grand game of national politics.  Sad, but true.

I would just like to reiterate that I have no idea how to implement any of these suggestions, and this article is being written more as a brainstorming activity than anything else.  Maybe someone with the means to make things happen will read it and undertake to see one or more of these suggestions through to fruition.  All of these things would be helpful to have in place by the time that the FDA finally starts to make their long-anticipated moves.  The longer the FDA waits, the more planning and coordination of efforts will be going on behind the scenes, in the shadows, hand-in-hand with those ever-present Big Tobacco companies, and the pharmaceutical corporations.  Therefore, we need to be doing some planning of our own in the mean time.

E-Cigarettes: Myth Vs. Reality, A Comprehensive List

E-cigarettes have been a subject of much controversy of late.  First, they were a great way to quit smoking, then they were going to kill you with poisonous, antifreeze chemicals, then they were a harm reduction technology, then they targeted your children via some evil plot to addict your 4-year-old to nicotine, then they… well, you get the picture.  This topic, more than almost any other topic to grace the front-page headlines over the past 20-or-more years, is fraught with misinformation, disinformation, and dirty politics.  The anti-smoking community has taken on a life of its own over the past half-century and is now almost unrecognisable from the well-intentioned, fact-based institution it once was.  Nowadays, it seems more concerned with self-preservation in the business sense of the phrase than with actually fighting the health hazards associated with the tobacco industry.  So, in an effort to separate fact from fiction, here is a list of ALL of those so-called “facts” you’ve seen published all over the Internet and print-media:

-E-cigarettes contain the same toxic chemicals found in antifreeze:  Actually, the toxic chemical to which they are referring is ethylene glycol.  Polyethylene glycol used to be utilized in the manufacturing of some of the nicotine liquid found in E-cigarettes.  The word ‘polyethylene’ might sound similar to the word ‘ethylene,’ but polyethylene glycol is actually not dangerous to humans in the least.  Propylene glycol, which is now used in place of polyethylene glycol, works better and is actually much less dangerous than the already non-dangerous polyethylene glycol.  In fact, it’s been lauded by the FDA and many other organizations as one of the safest chemicals on the market.

-E-cigarettes still deliver nicotine, an addictive and dangerous carcinogen:  This could hardly be further from the Truth.  Nicotine is not now, nor has it ever been a carcinogen.  It’s association with tobacco and the many carcinogens contained therein has given rise to the myth that nicotine causes cancer, but nicotine, by itself, actually promotes health.  It has been shown to assist in synapse operations in the brain, thereby increasing our memory potential and other thought processes.  It has also never been proven that nicotine, by itself, is the highly addictive substance we have always assumed it is.

-E-cigarette vapor exposes other people to dangerous chemicals through second-hand inhalation:  Again, there are no “dangerous chemicals” in E-cig vapor.  All (I repeat ALL) studies of E-cigarette vapor, fumes, etc. have shown that the amounts of chemicals present in exhaled and sidestream vapors themselves are so low, they are hardly even measurable.  Additionally, vaporized glycerine/glycol is slightly heavier than tobacco smoke, and therefore does not remain airborne nearly as long as does the product of tobacco combustion.  The vapor also dissipates much faster than smoke.  So, with all of these facts, the threat of any E-cigarette vapor affecting anything around anyone who is actively vaping, even in an enclosed, crowded place, is nil.

-There haven’t been any serious studies about E-cigarettes yet:  E-cigarettes have been studied for over ten years now, and extensively over the last five years or so.  These studies have been done by reputable scientific organizations and have been done according to the strict standards of modern scientific experimentation guidelines.  There have actually been so many studies done on E-cigarettes, that it would be impossible to list them all here.  Suffice it to say, there have been more than a sufficient number of scientific studies perpetrated on E-cigarettes to avoid any accusations like this one.  The problem isn’t that there haven’t been enough studies, the problem is that none of these studies have succeeded in showing anything negative about E-cigarettes.  Those who throw around this statement are the same who have an interest in derailing the E-cig industry in favor of other, vested interests.  Their best attempts involve statistical manipulation like stating that “Dangerous Chemical X is present in E-cigarettes, and has been known to kill people.”  When in reality, that “dangerous chemical” is present at 5% of a concentration that would begin to present a health risk.

-E-cigarettes keep people addicted to cigarettes:  Well, the actual addictive qualities of nicotine are unknown… so this statement is founded on an unknown premise.  However, the premise is immaterial to this topic, because E-cigarettes actually do the exact opposite of “keeping people addicted to cigarettes.”  The long and cylindrical shape of an E-cigarette device, and the fact that there is nicotine involved, are the only things that this technology has in common with tobacco cigarettes.  There are literally hundreds of thousands (if not more) testimonials from people who have successfully used E-cigs as smoking cessation devices.  This statement in just as ridiculous as saying that nicotine lozenges keep people addicted to cigarettes.  Obviously there will be those who try E-cigs and return to traditional smoking.  Just as there are those who chew nicotine gum and return to smoking.  We don’t blame the gum, we blame the person’s lack of adequate resolve.

-The fact that this industry is not regulated means that we have no idea what is being put into our E-cigarettes:  Actually, the E-cigarette industry has been doing just fine regulating itself.  It has successfully governed itself with its own series of regulations implemented by universally accepted standards organizations.  AEMSA (the American E-Liquid Manufacturing Standards Association) and CASAA (the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association) have both done an excellent job of governing the industry without unnecessary government intervention.  Also, I have yet to come across an E-juice manufacturer that does not fully disclose all ingredients used in their production process… so obviously, we do know exactly what’s being put into our E-cigarettes.

-Regulation of the E-cigarette industry is necessary to prevent children from buying nicotine products:  I challenge anyone to find an E-cigarette store (or any business that offers E-cigs for sale in any way) that actually allows children under the age of 18 (or 21 in some states) to purchase E-cigarette liquids or devices.  Or, I could just save you the trouble of searching and using up about ten thousand gallons of gasoline by telling you that your search will be fruitless.  If teenagers are buying E-cigarettes, they are buying them the same way they’ve bought tobacco products for decades; fake ID, older siblings/parents, friends with store employees, paying someone to buy the cigarettes for them, or (in my case) tricking the proprietor of a cigar shop into thinking you’re a tried and true cigar connoisseur so they never think to ask you for an ID.  My point is that no measure, short of imprisoning all teenagers in death… er, I mean work camps…, will prevent them from finding ways of breaking the rules.  And since all E-cig retailers are already preventing kids from buying their products, regulation becomes at worst a redundancy and at best a moot point.

-The exotic flavor offerings of E-cigarette liquids are designed to target children and get them to start smoking:  There are so many things wrong with this statement, it’s hard to know where to begin.  First, the prospect of E-cigarettes being designed to somehow sucker kids into smoking is about as asinine as suggesting that flavored fruit chewing gums are designed to trick kids into drinking alcoholic cocktails.  Second, from a business aspect, would it make more sense to target a segment of society that is prohibited from using your product?  Or would it be smarter to target individuals who have developed a need for an effective smoking cessation avenue over long years of tobacco smoking?  Lastly, a person’s tastes increase in scope as they age.  They do not narrow as this statement would suggest.  Kids and teenagers generally have a small number of foods and flavors that they adhere to like super glue.  It isn’t until we age that we begin to broaden our culinary horizons.  With this in mind, it doesn’t make any sense to suggest that the availability of many flavors is designed to target children, when in reality it is designed to appeal to the wide palatal range of adults, whose tastes are as vast as the ocean.  As an addendum to this topic, I’d like to suggest (in the spirit of fairness) that if E-cigarette flavors are banned “for the sake of the children” we should obviously also ban all flavored liquors, vodkas, rums, hard lemonades, malt beverages, cocktail recipes, etc.

-Dripping style atomizers cause E-cigarette vapor to turn into formaldehyde:  There is actually no evidence of this ever having happened.  References to this supposed “research” are circular, and only refer to other news articles which refer to other news articles and so on, but never back to an originating study or peer-reviewed journal of any sort.  Chemically speaking, for glycerine and glycol to somehow magically change into formaldehyde would be just as likely as a block of cheddar cheese suddenly turning into a Ferrari via the wave of a magic wand and the utterance of the correct Voodoo spell.  And even if there are cases where one, individual E-cigarette or one, individual bottle of E-juice somehow produced traces of formaldehyde there are two things that must be kept in mind:  1. There have been cases when toxic chemicals have been found in supermarket beef or chicken.  These are mistakes and might possibly be grounds for a recall, but not a banning of all cows and chickens.  2. These “traces” of formaldehyde (assuming for the sake of argument that they exist) must still be compared with the known toxic levels of formaldehyde exposure for humans.  We’re actually exposed to formaldehyde all the time, but in such small quantities that our bodies very naturally metabolise said amounts and remain unharmed.

-E-cigarettes are a “gateway” to traditional, tobacco cigarette smoking:  Here is another statement that is actually the exact opposite of the truth.  E-cigarettes are no more a gateway to tobacco use than Naloxone is to heroine.  E-cigarettes are a “gateway” to healthy living without tobacco dependency, not a “gateway” to the exact addiction that people are attempting to escape with the help of E-cigarette technology.  The term “gateway” gets thrown around a lot these days without any real attention being paid to what it actually means.  The term is actually just a metaphor used for dramatic effect, and has no set-in-stone definition for scientific purposes.  I could just as easily say that Ford Mustangs are a “gateway” to motor vehicle collisions, or that living in the South is a “gateway” to racism.  These are meaningless statements using a word that is meant to draw shaky, unfounded conclusions based upon fallacious arguments.

-E-cigarettes have been known to explode while being used:  My apologies to whomever blew their face off with an E-cigarette, but one solitary incident does not an argument make.  E-cigarettes have batteries.  Batteries, no matter what type, under the right (and extremely rare) circumstances can explode or melt down.  Cell phones have the same kind of lithium batteries as you’ll find in E-cigarettes, and we hold cell phones up to our heads and faces probably much more frequently than we take a drag off of our E-cigarette.  The majority of these supposed explosion “cases” into which I’ve looked actually involved carelessness on the part of the user, not equipment that was so horrifically defective, that it suddenly just exploded for no reason.  Many people charge their E-cigs on the kitchen counter, where water has a habit of accumulating thanks to the close vicinity of the kitchen sink.  Others leave their E-cigs in a 180 degree car, sitting in direct sunlight for hours and hours during the summer months.  An accident is an accident, and they are occasionally tragic… but they are not necessarily cause for legislation unless the number of occurrences warrants concern.  Cars, airplanes, cell phones, toasters, lawn mowers, computers, windows… all of these things are involved in accidents from time to time.  Do we ban them all, or do we accept the imperfect nature of life and try to avoid danger as much as possible without locking ourselves in padded rooms so we can protect ourselves from absolutely every single potential threat in the world?

-E-cigarettes are even more expensive than regular, tobacco cigs:  I’m actually not even going to dignify this one with comment.  Sorry, but if you buy into this particular statement, no amount of logical reasoning is going to affect you at all.

Unfortunately, no amount of reasoning and/or logical, scientific proof will deter the anti-vaping elements of society from their crusade against E-cigarettes.  The reasons for this are disturbing, and I’ll only briefly touch on them here.  (These subjects are covered more completely (and sourced/cited) in others of my blog posts.)  Many anti-vaping organizations are heavily vested in pharmaceutical ventures which stand to continue raking in profits from products like Nicorette, Chantix, Wellbutrin, etc, if the more effective E-cigarette industry is buried under bans and unreasonable regulations.  Others are hell-bent on bringing absolutely everything under strict government regulatory control because of extremist political ideologies.  Still others are so opposed to tobacco products, that their hatred blinds them to evident truths simply because of the fact that vaping “kinda looks like” smoking.  Government agencies have only become interested in the regulation of E-cigarettes since the industry became a multi-billion dollar pile of potential tax revenue.  And lastly, there are those who are simply opposed to E-cigarettes because of the material they’ve read/heard from all of the previously mentioned groups.  Not everyone will agree with all of the reasons I’ve just listed, and that’s OK.  I only mention them in passing and am not currently interested in offering proof on their behalf (that’s for other articles).  The purpose of this blog post is to debunk myths about E-cigarettes themselves, not to throw blame at the potential sources of those myths.

If you have an interest in E-cigarettes, either on your behalf or on behalf of a loved one, please take the time to consider that all of the frightening headlines floating around the Internet and news media concerning E-cigs might be just that… frightening words aimed at striking fear into the hearts of the unsuspecting.  I implore everyone to do research, and to be sceptical of news stories in general until you take the time to look into the subject yourself in order to make an informed decision, not one based on panic and dramatic presentation.  Renowned philosopher, Rene Descartes, practised what he referred to as “methodic doubt,” which essentially meant that he would systematically doubt everything until he could prove to himself what was Truth and what was falsehood.  This goes for everything you might come across, not just E-cigarettes.  We unfortunately live in a world where we need to be sceptical of everything around us, because there are too many conflicting interests and ulterior motives.  However, we fortunately have in this same world a means to access almost all human knowledge throughout history with the touch of a few buttons and a thirst for learning.  Take advantage of our gifts and blessings, before those gifts and blessings get regulated and banned as well!

 Sources (Complete List):

-http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/91/1/52.abstract

-http://archive.lewrockwell.com/orig11/fetters1.1.1.html

-http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20378585/

-http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22503574

-http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23033998

-http://sfata.org/resources/effects-of-nicotine/

-http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19241061?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=9

-http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1579636

-http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC526783/

-http://canadavapes.com/health/vegetable-glycerin-safety.html

-http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/08958379209145307?journalCode=iht&

-http://www.inchem.org/documents/sids/sids/56815.pdf

-http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2009-title21-vol3/xml/CFR-2009-title21-vol3-sec184-1666.xml

-http://www.dow.com/productsafety/finder/prog.htm

-http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/814701-overview

-http://casaa.org/uploads/Are_Electronic_Cigarettes_Safe.pdf

-http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/health-safety-e-smoking/1734-germ-killing-vapor.html

-http://toxsci.oxfordjournals.org/content/3/3/175.abstract

-http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2714207

-http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2013/10/is-nicotine-really-as-dangerous-as-cyanide.html

-http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/idlh/54115.html

-http://casaa.org/uploads/Literature_Review_for_Glycerol_and_Glycols.pdf

-http://casaa.org/uploads/DublinEcigBenchtopHandout.pdf

-http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/08958378.2012.758197

-http://nypost.com/2013/10/23/the-lunatic-war-on-e-cigarettes/

-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131212141948.htm

-http://ntr.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/12/10/ntr.ntt203.abstract

-http://en.esmokinginstitute.com/node/31

-http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=14&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CLkBEBYwDQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpublichealth.drexel.edu%2F~%2Fmedia%2Ffiles%2Fpublichealth%2Fms08.pdf&ei=BhJbU-meOpSksQTh8YDoBA&usg=AFQjCNFzS783QIKaOtOiF9p63cnJfFxlQA&sig2=a29qI8yaGt_9y0FgiIdLcw

-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121007134831.htm

-http://www.livescience.com/17816-nicotine-combat-memory-loss.html

-http://flipper.diff.org/app/items/5340

King James E-Juice- Organic Daydream

Organic Daydream by King James E-Juice is a bit of an anomaly.  Their website describes this product as a combination of five different flavors.  Whatever those flavors are, they are the five flavors found on Earth that go together better than do any other flavors, in any combination, anywhere else in the Universe.  Describing the flavor, however… therein lies a challenge.  There is definitely a sort of citrus essence in this vapor, but this unique, mysterious combination is something that I have not yet tasted as a professional (if I may be so bold) E-juice taste-tester/reviewer.  It’s creamy, it’s fruity, and it’s very realistic as a substitute for analog, tobacco cigarette smoke.  The fact that all ingredients used in King James’ E-juices are certified organic may have something to do with the uniqueness of the flavor bouquet in this vaping spectacle.

I’m fairly certain that one of the two main flavors present in King James E-Juice’s Organic Daydream is an orange cream.  it seems to be the foundation of the overall flavor.  Next, I’m going to guess that the second major flavor present here is a melon, possibly a honeydew.  The rest of the flavors are difficult to guess, and it’s entirely possible that I’m even getting those other two flavors wrong as well.  I want to say that there is a touch of maybe a raspberry and/or blueberry.  Maybe a hint of a mint, like peppermint.  Maybe even (and I might be experiencing total palate burnout here) an actual pepper/spice-type flavor, like clove.  Whatever this utterly complex, insanely difficult-to-guess flavor is, the Organic Daydream is a truly enjoyable vape, unmatched in quality and purely unique in every way.

Concerning the throat hit of this E-liquid’s vapor, it would be accurate to promote Organic Daydream as a suitable replacement for full-flavored cigarettes.  If you are looking for an all-VG (vegetable glycerine) vape, with a barely-there inhale, then you might not fully appreciate this E-liquid.  If, however, you prefer the thicker, more full-bodied vapes, heavier in PG (propylene glycol) content, then this is the vape for you!  The heavier the PG-content, the heavier the throat hit, but with that throat hit comes a more intense, concentrated flavor.  If you want to lessen that effect when vaping a PG-heavy E-liquid, use a clearomizer with a resistance over 1.5-2.0 Ohms.  If you want to increase the strength of the throat hit, you might want to drip this one onto a sub-Ohm (under 1.0 Ohms), self-built atomizer coil on a mechanical mod of some sort.  Either way, you’re sure to experience some fascinating and ultimately enjoyable vaping activity.

King James E-Juice is a company unlike any of the others I’ve come across.  You can tell by the flavor and the vapor consistency that you are vaping a truly organic blend of glycol, glycerine, and natural flavorings.  This, of course, is rare in the E-cigarette community, and I highly suggest taking advantage of it.  Organic Daydream is a perfect example of this, as it provides a perplexing yet wholly satisfying experience to the vaper.  The steeping process, which I honestly haven’t had much luck with of late, is very effective with this liquid.  There must be something about those natural, organic ingredients that responds very well to steeping and self-restrained patience.  Try this juice and I guarantee you will enjoy yourself thoroughly.