A Billion Lives @ Sundance?

I've been following Aaron Biebert's vaping documentary project "A Billion Lives", and I have to say I really look forward to seeing the results of their work. They've travelled the world to make a movie that exposes the truth about vaping, and hopefully opening the eyes of the people that will soon decide whether vaping will be allowed to save a billion lives or not. 

If you're not subscribing to their newsletter yet I highly recommend it, as well as following the project on Twitter and Facebook.

This is a great project that could really make a difference, but to do so it needs to get the attention of the right people. Aaron and his team have a plan for this as well: "Sundance Will Get Their Attention". They've finished a full draft to be submitted to the Sundance Film Festival, and they've now asked us, vapers to help getting the attention of the decision makers of the festival on twitter. You can help out by re-tweeting and making this tweet a favourite.

"We think the film (and topic) is worthy to premiere at one of the biggest film events in the world. We also know that it will be hard for leaders around the world to ignore the message on this big of a stage. Now we just need to get it on the stage."

So let us all help Aaron make some noise for Sundance, and get this movie on the big stage!

Get 15% off with discount code: giraffe15 (log in to use)

Juice Review: Cream Berry by Perino London

Perino London is, surprisingly enough, born and based in London where they say they produce their handcrafted juices in small batches. From the looks of it they currently have a range of 8 juices, all of which look quite interesting if you ask me, except maybe the Rhubarb/Custard which ... well let's just say I'm not a big fan of Rhubarb. So when the guys at Electric Tobacconist asked me if I wanted to try out some juice from Perino I told them "sure, just not the Rhubarb, please".

Cream Berry
Tested on: Aspire Triton (0.4 ohms, 40 watts)

The Cream Berry is a "fusion of creams and custards masterfully brougth to life
with hints of strawberry". Smelling this juice I get more than just hints of strawberry but tasting it I can totally agree with Perino's own description. There is a lot of custards and maybe even more creams, and I only get hints of strawberry like they say. But it's still enough to make this different from say a standard vanilla custard, and I noticed you get more strawberry if you crank up the watts a bit. The berries freshens the whole thing up a bit. When it comes to vapor production this juice, being a 50/50 VG/PG juice produces a surprisingly big clouds of thick creamy vapour. It's quite thick as well, but I did not have any wicking issues on my Triton.

If I were to change anything in this juice it would be to put a bit more strawberries in there. I'd say if strawberry, creams and custards sounds like music in your ears, you should give this one a try. And I wouldn't at all mind trying out some of the other juices from Perino either, cause some of them looks quite exciting as I said.... just no Rhubarb for me please :)

Thanks to Electric Tobacconist for sending me these juices for review.

Disclosure:

• All my reviews are my honest opinion even if I am affiliated with the company manufacturing or selling the product. 
• The juice was sent to me free of charge for the purpose of this review.
• This review do not affiliate links.

Read up on the TPD!

May 2016 is getting closer every day, and EU member states are preparing to implement the catastrophic TPD, a directive that will have huge impact on vaping as we know it and in will results in lives lost that could have been saved. There is still hope though, cause vapers and vaping advocates around the world are not ready to give up just yet. The first battle is pretty close, with Totally Wickeds legal challenge scheduled to be heard on 1st October 2015 at the Court of Justice of the EU.

So what can we vapers do then? Today I've come across a couple of great posts on the subject from 2 of the hardest fighting (and hardest hitting) vaping advocates we have, Clive Bates and Cristopher Snowdon. I highly recommend reading them both, and follow Christophers Snowdons request to share the information widely. So here you go:

• E-cigarettes and the EU: a user's guide - by Christopher Snowdon
• Tobacco Products Directive – what next and what can be done? - by Clive Bates

Get 15% off with discount code: giraffe15 (log in to use)

The wicked world of McKee and Capewell

Martin McKee

You're probably already aware that Martin McKee and Simon Capewell have expressed their concerns about where PHE got their 95% safer than cigarettes estimate from:

In fact, it comes from a single meeting of 12 people convened to develop a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) model to synthesise their opinions on the harms associated with different nicotine containing products; the results of the meeting were summarised in a research paper.

To make things even worse, they've managed to link one of the sponsors of this research paper to British American Tobacco. Conflict of interest they scream. Well, their argumentation is pretty much ripped apart in the "rapid responses" to the BMJ article, so I'm not going to do what others have done so well already. I also recommend reading the Joint statement on e-cigarettes by Public Health England and other UK public health organisations.

What baffles me is that the "other side", the anti-ecig side, are the ones making these claims... that research shining a positive light on vaping is probably paid for by Big Tobacco or Big Pharma. I was recently accused of this myself in a debate (in Norwegian, sorry) taking place in the comments field in a medical journal here in Norway. After some back and forth where I looked into their sources and explained why I don't think these sources support their own conclusions, my good friends Sanner and Grimsrud started making claims that I was only reading research written by people sponsored by big tobacco or big pharma. Therefore they also wanted to end the discussion. I couldn't resist going through their sources pointing out the Pfizer and GSK logos I found, and I told them that I agreed the discussion should be ended. The point is... why the hell would Big Tobacco and Big Pharma pay for research that would support products that are competing with their own products? It makes no sense. Big Pharmas NRTs are competing directly with e-cigarettes, and Big Tobaccos own e-cigarettes are already customized to fit into a strict regulation scheme that would wipe out their competition. If big tobacco and big pharma are paying for research, they are certainly not paying for anything that would slightly suggest vaping is great... unless they've realized that their markets are lost anyway and they just want to speed up the process. Do you think this is the case? I don't for sure. If Big Tobacco and Big Pharma were really trying to influence this research, like McKee and Capewell are claiming, they should be the ones complaining: Eyh... Objection! We can prove that these guys are paid by organizations more interested in improving public health than making us more money!

Juice Review: Jack 3 & Suzy 6 by 13 Sins

13 Sins is a fairly new range of UK produced e-liquids. Well at least I had not heard of it until I was asked by ecigarettedirect if I wanted to try out a couple of these juices. I kind of like the whole design and concept behind 13 Sins, where each of the 13 flavours have their own piece of art by street artist Fin Dac linked to it, and printed on the label. Currently there's only 4 juices available from what I can see (http://www.13-sins.com/), seems like they're releasing them in pairs.

So I like their design, website and story, and I like that they've published test results (for diacetyl and acetyl propionyl among other things) but what about the juices? From the descriptions on the website it looks like they're aiming for quite complex stuff, which, in my experience, can go both ways. Also, when mixing up quite a lot of flavours, there's a great chance you'll end up with a few opinions and some love/hate juices. Let's see.

Jack 3
Tested on: Hellfire v1 Dripper (0.4 ohms, around 25 watts)

"A powerfully moreish toffee popcorn punch, for lovers of all things dessert. The flavour combination is made up of a ripe and bruised banana undertone, and notes of coconut, caramel, raspberries and clotted cream."

I told you they we're aiming for quite complex juices. The quite funny thing is that when tasting this juice, while reading the description, I can taste all of those flavours, except maybe the raspberries. Smelling the bottle I might agree that there is some raspberries in there, but I can't really taste them. It got quite a lot of flavour and produces quite a lot of vapor (not unexpected as these are 40/60 PG/VG). The even funnier thing is, I expected that I'd either love or hate these juices ... but I don't. I like it, but I can't really say I love this one. Still it's a good all day vape, and I've got no problems recommending it. In fact I think it's definitely worth trying out, cause in a way it's very likeable. I guess I'd say it's probably more of a like/love juice than a hate/love juice.

Suzy 6
Tested on: Hellfire Raptor Dripper (0.55 ohms, 40-60 watts)

"A fruity burst of sweet candy zests, which will excite your taste buds. There are overtones of strawberry, watermelon, and raspberries, followed by a smooth, cream soda exhale with just a hint of freshness. Suzy is a silently seductive all day vape."

Again, quite a lot of flavours in there. And again I'm quite surprised that they manage to be so spot on in their description. I get the cream both on the inhale and exhale though, and also quite a lot of it, but that's a good thing in this juice. And I like the tingling soda feeling you get on the exhale. Quite an unusual combination this for me at least.... cream soda. Never even thought of it, but I like it. The balance of the flavours seem to change a bit with the heat as well in this juice. Turning up the watts mutes the fruits a bit and brings forth more of the cream, while turning down the watts will make it a bit fresher and more fruity. Quite consistently as well actually, so if you're vaping regulated you can choose whatever suits you the best at any given time. So do I love this juice? Well, I'd say I like it for now, but I do seem to like it more and more so maybe I'll end up loving it in a while. Also one to try out.


Judging by these 2 juices I'd say 13 Sins is worth keeping an eye on. As I said, looks like they've only released 4 of the 13 juices yet, and I'd say the 2 I haven't tried look quite interesting as well.

Thanks to ecigarettedirect for sending me these juices for review.

Get 15% off with discount code: giraffe15 (log in to use)

Disclosure:

• All my reviews are my honest opinion even if I am affiliated with the company manufacturing or selling the product. 
• The juice was sent to me free of charge for the purpose of this review.
• This review contains affiliate links.

Juice review: The Notebook by Black Note, Part 2

It's been a while now since I wrote Part 1 of this review of The Notebook from Black Note. Back then I had only tried half of the juices in the box and I guess I kind of promised to do the rest as well, and maybe pick a personal favourite. Trying out the last 4 juices has been just as time consuming as the first 4, cause these are just as hard to put down. You simply don't want to re-wick your atty and go for a new one until you're sure there is absolutely no hope of getting another drop of juice out of the one you're on.

So... the juices. As in Part 1, I'm not going to go too much into the details but I'll try to give you a few words and an idea what the juices taste like.

Sonata
Delicious, fire-cured virginia tobacco. This is a Cavendish blend, which means using some special process (I'm not an expert on tobacco) to bring out the natural sweetness of the tobacco. This has made this juice sweet but not too sweet, although it is one of the sweeter ones in this range. Loads of flavour. Pretty close to the taste of cigarettes without smoke. One I would recommend for smokers wanting something that truly tastes tobacco.

Solo
Great, super-smooth mint on top of virginia tobacco. The tobacco is in the background but that's totally ok when the mint-flavour is as good as this one. I don't really know why but I've not tasted that many menthol/tobacco blends. Might be because I didn't really care for menthols when I was smoking either, but this one is really good.

Prelude
Very smooth and pretty sweet Virgina tobacco flavour, apparently based on tobacco grown in Italy. Even at 60 watts on a Hellfire dripper this one is pretty smooth and easy to vape. Very natural and authentic tobacco flavour. An all day vape for me, and I bet this one will be the favourite for many.

Bravura
A perique blend it says on the bottle. Also a quite sweet one and with fruity undertones. Maybe some hints of nuts as well. Pretty complex with a bunch of flavour. Fantastic juice that kind of saves some surprises for you, which it releases in tiny portions depending on what else you put in your mouth. Try this one with coffee... then try it with a beer ... and then some wine or just sparkling water.

Now, picking a favourite among these juices is not really easy. Almost impossible I'd say, so I'll pick 2, but I won't recommend you go buy them if you haven't tried Black Note juices before. What I'd recommend is to buy The Notebook and pick your own favourite. These are all fantastic juices, and I'm pretty sure that if I just tried one of them, any one, I'd say it's one of the best tobacco juices out there. I'd be in danger of just buying more of that one and then I'd be missing out on all the others. But anyway, I said I'd pick 2 favourites, so ... if I could only pick 2 of these again it would have to be (drum roll) Solo and Prelude. Mainly because I think those are the one's I'd use the most, but I'd still miss the Bravura for my morning coffee and the Legato when I go hunting or fishing, and probably the others just as much for other occasions or just variation. The guys at Black Note have really created something special here. Don't miss it!

UPDATE: Black Note can now be bought at this side of the pond as well, from vapour.co.uk.

Disclosure:

• All my reviews are my honest opinion even if I am affiliated with the company manufacturing or selling the product. 
• The juice was sent to me free of charge for the purpose of this review.
• This review contains affiliate links.

Another day, another lie by Glantz

Sorry for the re-use of this photo, but I really
can't be bothered to find another one of Glantz

Stanton Glantz is really on fire these days. Today I noticed he proudly proclaimed that some of his friends have done another longitudinal study shows that kids at low risk of smoking who use e-cigs are a lot more likely to progress to cigarettes. Using his computer skills to make some of the text bold, and thereby, in quite a clever way I have to admit, he's able to emphasize his point and what he thinks his friends have proven with this study:

What they found was that the kids who used e-cigarettes were 8.3 times more likely to be actual smoking cigarettes a year later.

Oh, really? Is that what they actually found? Well apparently they think they did. From the "At a Glance"-section of the study:

In analyses that controlled for all covariates, baseline e-cigarette use was independently associated with progression to smoking (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 8.3; 95% CI, 1.2-58.6) and progression to susceptibility (AOR, 8.5; 95% CI, 1.3-57.2) among initially nonsusceptible nonsmokers.

Hmm... this doesn't smell right? In what way did they twist reality to come up with those numbers? I have to admit I kind of cheated a bit and went straight on to Michael Siegels blog to see if he had already read the study and pointed out the lies. Of course he had, and he confirms a sneaking suspicion I had: They've created an alternative definition of a smoker. Well actually, from what I can see (I haven't really read the study that well yet), they don't really define a cigarette smoker in the study but rather a cigarette smoking initiator. Still they write about this as if they were the same thing. So what is a cigarette smoking initiator then?

... a cigarette smoking initiator, defined as someone who has smoked at least 1 puff of a cigarette in her or his lifetime

Oh? By that definition I'm actually still a smoker, right? Actually I think I remember taking a puff of my mothers cigarette when I was like 6 (sorry mum, I don't think I ever told you that), so I've been a smoker since I was 6 then. No wonder I was in such a bad shape when I hit 25. I'm also pretty sure my teenagers are alcoholics as I know for a fact they have tasted beer. Oh, Lord...

I guess most people can see why such a definition of smokers by itself makes this whole study was total waste of time, and the published results nothing more than a big fat lie. If you don't, or just want a good read, I recommend reading Dr. Siegels thorough explanation here.

Use discount code "vapingiraffe" for 5% off

Glantz confirms vaping will have a positive impact on public health

Dr. Glantz, closing his eyes as usual

Our dear friend, Dr. Stanton Glantz has once again published a "study", claiming that e-cigarettes and vaping will have a negative effect on public health. But in fact it can be viewed as a strong argument for the opposite, that vaping will have a very positive impact. I'd say the title of his press release (or whatever this is) says it all: "Ecigs likely to have negative population health effects if more than 20-30% as bad as cigs". In other words, since e-cigs are nowhere near 20% as bad as cigs, but are estimated to be at least 95% less harmful, we're not going to see any negative health effects, but rather hugely positive ones.

I have to admit I haven't really read Glantz' study thoroughly, cause when I read his statement about it, the one I linked to above, I realized pretty quickly it simply does not study anything close to reality. In fact I do not believe Dr. Glantz possess the ability to relate to reality at all. He lists the following "interacting effects" of the introduction of e-cigarettes:

• Some people are switching to ecigs
• Some people end up continuing to smoke cigs because of dual use with ecigs
• Some people (kids and young adults) initiate nicotine use with ecigs, some of whom go on to smoke cigs
• The actual long-term risks of ecigs are not known, but there are reasons to think that they could be substantial (albeit lower than cigarettes).

Well, he might have a tiny grasp of reality anyway, since he have actually noticed that people are switching to e-cigarettes. But it stops there, as you can see. Blaming e-cigarettes for keeping people smoking makes about as much sense as blaming diet coke for all the obese people in the world. I mean, if it had not been for diet coke, they'd all be salad eating, marathon running fitness experts by now right? Besides, if this was to be true, wouldn't this apply Glantz' beloved nicotine gum and patches as well? I mean... we can't just lay it all on diet coke, water will have to take some of the blame as well. Also, Glantz seems to be one of the few people that haven't given up on the gateway theory yet. I'm not even going to go into that, as we still haven't seen a single gateway case yet, at least not in our version of reality, and the theory have been debunked so many times by now that I've lost count. The last "interacting effect" Glantz lists is also the reason for him believing that the headline of his article (or press release or whatever) is actually a bad thing. He actually believes, contrary to all common sense and the rest of the world, that e-cigs could actually be 20-30% as bad as cigs. I don't even think the WHO believes that. In fact, it turns out that Stanton would be surprised if he was wrong and the rest of the world was right:

The key finding of the paper is that under all the likely scenarios, if ecigs turn out to be 20-30% as dangerous as conventional cigarettes there will be net harm.  No one know what the actual risks will be, but I would be surprised if the risks are not at least that high.

This is about where I stopped reading. I can think of a gazillion other things to read if fiction was what I was after.