Sunday 17 July 2016

Norway status update: The Norwegian government don't understand the vaping market

About a month ago I wrote about the new Norwegian Tobacco Act proposal, which is basically the Norwegian implementation of the TPD. On July 1st the government published a request for comments and a some more details in the consultation document (in Norwegian only). The is not that much new information in the document, it's basically just repeating the flawed reasoning behind a lot of the proposed changes as I've discussed earlier. There are, however, some more information on the planned registration scheme, and they've suggested some numbers.

First of all, in order to sell tobacco products over the internet, or actually in any way that means sending the products to the customer, the vendor has to register with the health authorities. They also need to appoint a person, in Norway (from what I can understand), that is responsible for making sure the products meets the product requirements before they reach the customer, and they need to have a system that makes sure the customer is over 18 years old at the time they order. I addition to this, anyone delivering the products must have a system in place for checking the age of the customer, meaning it needs to be handed over to the customer in person. The registration fee is set to 2500 NOK ($295 using current exchange rate) at the time of registration and 1000 NOK ($118) every year to stay registered. From what I can see this goes both for cross-border and domestic sales. These fees doesn't seem that bad to me to be honest. When it comes to the requirements for anyone delivering it, my guess as of now is that this means we have to go pick up our packages at the post office (which we already do in quite a few cases where they're too big to fit in the mailbox), and we have to show some ID verifying our age when we do. At least for packages going through the Norwegian Postal service I don't see a problem with this, they've already got a system for checking age in place as they do this when delivering alcohol that can be ordered from the government owned alcohol retail monopoly (yeah, we have that here in Norway). I may be wrong though and these provisions may be intended to work in another way, but if I'm right I don't think this part will be a major problem for vendors or vapers.

The above mentioned rules will affect all tobacco products, not just e-cigarettes. Then there are some e-cigarette specific proposed rules that probably be a lot worse to live with. From what I've read most, if not all, EU countries implementing the TPD will require every vaping product to be pre-market approved and registered, and of course this goes for Norway as well. The product requirements are the ones we all know from the TPD by now, which I've gone through in my last post about this, so I'm not going to do that again in detail. It is worth mentioning, however, that a user manual in Norwegian with quite a few specific requirements (warnings, toxicity information, the width of the filling holes to make sure the user use the right kind of bottle etc.) is required, as is some health warnings and a reference to Slutta.no, which seems kind of weird to me as this is a national stop smoking service which have a history of not recommending e-cigarettes. Products need to be registered 6 months before they are put on the market. The application for each product needs to contain information about the contact person responsible in Norway, all ingredients, toxicological data on the ingredients and the emissions, how much nicotine is delivered, the components of the product, the production process, the manual and a statement where manufacturer takes full responsibility for the products quality and security under normal circumstances. It is the manufacturers and importers of the product that needs to register the product... and pay the fees. And the fees that they propose here are one of the big problems. To register a product you need to pay 47600 NOK, thats $5616. If you make a significant change or update to the product (what this means remains to be seen) the fee for registering the change is half of this, 23800 NOK ($2808), and on top of this there is an annual fee of 18850 NOK ($2224). The registration fee is set to cover the Norwegian Medicines agency's costs that are estimated to around 9,5 million NOK and an estimate of 200 new registrations in 2017. Anyone with just a tiny bit of knowledge about the vaping market today can see how wrong this is. First of all, where on earth did they get the 200 number? I talked to one of the vendors in Norway about this an he has around 1200 products in his store and estimates that there is around 20000 products on the market and maybe 10000 more each year. I don't think he overestimates... at all. Then I asked in my local shop how many Kayfun 5s he'd take in if he was to take that product in... "maybe 3 or 4", he answered. Then... how many of the products that you could buy 6 months ago is still on the market with no changes? My friend, the first vendor I talked about, told me he had removed 300 products so far this year... cause they're out of date. I guess you can all see where I'm going with this. This would basically mean no high end products cause you would just loose money trying to sell them in Norway and not much innovation going on cause making improvements to a product will cost you a lot. Big Tobacco and their far from innovative cig-alikes, however, will thrive under such regulations as their much more effective competitors are effectively shut out of the market. These ridiculous fees are based on totally wrong assumptions and shows that the government has no understanding of the market they are trying to regulate, which in my opinion should be one of the basic requirements for a regulator... understanding the market that is.

The Norwegian Government are blowing their own trumpet, claiming that they will now allow e-cigarettes to save the lives of many smokers. They claim that their regulations will just make sure that the products are safe... and of course that they fight heroically to make sure no children or teens start vaping. But again, through this document, and their proposals, they show that this is not about health, it's about money. They focus on how they are going to cover their losses. However, to me it seems like they fail totally at seeing the bigger economical picture as well. The Norwegian Directorate of Health have estimated that the annual costs of smoking in Norway is somewhere between 8 and 80 billion NOK. Now even if we subtract sin taxes of 7 billion a year there is still a lot of money to be saved here. The Directorate estimates savings of 2-3 billion NOK every year for each percentage point the smoking prevalence goes down. Then compare their cost of 9,5 million to these numbers... it's peanuts. If the government had decided to cover most of this, just leaving the fee at a reasonable amount, enough to make sure they are not encumbered with a gazillion unrealistic applications, it would have been the best investment they would have made ... ever. The problem I think, is that current government probably will not see the result of their investment while they are still in power. So they work hard to make it look like they're actually doing something for health, when in fact the best thing they could have done for public health right now, is close to nothing. Vaping wasn't big pharma's idea, it wasn't tobacco control that came up with it and it certainly wasn't the government. I think that is what they all have a problem accepting.

Vapour UK

Tuesday 12 July 2016

Review: Gold Rush Kit by Artery Vapor

The Gold Rush kit by Artery Vapor consists of the Nugget box mod and the 49er sub-ohm tank. I have to admit I was pretty exited when Niklas from esmokes.se suggested I'd do this review, cause I have to admit I've had my eyes at the tiny Nugget mod for a while, eager to see how it compares to the Mini Volt from Council of Vapor, which I really like. The Nugget have some pretty impressive specs considering it's size with 50W of power and Temperature control crammed into a box that is about the size of a zippo lighter.

In the box
  • Nugget box mod
  • 49er tank with 0.5 ohm kanthal head installed
  • 0.8 ohm stainless coil head
  • User manual for the mod and the tank
  • Usb cable
  • 5 spare o-rings
    Specifications
    Nugget box mod: 
    • 55.5mm x 22mm x 31mm
    • Zink Alloy
    • Internal 1000mAh battery
    • Gold plated copper pin
    • Power range: 5W - 50W
    • Voltage range: 0.5V - 8V
    • Max Output current: 20A
    • Resistance range: 0.1Ω - 3.0Ω
    • Temperature range: 200 - 600ºF (Nickel/Titanium/SS)
    • Software upgradable
    • USB-port for charging and firmware upgrades
    • Supports Power, Temperature control and Voltage modes
    • Pass-through vaping (can be used while charging)
    49er tank:
    • Stainless steel
    • Height: 48.5mm, Diameter: 22mm
    • Top filling
    • Juice flow control
    • Airflow control
    • 2ml juice capacity (a mega version of 4ml exists as well but not included in the kit)

    Look and feel

    This kit comes in six different colors, of which five looks quite cool to be honest, while the sixth color .... is pink. You may now guess which color my Swedish friend sent me. I have to admit I was thinking of mentioning that any color except pink would be nice when we discussed this in some emails, but at some point I figured ... nah, he's not that evil. I was wrong :) Got a good laugh when I opened the box though, and the pink is actually not ugly either... if I was a girl I'd probably love it, but since I'm not I would prefer any of the others. I especially think the copper and bronze editions look awesome.

    The Nugget feels really solidly built, and kind of heavy for it's size. It has a nice big, readable display and the buttons are nice and clicky. Rattles a bit but not something that bothers me to be honest.

    The tank also solid, and looks ... well like most tanks to be honest. Notice, however, that the tank in the pink kit is also pink, and hence the only one that can't be paired with any other mod unless you want to burn your eyes out.

    A friend of mine said that he really liked that the 510 connection on the mod is centered on this one. Personally I've always thought I prefer it on one of the sides, but at least on the Nugget I totally agree with my friend, the centered 510 looks ... just right.

    Then there is the size of this kit. It is indeed really small. The Nugget is pretty much exactly the same size as the Mini Volt from C.O.V. The tank is also quite small, not the smallest I've seen, but I think it's size is a good match for the mod. I said the mod was quite heavy for it's size, but considering the size of the whole thing this is really one of the smallest and lightest kits around.

    In use

    The Nugget mod is pretty straight forward to use. Since I had watched some videos about it before I knew that you needed to press + and - at the same time to enter the menu, and that is about the only thing that is a bit different and that you need to know. The rest is pretty intuitive. It has the usual 5 clicks to turn on and off. Scroll through the menu system using + and - and select with fire. One thing I noticed though is that when entering a sub-menu it goes to the first setting in the list rather than the current setting. This is a bit annoying to be honest, if I have it in Power mode, Power mode should be selected when I enter the "Work Mode Setting" sub-menu. Also, I think it would have been better if there was a delay so you needed to actually hold + and - down for some seconds before entering the menu system, now you just need to click them quickly, which combined with the fact that it goes to default rather than current setting, increases the chance of accidentally changing the settings. Other than these things, the menu system is easy and intuitive to operate, and the display is quite big and readable. Also the fact that the software is upgradable is a great thing, and all the issues I've mentioned above should be solvable in software. Whether Artery intends to do it remains to see as the software version on my mod seems to be the latest one.

    Temp. control mode also works quite well. I like it that you can also set the a limit to the power used in temp. control mode. Now I've only tried the SS temp. control and personally I don't really need temp. control with these coils. I mean I quite like the temperature of the vapor when I fire it at 50W and haven't had any dry hits by doing so. The way I vape it serves as a security net if I don't notice that my tank is empty and that's about it. Then again... I've never been a huge fan of temp. control... a rarely use it to be honest, but for those who do I think the Nugget will meet your expectations in this area as well.

    The 49er tank doesn't require you to be a rocket scientist to operate either. It's easy to fill with a nice top-filling system where you just unscrew the top part to reveil two kidney-shaped fill holes, which is great considering that you only have a 2ml juice capacity. Some might feel this is a bit on the small side, but for me this is kind of a mod that I grab for short trips outside, not neccesarily the one I chainvape at home. The juice flow control is very nice and will naturally close when you unscrew the tank from the mod and open when you screw it on. This system also enables you to change the coil heads without having to empty the tank first. It's pretty easy to take apart and clean as well, and I've had absolutely no leaking problems, not even when filling it.

    Performance

    This little kit really impressed me performance wise. The mod really packs a punch and the tank tastes really good. I mean really good. A friend of mine actually tried it and told me it was hands down the cleanest, nicest tasting sub-ohm he had ever tried, and I have to say I understand why he said that. The installed 0.5 ohm coil head tastes pretty good and gives you decent vapor on wattages down to like 30ish. Hell I bet a lot of people would be happy at 25 or even lower as well. At the same time it can easily handle full throttle from the nugget as well and at that wattage it really impressed me. In other words it's pretty versatile... crank up the watts when you're close to a charger, or lower it to save battery when you're out and about. I've used it most at around 40 W which gives you a bit of both. At 40W, maybe a bit less, I think your tank will be empty about at the same time as your battery calls it a night. It's a small mod, and of course the battery isn't going to last you all day if you chain vape it, but to be honest it lasts longer than I thought it would.

    Pros and cons

    ++ Great flavour
    + Great vapor production
    + Easy clean
    + Easy to fill on the go
    + Good juice control and able to change coils without emptying tank
    + Decent battery time considering the size
    - Juice capacity
    - Some flaws in the software

    Conclusion

    I was really impressed by this little kit. Awesome performance and worth every penny. To be honest I'd say both just the tank, or just the mod for that matter, would be worth the price (54.99 Euros at esmokes.se). I think I need one that I can use among people to be honest :)

    Thanks a lot to Niklas at esmokes.se for sending me this pink little bastard, making this review possible. He also provided a 10% discount code for my readers: GIRAFFE01

    esmokes.se

    Disclosure:
    • All my reviews are my honest opinion even if I am affiliated with the company manufacturing or selling the product.
    • This product was sent to me free of charge for the purpose of this review.
    • This review does not contain affiliate links.
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    Sunday 10 July 2016

    Review: Ijoy Limitless RDTA

    The Ijoy Limitless RDTA is the result of some cross-border teamwork by Chinese Ijoy and California based Limitless Mod Co. A "genesis" style type of tank, like the Geekvape Avocado and Wismec Theorem, which I recently reviewed. Just by looking at pictures of this device you immediately recognise some of the design concepts from the Theorem, some from the Avocado and then some new stuff that might be an effort to solve issues with the other devices. Now I haven't had the pleasure of trying out the Avocado yet but I've read that filling it in dual-coil configuration have been something people have struggled with, and as I said in my Theorem review the filling could have been easier. So on the Ijoy Limitless RDTA they've done things a bit differently.

    In the box
    • The Ijoy Limitless RDTA
    • Spare parts (O-rings and screws)
    • Allen key
    • Two pre-built coils

    Specifications
    • 51.2mm height, 24.2mm diameter
    • 4ml juice capacity
    • Velocity style 2-post build-deck (dual 2mm post holes)
    • Gold-plated positive pin
    • 4 wicking ports
    • Side filling
    • Dual slotted adjustable airflow (twist the delrin top-cap to adjust)

    Look and feel

    Not sure what to say about the looks of this one to be honest. It doesn't look bad,
    but then again it doesn't have that clean look that some of the traditional tanks. The black version I think is the one that looks best... kind of tidier if you see what I mean, since the o-rings and the top cap is black on both versions. Now there is a set of red o-rings included in the package but I don't think that would look better. But as I said, it's not horrible and it has something about the look of it that makes me think this thing will try to blow my socks off... and that is not far from the truth either. It feels pretty solid and it doesn't have a bunch of parts that can be lost or broken so that's good.

    In use

    If you have some experience with rebuildables you'd find the Limitless RDTA very easy to use. You have a big velocity style deck to build on and wicking it is really simple as well. Once you've pulled your wicks through the coil you just pull both ends downwards so they lay nicely in the juice-ports before you screw the middle section on. I find it easiest to juice them up a bit before I do this to make them stay in the juice ports. When it comes to the length of the wicks people do this a bit differently. I've tried cutting them so they barely touch the bottom of the base and I've tried cutting them so they come down to where the top of the base stops. Both works very well, but cutting them a bit shorter will make more room for juice and it will be a bit quicker to refill. I know some people even cut them at the top of the glass and I'll probably try that as well later on. Now I haven't really experimented that much with wick length but I think the optimal length depends on personal preference and vaping style. The shorter you cut your wicks the more you have to tilt it to wet the wicks when you start running lower on juice, but you'll have more juice capacity in total. Also, it's a pretty thirsty atomizer that can handle a lot of power, so if you want to test the limits of if you might want longer wicks to make sure you don't vape them dry on one hit... which I think might be possible, even if I haven't tried it. When it comes to the build deck the only thing I have to complain about is the post holes, they could have been slightly larger to allow for more extreme coils. 2mm is a bit small. Then again, I see they've already made the holes on the "Plus" edition of this atomizer 2.5mm.

    The side filling system works pretty well if you ask me. Just take of your top
    sleeve and you can access the fill hole which is pretty big and can be filled with basically any bottle type available. There are two o-rings keeping the top sleeve in place, one below and one above the fill hole, so it's sealed properly when the cap is on. I've had no leaking problems. As I said, if you cut the wicks so they don't hit the bottom of your base, it will fill up pretty quickly. If your have more cotton in there you might have to be a bit more patient to allow the juice to flow and fill up the whole tank. These o-rings are tight enough to allow me to lift the atty and a Lost Vape Efusion DNA200 mod straight up when holding just the top sleeve, but I don't have to use a lot of force to get it off, just a finger on the mod and it comes of easily.

    You can control the airflow by twisting the delrin top-cap. Fully open there is plenty of airflow to allow for really high powered builds. If you want limit your airflow you might want to twist the whole top sleeve a bit too, to line up the smaller hole with your coils. The knurling on the top cap makes it easy to twist.  Really easy to use, and works great.

    Finally, cleaning this thing is a piece of cake. It comes apart easily, no tools required (except the allen key if you want to take out your coils), and there is really no corners you can't get to.

    Performance

    This thing is a monster. I just tried it on 200W with some pre-built clapton coils I got from Pilot vape (these)... huge clouds, no dry hits and a high risk of nicotine headache. I also tried the twisted coils that came with the device on 150W and that worked fine as well... with the same risks. So yeah, this thing can handle a lot of power. But it also tastes really great. Personally I like to keep it on something like 70-80ish watts, depending on the build of course, and the airflow about one third open. You'll still get pretty big clouds, but also a huge amount of clean flavour. I have to say I'm very impressed with how well this thing performs.

    Pros and cons 

    ++ Flavor
    ++ Vapor production
    ++ Fun and versatile device
    + Ease of use
    - 2mm post holes, could have been 2.5mm

    Conclusion

    When I was in the store pondering which tank I was going to try out I asked one of the guys working there... which one is the most fun. The answer was this one, by far. And he was right. Well of course I wouldn't know how much fun I would have had with the other options... but the Ijoy Limitless is definitely a lot of fun. Very easy to build on, lots of opportunities and fantastic performance. A great choice in my opinion. Price wise it's in the same area as it's competitors I guess (NOK 349,- at dampoteket.no). Worth every penny.

    Thanks a lot to Birger at dampoteket.no for making this review possible.



    Disclosure:
    • All my reviews are my honest opinion even if I am affiliated with the company manufacturing or selling the product. 
    • This review does not contain affiliate links.