Worth reading this weekend (November 27th)

Another busy week with very little spare time to write has gone by, and 2015 is coming to an end, a bit faster than I like. I haven't even started thinking about Christmas shopping yet, except that I'm thinking I can save some money the presents I plan buying for myself today, since it's black friday :) Here in Norway we also have another important event coming up for us vapers. It's just around 2 weeks until we hit the streets to express our views on the sneaky TPD implementation planned by our government. Hopefully it will get some attention in the media, and hopefully a lot of smokers will unpack their first vaping kits this Christmas.

Anyway, between not thinking about Christmas, work, and trying to figure out how to get rid of my beloved car that have finally decided to die on me, I have managed to sneak in some reading. So if you're already tired of Christmas and want to take a well deserved break from the shopping madness, here's a couple of good ones that I'm sure you'll enjoy:

• There is indeed a lot of junk science about e-cigarettes and vaping out there, and sadly a lot have gotten some attention in the media as well. The Ashtray blog has gathered some of the, giving you some insight in exactly what is wrong with them: Exposed: 18 E-Cig Studies That Are Killing Smokers

• So what is the problem with all this junk science? I mean it's all getting debunked pretty quickly, right? Dr. Michael Siegel explains how much damage the junk science can actually do: Thanks to Invalid NEJM Formaldehyde Study, Public is Being Told that Cancer Risk from Vaping is 15 Times Higher than from Smoking

• This week we also got a newsletter updating us a bit on what has happened since the first teaser from the guys behind A Billion Lives. If you're not subscribing to the newsletter yet, I highly recommend it. They got some criticism for using this quote in their teaser: "165,000 kids die of secondhand smoke, every year". Dick Puddlecote has his own take on the subject: A Billion Lives, My Take 

• Clive Bates have some thoughts on a recently released report by NatCen that I think is really worth reading: Smoking and vaping among young people in England – reassuring new report

Have a nice weekend!

Juice Review: Trixie 2 & Nia 9 by 13 Sins

I was pretty happy with the first 2 juices from 13 sins that I reviewed back in September, so I was looking forward to trying out these two. Both these juices are 30/70 PG/VG ratio. I might have told you last time that the other 2 were 40/60, but having a closer look I see now that Suzy 6 is actually 50/50. Sorry about that. Anyway, these last two, being pretty high on VG might be more appealing to the cloud chasers out there.

13 Sins comes from the people behind T-juice, and I think it's worth mentioning that all these juices are tested for the nasty stuff that seems to trigger lawsuits at the moment, and you can find the test results on their web-page. It's great to see they take their responsibility seriously. (The other T-juice tests are also available here.)

So, onto the juices:

Trixi 2
Tested on: UD Bellus RTA (Dual kanthal @ 0.6 Ω, 40 watts)
 

"A full on vape sensation, packed full of cool zingy freshness. An electrifying combination of stimulating mint, lemongrass and lime, coupled with the smooth fruitiness of apricot and apple and just a slight lick of aniseed. Trixi is a tantalising temptress of the taste buds."

I didn't even have to open the bottle to smell the citrus in this juice. It has quite a strong, fresh smell, quite mouthwatering to be honest. And the flavour ... is even better. It's true to the description, has a huge amount of flavour. The lime and lemongrass comes across as the strongest, along with the aniseed that gives this juice an extra dimension, and quite a bite. The mint, apricot and apple is not very pronounced, I guess the mint is there playing along with the aniseed and gives a bit of sweetness, and the fruits give the juice it's kind of undefinable fruitiness. A great, refreshing juice and I'd say this is my favourite among the 13 Sins juices so far.

Nia 9

Tested on: Smok TFV4 (TF-CLP2 Core @ 0.35Ω, 40-60 watts)

"A fragrant and inescapably alluring blend of chai spice, mingled with complex notes of wild red berries and vanilla cream. Nia is a subtle, yet sensory enslaving ADV, with facets of blackcurrant and tangy citrus, which leave the satisfying, sweet aftertaste of warmed sugar on the palate."

The Chai spice was the first thing I noticed when smelling this juice, and vaping it for that matter. To me this is the main flavour of this juice, the juice is kind of built around these spices, in a successful effort to enhance and pronounce it. You can definitely taste the citrus as well, playing quite an important role. I said Trixi was my favourite among the 13 Sins juices, and I stand by that statement, but Nia is not far behind. Great juice!

Thanks to ecigarettedirect for sending me these juices for review.

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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.

Worth Watching this Weekend (November 20th)

Clive Bates in "A Billion Lives"

Right now I'm on a train on my way home from a meeting in Oslo, which is around 500 kilometres from where I live. Train takes quite a while, I was bored but happy to see that they had free Wi-Fi on board, so I could log on and do some reading. But actually I ended up watching some videos instead, hence the slightly different title this Friday.

• I got an email newsletter earlier this week from the guys behind the upcoming documentary "A Billion Lives", saying that this Friday they would release their first teaser. And so they did: You Are Being Lied To - A Billion Lives. Really worth watching, and I have to say I can't wait to see the whole movie. Also worth mentioning is that they're now selling T-shirts if you want to show your support and help giving this movie the attention it deserves.

• Also worth watching is this short documentary by Amanda Plunkett: The REAL Truth About Vaping!  

• Finally, I also recommend this one by regulatorwatch.com about e-cig regulations in Canada. Good stuff, well balanced and very well presented.

Have a nice weekend!

Norwegian vapers protest against the government's disguised TPD

One of the proposed banners. Ok, ok I'll translate:
YES to age limits, to childproof caps, to freedom of choice,
to vaping, to a smoke free environment, to better health
to reasonable regulation. NO to the EU TPD article 20.
Vapor is not tobacco!

The Norwegian government's proposal to "legalize e-cigarettes with nicotine", which turned out to be an implementation of the TPD, have kicked of a bit of activity in the vaping community. Up until recently I have a feeling that most of the debate have taken place in the comments sections whenever (not too often) vaping and e-cigarettes have gotten some media coverage. Actually, a lot more has been done... NDS and quite a few dedicated vaping advocates have been working to convince politicians, letters and emails have been sent and so on, but we have been struggling a bit to get the coverage we need in the media so the general public also can see what is going on. As I've said earlier, I do believe the media will be the key to winning this battle. Anyway, after the government's proposal got some media coverage, NDS also managed to get some attention in the media, backed up by SIRUS and Karl Erik Lund among others. Still, we do need to get more attention to this matter. We need to make sure that the government is not able to just sneak in these draconian regulations without anyone other than vapers noticing. So now, Norwegian vapers hit the streets to protest. Have a look at this:

You are hereby invited to Trondheim on December 12th 2015 at 2PM. Dedicated vapers and the Norwegian vaping community, Norsk Dampselskap (NDS), will join together in a protest. There will be a peaceful demonstration against the Norwegian government's proposal to implement the EU's Tobacco Products Directive §20! The directive, as it stand now, will be a nail in the coffin for the vaping community, and it will change the way we vape forever! You are welcome to join us in the protest, and join us in the fight against this law! After the demonstration you will have the possibility to attend a vape-meet at the shop "Dampoteket", which will also be the end point of our protest march. Vapers unite! The news media will also be invited.

This is the English version of the invitation to a peaceful demonstration to express our views in Trondheim (which is where I'm located). At the same time, December 12th 2PM, there will also be demonstrations in Oslo in front of the Parliament building, in Bergen and in Kristiansand. Who knows, maybe even more places, there is still time. There is a lot of people working hard to get the media to cover it, writing speeches (hopefully) and hopefully we'll see some banners and maybe even t-shirts? I guess it's still a while until December 12th so a lot is still in the planning phase and quite unclear yet, but I'll try to post updates as more info becomes available.

I really hope as many as possible will be able to come to one of these demonstrations. The more people that turn up, the more attention we'll be able to get. Foreigners are of course welcome as well, we'll teach you some slogans in Norwegian :)

For those of you who want to attend, Facebook events have been created for each of the locations here:

• Oslo: https://www.facebook.com/events/999514776738743/
• Trondheim: https://www.facebook.com/events/1661955677395328/
• Bergen: https://www.facebook.com/events/920309881389261/
• Kristiansand: https://www.facebook.com/events/128255224203783/

(If you don't speak Norwegian, don't be afraid to post in English in there. I'm sure you'll get answers to all of your questions.)

Worth Reading this Weekend (November 13th)

It's been quite a busy week for me this week and not much time for writing. The e-cigarette debate here in Norway is still alive and kicking and I hope I can give you some more news next week (or maybe this weekend if I can manage to sneak in some writing time). Until then, here is some of the stuff I've enjoyed reading this week:

Mark Drakeford now wants to ban vaping
... in your own home!

• Dick Puddlecote delivers some interesting observations about the Welch Government: Welsh Labour: So Dense They Could Bend Light . I found another good post on this as well: From The Absurd To The Ridiculous - The (Bumbling) Madness of Mark Drakeford

• On the same topic, "uncontested stupidity", Christopher Snowdon gives us this: The magic of secondhand smoke.

• Yesterday, the 3rd annual E-Cigarette Summit took place in London. In addition to all the info on the official webpage, The Ashtray Blog have written a round up for all of us who was not able to be there: E-Cig Summit Round Up: The Vape Debate Continues. Thanks for that one, James :) 

Have a nice weekend!