Juice review: Button Junkie (Whole range)

The Button Junkie range consists of 4 juices, all of them with some fruity elements in them. Button Junkie have teamed up with Ecigwizard to manufacture the juices to be able to meet demand I guess. You can read more about this on their web-page. All their juices are 30/70 PG/VG and it looks like it's available in 0, 1.5, 3 and 6 mg/ml nicotine content, at least from Ecigwizard. I kind of like that they've put some extra effort into the artwork and design as well, usually means they've put some extra care into the juices as well.

Gorilla Trigger
Tested on: Smok TFV4 micro (CLP Fused Clapton Dual Core 0.3 Ohm, 50-60 watts)

I'm weird when it comes to pineapple... I think. I like fresh pineapple, and pineapple juice, but I'm not very happy if I get it on pizza. I guess in general I like it cold but I don't see why you need to put pineapple in hot food. So I have to admit I was a bit of a sceptic, as this juice is supposed to be pineapple cake. However, the smell of this one makes me a bit less sceptical. Quite fresh smell. When tasting it I'm a bit surprised, I think I might like pineapple cake even if it's hot. It's quite well balanced and quite sweet without being sickening. It's a juice I'd have no problem recommending, especially to pineapple lovers. Button Junkie calls this juice "gentle", which I think is quite a good word for it actually. It's not overwhelming in any way, but rather quite easy and relaxed ... if that makes sense. Good one for vaping all day actually, despite the quite aggressive name.

Tiger fire

Tested on: UD Zephyrus (0.2 Ohm, 40-50 watts)

This one smells of citrus fruits. It's supposed to be a cheesecake base with cream, oranges, lemons and grapefruit. And you get quite a lot of the citrus fruits when vaping this. I'm not sure I get so much cheesecake and cream but there is something in there kind of smoothening the edges a bit, but still leaves some of the bite of the citrus fruits. Guess that might be the cheesecake and cream then. I really like this one to be honest. Even if I can't really taste the cheesecake that doesn't mean it's not good... cause it is. Definitely an interesting take on citrus fruits that I think you need to try out cause it's not that easy to describe.

Crack Panda
Tested on: UD Bellus (Dual Coil @ around 0.45 Ohm, 30-40 watts)

Smells ... fresh I guess is the right word. A blend of apricots, peaches and other tantalizing tropical fruits according to Button Junkie. And that's what it tastes like as well. It is indeed a quite sweet yet very refreshing blend of fruits. Really like this one, might be my favourite in the range I think. Definitely an all day vape for me.






Vulture Punch 
Tested on: Secret tank that I'm trying out for someone :)

A bubbling brew of thick, creamy custard & sweet, ripe strawberries with a hint of caramelised brown sugar & Madagascan vanilla. This is Button Junkies description of this juice. One of my favourite juices is a strawberry custard and I'm sorry but this one does not quite come up to that level. It's a good juice, but I personally have another strawberry custard that I like better. Then again ... taste is a matter of personal preference, and this one is good enough to make the list of strawberry custards you should try out to find your favourite.

Thanks to ecigwizard.com for sending me these juices for review.

• 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.

The art of ignoring evidence

Trying to get back on track a bit after being kind of away from blogging for a while now. I can't really promise anything, as I still have limited time to blog... but whenever time allows it I'll try to give you guys some updates :)

This week, or actually the last couple of weeks, I've had to count to 10 several times to avoid bursting out in a tirade of swearing and name-calling that would probably have ended with some of my colleagues making some phone calls and me in a mental institution. Luckily I was able to count all the numbers from 0 to 10 (I'm a computer geek, we always start at 0), not ignoring any one of them. So I was fine ... after a while. The reason for all this counting was an article in Norwegian newspaper VG's "Opinions"-section, written by medical doctor and epidemiologist Preben Aavitsland, titled "But, E-cigarettes don't work". He had of course been reading some of Stanton Glantz' work, more on that below. In addition to ignoring the fact that millions of people have quit using e-cigarettes, he talks about never smoking youth taking up smoking in large numbers calling e-cigs an epidemic, and of course "we don't know enough yet". This guy is actually against implementing the TPD here in Norway ... he wants a full ban. But... we have Karl Erik Lund over here and of course he answered the day after explaining that Glantz is full of shit, e-cigs work even for the heaviest smokers and there is evidence that not many never smokers take up vaping. So far so good.

But then, some days later, Aavitsland "strikes back", according to VG, and this time he wants to wait for more evidence. He links to a bunch of debunked "studies" and finishes of with this:

Incidentally, Lund, the new study I quoted, is funded by the US Medicines Agency, Health Research and Cancer Research Institute and the lead author is a professor at the University of California.

Oh my ... a professor! My God, I guess he knows what he's talking about then? Well ... there are some who would disagree, and they're also professors. Listen to this from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06zcg4v. It turns out, even one of the peer reviewers recommended that Professor Glantz work should never have been published. Seems to me we have a classic case of one professor versus... a bunch of them.

Aavitsland keeps saying that there is no evidence that e-cigarettes work and he even says it would be easy to prove it if they did work. Can you believe this guy?

It will be fairly easy to detect any effect on smoking cessation of the latest e-cigarettes. Distribute a number of smokers randomly for quit attempts using e-cigarettes with nicotine, electronic cigarettes without nicotine, nicotine gum or no aid. Count up after half a year the percentage of each group that has managed to quit smoking for good. If the study shows that e-cigarettes are significantly more effective than the other methods, I'll be happy to reconsider the matter.

Well guess what, there is a lot of evidence that e-cigs work, including studies similar to what Aavitsland suggests (of course in addition to the millions of users who have quit already). Have a look at this. Now, all who thinks Aavitsland will reconsider the matter, raise their hands.... what no-one?

I didn't raise my hand either. Some people have just perfected the art of ignoring the evidence they don't like, and Aavitsland has shown in his articles that he's somewhat of an expert. Top of his class, together with Sanner and Grimsrud. Actually we have quite a few of them speaking up here in Norway at the moment, guess it has something to do with the proposed regulations. In late January we had Camilla Stoltenberg and Knut-Inge Klepp from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) publishing this in Aftenposten (another big newspaper in Norway): E-Cigarettes: A admission of failure if we replace a harmful product with another. I mean, why are we still talking about the gateway theory? They're also concerned that e-cigarettes will be the "new Snus"... which have to be a real problem since snus is the main reason Sweden and Norway has a lot less cases of lung cancer than the rest of the world. There is quite a lot of evidence available on this, but hey... let's just ignore that shall we? They keep on talking like this evidence just don't exist, even if it's presented to them again and again. No comments on it, no efforts to debunk it ... nothing ... they just pretend it simply does not exist.

Trying to reason with these people is quite impossible to be honest. It would, as one of my colleagues would say, be like talking to sheep (or any other farm animal for that matter). I bet if they decided that the sky is green, you could have a billion people testifying it's blue and they would still go: "You know the sky.... it's green". Luckily most people are not that way, and hopefully most politicians are like most people. The sad part is that these people have titles, which the media thinks means something, so their scaremongering bullshit gets published. This means we have to fight even harder to educate politicians, decision makers and the general public if we're going to win this battle. Cause the only way we're going to win is to make sure that the people who are going to make the important decisions actually get the important evidence ... and then hope they don't ignore it. And we WILL fight, they're not going to get away with this!
 

Review: iJoy Asolo

As I've mentioned before, my time to write has been quite limited lately. Luckily, vaping giraffes have vaping friends too, and one of them, Chris Stian Orvik, agreed to do a guest review. So without further introduction, here's the first ever guest review on this blog, actually I think it's the first guest post as well. Big thanks to Chris for this :)

First impressions

It’s a small, slightly rounded but still quite square box, with clicky buttons with no audible rattling sound when you shake it. Battery compartment is at the bottom, with a slide-on door with magnets. No USB port to be seen, so no on-board charging, and no future upgrades to the chip or software. The finish is quite slippery, so it’s a good thing they included stickers with some texture to them for the side panels.

It’s really small compared to other dual battery 18650 mods; see picture comparison with an iStick 100W.

What’s in the box?

• 1x iJoy Asolo 200w 
• 1x Ego adaptor (a little unsure as to why, but hey) 
• 1x Warranty Card 
• 1x User Manual 
• 2x Stickers (for the side panels) 
• 1x Silicone sleeve (colors may vary)

In use

Using the device in wattage mode is quite straightforward; you just turn on the device with the usual 5 clicks, set your wattage, and vape away. The display is clear and bright, and gives you the regular readouts like wattage, ohm, voltage and a puff-counter. It also shows you the amperage you are drawing from your batteries, a nice bonus.

It brags about its 200w, but according to other reviewers, it fires a bit on the low side. You also have to be in a specific ohm range to reach its full potential.

Around 0,2 ohms is where you have to be to get it to this range. (See Pbusardos review on youtube for more numbers) The compatible resistance ranges are quite standard, see above.

If you want the device to operate in TC mode, install your TC compatible coil, press the bottom part of the t-shaped button three times. This brings up a sub menu, where you can select Ni or Ti, choose the right material, set your temperature, and vape. In Fahrenheit mode you can regulate the device from 300-600 degrees, in Celsius it ranges from 150 to 315 degrees. So nothing really special about that, except like many other mods, you don’t have to set the resistance. What IS special about this box is their attempt at Temperature Control on any type of coil. Well, that’s not exactly what it is, but it kind of works quite well. What they do is taste control. In this mode the display gives you some extra readouts; namely an E-liquid indicator, a thermometer and temperature percentage.

So, you put in your standard coil, whether it’s a tank or an RDA. Make sure it’s well saturated and give it a few puffs on your preferred wattage in regular wattage mode. Several puffs of at least 2 seconds are required for the device to “learn” your preferred vaping style. Now you can adjust your percentage to regulate the device from hotter to cooler if you like. It goes from 80-110% of your original wattage from when you were training the device. If you have issues with the device cutting off way too early, put it back in wattage mode and give it some more training. So, not really temperature control as we know it, where you set your temp and puff away, but it kind of works. It seems, the more you train the device, the better the taste control function works. Under testing, I managed to burn my cotton at least a couple of times, but mostly just to test, as I would re-drip or re-fill long before normally. Also, the more time you give the device time to learn, the better it performs. I’ve tested the taste control function on SS316L, and it seems to work even better with that material, it could be because it changes resistance a lot more than kanthal, but this is pure speculation from my side. One gripe I have with the device is its coil detection function; it’s just a bit on the sensitive side. This results in the device asking you if you installed a new coil every other minute if you use a material that changes its resistance. Not a big deal, but if you mindlessly try to vape without checking the display, you might be surprised by the lack of vapor.

Pros

• Small size (especially for a dual 18650) 
• Temperature control for Ni and Ti plus Taste Control 
• Clear, easy to read display 
• Nice spring loaded 510 connection 

Cons

• The mod itself has sharpish edges. 
• Ask if it’s a new coil a bit too frequently 
• 5-press on/off can be a bit inaccurate 
• No USB-charging or firmware upgrade capabilities 

All in all it’s a nice little dual 18650 box, with temperature control and taste control, but I would not recommend this to fresh eyed newbies, but to the medium to advanced vapers.

Big thanks to gearbest.com for sending this box for review.

Disclosure:

• All my reviews are my (or my guest-reviewer's) honest opinion even if I am affiliated with the company manufacturing or selling the product. 
• The device was sent to me free of charge for the purpose of this review.
• This review does not contain affiliate links.

E-cig regulation in Norway: A short status update

This Christmas I was sure I was going to be able to do more writing and keep you guys up to date on the situation in Norway. I turned out quite the opposite from what I expected, and for reasons I'm not going to talk about here, I haven't been able to do much writing at all. Neither do I think there will be much time in the months to come either, but I'll try to write some updates (and some reviews) when I can. Hopefully things will change in time and I hope I can get this blog up and running full speed again some time in the future.

Anyway, as many of you might be aware of already, the Norwegian government, or actually the Ministry of Health and care services, have proposed to legalize the sale of e-cigarettes in Norway... TPD style (follow the links in that post for more background info). I find this quite important so I've tried to squeeze in a little time to give you an update now.

The Norwegian parliament

The Ministry of Health and care services have requested comments on the proposal and the deadline for replying to this was January 18th. They received quite a few interesting comments, which can all be found here for those who read Norwegian or are skilled in the use of google translate. A lot of vapers took their time to comment and express their concern, and The Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research (SIRUS) both wrote excellent answers, clearing up misunderstandings, explaining consequences and attempted to educate the politicians in the best way possible. They've done an excellent job and hopefully some politicians will take notice and understand some of what they're going to regulate. However, for some of them, like Cecilie Brein-Karlsen I have no hope. Sadly some of our politicians (quite a few actually) believe that we do not have a choice in this at all, and that we just have to do whatever the EU tells us to do. Actually, I do think most of them are in fact aware that we have an option to use our reservation right, not being a full member of the EU, but they just don't have the balls to go against the EU in this case... or any other case for that matter. I guess they simply lack balls.


There were also quite a few others who commented on the proposal.Some like the proposal as it is, saying that they think e-cigarettes are a great idea, which shows they have no idea what this proposal will do to vaping. Others want to keep e-cigarettes with nicotine illegal and even want stricter rules. All of these seem to be pretty convinced by the gateway theory. This again shows the devastating effects of copy-paste scaremongering journalism. The only time all the evidence against the gateway theory mentioned in Norwegian media is when Karl Erik Lund from SRUS is in some way involved. He has done a great job at this, and it is also included in SIRUS' comments to the proposal. However this does not get much attention and protecting the children, avoiding a vaping boom among never smokers and even worse... 2nd hand vaping making more people smoke cigarettes seem to be the main arguments used by those who support the proposal (and those who want even stricter regulations). Some even claim that a lot of never smoking youth have already picked up vaping on a regular basis (!). They should know better than to lie about these things to be honest. And all of this despite the fact that we've seen that smoking prevalence in Norway is dropping faster than ever after snus and vaping gained popularity. When it comes to certain politicians I also suspect other motives that has nothing to do with wanting a public health gain.

Sadly I haven't really had the time to read all the answers, I've barely scratched the surface of some of them, so the above is just based on my first impressions. However I found one answer that looked quite interesting as well, from British American Tobacco Norway. They argue against a lot of the suggestions in the proposal, like advertising bans, ban in public areas etc. and use SIRUS' answer for support as well. Have a look at this for example:

BAT endorses the views set out in SIRUS' consultation response that e-cigarettes should be regulated as ordinary consumer products, and the Ministry should, as a minimum, examine this alternative.

So that is about where we stand today. There are some very good arguments in some of the comments submitted, and there are some very bad ones, and there are quite a few lies in there as well. We can only hope that the politicians are doing their job and actually try to educate themselves, but I'm not overly optimistic when it comes to this. It's not easy to find any dates or what happens next. Still I guess this will follow regular procedure which would be the that the parliament committee will recommend an amendment to the Norwegian Tobacco Act and the parliament will the vote. Exactly when this will happen I don't know, but I guess some time before May.

Juice Review: Waxahachie, Nanabozho and Coyote Coconut by Manabush

The Manabush "Original range" are all based on their original product, the Powwow Sauce, which is supposed to be a sweet tobacco blend. Manabush has mixed this with lots of different goodies, like banana, coconut and gingerbread to create a whole range of juices. Coincidentally, the 3 goodies mentioned above are all found in the 3 samples sent to me by vapour.co.uk for this review. 

Waxahachie
Tested on: Smok TFV4 mini (Clapton RTA @ 0.6 Ω, 40 watts)

Gingerbread and chocolate, according to the description. A combination I'm not used to at all. Smelling the juice, I'm not really sure what to think, maybe there is some chocolate there but I can't smell the gingerbread. Vaping it however, I do get the gingerbread as well as the chocolate. However I really don't get that much of a tobacco flavour from this one. Quite a nice, warm flavour, almost like it was made to enjoy during Christmas.


Nanabozho

Tested on: Smok TFV4 mini (Clapton RTA @ 0.6 Ω, 40 watts)

Smells like banana, tastes like banana. Again I don't really get that much tobacco, but rather a sweet biscuit base and loads of ripe banana on top. And the good thing is that this one doesn't get sickening after a while like some banana flavours tend to do (IMO at least). Actually I think I'd have no problems using this as an all day vape, even if it is quite a sweet juice. My favourite of the three.

Coyote coconut
Tested on: Smok TFV4 mini (Clapton RTA @ 0.6 Ω, 40 watts)

Again, no tobacco flavour, but both smells and tastes like very sweet coconut. I'd say it reminds me a lot of one of my favourite Christmas treats, coconut macaroons. I could it tons of these during Christmas when I was a kid. Actually I probably still can, but luckily for my health I don't live with my mother any more so I don't have free access. Another great juice from Manabush.

Now as you can see I didn't get much of a tobacco feeling from any of these three juices, but honestly, that doesn't matter that much. They're all great juices and I wouldn't mind trying out the rest of the range either, based on my experience with these.

Thanks to vapour.co.uk for sending me these juices for review.

• 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.