E-Cig Vaping News

The Vaping revolution is a rapidly growing activity and phenomena. News relating to e-cigarettes and vaping spans a wide spectrum of areas and we cover e-cig news topics across areas such as politics, law, health, culture, entertainment as well as factual and informative e-cigarette and e-liquid reviews.

The Future of Vaping

October 16, 2015

It is not so unusual to see people vaping in the UK today. Many people are switching in the hope of being able to give up smoking altogether. Yet the future of this alternative to smoking is somewhat cloudy.

According to Public Health England, e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than regular cigarettes. However even with this encouraging news being revealed, the future of e-cigarettes could be wrapped up in legislation sooner than we may think.

Regulation, regulation, regulation

Well it was only going to be a matter of time before those in control decided to wrap the industry in layers of regulation. And now it is happening – and in a big way too.

Look up vaping regulation online and you’ll find results pertaining to regulatory controls in the US, the UK and across the EU among other areas. The UK, as part of the EU (for good or for bad, depending on your view) is covered by the contentious and controversial 2014 EU Tobacco Products Directive. The original version of this law is over a decade old. However, those in charge in the EU have now decided e-cigs should be included under this directive.

That’s despite e-cigs not containing any tobacco at all.

Not surprisingly, many people have disagreed with the regulation. One company, Totally Wicked, has launched a case that is now going to the European court of justice in the hope of successfully challenging these new laws. The EU law is set to come into force in May 2016.

Vaping is being banned in some quarters

Look a little closer (again, there are plenty of news stories online about vaping) and you will also find stories about vaping being banned. The National Park Service in America is going to ban vaping in all the places that regular smoking is currently banned. Clearly it equates one with the other.

Airports across the UK have also banned vaping anywhere in their buildings. Southern Trains also jumped on board a short while ago, banning the use of e-cigarettes on their trains as well. Other train companies got there before them, including Virgin and Northern Trains.

Could EU laws put many manufacturers out of business altogether?

The strict nature of the EU laws that will come into force next year look set to put smaller manufacturers out of business. The cost of complying with the rigorous legislation looks to be too much for many businesses. This is likely to leave only the biggest players in the marketplace left to continue trading.

As it stands, lots of things look set to be banned completely – refills larger than 10ml and e-liquids with a strength of more than 20mg to name just two. And very likely far fewer liquids and flavours will be available as well, thanks to the hoops the manufacturers will have to jump through.

We suspect higher prices and less choice might come to the vaping market. Perhaps most worrying of all is the reality that more people might just carry on smoking instead. Watch this space.

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Athletes who Vape

October 13, 2015

Ask a smoker why they are trying to give up and they will usually mention health as one of their top reasons. Plenty of people are switching to vaping to make quitting easier than it might otherwise be.

We’ve read about celebrities who vape, and are seen in public vaping instead of smoking, but what about athletes? This is an altogether different area. After all, peak physical fitness is vital if you are going to compete to the best of your ability against the best in the world.

The whirlwind Jimmy White vapes during tournaments

The whirlwind Jimmy White vapes during tournaments

Now we find it hard to believe there isn’t a single athlete or sports-person out there who doesn’t smoke or vape, even if it is only very occasionally. Yet it is very difficult to find evidence of anyone in the sports world vaping in public. We’re prepared to believe there are very few athletes who smoke, since it is known to be bad for your health and can reduce lung capacity too. Think about it – whatever type of sport you play, you will need good fitness levels and plenty of energy to keep up with the opposition. How many rugby players, footballers, tennis players and athletes can you think of that have stopped mid-game or competition, doubled up with a hacking cough?

However, we’ve discovered evidence of legends such as cyclist Bradley Wiggins smoking, not to mention footballer Wayne Rooney. It may only be the odd one, but they’ve done it nonetheless. Ironically it is much harder to unearth information about sportspeople vaping, although there are a few examples we can give you. David de Gea, a Premiership footballer, has been seen with an e-cigarette, for example.

A little further digging revealed that Jimmy White, a famous snooker player, also vapes now. He used to smoke, and now the days of smoking in snooker halls are over, he can at least vape while taking part in matches between frames.

Yet we can see that vaping in the sporting world still seems to be a rarity. But is it, or is it just that we never see these people doing it? After all, while some sports stars smoke, they’re not usually seen doing it that often. If they have switched to vaping they may not do that very often either.

We think there are probably fewer sports stars smoking or vaping than there are in the general population. So maybe that makes them harder to find. What do you think?

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How to Keep Yourself Distracted From Smoking

October 8, 2015

Deciding to give up smoking is a big decision and many smokers this October will be participating in the Stoptober challenge to quit smoking for 28 days. The decision to quit smoking could have a huge and positive effect on your health and well being too. But let’s be honest – it won’t always be smooth sailing.

Smoking is a habit in more than one way. You’ll be addicted to the nicotine, certainly, but you could also find you struggle to keep your hands occupied. You’ll have got used to the feeling of holding a cigarette as well as smoking one.

In short, it pays to be distracted. Think of something else to hold in your hand instead. Some people switch to e-cigarettes, but you might also want to keep something else handy for times when you’re not using your e-cigs. It doesn’t matter what it is – just choose something you can easily fiddle with and keep close at hand. A coin, a pen, even a small pebble or worry stone – anything can work.

Whenever you feel the urge to smoke coming on, find things to do with your hands and your mind. Ideally you should already have a list of things to do so you can immediately try one of them. People have all kinds of things they turn to when the urge arises. Maybe one of these will help you:

• Read a book
• Listen to music
• Clean the car
• Go for a walk
• Do some cooking
• Chew some gum
• Go somewhere where smoking is not allowed

Everyone finds different distraction techniques that will work for them. It’s really a case of trying different things until you find the ones that make the most sense for you. Most cravings pass in a relatively small amount of time. The trick is to get through that period of time by doing something else.

If you do switch to using e-cigarettes, you could benefit from having more than one of them. For example, keep one at home, one in the car and maybe one at work too. The idea is you should always have one with you. The same applies to sugar-free gum and that worry stone or pen you have been using to fiddle around with to keep those hands busy.

Remember too that the longer you go without a cigarette, the fewer nicotine cravings you are likely to have. If you take things a day at a time to begin with and use as many of the above tricks as you can, you might just achieve your goal of quitting.

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New EU Regulations could lead to more early deaths

October 1, 2015

Sometimes regulations can go wrong and recently regulations introduced by the European Union relating to vaping and the use of E-Cigarettes could be considered as one of those regulations that went wrong. In fact, one could say the regulations concerning vaping are actually the cause of the problems.

It is widely accepted that Vaping is a healthier alternative to smoking tobacco and therefore considered by many a safer way for ex-smokers to get their nicotine fix without all the toxins found in tobacco. Vaping devices, which do not contain any tobacco but instead deliver nicotine via liquid heated vapour, have been the focus of much research and all the while the evidence making the case in favour of e-cigarettes has grown from strength to strength.

So it may surprise you to know that vaping devices are being included in a “tobacco products” directive. This is laughable to some considering vaping devices contain no tobacco. Imagine the absurdity of classing sugar or junk foods in the same class as Cocaine, well, they both produce dopamine in brain, so why not, if we’re in the business of being ridiculous.

Something fishy going on

You’d be forgiven for thinking these regulations may just have a more sinister purpose. Keep in mind that the evidence indicating vaping is effective in helping smokers is now overwhelming. There are now over 3 million vapers in the UK, almost all of whom are, as a result of vaping, smoking less or no tobacco at all. Heavy smokers understandably require stronger nicotine flavours when they move over to vaping. The vaping industry accommodates for this demographic by providing them with high strength nicotine flavours which include all flavours with a 20 milligram nicotine content per millilitre or higher. However the new regulations will prohibit the sales of these very devices and liquids. This targets those who are in the most need of quitting smoking and with the worse health. In effect, this toxic directive prohibits helping those who need helping the most, it not only fails to help them but worsens their risk of an early death.

This isn’t the only regulation. All vaping devices must be leak free. Although devices are already pretty much leak free, the regulations insists that no leakage can occur during the refilling of a vaping device. It’s impossible for the manufacturers of vaping devices to control this and will therefore destroy over 90% of the industry. Furthermore, innovation and progress will be further stifled by the ban of advertisements of e-cigarettes and vaping devices.

But we haven’t yet discussed the most shocking and blatantly biased directive of them all. From next year e-cig manufacturers will have to measure and list all ingredients contained in and produced by products by brand and type, including toxological information. Why is this so shocking? The same level of scrutiny is not applied to tobacco manufacturers who are generously only required to submit tests for a handful of chemicals even though each cigarette contains a brutal mix of over 4,000 chemicals, mostly toxic, but these do not need to be listed. Let us not forget the vaping is considered much safer than tobacco yet in this curious directive the authors of the law are succeeding at giving the impression they are intent on preserving the tobacco industry by taking the wind from the sails of the vaping industry. The directive could quite be easily perceived as designed to protect the financial interests of tobacco makers rather than the health of the consumers trying to move away from tobacco.

As more and more biased regulations are propagated throughout European member nations and across all industries, the concerns and objections against such regulations are becoming more and more vocal.

A failure to save lives

The take up of vaping will eventually slow down after the introduction of the new regulations, inevitably the number of early deaths will rise. An industry which should be encouraged and innovation furthered, the EU directives instead aim to stifle them with little concern to the number of early deaths that could be prevented.

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Should Vaping Be Banned in Public Places?

September 29, 2015

In came the smoking ban and out went the smokers, as far as public places were concerned. More and more people have switched to vaping instead, and for good reason. Many use e-cigs to help wean them off cigarettes, and they have the advantage of being legal to use in public places too. Of course you should always consider any specific rules pubs, clubs or similar places might have before you vape. Some of them do disagree with using them.

With that said though, plenty of people are asking whether vaping will always be allowed in public places. Some e-cigarettes look very realistic and it isn’t always easy to tell whether they are e-cigs or cigarettes.

The Welsh government hit the headlines recently when it announced it was drawing up plans to ban vaping in enclosed public spaces. If the plans go ahead, they would probably be enforced in 2017. The definition of an enclosed public space means you wouldn’t be able to vape in a pub or in a restaurant, for example. Offices would also be out of the question. However you could still vape in public, such as in the park or while out walking.

Think about this for a moment. If this plan is enforced and becomes law, it means it would be illegal (in Wales at least) to smoke or vape in an enclosed space. So the very reason many people switched to vaping in the first place – namely to get around the smoking ban – would no longer be there.

E-cigarettes do still have nicotine in them, but it is there in a measured dose. It is also available at different strengths and it can help people wean themselves off cigarettes. Over time some people will likely stop vaping too, while others will continue instead of going back to real cigarettes.

Perhaps the biggest question here is whether the English and Scottish parliaments would bring in similar legislation to ban e-cigs being used in enclosed public spaces if Wales does bring in the law. It looks as though it is very likely they will.

So if you are vaping at the moment, and enjoying the ability to vape wherever you like – on trains, in restaurants and in the pub – what will you do if you are banned from doing so? Would you continue vaping or go back to the real thing again?

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How Many Celebs are Vaping?

September 24, 2015

Plenty of people have made the switch from real cigarettes to e-cigs. So it should come as no surprise to learn that celebrities are jumping on board too.

In fact there are plenty of celebrities flaunting their chosen e-cigs when they’re out and about. They’ve been hitting the news for it too, as more and more people are realising they’re in good company whenever they vape.

Katy Perry has recently been spotted a few times with a ecig

Katy Perry has recently been spotted a few times with a ecig

Julia-Louis Dreyfus turned heads at the 2014 Golden Globe awards when she vaped on camera. She wasn’t the only celeb to do it there either – some guy called Leonardo di Caprio, no less, was also seen vaping while wearing his rather smart dinner jacket. He’s been photographed on several other occasions with his favourite e-cigarette too.

Charlie Sheen has gone one step further than vaping. He has released his own brand called Nicosheen (we think that has a nice ring to it). He took up vaping when he realised he couldn’t easily smoke while on tour, and avoided getting fined because of it.

Katy Perry is known for her unique music sound, and now she is becoming known as a celebrity music vaper too. Another music star to vape – albeit one that has been around a lot longer than Katy – is Tom Petty. He’s thought to have made the switch so he can take a healthier approach to life.

One Direction singer Zayn Malik smoking an E-Cig

One Direction singer Zayn Malik smoking an E-Cig

Zayn Malik, formerly of One Direction (you may have heard of them), is also known to have started vaping. Robbie Williams and Snoop Dog have also been rumoured or seen to vape from time to time.

Simon Cowell, he of The X-Factor fame, has admitted to having a heavy smoking habit in the past. Nowadays he has switched things up and has started vaping instead. One of his fellow judges on Britain’s Got Talent, Amanda Holden, revealed all when she was interviewed. Apparently Cheryl Fernandez-Versini (formerly Cheryl Cole of Girls Aloud) has also taken up the vaping habit.

Elsewhere the famous (or should that be infamous?) Lindsey Lohan has also hit the headlines for vaping in public. And Katherine Heigl vaped on David Letterman’s show way back in 2010, so she was really ahead of the crowd. They talked about e-cigs and the benefits of using them as opposed to smoking.

So there is quite a crowd of celebs out there, both in the UK and on the other side of the pond, who are vaping now rather than smoking.

They’re not the only one’s doing it…

Leonardo DiCaprio was seen vaping at the Golden Globe Awards

Leonardo DiCaprio was seen vaping at the Golden Globe Awards

Paris Hilton seen at a club vaping

Paris Hilton seen at a club vaping

Katherine Heigl on the Letterman show

Katherine Heigl on the Letterman show

Vaping in Las Vegas - Jack Nicholson

Vaping in Vegas – Jack Nicholson

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E-Cigarettes on UK TV Shows

September 22, 2015

When was the last time you saw someone smoking on a British-made television show? There was a time when you’d forever see dear old Dot Cotton with a fag hanging out of her mouth. Nowadays you hardly see cigarettes at all. But you do see something else, and it’s getting more regular too – the e-cigarette.

It was only a matter of time until Dot herself – famously played by June Brown – was given an introduction to an e-cigarette. This happened back in 2011 and it was prompted by June’s decision to switch to vaping in real life. And they say life imitates art. It looks like here it was the other way around.

In November last year viewers were also introduced to the first couple of television adverts promoting e-cigarettes. They were shown after the watershed but they were quite a watershed moment in themselves.

But when you look into the topic of characters using e-cigarettes in TV shows, you don’t find too many examples on UK television at the moment. Not in relation to British characters like Dot Cotton anyway. Who knew Dot would end up being ahead of the curve?

House of Cards, an American TV series, famously featured vaping in a recent series. This was of course based on the original UK series of the same name.

Roxy’s shady solicitor vaping in the popular cafe in Eastenders

Roxy’s shady solicitor vaping in the popular cafe in Eastenders

It’s also interesting to see which characters are vaping when you see it happen. Michael Shannon, an actor who featured in 99 Homes and used an e-cigarette on-screen, said it became an essential part of his character. So perhaps we will eventually see this idea moving over into the world of television as well.

It’s actually very hard to find examples of vaping on UK TV at the moment, unless you are watching something made in America. We suspect this is bound to change, especially as more and more films and TV shows feature the e-cigarette. Of course you have to think about what vaping means for a particular character. It tells you something about that character after all, doesn’t it? And perhaps this is why examples of vaping on UK TV have yet to really come to the fore. Maybe there aren’t too many characters this would fit in for.

We shall keep our eyes open for some other examples of vaping made famous by British TV characters though. We suspect it won’t be long before more examples come to light.

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How Many Vaping Products Could Soon Be Illegal?

September 18, 2015

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US is bringing in new regulations very soon that could have a significant effect on the e-cigarette marketplace. The idea of the new rules is that everything in the e-cigarette marketplace should be registered. This will ensure the products available are safe for people to use.

Now this all sounds pretty fair to begin with; after all no one wants to use products that may not be safe. However the concern of the American Vaping Association is that as much as 99% of products in the vaping marketplace could literally become illegal overnight.

Compliance costs are a worry

The new rules state every product created by a manufacturer should be registered. They will also need to fill in a Premarket Tobacco Application, otherwise known as a PMTA. So far this all seems like nothing more than paperwork – inconvenient perhaps, but no more than that. However the cost of those PMTAs could be anything from $2 million upwards.

This is far outside the realm of ‘affordable’ for many of the companies that produce e-cigarette products. This is especially the case for smaller companies producing e-juices alone. Many of these companies are thought to be unable to afford such high fees, leaving them no choice but to close down as a result.

Banning vaping products?

This is essentially what will happen. If you produce vaping products and you don’t file the proper PMTA paperwork, you’ll be breaking the law. You’d have to stop making your products available, even though many people looking to give up smoking will want to buy them.

All of which brings us to another worthwhile point. There are no similar laws in place for tobacco products. This means the next few months could see thousands of vaping products being made illegal and being taken off the market in the US. And all the while you can still buy tobacco without breaking the law.

Crazy, isn’t it?

Protecting consumers

Obviously the FDA has a job to do to protect American citizens. However these rules are likely to give vapers less choice and will put smaller businesses out of commission completely. Bigger businesses that can afford the registration and paperwork will no doubt do so, especially since they might end up with a larger slice of the market in the process. Watch this space.

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Nottingham Council Bans Vaping for Employees

September 16, 2015

Vaping is often seen as a convenient alternative to smoking – and a potentially-healthier one too. The smoking ban led to a rise in people switching to vaping, but even this isn’t allowed anymore by Nottingham Council if you work for them. They’ve announced a ban on smoking by employees even if they go outside to do it – and they’re stamping out vaping at the same time.

Nottinghamshire County Council has decided vaping is no longer allowed for any employee while wearing a uniform, in any council workplace or vehicle. It’s reckoned that some 9,000 work for the council, and around 1,000 of those are either currently smoking or using e-cigarettes to help them kick the habit.

No vaping on the way to and from work either

Yes it gets better. The council believes it has the power to prevent their employees from smoking and vaping on the way to work and on their way home. We question just how they could enforce this. Will there be plainclothes enforcers spying on smokers and vapers from the moment they leave home – all 1,000 of them? Judging by the numerous reports and comments online about it, everyone else is wondering the same thing.

After all, if someone goes to work in their own car, does the council really have the right to stop them from vaping in it?

Only one opportunity to vape

According to details in the news, if employees want to vape while at work, their only chance to do so would be on their lunch break. And to do it, they would first have to change out of their uniform (if they wear one) and wear something else instead. Oh, and walk a sufficient distance away from their workplace too. Presumably by the time they’d done that there wouldn’t be much time left to vape or have lunch.

According to John Tomlinson, a member of the council who spoke to the media about the new rules, the council was “trying to be a supportive employer”. E-cigarettes have yet to be licensed but if this happens the council may have to change its stance. However until then there is a real chance other councils could see what Nottinghamshire County Council is doing and decide to do the same. Watch this space to see if other council employees elsewhere are met by these rules as well.

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Electronic Cigarettes on Sale in a Surrey Pub

September 10, 2015

The national smoking ban has been a real problem for many pub landlords since it was ushered into law in July 2007. Smokers can’t smoke inside anymore, which means they have to pop out to have a cigarette whenever the need arises. That’s all well and good in the summer, but what about when it’s raining, cold and damp or even snowing? Many have called the ban anti-social, and that’s certainly true on long winter nights.

However, one landlord in Chobham, Surrey has come up with an innovative solution. Why not allow people to use electronic cigarettes in his pub? They’re completely legal to use indoors so no one is breaking the law, and there’s a real opportunity here to get takings back on the up again.

30% drop in takings

The smart-thinking landlord, Frank Booth, runs The Sun Inn. He got his idea after attending the National Pub Show in Birmingham and wasted no time in putting his plans into action. He hasn’t just allowed e-cig smokers to use their e-cigs inside his pub though. He’s actually selling the e-cigs as well.

In common with many other pub landlords, Frank saw his takings slide when the ban came into force. It’s one thing to go outside and smoke a cigarette when the weather is good. However it seems many smokers would rather stay at home and smoke during the winter than go to their local.

So Frank did something smart. He ordered a batch of the e-cigarettes and now has them available to buy alongside a pint in his pub. He thinks this could be a great opportunity to bring in some extra income. And of course, it might encourage some more punters to leave their cigarettes at home and use the e-cigs when they go out for a drink instead.

Will it encourage real smokers to try their luck?

It’s a possibility. However there are some very real differences between e-cigs and the real thing. While the e-cigarettes Mr Booth has for sale are designed to look like real cigarettes, they don’t have to be lit. They don’t produce smoke either – just a vapour that does no harm to anyone else nearby, unlike second-hand smoke. So if anyone did try and light up a real cigarette as a result of the e-cigs being on sale, they’d be caught out pretty quickly.

A spokeswoman for Smokefree Surrey, Karen Simmonds, pointed out the highly-addictive nature of nicotine. Since e-cigs still have nicotine in them – albeit in a much-reduced amount – going cold turkey is the best route. “Stop smoking altogether,” says Karen. Of course, anyone trying to stop might well switch to e-cigs and gradually reduce the amount of nicotine they ingest. The cartridge refills for electronic cigarettes are made available with varying amount of nicotine in them, giving people a choice to reduce their intake gradually.

Clearly Mr Booth is hoping his takings will improve. However, his idea is certainly more sociable than the alternative.

Would you like your pub to sell electronic cigarettes? Let us know what you think below

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The Perversity of Government

September 2, 2015

Okay I understand Governing a country isn’t easy – there are competing political pressures from many sides and the modern economy is working in an integrated complex world economy.

I also understand that politicians have differing and various agenda’s and are influenced by many factors.

BUT take a look at the ongoing proposed legislation debate, rumour in the electronic cigarette industry and you will despair as to how any small entrepreneur can plan in this industry.

Within the same month that Public Health England concluded that, on “the best estimate so far”, e-cigarettes are about 95% less harmful than tobacco cigarettes (http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/aug/19/public-health-england-e-cigarettes-safer-than-smoking,) we have another arm of government trying to implement the Tobacco Product Directive (TPD) produced by the EU and intended to be operational in 2016.

Just to give you a flavour of what the TPD expects every producer and manufacturer to do.

  • Any new product, both batteries and liquids must be notified to the Government 6 months before they can go on sale after the introduction of the TPD
  • Every existing product must be notified to the Government 6 months before the introduction of the TPD
  • A list of all components and ingredients at any part of the manufacturing process must be traceable, accountable and documented and available to the Government.
  • No product can have a refill of nicotine more than 10 ml
  • The nicotine-containing liquid may not contain nicotine in excess of 20 milligrams per millilitre
  • Each unit packet and any container pack of the electronic cigarette or refill container must carry a health warning consisting of the text: “This product contains nicotine which is a highly addictive substance. It is not recommended for use by non-smokers”, in a manner which conforms with paragraph (5).
  • The health warning must –

    • appear on both the front and back surfaces of the unit packet and any container pack;
    • cover 30% of the area of each of those surfaces, calculated in relation to the area of the surface concerned when the pack is closed;
    • be in black Helvetica bold type on a white background;
    • be in a font size which ensures that the text occupies the greatest possible proportion of the surface area reserved for it; and
    • appear at the centre of that area.
    • Where other text appears on the surface concerned, the health warning must be parallel to that text, or if there is more than one piece of text, the most prominent text.

And by the way – although this potential legislation will already impact on our existing manufacturing and planning processes – the politicians are very likely to change their minds at the last minute and completely change how they intend to impose any legislation.

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