Garry Dibley is a professional

Do Not try this yourself.In this instalment of “Tin Your Tip” Garry Dibley takes apart several batteries to show you exactly what’s under the plastic wrapping. Under proper safety conditions Garry then purposely tries to make a battery short itself . . . → Read More: Tin Your Tip | Exploding Batteries under Safe conditions | Ecig Users]]> Don’t try this at home!!

Garry Dibley is a professional

Do Not try this yourself.In this instalment of “Tin Your Tip” Garry Dibley takes apart several batteries to show you exactly what’s under the plastic wrapping. Under proper safety conditions Garry then purposely tries to make a battery short itself to show the tell tale signs and effect of a thermal run away.

It’s very rare these day’s that you find a journalist that knows how to do in depth research and report on the facts and not just pander to the sensationalist angle or tell just one side of the story, this is especially true within the topic of tobacco harm reduction and the electronic cigarette . . . → Read More: More articles like this Please]]> http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2012/02/17/cloud-of-smoke-surrounding-the-use-of-electronic-cigarettes-in-scottish-companies/

It’s very rare these day’s that you find a journalist that knows how to do in depth research and report on the facts and not just pander to the sensationalist angle or tell just one side of the story, this is especially true within the topic of tobacco harm reduction and the electronic cigarette in particular. But this is what Claire McKim has done, I wish there were a lot more like her out in the media.

Tom Holloway, 57, of Niceville, Florida a Vietnam veteran was left with horrific injuries after an electronic cigarette blew up in his mouth, knocking out all some of his teeth and part of his tongue.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2101565/Tom-Holloway-suffers-horrific-burns-exploding-electronic-cigarette-knocks-teeth.html#ixzz1mTscmyy7

The story has also spread to Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/02/15/electric-cigarette-explodes-in-us-mans-mouth/ although this time they contacted Thomas Kiklas of TVECA, when asked for . . . → Read More: Batteries | Electronic Cigarettes…and proper care]]>

Tom Holloway, 57, of Niceville, Florida a Vietnam veteran was left with horrific injuries after an electronic cigarette blew up in his mouth, knocking out all some of his teeth and part of his tongue.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2101565/Tom-Holloway-suffers-horrific-burns-exploding-electronic-cigarette-knocks-teeth.html#ixzz1mTscmyy7

The story has also spread to Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/02/15/electric-cigarette-explodes-in-us-mans-mouth/ although this time they contacted Thomas Kiklas of TVECA, when asked for his opinion of the incident  Kiklas  used the “We’ve never heard of this happening before” argument. Straight out of the Big Tobacco handbook of pleading ignorance when faced with difficult questions.

Fact is yes batteries can and do explode when not used within their specific parameters. This is not unique to the Electronic cigarette. Car batteries, Hand-held torches and High End Remote Controlled toy vehicles also have the same dangers, Often it is not the device that is at fault but the choice of batteries used. Not all batteries are created equal and using them outside of what they have been designed for or indeed using a battery that has seen batter days will increase your chances of having a similar incident.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?107-Smoke-and-Fire-Hot-Cells-and-Close-Calls-The-dangerous-side-of-batteries - The held held torch industry knows all too well the risks involved with batteries and the safe use thereof. Candle power forums is a valueable resource for anyone who wishes to delve deeper into the subject of batteries and battery safety.

You may remember the Dell Laptop scare some time ago: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/dell-battery-fire.htm - thus proving that battery failures are not device specific.

Tom Holloway is a Vaper of 2 years experience, from this I would conclude that Tom would have known a significant amount about whichever device he was using at the time. I find it hard to believe that when this incident happened, the device he would have been using would have been what members of the vaping community refer to as “look-a-like” device, an entry model product designed to have the look and feel of a regular cigarette.

More likely is that Tom was using what we refer to as a “Mod” …I really don’t like that name for it these days, it is derived from the word Modification in other words to modify another product, most often a torch casing to house the functional internals of an electronic cigarette or personal vaporizer, namely the battery (the power source), a button (used to activate the device) and finally the atomizer connection. By my definition a “Mod” is something modified by either yourself or someone else on your behalf.

The industry has evolved a lot since what was available since 2003 and even more so in the years from 2006 onwards. Available now are well designed and produced devices that are not modded, they are manufactured to exacting specifications, these are not “Mods” yet but for lack of a better term for them the global vaping community continues to refer to them as such.

A lot of people have been asking “What type of device he was using?” and “What make of Batteries?” and  ”Are the batteries that I am using safe?”.

The answer to the last one is, as long as you use due diligence and follow safety advice then YES, these incident’s however horrifying are not the norm. As far as the First two questions we will not know the answers to these until the case is all but closed and a verdict reached, although the companies involved will probably settle out of court.  I believe that  may effect the size of a settlement, due to perceived loss of earnings due to product disclosure I would think, wrong I know but lawyers work in the interests of the client not consumer safety.

As a side note also watch out for fakes when shopping for Batteries, again this is good advice for anyone, not just an Electronic Cigarette / Personal Vaporizer user.

Most vendors and suppliers in the industry tend, on the whole, to be vaper’s too and as such care about the past-time as much as you and I and would never knowingly stock a fake, but there are some vendors out there that have no interest in the hobby and are only in the business to make a fast buck, not many admittedly but you do have to do a bit of fact finding and review searching first before you go ahead with a purchase.

Now don’t have nightmares and get paranoid thinking it’s going to happen to you, if you use common sense and follow the guidelines for safety you will have years and years of vaping ahead of you to enjoy.

Keep On Vaping ….but let’s be Safe.  

P.S.  As always I don’t blog in the traditional sense, I will be added more to this post as and when it’s necessary to do so. I would also like to add that I wish Tom a speedy recovery and hope that this unfortunate event does not taint his view on the vaping past-time in the long term.

UPDATE:

On VTTV’s Wednesday show “VTTalk” Dave Dorn and special Guest Garry Dibley hold an open Q and A on the subject of Battery Safety.

Related articles

• Tom Holloway suffers horrific burns as exploding electronic cigarette knocks out all his teeth (dailymail.co.uk)
• E-Cigarette Explodes in Man’s Mouth (myfoxphoenix.com)
• Man Losses Teeth and Part of Tongue in Electric Cigarette Explosion (tampa.cbslocal.com)
• Electric cigarette explodes in Fla man’s mouth (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• E-Cigarettes: Not just another NRT aid! (ecigarettedirect.co.uk)
• Batteries | Electronic Cigarettes…and proper care (ecigusers.com)
• http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/everyday-tech/lithium-ion-battery1.htm - A good itroduction to the insides of lithium batteries
• http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/ecf-library/129569-rechargeable-batteries.html – ECF have provided this in depth information on battery safety
• http://casaamedia.blogspot.com/2012/02/electronic-cigarette-mishaps-extremely.html (CASAA)
• Utah Health Official Touts Benefit of Tobacco Cigarettes Over E-Cigarettes: At Least You Know How Much Nicotine You’re Getting (tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com)
• Royal College of Physicians Positive About Electronic Cigarettes (ecigarettedirect.co.uk)

http://vapebash.com/Main.html - to be held in Rosemont, Illinois on 30th-31st of March THIS IS A FREE EVENT!!!!

Brought to you by the Windy City Vapers Club”

National Vapers Club - Vape Fest

http://www.vapefest.com/ - to be held at the Hyatt Regency O’hare ( also in Richmond) and running from 30th of . . . → Read More: Vapemeets in Chigago | you have a choice]]>

Windy City Vapers Club - Vape Bash

http://vapebash.com/Main.html - to be held in Rosemont, Illinois on 30th-31st of March THIS IS A FREE EVENT!!!!

Brought to you by the Windy City Vapers Club”

National Vapers Club - Vape Fest

http://www.vapefest.com/ - to be held at the Hyatt Regency O’hare ( also in Richmond) and running from 30th of March until the 1st of April. This is a ticketed event ($20 per person, per day) or $30  for the weekend if you book online.

UPDATE!!!

Entry fee for Chicago Vapefest™ is $10 per day at the event (Saturday and Sunday)
or
$10 for all weekend entry and 5 free raffle tickets if paid in advance online
$10 for all weekend at the door and with a badge/pass from any other vaping event.
18 and over and you must have ID to get in!  - via http://www.vapefest.com/ 

Brought to you by the NVC – National Vapers Club

Many of your favorite vendor will be making an appearance at both (…check sites for more details).

…both events happen the next weekend after World Vaping Day (22nd of March) a day when vapers across the world will be meeting up locally to share their passion.

Join the Forum discussion on this post

Related articles

• World Vaping Day (ecigusers.com)

Join the Forum discussion on this post

This is a great little e-cig. Trog who designed them has really made something special here. It’s a great entry product for anyone who is looking to make the switch from traditional smoking. It’s also seen favour within the community as a whole as a perfect gift for a friend or for themselves.

Remember . . . → Read More: Liberty Flights adds the SD Keyring to their inventory]]>

This is a great little e-cig. Trog who designed them has really made something special here. It’s a great entry product for anyone who is looking to make the switch from traditional smoking. It’s also seen favour within the community as a whole as a perfect gift for a friend or for themselves.

Remember “disc-10″ at the checkout, will get you 10% off the purchase price.

SD Keyring Ecig by Trog

In the above image I’ve added an eGo to 510 adapter to the set up (…not included) doing this has allowed use of the eGo cone cover. I think it adds a little something extra, and gives the cartomizer just that little extra protection against “pocket abuse”.

I see the future of the SD Keyring to be big within the off-line sector. Why?…because it’s different, and it looks nothing like a cigarette. I’m willing to bet if Menkind who already stock the Gamucci in their brick and mortar stores had this along side a fair few customers would be attracted to the SD Keyring’s design and form factor, add to that the price point is in line with the disposable (single use) we already see on the market but with the added advantage of being rechargable.

Related articles

• Are E Cigs for Non Smokers (ecigusers.com)

The Mantis is 100% made in the USA. Machined form high quality Delrin. Includes a one million click rate button. The Mantis will hold RCR123, 17670 or 18650 protected batteries. – source siam mods

I find it great news for the UK that “The Scot” as he’s known on UKV has started to offer . . . → Read More: The Mantis is now available in the UK]]>

The Mantis is 100% made in the USA. Machined form high quality Delrin. Includes a one million click rate button. The Mantis will hold RCR123, 17670 or 18650 protected batteries. – source siam mods

I find it great news for the UK that “The Scot” as he’s known on UKV has started to offer The mantis. The form factor of the mod compliments well alongside The Cube. Being that it is capable of housing an 18650 shows that it may offer an alternative to the “Silver Bullet” ( A classic and popular model within the community).

This is what Grimm Green had to say on the device:

One day of national vaping awareness across the globe. When I smoked I almost found no smoking days almost insulting. Yet another day then the government and society would look down on me as a leper. The idea behind vaping awareness will not be this. It’s going to be about . . . → Read More: World Vaping Day]]>  

22nd March 2012

One day of national vaping awareness across the globe. When I smoked I almost found no smoking days almost insulting. Yet another day then the government and society would look down on me as a leper. The idea behind vaping awareness will not be this. It’s going to be about inclusion, not exclusion.  Recently I’ve been wooed over to the libertarian way of political thinking. Let the people choose. Now in the UK no smoking day falls on the 14th of March and it is heavily backed by the big pharma companies as well as other notable businesses. Yes it’s going to be an up hill struggle but I think we have to build on the positive press that the vaping world has recently enjoyed of late. We cannot be seen to rest on our laurels. In certain areas of the world little victories have been won, but the big battle is not over.

I genuinely believe in humanity to do the right thing, if given all the facts.

I don’t think Big Tobacco see’s vaping as a threat, it will simply see it as another revenue stream. In this economic climate I firmly believe that those in power should view the idea of recreational nicotine use as a good thing for economic growth. I don’t want to drill out the tired old rhetoric of vaping being safer on a magnitude unimaginable when up against the choice of combustion, there’s just no argument here. Even the anti-smoking lobby agree an in-fact publicise that it is indeed the burning of the tobacco leaf that release’s all the “bad” stuff.

Nicotine is not the enemy an indeed has been proven to have certain effects that are beneficial.

Vaping however should not be seen as a way to quit smoking, rather a way to continue the experience in a less hazardous form. Nicotine is no more harmful than caffeine period!!

Tell a man something and he’ll know that thing. He won’t know if it’s true or not, he’ll just know that thing you told him. Blind knowledge is useless, but teach a man to reason and he’ll think for a lifetime.

This is not propaganda, Vaping day will give the populations of the world a chance to hear and weigh the information for themselves.

What will you be doing in your area?

for more information about the events taking place across the world you can check out http://www.world-vaping-day.com or the facebook event page.

UPDATE!! – 20th Feb 2011

http://www.world-vaping-day.com/countries.html - 6 countries have got their pages up now, and many more on the way. Is you’re country not being represented on the day, drop a comment on the Get Involved page. The Google Map of events is also starting to fill up. For you’re country to have a voice on the site we need a page written in your country’s language so other’s can read and get involved.

Other things that you can do to help spread the word include sharing a link on you’re social profile or blog where ever that may be and talk a little about what you’ll be doing on World Vaping Day. On the site on the country pages a logo has also been made in that language for you to use, more versions will be added as the country list starts to fill up. So far we have the UK, USA, Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Malaysia.  Sweden and France are also onboard but we still need pages in those languages.

to use these images please make them link back to http://www.world-vaping-day.com

Related articles

• World Vaping Day: Spread the news and win a prize! (ecigarettedirect.co.uk)
• E-Cigarettes: Not just another NRT aid! (ecigarettedirect.co.uk)

Goldacre’s book Bad Science was published by Fourth Estate in September 2008.[4] The book contains extended and revised versions of many of his Guardian columns. . . . → Read More: Ben Goldacre | TED Edinburgh 2011 | Battling Bad Science]]> TED Live was held in Edinburgh in Scotland this Year. One of the many great people to lecture was Ben Goldacre.  Ben, as well as being a qualified Doctor is the author of  ”Bad Science“.

Goldacre’s book Bad Science was published by Fourth Estate in September 2008.^[4] The book contains extended and revised versions of many of his Guardian columns. It has been positively reviewed by the BMJ^[34] and Daily Telegraph^[35] and has reached the Top 10 bestseller list for Amazon Books. In an interview in 2008, Goldacre stated that “one of the central themes of my book [Bad Science] is that there are no real differences between the $600 billion pharmaceutical industry and the $50 billion food supplement pill industry”.^{[36] - wikipedia}

I would urge anyone interested in medicine and especially how the use of statistics and the withholding of statistics can skew the view of a medical product as to its effectiveness, or lack there of, to have a read of the book.

What has this got to do with “vaping” and the electronic cigarette?

…on face value nothing really, but, if you scratch past the surface you find that you can read a lot of What Ben has to say into the current situation and circumstances that the electronic cigarette is faced with regarding the “alledged” behind the scenes back-handing between the policy makers and Big Pharma.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ben_goldacre_battling_bad_science.html - Ben’s talk on TED.

I found this gem via forest (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco). As I’ve stated time and again I am a vaper that still enjoys the odd nicotine fix via the traditional method of burning tobacco, yes I know it’s not good for me. Yes it may very well lead to . . . → Read More: Non Smokers die every day]]>

I found this gem via forest (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco). As I’ve stated time and again I am a vaper that still enjoys the odd nicotine fix via the traditional method of burning tobacco, yes I know it’s not good for me. Yes it may very well lead to an early death.

A side note on the whole early death issue:

What do we mean by an early death? do we mean that smokers on average tend to exit this mortal coil, no later than 12 noon. (“No don’t be ridiculous Sam” – that’s just stupid.)

It means that I may or indeed may not have a shorter lifespan than I would possibly have expected had I never smoked. This as a statement of fact is all well and good but remember the words of the great Bill Hicks.

“Non Smokers die every day…sleep tight.”

We as humans are born to die, death is just one of those interesting facts of existence that we can perhaps hold off through exercise and proper diet but it WILL get us all in the end.

Part of the reason I blog and wax lyrical on the subject of vaping and to a certain extent evangelize the past time is not that I’m on a mission to convert, or attribute some great health benefit that can be gained  by making the switch to using an electronic cigarette. It is simply that I want to see a stop to the demonization of nicotine. At the doses in question when talking about the e liquid that we use in our personal vaporizers of choice, even by the standards in place used by both the FDA and indeed the MHRA and WHO are considered and sanctioned  safe by law.

My personal crusade is to see a normalisation of  nicotine use occur.