E-cigarettes

13 posts
Civil Rights E-cigarettes

H.R. 2058

The FDA is soon expected to extend its authority to all tobacco products. They consider electronic cigarettes and vaping products to fall into that category, so we could be looking at serious trouble for manufacturers.

Currently, products introduced prior to February of 2007 are grandfathered in under the doctrine of substantial equivalence.  Anything introduced later would have to go through an expensive and difficult approval process.  The problem is, the vast majority of vaping products were introduced after that date.

Rep. Tom Cole has introduced a bill that would move the “substantial equivalence” date for FDA deeming from 2007 to 2015, with a 21-month extension period. That means all vapor products currently on the market would be grandfathered in, as would any introduced in the following 2 years.

It’s not ideal by any reckoning.  I’d rather the FDA didn’t classify these products as tobacco, but that looks inevitable.

CASAA is supporting it, and you can contact your representative through Popvox.

E-cigarettes

Sigelei 100W Plus

3 comments

Vaporizers have come a long way over the last five years. In fact, they’ve seen a vast improvement over the last few months alone. A year ago, most power-regulated devices topped out at 11 watts or so, and they wouldn’t fire atomizers with a resistance of less than 1Ω.

The alternative were so-called mechanical mods, which used no circuitry and drew power directly from the battery. I could build lower-resistance coils to cheat more output, but the quality (and quantity) of vapor tapered off as the battery wore down over the day.

Better chips have since been developed over the last few months. Several manufacturers began using the Evolv DNA30 and DNA40 chips early last year, and now companies like Sigelei are using the newer Yihi sx330 chip to generate higher output.

Sigelei 100W Plus

Yes, this thing can go up to 100 watts. No, I haven’t run it that high. In fact, anything over 40 watts gets pretty overwhelming.

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E-cigarettes

Weasel Words

“Scientists say” is an ambiguous and manipulative phrase when not backed up by actual data. It’s right up there with “according to experts” and the ever-popular “studies have shown.”

Today’s exhibit is a hysteria-inducing broadside regarding e-cigarettes. Apparently, scientists say they contain ten times as much formaldehyde as cigarettes. So, where’s the data? The article, of course, doesn’t provide it.

It comes from a Japanese study, available here. The methodology is questionable, and the results contradict what we’ve been hearing from other scientists, like this guy I’m citing. It should be mentioned that this comes from a nation with a male smoking rate 60% higher than that of the United States, and one in which the government controls the tobacco industry.

The real motivation behind things like this is economic. Tobacco marketers [pdf] and pharmaceutical companies have long held monopolies on nicotine products. They’re not happy to see an open-source alternative biting into their market share, and they’re doing everything they can to kill it.

E-cigarettes

On Prohibition

I’m a big fan of Kennesaw’s Swift-Cantrell park, and I was dismayed to see this sign posted yesterday.

I understand the ban on tobacco. Secondhand smoke is a very real hazard, and nobody likes to see cigarette butts or puddles of treacly tobacco on the ground. E-cigarettes are a different matter. They don’t generate litter, and exposure to bystanders is pretty much nil outdoors.

Furthermore, e-cigarettes aren’t tobacco. Ordinance § 66-2(c)(3) makes it unlawful to “sell, smoke, or consume tobacco products.” The Breathe Easy policy is overreaching.

Doug Taylor is the Parks & Recreation Director for the city. He can be contacted here. Please be civil and polite in all correspondence.

E-cigarettes

Threat and Response

The good folks at Nicorette have been running these ads in the English media and on subway trains:

Nicorette Ad

If they didn’t feel their business model was threatened by vaping, they wouldn’t be running this campaign. Why the UK? It could be due to the fact that authorities there are all but endorsing e-cigarettes as a cessation tool. That cuts into business.

And is Nicorette any safer than vaping? Not by a long shot if you read the ingredients [pdf]. Electronic cigarettes contain propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, and nicotine. Nicorette QuickMist takes those ingredients and adds the following:

  • Anhydrous ethanol
  • Trometamol (which may cause birth defects)
  • Poloxamer 407 (which may cause liver problems)
  • Sodium hydrogen carbonate (baking soda)
  • Acesulfame potassium (basically Aspartame, with the attendant issues)
  • Hydrochloric acid

That last one should speak for itself.

Yet in the States, Nicorette has the wholehearted approval of the FDA and electronic cigarettes are on the chopping block.

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E-cigarettes

Stingray Black Copper

Until recently, I’d been using a Magneto mechanical mod for my coil builds.  Various build problems aggravated me, and when it broke, I replaced it with a Stingray clone.

Stingray Bottom Cap

All of the contacts on the Stingray are copper, which enhances conductivity. I suspected this was a gimmick, but it does actually heat up more quickly.

Stingray Top Cap

The top cap has a floating firing pin, which allows any tank or dripper to sit flush. Here it is with a Patriot RDA. With a 0.9Ω coil, it generates massive clouds.

E-cigarettes

Senate Hearings on E-cigarettes

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will be meeting Thursday to discuss potential regulations on e-cigarettes. The bad news is that they’ve already been subjected to a great deal of misinformation. The good news is that Senator Isakson is on the committee.

He can be reached via email here. Please keep things positive and polite. More to the point, keep them short and succinct. These communications are read by busy and underpaid staffers, and yours needs to stand out if they’re to bring it to his attention.

Focus on the positive aspects. If you’ve quit smoking tobacco, mention how effective these are. Tell him you aren’t inhaling 4,000 toxic chemicals and that you aren’t exposing those around you to secondhand smoke. Point out that you will not be a burden on the already-strained health-care system.

Reasonable regulations that reduce access to minors are good law, but overbearing restrictions and taxes on adults will interfere with what may be the greatest public-health invention in decades.

Civil Rights E-cigarettes

Even a Stopped Clock…

I’m not a fan of Fox News in the least. Charles Krauthammer and Megyn Kelly are great commentators, but the overall flood of right-wing rhetoric gets grating after awhile. That said, Greg Gutfield has personally taken point on the issue of e-cigarette regulation, and he’s well worth hearing.

He’s been very vocal on the matter, and he makes some great points. What’s more, he’s on a nationally-syndicated show in a time slot seen by millions. Please take a moment to voice your support.

Also, somebody get him to upgrade from those awful Blu sticks.

Civil Rights E-cigarettes

Proposed FDA Rule Changes for E-Cigarettes

The FDA has been making rumblings about regulating e-cigarettes for some time now. Today, they published their proposal [pdf].  It’s 241 pages, but this is what I’ve gathered on first pass:

Expect a ban the sale of e-liquid to minors via the internet, but not to adults. There’s no call for ban on those candy-flavored liquids that supposedly reel children into the habit. It doesn’t look like they’re going after liquid nicotine, either.

There are calls for labeling standards, but the industry never really opposed that. As far as the hardware goes, it looks like it will be exempt:

For purposes of this part, FDA considers any loose tobacco, including pipe tobacco, and the nicotine in e-cigarette cartridges to be within the definition of “covered tobacco product.” FDA proposes to treat covered tobacco products in a manner consistent with FDA’s treatment of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco throughout part 1140. In current part 1140, FDA imposes restrictions on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, but not on the components, parts, and accessories of such products.

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Civil Rights E-cigarettes

Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt

There’s been something of a full-court press to demonize electronic cigarettes in the media lately. The idea is to present them as a public-health menace on the same level as tobacco, thus triggering extensive regulations. Senator Durbin, along with Blumenthal, Markey, Boxer, Heitkamp, and Lautenberg, has called on the FDA to step in.

And why? Because they’re not already regulated. It’s a grim tautology that implies every aspect of our behavior should be subject to government oversight. It’s no coincidence that the politicians who have been the most vocal on this matter are also the biggest supporters of gun control in Washington DC.

It comes down to the same philosophy: meddling.

E-cigarettes

Cloud Chasing

3 comments

I’m a bit of a hardware geek, and this apparently extends to most of the endeavors I feel passionate about. Three weeks into vaping, and I’m almost completely off cigarettes. This is where that money appears to be going instead.

Vape Collection

The black unit is an iTaste MVP, which I bought as a backup. Also, it reminds me a bit of an old tube amplifier with the OCD tank mounted. That’s a perfectly legitimate reason.

The shorter silver unit is a Smoktech Magneto, which I bought because…is “secondary backup” a thing?

Smoktech

Sure. We’ll say it is. Anyhow, it fits well in a shirt pocket. The juices I’m using are by the Vapor Chef, who does some phenomenal work.