Issue 18

Products

Vapouround

for third party reviews or opinion pieces by external agencies. All trademarks, registered or otherwise of products in this magazine are the property of respective owners. To use trademarks, please contact the company directly, who will advise you further.

Who can believe this crazy ride has been going on for three years? As the industry has grown so rapidly, Vapouround has grown in size and capability. This year in particular has been huge for us.

In case you haven’t heard, we launched a new magazine, Vapouround Canada, in June at Canada’s Vape Expo in Toronto. You can check out the preview issue on the website, VapouroundCanada.com, and issue one will be out mid-August.

The Canadian vape community is going through something we here in Europe are all too familiar with, regulation, as the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act (TVPA) has been introduced to Canadians a year after the TPD came into full effect here.

Vapouround is going to be at the forefront of every announcement, news update and research study that could have an impact on vapers and the industry in North America. Now that Health Canada has publicly recognised vaping as a less harmful alternative to smoking, the sky is the limit for Canadian smokers who want to quit for good.

That’s not all we have to announce. Closer to home we are launching Vapouround Spain, with the first issue due in September. We’ve

teamed up with a great group of people in Madrid and we can’t wait to work with them to bring a new, top-class vape trade publication to the Spanish industry.

We’ve also partnered with Vape Konex, the world’s most exclusive trade show. This inviteonly event will take place on September 15 on board the luxurious ‘Silver Sturgeon’ as the who’s who of the industry talks business while cruising the Thames. All of the information is inside this issue and if you think you should be on board with this extraordinary event, get in touch with us.

Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who has supported the magazine since issue one came out in August 2015. It’s been one hell of a journey so far, and we have no plans to slow down anytime soon. We’re used to giving out accolades at the Vapouround Awards, but we recently picked up a couple of awards ourselves at the 2018 AI Business Excellence Awards. Vapouround was named Best B2B Vape Magazine and Up and Coming Vape Brand of the Year 2018. We love what we do, and we’re honoured to have been acknowledged like this, so thank you.

In the next issue we’ll be gearing up for October’s Vaper Expo UK as we return to the show as exclusive media partners.

Until then,

vapouround

Welcome to the third anniversary issue of Vapouround!

EDITOR

Paul Caplin - Editor paul@vapouround.co.uk

Fraudsters target UK vape shops

NI Trusts are anti-vaping FDA consultation sabotage

Top docs: vaping should be allowed in hospitals Update on vaping in prisons US PATH analysis

The Cloud - News in brief Dr Marina Murphy

FEATURES

Diary of a Vaper Vaping Entrepreneur Vape Recruit

US: Story of a public panic Chubby Gorilla and IP theft Adact: Age of enforcement Capella Flavors cover story Backing the winner US: Vape Scholarships

IBVTA: State of compliance report Preview of Vape Konex In response: Philip Morris Smoking on screen Head Candy for vaper’s tongue

Family first for Wiggan vapers

Column: Victor Mullin on vape shop saturation

VM Next Top Mod-el Vaping Underground

The Vape Debate: Why don’t more women vape? Ask the Scientist Thoughts from the shopfloor

115 116 117 120 121 124 126

ENDS Conference: An overview

ENDS: The UK vape trade is the envy of the world

ENDS: European regulation

ENDS: CBD e-liquids and the challanges ahead

ENDS: Innovation and design

ENDS: Worth fighting for Middle East Vape Show debut 129 130 134 140 144 148 152 156 159

EVENTS

Vapouround on Tour Vapitaly, Verona Vape South America VapExpo Madrid Intersteam Berlin Canada’s Vape Expo Derbyshire Festival Upcoming events Vapouround Bus on Tour

JUICE REVIEW-P198 FYI

REVIEWS

Vapouround Reviews

Teslacigs TPOD Kilo 1K POD SMOK I-PRIV SMOK G-PRIV Baby Vaporesso Polar Kit Vaporesso Armour Pro Kit Vape Emporium Vapouriz Capella Flavors Arc Distribution Premier Vaping Thor Juice CBD Asylum Canna Cotton Coil Porn

of losing £20,000 worth of e-liquids overnight, but thanks to the due diligence of their staff, no stock was released to the scammers. The company, which is well-known across the UK and Ireland, has been a long-standing friend of this magazine. They wish to remain anonymous for now but know the importance of getting the message out to the rest of the industry and have the industry as a whole take a stance against vape-related fraud. Here is what they told us:

“A man contacted us saying he wanted to spend a substantial amount of money on an order – within a couple of days he doubled his order. He told us he would pay the next day and collect the stock himself in time for the weekend.

“He lodged a cheque at the bank, which hadn’t cleared, but he was adamant that he paid cash at the bank and not by cheque. We contacted the bank – they were slightly confused by it too and then

What’s more, the cheque bounced, and it emerged it had come from a stolen cheque book, for which the account had been closed for fear of such fraudulent situations arising.”

Two weeks went by, and then a similar situation occurred involving the same company. Our source added:

“By Wednesday of the following week, someone else called asking to pay for an order by card. But the billing address for the card didn’t match the address they provided our staff with – it didn’t match any of the bank records for the card. The man then provided another address and the same thing happened again – it didn’t match.

“He rang back and was quite angry on the phone. He demanded that we refund him. But we weren’t able to charge him in the first place so there was no transaction to refund.

“Following on from that, two of the shops had calls from a man, who we immediately suspected to be the same person. He claimed to be calling from the bank this time. We contacted the bank and they froze the account this man claimed to be the holder of.”

In total, had this company released stock without ensuring that payment had been made successfully, they could have lost £19,000.

This magazine has been made aware of several of these scams in recent months. We know at least three companies have lost a significant amount of stock after succumbing to similar scams, not to mention the effect these aggressive calls have had on members of staff. We’re also aware there is a level of paranoia among vape shop staff on both sides of the Irish Sea. In speaking to shops ahead of the launch of the Vapouround Club in July, a number of people referenced similar scams.

Know your options when faced with fraud

Financial Fraud Action UK recommends businesses use a thirdparty service which allows retailers to check the address details provided by the customer. World Pay is just one such service which instantly identifies discrepancies in the card holder’s details such as an address not matching.

When dealing with first-time customers, the organisation also advises validating the customer’s personal address on the Electoral Register and being wary if they only supply a mobile number. “A landline number should be obtained where possible. Do not allow repeat orders to be processed or goods to be shipped without undertaking a further authorisation. Extra care should be taken if dealing with an unknown or new customer.”

Action Fraud is the national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre which deals with complaints of fraud from the public and businesses in the UK. It offers this advice:

“Be extremely wary of post, phone calls or emails offering you business deals out of the blue. If an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is. Always question it. Be aware of when fraudsters pretend to be a lawyer or a law enforcement officer and tell you they can help you recover the money you’ve already lost. If debit or credit cards, online banking or cheques are involved, your first step should be to contact your bank or credit card company.”

You can also sign up to the Action Fraud Alert programme to receive direct, verified and accurate information about scams and fraud in your area. If you’ve been a victim of fraud, contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or by using the online reporting tool.

For more information, go to actionfraud.police.uk or financialfraudaction.org.uk

“He rang back and was quite angry on the phone. He demanded that we refund him”

NORTHERN IRELAND’S HEALTH TRUSTS HAVE AN ANTI-SMOKING AND ANTI-VAPING POLICY

ALL NI TRUSTS DON’T JUST PROHIBIT SMOKING, THEY’RE ALSO ANTI-VAPING. WHY?

BY LEO FORFAR

All five of the Northern Ireland Health Trusts have adopted an anti-smoking policy which also prohibits e-cigarettes. The initiative, called “Smoke Free,” requires hospitals under control of the Trusts to also prohibit e-cigarette use. It cites a near five-year-old statement from the British Medical Association (BMA) which runs contrary to studies and pro-vaping endorsements made by various health bodies since then.

“There is a lack of rigorous, peer-reviewed studies to support the use of e-cigarettes as a safe and effective nicotine-replacement therapy,” says the policy.

This statement was first published in October 2013 and is out of step with the contemporary medical consensus for the UK and Northern Ireland.

The NHS and Public Health England now describe e-cigarettes as both 95 percent less harmful than cigarette smoking and an effective means of cessation, contributing to over 20,000 quits per year.

In addition, Stoptober 2017 saw more institutional governmental support for e-cigarettes than ever before, especially from healthcare professionals. The Royal College of Physicians has urged hospitals to better embrace e-cigarettes to lessen the burden on the NHS to curb smoking-related illness and take the next step in lowering rates.

Online journal Oxford Academic has also criticised the conflation of tobacco and vapour products, calling for a clearer distinction, which this policy does not appear to comply with either. The latest and last NI Trust to fall in line is the Western Trust. The Smoke Free initiative for the Western Trust originally went into effect in October 2014 and its renewal – including a vaping ban – was announced on June 25 this year. The other four Trusts with this rule are Northern Ireland, Northern, Southern, South Eastern and Belfast. Vapouround reached out to all five, as well as the Northern Ireland Department of Health, for comment. The responses have revealed a steadfast dedication to the policy, which is not founded on harm reduction, though some are undergoing review.

The Department of Health NI have stood by the policy, citing the independence of the various Trusts in adopting it. A spokesperson said:

“Whilst policy prohibiting smoking and vaping on Trust grounds is a matter for each Trust to decide on, it is vitally important that health and social care organisations demonstrate leadership in protecting health and promoting healthy behaviours. Vaping, in an area where tobacco smoking is already banned, cannot be considered as a health promoting behaviour.”

IS VITALLY IMPORTANT THAT HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE ORGANISATIONS DEMONSTRATE LEADERSHIP IN PROTECTING HEALTH AND PROMOTING HEALTHY BEHAVIOURS”

– DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH NI

Northern Health and Social Care Trust said that, “Northern Trust policies relating to not smoking have always applied to all kinds of tobacco products. Since 2014 this has included e-cigarettes,” but did not elaborate further on why they considered e-cigarettes tobacco products.

The Western Trust do not appear convinced by the existing studies and statements. A spokesperson said:

“The role of the Western Trust is to provide care and enable people to live healthier lives. We are committed to reducing the use of tobacco and its harmful health effects.

The rationale behind this decision is based on a lack of studies to support the use of e-cigarettes as a safe and effective nicotine replacement therapy. Our policy is also in line with the views of the BMA and the Public Health Agency (PHA). It is the PHA’s position that in general, e-cigarettes should not be used in any public space where tobacco smoking is not permitted.”

The spokesperson continued: “The ban on the use of e-cigarettes will be reviewed once further scientific evidence becomes available and if e-cigarettes become regulated as medicines by the government.”

If the NI trusts are out of step with the NHS, PHE, RCP and other bodies of medical research on this matter, there may also be further dissention down the road, and sceptics are wondering how far such divisions will extend. The Trusts continually cite the BMA’s 2013 statement, despite the following points now appearing on the BMA’s website:

“The evidence-base in this area remains weak, though most studies demonstrate a positive relationship between the use of e-cigarettes and smoking cessation.”

“Unlike cigarette smoking, e-cigarette use does not expose users to the products of combustion, and most of the toxicants causing smoking-related e-cigarette vapour.”

The Western Trust will review its own policy in October later this year. A spokesperson for the Northern Trust also said “The Trust has an ongoing process for reviewing all our policies.”

“IT

FDA E-CIGARETTE CONSULTATION SUFFERS POTENTIAL SABOTAGE

By Leo Forfar

The US Food and Drug Administration’s ongoing consultation over flavoured e-liquid regulations has been flooded with anti-vaping spam messages in what appears to be an attempted sabotage.

A suspiciously high volume of new messages was submitted from Friday June 8 before being stopped on June 11.

Over a quarter of a million comments were submitted in total over the two-day period, nearly bringing down the server, according to the Division of Docketts Management (DDM) which manages the submissions network. Almost all of the comments were anti-vaping and anti-flavour. This has potentially thrown the consultation into crisis.

Regulator Watch’s Brent Stafford said: “Sometime around close of business on Friday, June 8, an unknown actor or actors launched a computer script or ‘bot’ designed to individually enter en masse thousands of comments into the official record via a web form available to the public on Regulations.gov.

“The bot reached full throttle, entering 255,000 comments, before technical staff could isolate the four offending IP addresses and cut off the flow – which they did the following Monday, June 11.”

The messages were traceable to just four IP addresses with tens of thousands of them duplicates of the exact same text, submitted under anonymous handles.

Stafford said: “It’s a disruption campaign of the highest order, one that could bring down the consultation process and take vaping with it.”

Stafford also described the sabotage as a “massive assault on the credibility of the public consultation process.”

US-based vape businesses and their allies still fear a federal flavour ban. Numerous states and other local authorities have already intensified anti-vaping and anti-flavour legislation on a smaller scale.

In June, 68 percent of San Francisco voters backed Proposition E – which prohibited the sale of flavoured e-liquid under the banner of wider tobacco legislation.

This latest disruption is sure to stifle progress, and many companies and vapers in the US fear their contribution to the consultation will be undone. Sources from within DDM confirmed to Regulator Watch that at least 60 percent of the comments they had received were anti-vaping spam submissions. The FBI has been notified and is carrying out an investigation.

“It’s a disruption campaign of the highest order, one that could bring down the consultation process and take vaping with it.”

Hundreds of thousands of spam messages have clogged up the administration’s inbox and vaping advocates suspect foul play

Leading doctors say patients should be allowed to vape in hospitals

Quit rates could double if vaping was permitted on site, researchers estimate.

By ROISIN Delaney

A recent report on how the National Health Service treats smoking addiction calls for e-cigarettes to be permitted in NHS hospitals.

According to the report from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), smoking cessation services should be an “opt-out” element of a smoker’s healthcare plan.

Researchers estimate that implementing such a move could double quit rates.

Professor John Britton is chair of the RCP’s Tobacco Advisory Group and lead editor of the report. He said: “Treating the more than one million smokers who are admitted to hospitals every year represents a unique opportunity for the NHS to improve patients’ lives, while also saving money.”

The report also calls for new legislation requiring NHS hospitals to implement completely smoke-free grounds, because adherence to current guidance is “patchy” across the UK.

While some hospitals, like Ipswich, Colchester and Essex, have enforced on-site smoking bans and introduced designated vaping areas, many hospitals are yet to make progress on the public health issue.

The RCP has also called for all healthcare training to include information on smoking cessation. This comes following research by Action on Smoking Health (ASH) UK, which shows the extent of the damage which smoking is having on public health in the south west of England.

The region spends more than £120 million every year on smoking, a number which ASH says encompasses the cost to businesses and healthcare. A 2016 audit reported that one in four hospital patients in Cornwall were not asked if they smoked, while half of frontline hospital staff were not trained in smoking cessation.

In England, the responsibility for stop smoking services has shifted from a national level to a local authority level in recent years and funding has fallen “dramatically” as a result, according to the RCP.

Professor Britton added that cessation services need to be more of a priority across the UK, saying: “The biggest avoidable cause of death and disability in the UK is hiding in plain sight in our hospitals and other NHS services; the NHS must end the neglect of this huge opportunity to improve our nation’s health.”

Meanwhile, chief executive of Public Health England Duncan Selbie reacted to the report in agreement with its findings, saying: “We fully support the Royal College in saying by far the majority of the NHS could be doing more to help smokers to quit.”

PRISONS

BY GORDON STRIBLING

THE DEVICES COULD STOP SMOKERS FROM SEEKING MORE HARMFUL ALTERNATIVE

Prisons Minister Rory Stewart says fears that a smoking ban in prisons in England and Wales would lead to a decline in safety have not materialised.

The ban was initially rolled out eight years ago in a bid to close a loophole in 2007’s national smoking ban which permitted prisoners to continue to smoke in their cells.

Mr Stewart said that since the campaign began, the number of inmates using e-cigarettes has increased significantly.

In a letter to Bob Neill MP, Chairman of the Justice Select Committee, Mr Stewart said: “[We] have seen a marked decrease in the number of prisoners purchasing tobacco and an increase in those purchasing vaping products as the roll out has progressed which does indicate behavioural change. By April 2018 prisoners were purchasing 50,000 vaping products including refill packs per week.”

As we reported in issue 14 of this magazine, a pilot project saw the Isle of Man prison introduce a tamper-proof vaping device called e-burn. The device was designed with prisons and other high-security environments in mind.

Prison Governor Bob McColm said the pilot has been a ‘major success story’ after the prison saw a 42 percent drop in adjunctions, a 58 percent drop in behaviour warnings and had saved £8,500 a year in nicotine-replacement therapy.

Promising results have also been seen at Guernsey’s prison

which banned tobacco in 2013. There has been a reduction in offences related to discipline, self-harm and bullying. The prison exclusively uses the e-burn device.

Elsewhere, a damning report by MP Directorate of Prisons found that enforcement of the smoking ban had contributed to an increase in violence at Leicester Prison.

The report said: "Managers attributed this rise to a combination of the smoking ban, an influx of younger prisoners from HMP Glen Parva and the influence of new psychoactive drugs."

There is mounting evidence that the smoking ban has led to widespread use of drugs such as spice and black mamba, formally referred to as legal highs. The substances can be easily smuggled in to prisons by being sprayed onto letters sent to inmates.

Nurses at Holme House prison in Stockton-on-Tees were ordered to boycott the site after NHS chiefs found that staff were being poisoned after inhaling substances while attending to inmate overdoses. Almost 15 warders fell ill in once day, forcing governor Chris Dyer to put the jail into lockdown. Violence against staff and inmates at the prison has risen by almost 50 percent.

Prior to the smoking ban being enforced in August last year, around 80 percent of the prison population smoked tobacco compared to just under 16 percent of the rest of the population.

The high rate was attributed to high incidence of mental health problems as well as the socioeconomic makeup of the prison population.

“BY APRIL 2018 PRISONERS

WERE PURCHASING 50,000 VAPING PRODUCTS INCLUDING REFILL PACKS PER WEEK”

US: GROWING NUMBER OF SMOKERS & PUBLIC DON'T BELIEVE THAT VAPING IS LESS HARMFUL THAN SMOKING

Despite falling smoking rates, some think vaping is harmful and ineffective.

BY LEO FORFAR

An increasing number of smokers in the US do not believe that vaping is less harmful than smoking tobacco.

That’s according to the latest Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study which was presented at the fifth Global Forum on Nicotine in Warsaw in June. Researchers found that in 2015, 57 percent of adult smokers stateside viewed e-cigarettes as being just as harmful or more harmful than smoking. This figure increased from 43 percent in 2013.

The report said: “The proportion of adult current smokers who believed e-cigarettes were just as, or more, harmful than smoking increased substantially.” When extended to the general population, smoker and nonsmoker alike, the number rose from 54 percent in 2013 to 65 percent in 2015.

Though it only covers a two-year period and ends in 2015, this is the most up to date comprehensive collection of such data. The study describes the phenomenon as evidence of a, “poor understanding among smokers, of all smoking statuses, about the relative harms of e-cigarettes,” and that it is “of concern.”

Perceptions are worsening, even though scientific evidence supporting e-cigarettes’ relative safety and effectiveness in cessation is growing. The report concedes that during this

same two-year period, “independent scientific evidence grew supporting e-cigarettes as a less harmful alternative to combustible tobacco.”

The report also acknowledges that overseas, attitudes towards vaping are improving as smoking rates fall, mentioning the approval of public health organisations in countries like the UK, which are embracing e-cigarettes and pushing smokers towards them as an alternative to smoking. The US is relatively uninformed and lagging behind in this effort, remaining “poorly informed about the relative risk of these products.”

This is not the only recent publication confirming such a downward trend in the perception of smokers’ and the general public. A 2017 global survey from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World measured 45 percent of US smokers as seeing vaping “as harmful as or more harmful than conventional cigarettes.” A smaller number, but not one vape companies and advocates are likely to receive well.

Nicotine is an addictive substance and the only element linking e-cigarettes with combustible cigarettes. Misconceptions about the harms caused by nicotine appear to drive this negative perception about e-cigarettes in the US. The PATH study cites data from the 2017 findings as a possible candidate for such a misconception:

“Moreover, US consumers believed that using nicotine every day was more dangerous than drinking every day and that nicotine itself, rather than smoking, was a cause of lung cancer, throat cancer, and heart disease.”

The PATH report calls for more assertive clarity from the authorities. It suggests that policy makers “aim to assess the causes and effects of misperceptions of the relative harm of e-cigarettes compared with conventional cigarettes and improve knowledge about the role of nicotine in the development of diseases caused by smoking.”

The global vape industry has seen its successes by marketing their products as an exceptionally effective tool for the specific purpose of smoking cessation. Although the US remains the dominant e-cigarette market, the perceptions of its smoking and non-smoking populations are an outlier, and not in line with the potential the American market still can create for cessation.

“INDEPENDENT SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE GREW SUPPORTING E-CIGARETTES AS A LESS HARMFUL ALTERNATIVE TO COMBUSTIBLE TOBACCO.”

CLOUD THE CLOUD

1

AIM HIGH OR LOW?

Ex-smokers may be better off vaping high nicotine liquids according to a study funded by Cancer Research UK. Vapers using low rather than high nicotine e-liquids may be using their devices more intensely, potentially increasing the risk of exposure to toxins which may be present in the vapour, according to the London South Bank University study. The participants vaping lower nicotine reported a stronger urge to vape, more acute withdrawal symptoms and were less satisfied after use, the findings show. While there can be toxic chemicals present in vapour, they are far fewer and at lower concentrations than in tobacco smoke, the study clarifies.

LEADING THE WAY

Health workers at South Tyneside are being urged to lead the way and stub out their habit as a stop smoking service is relaunched. NHS staff in the borough are being encouraged to give up once and for all as the local NHS Trust bids to become a completely smoke-free organisation. The staff stop smoking service is also available to friends and family. Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) predicts the annual cost of smoking to the NHS in South Tyneside is £7.1 million.

6 7SMOKE-FREE IRELAND

THE VAPING (NOT) DEAD

A short satirical horror film has been released, shedding light on the tobacco industry and media’s ongoing attempts to suppress vaping. ‘The Vaping [Not Dead]’ tells the story of a group of vapers whose lifestyle choice is under threat from a psychopathic, baseball batwielding manifestation. With a cast and crew comprised entirely of impassioned vapers, this award-winning film directed by Dominique Aubert breaks new ground for vaping activism.

Senator Catherine Noone has urged the Irish Government to develop a clear policy on e-cigarettes, aimed at reducing the number of smokers. The Department of Health in Ireland has said it does not have enough evidence to recommend vaping as part of the Tobacco Free Ireland programme. The initiative aims to reduce smoking from the current rate of 22 percent to under five percent by 2025. The senator pointed out that England and Scotland have policies that recommend e-cigarettes, saying: “Neighbouring countries that support their use have the same evidence. If we want people to stop smoking we have to help them any way we can and if e-cigarettes work, we need to offer them.”

SMOKE-FREE SCOTS

A crackdown on smoking in open public places where children are present, such as at play parks, has been revealed in a Raising Scotland’s Tobacco-Free Generation blueprint, which it’s hoped will help Scotland become smoke free by 2034. The proposal also includes banning smoking outside hospitals and prohibiting cigarettes in prisons, as well as on communal stairwells. However, e-cigarettes will still be permitted in prisons. Scotland was the first UK nation to introduce the ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces such as pubs and restaurants in 2006.

STANDARD PRACTICE

Universal standardisation and harmonisation in e-liquid testing is urgently needed, EL Science Technical Director Shaun Wedgwood told the recent ENDS conference in London. He said universal standards would make risk assessment easier and allow the public to be more confident that liquids they were buying were free from harmful chemicals. He added: “There is room for improvement within the industry, but it is very hard for us to come to a consensus without some form of standardisation.”

OXFORD RULES

The online journal Oxford Academic has come out against naming e-cigarettes as tobacco products. A recent editorial titled “Are e-cigarettes tobacco products?” describes the merging of vaping and tobacco products as a, “particularly US phenomenon” and said that the language used by a medical academics must be clear and unambiguous: “We are fundamentally a scientific journal and should ensure that the terms we use a clear, unambiguous and valid.”

MEANWHILE

A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING

Iceland is to become the first nation to adopt a specific law for vaping with zero links to tobacco products. The law also covers advertising, making it legal to advertise vaping products in Iceland. However, it will also limit nicotine concentration to two percent and stipulates that a 0.9 percent tax be applied to all vaping product sales, which will fund anti-smoking initiatives. The Icelandic Health Directorate are crediting e-cigarettes for a 40 percent drop in smoking rates since 2014.

3 4 5 9 8 10

HAVE YOUR SAY

The European Union has launched a public consultation on excise duties concerning vaping products. The consultation will run until September 3 and is intended to “gather the views of stakeholders on the current tobacco taxation in the EU, as well as on novel products (e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products) and appropriate options for a possible revision of [the TPD].”

The New Nicotine Alliance (NNA) has joined forces with several European advocacy groups in taking a stand against a potential EU vape tax. They say the only acceptable form of tax on vaping products is VAT and believe that a tax on vaping could discourage smokers from making the switch due to the incurred cost. The NNA also says if enforced, the vape tax could “protect” smoking. For more information on the consultation, go to ec.europa.eu or nnalliance.org

ANNIVERSARY

DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS

– Snus, e-cigarettes and heated products –

By Dr Marina Murphy

There was a time when many thought the ‘Swedish experience’ was an anomaly that couldn’t be repeated elsewhere. The Swedish experience refers to the phenomenon whereby Swedish smokers switched en masse to a smokeless tobacco called snus.

The result being there are now less smokers in Sweden than anywhere else in the EU, and Sweden boasts the lowest levels of cancer in the developed world, at least in men, as it is men rather than women who took up snus.

Many in the public health community argued that the Swedish experience proved smokers are willing to switch when suitable alternatives to cigarettes are

available. Critics said, no! But emerging evidence is proving those critics wrong. While the Swedish experience happened over many decades, now we are seeing accelerated rates of adoption of other potential reduced-risk nicotine products in other countries.

Smokers from England and Japan are switching in their droves to e-cigarettes and tobacco-heating-products, respectively. “This just goes to show that one size does not fit all,” Dr Sudhanshu Patwardhan, Senior International Engagement Manager, British American Tobacco told delegates at the Global Forum for Nicotine (GFN) in Warsaw, Poland, in June. “Smokers from different countries and different

(Figure 2a)

cultures want different things,” he said. This is why consumers wanting to quit or reduce smoking need to have a range of products available to them so that they can find the product that really works for them.

The English Experience

Smoking rates in England are now at a record low at 17 percent (Figure 2a) and health experts in organisations like Public Health England (PHE) say that this is partly due to the availability of e-cigarettes and the fact that smokers use them for quitting. In England,

e-cigarettes are now most commonly used by ex-smokers (Figures 2b). Indeed, during the annual “Stoptober” stop-smoking campaign in England in October 2017, PHE actively promoted the use of e-cigarettes as a stop-smoking device.

Smoking in the UK overall is also at an all-time low, and researchers at the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies (UKCTAS) say that vaping can help to explain this. They say UK smoking is falling faster than would be expected from conventional tobacco control approaches.

While all the policies put in place will have made a difference, the most likely explanation for the recent rapid decline is the increasing use by smokers of e-cigarettes as a substitute for tobacco. Professor John Britton, of UKCTAS says that e-cigarettes are now the most popular aid to stopping smoking and are used in more than one third of quit attempts.

Alongside established tobacco control policies, e-cigarettes may have significantly accelerated the downward trend in smoking. This, he says, vindicates UK policy on vaping and that doing more to encourage more smokers to make the switch could generate huge benefits in public health, especially among those groups in society where smoking remains common.

The Japanese Experience

In Japan, tobacco-heating products have become very popular very quickly. “What stands out here is how quickly these products have been adopted by Japanese smokers.

Japanese smokers are heading in the same direction as Swedish smokers –out of smoking – but in one fifth of the time! Sales of conventional cigarettes are dropping rapidly, as sales of tobacco heated products rise (see Figure 3).

For a country where up to 45 percent adult men are smokers, this rate of

(Figure 3)

switching to an innovative tobacco product is phenomenal,” Patwardhan told delegates at the GFN.

What is the Swedish Experience?

In Sweden, smokers have been switching to a smokeless product called snus since the 1970s, with the result that while tobacco use overall is on a par with the rest of Europe, snus use has overtaken smoking (Figure 1).

Sweden has the lowest smoking rate in Europe at less than five percent (1), according to the most recent Eurobarometer. This compares to a European average of 24 percent. Over many decades, this has led to measurable impacts on public health. Swedish men, who adopted snus with gusto, have the lowest rates of cancer in the developed world (2).

The Swedish experience happened over many decades, and it was thought that this kind of phenomenon could not be replicated elsewhere. Recently, however, we have seen accelerated rates of adoption of other potential reduced-risk nicotine products in other

countries: e-cigarettes in England and tobacco-heating-products in Japan.

Different Strokes for Different Folks

“These three countries, though very different, are seeing a similar trend –smokers are switching to alternative products like never before,” Patwardhan says. “Clearly, smokers around the world have different needs and wants.

This is why we need to continue to innovate, to create a catalogue of new and exciting products that will maximise the opportunities for smokers to switch out of smoking.”

“With harm reduction, like with many other things in life, there are different strokes for different folks,” according to Martin Cullip, spokesperson and trustee of the New Nicotine Alliance (NNA) in the UK. “One harm-reduced product or

one type of harm-reduced product just won’t cut it,” he says. “That would be like asking everyone who likes a tipple to just drink beer.”

He explains that this why the NNA wants to see many different types of safer products made available to smokers who choose to reduce or replace cigarettes, whether these be tobacco-based products or vapour-based ones. “There are no downsides to reducing harm and risk from combustible tobacco, and we are happy to lend our support to anything that delivers this goal,” he says.

“ Doing more to encourage more smokers to make the switch could generate huge benefits in public health

– Professor John Britton, UKCTAS “

DIARY OF A VAPER

My partner, David Kurey, got me into vaping. In 2012, I was smoking up to two packs a day. I tried everything to quit like patches, gum, prescription drugs and after failing over and over again, I thought there was no hope. I came to terms with it until Dave brought me to a vape shop. After picking up my first ego kit, everything changed. I started at 12mg and after five years, I’m currently vaping on some 3mg Dragonaire. When you come from a place where you think you will probably die of cancer to a place where you’re not coughing all, it’s an experience that you can’t fully understand unless it happens to you.

Dave and I used to be roomies in early 2012. We discovered vaping at the same time and gave up smoking immediately. One evening we were sat vaping, whilst watching TV, and we started discussing the idea of setting up something in this amazing new market. Dave initially suggested opening a shop and the conversation eventually evolved into utilising Dave’s amazing palette as a super-keen amateur chef and my pharmacy-tech background to start manufacturing our own juices. We both put cash in and rented the use of a lab in the evenings, when everyone had gone home for the night!

Very quickly we had hundreds of mason jars worth of juices, steeping in dark cupboards anywhere and everywhere available, trying to get the flavours just right.

We spent weeks and weeks perfecting them and would take the best to vape shops to get their feedback. The first successful one was Dragonaire, which took such a long time to pass the Goldilocks test; not too cool, not too fruity, but just right. They were all 50:50 back then, as everything was about flavour, so our Tasty Cloud range

did exactly what it said on the

tin. All of this range of juices is still being sold in over 2,500 vape shops in the US still, six years later – so I’m proud to say they have stood the test of time.

It wasn’t long before devices started getting bigger and cloud-chasing rush started, so we brought out our 75:25 Fixx-e range, which went crazy too. We couldn’t get over the demand for them and feel so happy to have created something that people seem to keep vaping, rather than just buying one bottle and moving on to something else. We then brought out The Cakery range a couple of years ago, which ended up overtaking both the other brands, especially in the slight colder regions and countries. Now, in time for summer, we have launched Chilled Milk, which is nothing like anything else on the market. The unique flavours are going crazy over here and we’re hoping the sales will overtake The Cakery at some point soon.

We love the vaping industry and love the fact we’ve been able to contribute to it and generate a successful company from it. We’re so lucky to have a huge purposebuilt lab in California now, but it’s still nice to look back at those days of using the rented lab, in the middle of the night, to ensure we could up with something spectacular for people to enjoy.

To this day we still haven’t ever done a trade show and have made over two million sales, which, we feel, tells all you need to know about the flavours we have worked hard to create. But, there is still one state in the US that doesn’t have our juices now so we’re not ready to rest yet.

Scott Friedman, CEO Tasty Cloud

ASH MEHMOOD MANAGING DIRECTOR of Vape Duty Free

At the time this interview was conducted, Britain was in the grip of a heatwave. Or, as some people were optimistically calling it, ‘summer.’ And if the scorching temperatures weren’t enough, even the most cynical English nationals were being swept up in World Cup hysteria. This provided the perfect backdrop for this edition of Vaping Entrepreneur, which features Ash Mehmood, owner of e-liquid company, Vape Duty Free.

Much like the World Cup, this new range of e-liquids celebrates cultural identity and diversity, with countries as far and wide as China, Ecuador, France and the United Arab Emirates represented so far. Not to mention the US in the form of Kool-Aid, which won the Best Menthol/ Mint award at the Vaper Expo UK in May. “We went to the expo with a limited budget and a small profile,” Ash said. “So to walk away with an award ahead of the big guns was a shock to say the least.”

While the Nottingham-based company is something of a new kid on the block, Ash’s journey on the vapour trail goes back a few years to his time working as branch manager of Carphone Warehouse in Coventry, where he was introduced to

a Cigalike. He soon found himself being headhunted by Cigara and took his first steps into the industry.

“It all started with a phone call, on my birthday in November last year,” Ash said.

“And it hasn’t really stopped since.”

Ash’s experience at Cigara showed him just how rewarding working with the vaping community could be. But he soon found that doing his own thing with three good friends was even better.

“We wanted to be our own bosses and travel the world and that’s exactly what Vape Duty Free has enabled us to do.”

Vape Duty Free’s brand is something of a masterstroke. With the cuisines, tastes and flavours of hundreds of countries to draw from, there are limitless juice cocktail possibilities.

“The name makes sense,” Ash said.

“People instantly understand what it represents, and it gives us a global reach and sense of community.”

The role gave Ash invaluable industry experience that would set him on the path to starting a vape business of his own.

This sense of community extends to Vape Duty Free’s growing customerbase. Growth of the business is driven by what vapers say they want from the company. In order to give back to these customers, Ash will soon be offering one lucky vaper a unique opportunity to develop an e-liquid of their own.

“We’re doing the competition in association

“We wanted to be our own bosses and travel the world and that’s exactly what Vape Duty Free has enabled us to do”

with Vapouround,” Ash said. “We’ll get together for a meeting to discuss their idea and they’ll be able to visit the facility where it’ll get made. One thousand pounds of the sales of their liquid will be donated to their charity of choice.”

There are currently ten flavours in the Vape Duty Free range but even if they were to only stick with one flavour per country, that’s another potential 185 e-liquids. But it’s not just about vapers’ sense of national identity.

“People form emotional connections with different countries,” he said. “Maybe they’ve been on holiday somewhere or had a significant life experience that stuck with them. Our liquids reconnect them with those places and experiences.”

While the journey so far has been rewarding, it has not been without its challenges. Since starting the company in September, Ash hasn’t taken a wage and has had to survive on his personal savings. Plus, he has another business to take into account – award-winning fast-food restaurant, Love Jimbo’s.

Work is so all-consuming that he had a kidney stone removed one morning and was back in the office by the afternoon. But thankfully, the hard work is already paying off.

“We made an impact in the UK straight away. And while there are only four of us at the moment, we are expanding and will soon be moving into a new 2,200 square feet site.”

It’s fair to say that the industry is flooded with e-liquids of varying quality. They are, for obvious reasons, the easiest entry-point for those looking to capitalise on the success of vaping. But there is a finite number of vapers. One way to stand out is through innovation, as we’ve seen with salt-based nicotine and short-fills.

Ash and the team are diversifying by introducing a revolutionary flavour additive called Mixrz, enabling vapers to change the flavour of any e-liquid on the market by adding a shot of lemon, biscuit, sour, ice or fizz flavouring.

“As vapers, we try liquids all the time and think: ‘this is great – if only it had a

little lemon or menthol flavour to it’. We realised that we accessorise mods so why not accessorise e-liquid?”

It can take time for innovation to spread, so the goal now is to get vapers on board with the Mixrz concept. There will also soon be some tantalising new flavours added to the range.

“These e-liquids have never been tried in the UK and they’re all tied to the countries they represent. So #watchthisspace!”

Speaking of hashtags, the additional hands on-deck will free up time to push the social media side of the business. Again, this is rife with opportunity. The social media buzz generated by national holidays and sporting events provides the perfect platform to promote Vape Duty Free’s range.

The next 12 months are guaranteed to present more opportunities to embrace and challenges to overcome. But for Ash, there would be no other way.

“Ultimately it’s all about taking care of our families and giving them the best quality of life we can.”

ASH MEHMOOD | MANAGING DIRECTOR of Vape Duty Free

THE E-LIQUID MARKET’S GOLDEN STANDARD

K AB Global Distribution is the market leader in the e-liquid market. KAB has transformed hundreds of recognised e-liquid brands to become globally recognised e-liquid brands through the flawless execution of manufacturing, co-packing and distribution across the world.

Recruiting the right people for the right job remains a constant challenge in this industry. Retaining talent once you find it is another.

Vape Recruit is a specialised recruitment company that can help source and choose the best talent in the industry to support your businesses and future growth.

Over the last five years, this industry has boomed and has fast become one of the most lucrative in the market today – now it’s time to go professional.

Vape Recruit has been reflecting on this and realise there is a huge opportunity in this market to offer an innovative solution to meet the recruitment needs of the various types of businesses in this young and exciting industry.

The company, still in its infancy, has generated attention from vaping businesses and candidates alike and is proving to be an ideal fit for meeting the needs of its clients.

Until now much of the recruitment of employees in vaping has fallen at the feet of the individual businesses, who may have less time to con centrate fully on the operation or just don’t have the experience in finding true talent.

Enter Vape Recruit.

What kind of busIness do you have? What are your challenges and frustrations? Maybe you struggle to hire suitable retail staff, specialist staff for your liquid manufacturing operation, sales people for your distribution business or temporary sales/promo staff for your events. Whatever your structure, Vape Recruit can find the right staff you can rely on.

“We want to play a key part in making the industry more professional by connecting you with talented and skilled individuals who are looking for credible, buildable careers.

We can and will find the right staff for you. Just ask our current client. Our team of recruitment professionals encompass over 20 years of ex perience in resourcing talent and have the drive and ambition required to suit the ambitions of businesses today. They are as passionate about the vaping industry as you or I, and they realise how exciting and creative the indus try, meaning it can attract the very people you would be looking for.”

A STORY OF A

PANIC PUBLIC

DOOM & GLOOM

JUUL HAS BEEN PORTRAYED AS AMERICA’S VAPE INDUSTRY BAD GUY, BUT DO THE DOOMSDAY CLAIMS HOLD UP?

BY LEO FORFAR

Every so often, even the most furiously fast-paced news cycle will hold on to a story for dear life. Despite its constant growth and ascendance into mainstream relevance, e-cigarette coverage remains somewhat one-sided, with articles only cropping up under the banner of potential dangers posed.

The prevalence of American teenage vaping has unsurprisingly been branded an “epidemic” and is inspiring action at both a state and federal level, with constant calls for greater action from the authorities. E-cigarette manufacturer JUUL has been singled out as a unique offender.

JUUL has been blamed for everything from causing cancer to getting teenagers hooked on combustible cigarettes. By far one of the most popular e-cigarette variations, its pod design, futuristic look, size and ease of use has made it a leading contemporary device for beginner vapers. In January, Nielsen measured JUUL as dominating 49.6 percent of the e-cigarette market and seeing an astonishing 700 percent one-year increase in sales.

As a centrepiece of modern day mods, JUUL is an almost universal controversy magnet with some of the largest platforms in the US press lining up to take shots. CNN branded it the “health problem of the decade.” Business Insider said it was “taking over high schools,” and the New York Times called JUUL a “vice teens can’t resist.”

Overzealous tobacco control groups – the kind who view vaping of as much a social evil as smoking – have been a driving force behind the anti-JUUL movement, finding all their anti-nicotine anxieties embodied in one company.

The charges brought against JUUL have been three-fold. Firstly, JUUL’s popularity among teens is seen as proof that their marketing is faulty and targeting teenage audiences. A letter sent to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by Tobacco Free Kids in April claimed, “Merchandise with the JUUL name and using JUUL trademarks, including t-shirts, hoodies and JUUL ‘wraps’ or ‘skins,’ are being sold on the internet and have helped fuel the brand’s popularity with kids” and that JUUL, “comes in sweet flavours that appeal to youth, including mango, fruit medley, crème brûlée, cool mint and cool cucumber.”

Secondly, JUUL are using “Big Tobacco tactics” and thus undoing progress on tobacco control. Erika Sward, the American Lung Association's assistant vice president of national advocacy, said: “JUUL is like every other e-cigarette company in that they've ripped all these tactics (child-friendly marketing) straight from Big Tobacco's playbook.”

And thirdly, JUUL are accused of contributing to the dreaded gateway effect – introducing teens to cigarette smoking.

Part of the first charge rests on a rather paternalistic idea that nobody over the age of fourteen could want anything tasting of sweets and desserts or featuring cartoon mascots, despite this being America, where the sugary and cartoonish are king. The second and third charges have been long-refuted. The CDC have measured smoking rates, especially among teens, as constantly falling. This decline in teen smoking has covered the same period as JUUL’s rise. They are not graduating to combustible tobacco.

Testimony from the actual underage users who were interviewed exhaustively for all the aforementioned platforms of US media, paints an almost grassroots image. The devices spread like wildfire amongst peers based on personal recommendation, with the amplifying power of social media and a culture sensitive to memes and viral trends. It looks to be a consequence of design and utility rather than intentional or unintentional branding; the mod is easilysmuggled and its minimal cloud goes unnoticed by teachers.

No one in the industry is denying that American teenagers are using JUUL’s products, and that this is unacceptable. But the hyperbolic, sensationalised and dragged-out nature of this debacle is also unfruitful. Eventually, news like this rolls off the average vaper’s back. Scaremongering is a standard feature of the vaper experience. It often feels like vape businesses, media personalities and advocates are at a complete impasse with the mainstream, with nothing getting through to either side, and the former becoming jaded and unwilling to engage with the latter.

In the wake of well-documented moral panics over teens and rock music, hip-hop, video games, Dungeons and Dragons and the famed 1980s Satanic Panic, readers often roll their eyes and dismiss any headline prompting parents to investigate signs. And consistently cynical media coverage has consequences. Public attitudes towards vaping must remain positive and public perception accurate if the e-cigarette industry is to fulfil its mission of ending cigarette smoking.

Honest efforts to meet this challenge and counter teenage use is never helped by the repetition of lies about the gateway effect, or the conspiratorial conflation of vaping with tobacco. It’s worth remembering that JUUL is completely independent from all tobacco companies and poses the largest threat to their profits. Researchers from Citi discovered that JUUL alone contributed to a six percent decline in US cigarette sales from 2017 to 2018. It is also unnerving and a little baffling to see an independent company like JUUL targeted so strongly and not e-cigarette developers who actually are subordinate to Big Tobacco leaders, either through investment or outright ownership.

The careless rush of panicky pieces and apocalyptic articles has also failed to mention that a significant portion of teens are trying these products without nicotine, thus eliminating the risk of addiction entirely.

A 2017 University of Michigan study on teen substance use found that “…nicotinebased vaping was fairly uncommon among the teens.”

JUUL has proved far from passive in the face of these allegations. In April, JUUL Labs announced that it would invest $30 million towards combatting underage vaping and said it would support legislation to raise the minimum vaping age to 21.

A spokesman for JUUL said: “We strongly condemn the use of our product by minors. And that’s why we are partnering with schools, community leaders, law enforcement and parents around the country to combat underage use of JUUL.”

The company has also announced an education campaign for parents via print, online and radio to clarify what JUUL is, who and what it is meant for and how to combat use in teenagers.

The public trial of JUUL is far from over and it is still an ugly, awkward merging of the vape industry with the mainstream media and political arenas.

As vapers, advocates and industry leaders, our approach towards advertising should remain as it always has: with clear signposting that this is an activity solely for the benefit of adult ex-smokers and no one else. There is a strong air of frustration among vapers when it comes to mainstream acceptance, having been burned by one too many tabloid headlines and mis-readings of research. We hope this media circus will serve not as a cautionary tale, but a teachable moment.

“WE ARE PARTNERING WITH SCHOOLS, COMMUNITY LEADERS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, AND PARENTS AROUND THE COUNTRY TO COMBAT UNDERAGE USE OF JUUL”

CHUBBY GORILLA BEATS ITS CHEST

FIGHTING BACK AGAINST A TIDE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY THEFT

BY GORDON STRIBLING

In February, chewing gum manufacturer Wrigley filed a lawsuit against a US-based e-liquid company they accused of trademark infringement. The offending liquids were called Pink Starburst and Skeetlez. It was the second such lawsuit filed by the company in a year – the first being against another e-liquid company for their use of the names ‘Dbl Mint’ and ‘Joosy Fruit.’

While the vaping industry has cleaned up its image significantly since the pre-TPD days of ‘bathtub’ e-liquids, the issue of trademark infringement and intellectual property theft persists. Unscrupulous companies continue to profit from respected brand identities developed over many years and, in some cases, many decades.

Of course, vaping is not the only industry to engage in IP theft.

Earlier this year, US president Donald Trump decided to impose tariffs on $50 billion worth of imports from China in response to the alleged theft of American intellectual property. And in November 2017, the US Justice Department indicted three Chinese nationals in connection with cyber hacks and the alleged theft of the intellectual property.

Chubby Gorilla’s Charles J. Archambeau knows all too well how intellectual property theft can impact upon a business. The company is, in his view, victim of the largest scale IP theft in the entire vaping industry.

“We’ve been around for about three years, and this has been going on for at least two,” Charles said. “People are

buying counterfeit bottles of clearly inferior quality and then we get complaints from customers who are ripped off by companies thinking it’s us. This has to end.”

The success of Chubby Gorilla’s unicorn bottles has led some customers and people in the industry to believe that the name is a generic term for a type of e-liquid bottle. But that is not the case.

“We want to educate people to be aware that Chubby Gorilla is both a patent and a brand and not a generic term for the type of bottles we produce,” Charles said. “We’ve worked incredibly hard to build this business. We have to protect the brand.”

Frustrated with inferior copies flooding the market, the Chubby Gorilla team have started taking matters into their own hands.

At IECIE in Shenzhen in April, several companies were forced to shut down their booths as solicitors moved in to seize counterfeit Chubby Gorilla products. The dramatic scenes were captured on video as a warning to others.

On this, Charles said, “We’re not looking to be bullies. It’s about education. Everyone in the industry needs to be responsible and honest towards their customers. We make our products using virgin plastic and the highest quality components. Rip-off companies use recycled plastic. These practices give the industry a bad name.” This kind of behaviour reflects badly on an industry that

has fought so hard to obtain legitimacy in a hostile climate. Even now, governments continue to attack vaping as the media perpetuates misleading information.

“If we want to be treated like a mainstream industry rather than a fringe, we have to behave like one,” Charles said. “Vaping is still fairly new and is going through what I call a ‘growing up phase,’ which has resulted in sloppy practices from some companies.”

While the lure of cheaper prices may tempt manufacturers and down-the-line consumers, a successful business requires time and investment. A company that spends more on ingredients, including bottles, as well as ISO testing, deserves the support of vapers.

“Consumers need to be aware that there’s a big faction of people who don’t care about the industry or their customers,” Charles added. “They dream of being bought out by

big tobacco companies and don’t have the consumer’s interest at heart. Why support companies that don’t care about you or the industry in the long-term?”

Charles presented this analogy: You could potentially buy a stolen TV for half the price of what you’d pay in-store. But in doing so, you would be as responsible for the theft of the TV as the person who had actually stolen it, adding: “Legitimate Chubby Gorilla bottles are easy to spot. Most of them have the gorilla on them, for one thing. If the plastic is weak, that’s the mark of a fake. Low cost is not an excuse for poor-quality.”

While the industry has mostly managed to stay under the radar of the big multinationals, many are now starting to move in to reclaim their trademarks and intellectual property. Meanwhile, the likes of Chubby Gorilla refuse to sit back and allow unscrupulous companies to profit from their hard work and investment without giving anything back.

“WHY SUPPORT COMPANIES THAT DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU OR THE INDUSTRY IN THE LONG-TERM?”

WE ARE ENTERING THE AGE OF ENFORCEMENT: ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES, LIQUIDS, TPD AND GPSR 2005

By Damien Bové, Chief Regulatory Officer ADACT Medical, The TPD experts

After three years of expenditure and effort it is a frequently heard lament that, ‘we have spent all this money on compliance, but where is the enforcement?’ Well those days are certainly numbered. The MHRA and Trading Standards are now bringing enforcement to bear, and we are seeing the effect in the industry. I have lots of details about this below, but firstly, let’s look at the recent report of an initiative carried out by Trading Standards UK and assess the levels of non-compliant products out in the market.

RAPID REVIEW OF NICOTINE INHALING PRODUCT COMPLIANCE WITH THE TOBACCO PRODUCT AND RELATED PRODUCTS REGULATIONS:

2017

KEY TABLES FROM THE TRADING STANDARDS REPORT:

Work was carried out to assess the level on non-compliance in the electronic cigarette market in Europe. There are key points to consider for the moment.

Inspectors carried out 319 visits to retailers across the UK (with an agreed data sharing protocol with the MHRA) to inspect stock for compliance.

A total of 617 devices were assessed. Of these, 76 percent were compliant and 24 percent non-compliant. A total of 146 products were non-compliant. Most of the non-compliant products had multiple reasons for failing, rather than a single labelling issue. As a result, in most cases retailers were advised to stop selling the products. No manufacturers have yet been instructed to stop production, although that may come as the MHRA does follow-up work. For refill containers, 1,488 were purchased and 76 percent were found to be compliant while 24 percent were non-compliant. Again, most were non-compliant for multiple reasons. Of these, 248 were referred to the MHRA. A total of 175 were later found to be compliant and 109 non-compliant, and thus warranted further investigation. Interestingly, most of the non-compliant purchases came from nonspecialist retailers, indicating that some vape shops out there need to get their houses-in-order.

LIQUID FAILINGS

So overall, the wider industry is moving towards compliance. Some would say this is far too late, given how long we have been in the age of TPD. I share these concerns, with 24 percent of products being found to be non-compliant in initial investigations.

WHAT OTHER AREAS OF COMPLIANCE ARE WE SEEING MOVEMENT ON?

Recently-published guidance has been sent out in advertising, but I for one, still see a lot of confusion around this area and I think this may form the basis of the article in the next issue.

Short-fill enforcement has picked up pace across the country with several high-profile visits and enforcement actions being undertaken. It’s worth having a look at the article in the last issue on short-fill regulations, if you need to remind yourself. Short-fill products are covered by the General Products Safety Regulations 2005 (GPSR). If your short-fill products are not assessed for safety ‘in-use’, you could face fines up to £25,000 or possibly jail time.

A summary of the report states “the popular conception is that short-fill products are unregulated.” This is incorrect. Whilst shortfill products are not directly covered by any specific EU legislation, such as the TPD, their safety is governed by the GPSR. That requires a consideration of how they are advertised, as well as the standards expected by consumers and the standards applicable to other products in the sector. These factors indicate that those affected by the legislation, including manufacturers and distributors, should have regard to TPD, even though it only applies directly to products that contain tobacco. (Reference: Dai Davis, a Solicitor and Chartered Engineer, was also National Head of Information Technology Law at Eversheds.)

CBD IS ALSO COMING UNDER REGULATION

Many vape companies are now selling CBD in the market place, but it’s worth remembering, it is also covered by wide-ranging regulations.

HERE ARE SOME PRINCIPLE LEGAL ASPECTS OF CBD:

• It is not illegal in the UK.

• You are not allowed to make any medical claims, unless you apply for a medical licence.

• THC (the illegal component) must be below 0.2 percent for industrial use.

• Finished products are covered by the Controlled Drugs Act 1985; levels must be below 1mg in the final product.

• The Foods Standard Agency says that levels must be below 0.2 percent for finished food product. This contradicts the Controlled Drugs Act, so this is a grey area.

• It’s not legal to use isolate for products for oral consumption; distillate/oil-based products should be used

• Products are covered by GPSR 2005 and thus require a toxicology assessment in addition to having an emissions test conducted.

DEVICE CONCERNS: PODS AND SQUONKERS

Devices is the area in which I receive the most questions about compliance.

Squonkers have been given to me to comment on. In my opinion, they are not compliant as they have a tank that is above 2ml. Counter arguments have been made that the tanks are not tanks, but reservoirs or refill containers. That defence hasn’t convinced me to change my mind and I have turned down the opportunity to do compliance testing on them. The MHRA recently validated this when they published their opinion that ‘squonkers are not compliant due to the squonk tank’.

A lot of companies are now selling their products in pod format. Some companies are putting their product in the pods and selling them without ensuring they are compliant. Firstly, if you sell a liquid in a kit with a device – this includes selling it as a pre-filled pod refill – then you need to conduct emissions testing in that device. Next, you need to notify your 2ml pod (and it can’t be more than 2ml) and pay a new notification for it – it’s not just another presentation under your 10ml notification.

SALT CONCERNS

As with companies shifting to putting products in pods, you can’t just switch from normal nicotine to salt nicotine and carry on – it’s a radically new formulation so you need to revisit your emissions testing and either update your notification (if you are replacing your traditional nicotine product) or notify it as a new product if you are adding it to the range.

These are all the issue we are seeing as we are entering the age of enforcement we need to make sure we are ticking the boxes.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

Today Capella is an international company with over 150 flavours, shipping to over 60 countries. Our products are popular in a variety of industries such as beverage, confectionery, baking, fitness and of course, vaping.

2018 has been an extraordinary year for Capella Flavors and we’re still gaining momentum. Not only are we celebrating our 10year anniversary, we are also anticipating the opening of our first European distribution centre this autumn.

You spoke, we listened...

Our East and West Coast operations in North America have helped our US customers receive our products faster at a lower cost. Capella Flavors owners, Tom McMahon and Joey Allen, partnered together to make this happen and are now expanding localised distribution to Europe and beyond.

Here at Capella, we strive to truly get to know our customers. Our team of highly skilled sales representatives take the time to understand each account’s needs, values and vision. We understand the cost and shipping delays our European customers experience when purchasing our products. There’s nothing more frustrating than ordering a product, waiting for it to ship, then it possibly being held up in customs.

Our new European base will deliver the flavours you know and love, faster and at a lower cost. For the first time ever, you will be able to experience the same low shipping costs and speedy

Joey Allen and Tom McMahon, owners of Capella Flavors: “Thank you for helping us build a remarkable company, as well as an amazing family.”

delivery our customers in the US have always enjoyed. We understand how important it is that our customers receive our high-quality concentrates at the lowest cost possible. In addition, we will be releasing 50 new profiles exclusive to Europe.

Capella Flavors is looking forward to this next big phase and with the help of our friends at Vapouround Magazine, we can spread this news quicker. We have had such fantastic support and relationships with our European customers, now our new distribution centre will provide real savings and logistical advantages to them. Emerging brands and businesses throughout Europe will be able to enjoy and grow faster with Capella in their own back yard.

We have been setting this summer on fire, with four new flavours that will knock your socks off! The newest edition to the Capella Gold line is our Green Apple Hard Candy. It is the perfect blend of tart and tangy apple with an unmistakable hard candy finish.

We also have three new additions to our SilverLine; Crunchy Frosted Cookie, Candied Watermelon and Tropical Fruit Punch. All our new flavours have the same great kick to them, both as singular profiles and when they are mixed.

What we have been able to accomplish in a decade is spectacular, we look forward to an even bigger and better next 10 years.

To all of our European partners: Thank you for helping us build a remarkable company, and being part of an amazing family.

Capella to bring low shipping costs and speedy delivery to European customers

Vape companies provide sports teams with ethical sponsorship opportunities

By Gordon Stribling

It’s shocking to recall just how ingrained smoking was in our society until very recently. Remember when disreputable newsagents would look the other way and sell cigarettes to schoolchildren? Or when you could buy novelty chocolate cigarettes from the sweet shop? That wasn’t even very long ago, certainly in the past two decades. But that all pales into comparison to the influence tobacco had on the world of sport up until the mid-2000s. You would think that athletes and teams at the top of their game would want to dissociate themselves from a product that is so damaging to health. But money talks and the tobacco industry had a lot of it to invest in the highprofile and glamourous world of sport.

When you think of tobacco sponsorship and sport, chances are motorsport comes to mind. As recently as 2005, Formula One cars were plastered with logos of Marlboro, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, Camel and Lucky Strike. Many of the ‘classic’ designs of the time still have a place in the hearts of fans.

Tobacco advertising has tainted football, too. Some memorable examples include FK Sarajevo, who had the logo of their cigarettemanufacturing sponsor Aura emblazoned on the centre of their shirts. Thousands of the city’s jobs were dependent on the company at a time when war had ravaged the country.

As Guardian reader Dale Pyatt explained in a feature on cigarette sponsorship in the sport: “There were anti-smoking messages everywhere in Bosnia, but absolutely nobody paid any attention to them, and cigarette companies were just about the only ones with sufficient economic resources to sponsor sports clubs.”

Indonesia has one of the highest smoking rates in the world due to meagre regulations and the huge influence the tobacco industry wields on the country.

In 1994, the Indonesian football league was revamped as ‘Liga Dunhill’ and all clubs were forced to sport the company’s logo on their shirts. A couple of years later it was Bentoel – now owned by British American Tobacco – that had rights to Liga Kansas, named after their Kansas-brand cigarettes. Thankfully, tobacco sponsorship in sport has been consigned to the past. However, unethical sponsorship remains a contentious issue.

In 2016, Newcastle United ended their controversial shirt sponsorship

deal with payday loan company Wonga after years of campaigning from fans. The same fate befell Wolves in May this year after more than 13,000 fans signed a petition complaining that the money shop’s business practices ‘[did] not fit with the ethics of the football club.’

Now vape companies are stepping up to provide teams with some much-needed ethically-derived capital that will help spread the positive vaping message to a wider audience. Case in point is Commonwealth Games boxing champion Frazer Clarke, who Vapouround and Lik Juice proudly sponsor.

On March 30, Scottish Premier League club Rangers announced that Vaporized would be their ‘official vaping partner’ for the forthcoming season.

Vaporized Manufacturing and Compliance Director, Doug Mutter, said: “We’re delighted to announce our partnership with Rangers, allowing vaping in the stadium concourses to help fans stay on their path to freedom.”

Two months later, the company announced the release of a Rangersthemed e-liquid range, with amusing, pun-laden names such as StrawBarry Ferguson, Tobacco the Net and Boys in Blue Razz. Rangers weren’t the first high-profile sports club to team up with a vape company. Totally Wicked have supported St. Helens rugby since 2013. They are perhaps best known for lending their name to the team’s ground, now known as the Totally Wicked Stadium, much to the amusement of the press at the time that the deal was signed.

As with the Rangers and Vaporized partnership, Totally Wicked and St. Helens have worked together to promote the benefits of vaping to fans and others in the local community, in this case by supporting the club’s community stop-smoking programmes.

The company also sponsors Team BRIT, a GT4 series motor racing team comprised of disabled drivers, many of whom are former or currently-serving military troops. The team competes alongside ablebodied drivers and hopes to eventually make it to Le Mans.

Team BRIT Chairman Dave Player said of the partnership: “We are extremely grateful to Totally Wicked for their continued support. It’s the backing we receive from our partners that keeps us on the race track and helps us deliver our message to the motorsport industry and further afield, that disabled sports people can compete on a level playing field.”

In these socially-conscious times, it is vitally important that teams associate themselves with sponsors who share their ethics and goals. Like sport and fitness, vaping has the potential to change lives, so these partnerships are a win-win.

RISE OF THE ACADEMIC E-CIG ESSAY

A LOOK AT THE VAPING INDUSTRY’S NEW SCHOLARSHIPS

BY LEO FORFAR

American college and university students are being offered scholarships of up to $5,000 to write essays about vaping as a safer alternative to smoking.

More and more e-cigarette companies are offering the scholarships via essay contests to students throughout the US. They have already been listed on several university funding pages including those of the University of Pittsburgh, Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley.

The schemes offer incentives of between $250 and $5,000 for thought-provoking essays from vapers about relevant issues which define this burgeoning industry

Subjects can range from the personal and introspective – examining the writer’s journey from smoking into vaping – to wider examinations of public health, societal habits and addictions. Companies including DaVinci Vaporizer, Slick Vapes, VapeCraft Inc and SmokeTastic have all gone down this route.

SmokeTastic’s ST Scholarship Programme asks for 500 to 1,500 words and offers the winner a $1,000 award towards equipment, education fees, books and general living costs. The programme requires hopefuls to “share [their] ideas and vision for a smoke-free world,” listing suggestions such as:

Why do people still choose to smoke in society? Is vaping a new problem with younger smokers and potentially introducing them to smoking? Would a smoke-free world really improve society? What message do you have for current smokers thinking about vaping? Is vaping addiction a real concern?

VapeCraft Inc. provide two scholarships per year, offering $4,000 under its “Supporting a Tobacco Free Tomorrow” programme.

The company explains about the programme online, saying: “While we do deal in nicotine products and sell vape juice, vape mods and DIY supplies, our chief goal here is to invest in your collegiate aspirations and help you tackle the financial burden of a higher education.”

One of the most talked about scholarships in recent weeks has come from Robert Pagano of review site VaporVanity. This scholarship, which pays up to $1,500 to students, covers smoking and vaping-related issues and asks:

Why do you see tobacco use as a problem for individuals and society at large?

What is the best way for society to overcome the issue of tobacco use?

What is your vision for what a tobacco-free world would look like in the future? What would the benefits be to society? What message do you have for current tobacco users?

In an interview with The Associated Press, Pagano said: "It's a little bit of being genuine, a little bit of self-interest … This is probably the best way to get people to actually focus on the issues that we're trying to write about." However shortly after the interview the scholarships were removed from the website without explanation.

Gregory Conley, head of the American Vaping Association, said the move was comparable to drinks companies offering scholarships to students and said it allowed companies to boost their brands while helping students at the same time.

This new trend has not been universally well-received, especially by those working in universities, who see it as a glorified marketing tactic and an uncomfortable fusion of corporate and academic spheres.

Harvard and California State University at Long Beach have since removed the scholarship listings from their websites, saying they had been posted inadvertently. CSU Long Beach spokesman Jeff Bliss said: “We’re not interested in being a platform for tobacco or vaping.”

Ron Berman, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Wharton University of Pennsylvania said: "This is almost a backdoor way to get your name on a university website, and from the point of view of the student, it would look like the university is supporting this effort."

Gregg Haifley from the American Cancer Society said vape companies were “trying to use youth as their marketing surrogates” and said the move was all about marketing.

IS PROBABLY THE BEST WAY TO GET PEOPLE TO ACTUALLY FOCUS ON THE ISSUES THAT WE'RE TRYING TO WRITE ABOUT”

The scholarship idea, although new to vaping, emerged several years ago as a means to boost Google search results rankings by getting websites linked on “high authority” university or government sites.

Vaping is getting into the hallowed halls of prestigious institutions on the ground floor, but the direct involvement of vape businesses in this entry point will continue to be debated, and the full effects of such scholarship programmes are yet to be seen

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WHY REPUTABLE VAPE BUSINESSES COULD FACE CLOSURE

POORLY WRITTEN LEGISLATION IS NOT JUST HARMING OUR BUSINESSES, BUT ALSO HAVING AN EFFECT ON CONSUMER CONFIDENCE IN VAPING – IBVTA

BY LEO FORFAR

Unscrupulous vape companies are being allowed to operate “outside the law” because UK regulators fail to enforce the law, the IBVTA has warned.

Exactly one year after the Tobacco and Related Product Regulations (TRPR) came into force, the industry body says that many vape businesses are getting away with selling non-compliant products.

In its ‘State of Compliance’ report, IBVTA chairman Fraser Cropper says: “Far too many local trading standards officers are making no attempt to enforce these regulations at a local level. As a direct consequence of this leniency and inaction, reputable businesses are suffering, with IBVTA members’ sales down an average of 24 percent since May 2017. This is totally unacceptable.”

Mr Cropper added: “A significant number of businesses are still choosing not to comply with these regulations. This would not be so much of a problem if the MHRA enforced deadlines and Trading Standards ensured that all businesses in their local area were compliant. Sadly, this is not the case. The MHRA has been overly lenient with companies who should have supplied them with notifications a year ago. At the same time, as this report makes clear, far too many local trading standards officers are making no attempt to enforce these regulations at a local level.

We hope this report will act as a wake-up call to local and national politicians and that action will be taken. If not, reputable businesses will close and the only beneficiaries will be the tobacco industry, and companies operating outside of the law.”

The 28-page report maps the state of compliance and enforcement across the whole of the UK. It showed that in some parts of the country, Trading Standards were doing their job but in many other parts of the UK, they were not.

To compile the report, the IBVTA sent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to every council in the UK with a Trading Standards department asking what action had been taken to deal with noncompliance under the TRPR.

The report describes the present situation as a “perfect storm of disproportionate regulation, Trading Standards inaction, and

PERFECT

REGULATION,

STANDARDS

businesses openly selling non-compliant product.” This has led to a, “negative impact on the bottom lines of responsible businesses.” It points to “clear failings” to enforce regulations on the part of local trading standards departments and the MHRA and the findings included:

• 39.5 percent of UK local authorities carried out no investigations into non-compliance and only 65.8 per cent of councils have actioned every report of non-compliance received. The IBVTA found that Staffordshire was the “best performer” as it actioned all 27 reports received.

• A disappointing 43.5 percent of IBVTA members had been contacted by their local Trading Standards officer prior to or following the full implementation of the TRPR.

• IBVTA members have, on average, seen a 24 percent reduction in business since the TRPR came into full effect, causing some members’ businesses to close.

• One in three councils have not actioned every report of non-compliance raised and 15.3 percent of councils which received reports from consumers and businesses didn’t action any. The IBVTA described this as “shocking.”

• The number of reports and follow-up investigations has “varied wildly” on a national scale. For example, the highest number of reports in a local authority who responded was for Derbyshire Trading Standards, who received 52 reports of non-compliant vaping products.

• 68 local authorities have received no reports at all.

• A disturbingly high 40.6 per cent of local authorities have carried out no investigations.

• Two out of three respondents have received reports of noncompliance, with only 61.25 percent being actioned nationally.

The report calls for a “zero-tolerance approach” to non-compliance and says local authorities must take action on every report of noncompliance they receive.

It also wants better training for Trading Standards officers on the vape industry and calls on authorities which have failed to investigate

complaints to carry out an urgent review of their processes. The report goes on: “The quality of enforcement action being undertaken must improve at the earlier opportunity, local authorities should commit to removing non-compliant product from shelves whenever it is identified by Trading Standards officers and Trading Standards that are yet to engage with local vape businesses should do so as a matter of priority.”

It calls on the government to “review the inclusion of vaping in the TRPR at the earliest possible opportunity, and introduce proportionate, risk based, vape specific legislation to allow vaping to reach its full potential.”

Finally, it says the Department of Health should hold an urgent review of the TRPR implementation process to include the role of the MHRA, which, the report says, “has been overly lenient on non-compliant businesses and has a reputation within the industry for not always providing consistent guidance and advice.”

The IBVTA cited the Scottish Government as a good example of what can be done. It has approved a £1.34 million funding program to allow local authorities to recruit and train additional staff to enforce the regulations.

The full report can be accessed in the news section of the IBVTA’s website.

“THE

STORM OF DISPROPORTIONATE

TRADING

INACTION, AND BUSINESSES OPENLY SELLING NON-COMPLIANT PRODUCT HAS RESULTED IN A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THE BOTTOM LINES OF RESPONSIBLE BUSINESSES”

VAPE KONEX

HOP ABOARD THE LUXURIOUS SILVER STURGEON YACHT FOR THE INDUSTRY EVENT OF THE YEAR

Vape Konex is set to be the most prestigious e-cigarette event in existence. Attendees will be exposed to a wealth of indulgence in unrivalled luxury, connecting with business leaders, creating new friendships and business opportunities, all while cruising past the famous landmarks of London.

Vape Konex is an exclusive event that will grant the stage to key decision makers, executives and industry stakeholders, letting ticketholders target this prestigious audience.

This ground breaking corporate networking event will take place aboard London’s most prestigious cruise ship, the Silver Sturgeon and it has been jointly organised by Vapouround and Vapour magazines.

Vapouround editor Paul Caplin said: “Vape Konex offers business leaders the opportunity to discuss business in fantastic surroundings, with no distractions such as loud music or time wasters.”

Vape Konex promises to deliver a true return on investment for guests by providing access to an extensive network of key decision makers throughout the global e-cigarette industry.

The event will take place on September 14 and 15 as guests will be invited on a fantastic journey of connecting with some of the

most influential decision makers in the industry. Guests will attend 20 to 30-minute prebooked meetings throughout Saturday afternoon before winding down in the evening. On Saturday evening, the Silver Sturgeon will set sail along the River Thames for a fantastic evening of entertainment, food and drink before retiring to the hotel at midnight.

Guests can carry on their networking during the evening in relaxed surroundings and will have the option to conduct their meetings in a private VIP area should they need further privacy.

Top class entertainment will also be provided. This is one vape industry event that you will not want to miss.

the e-cigarette specialists

VAPORIZED BRANCH OUT TO CBD

Vaporized are now in partnership with Hope CBD. We worked with Hope to lend them our e-liquid expertise in creating a range of great tasting CBD vape flavours including Menthol Burst, Blueberry Blast and Strawberry Dreams.

HopeCBD is the UK's fastest growing CBD company and provides a huge range of cannabidiol based products. With a focus on quality, HopeCBD products are independently tested and organic. Keep your eyes peeled for HopeCBD E-Liquids in a Vaporized near you!

Loyalty and friendship

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There was bound to be a degree of scepticism when Philip Morris ran national newspaper adverts in January saying it wanted to give up cigarettes. But for the vaping community that has helped to lead the explosive growth in the e-cigarette business, it naturally raises some fundamental questions – is this a threat or an opportunity for their businesses? Should they be selling new alternative products developed by tobacco companies? Can they rely on the scientific research of companies that continue to manufacture cigarettes? Those questions have been at the heart of the debate in Vapouround Magazine in recent months. At Philip Morris International, we understand and respect the concerns expressed by some. We realise that, because of the history of the tobacco industry, we cannot overnight win over those who doubt our intentions to switch every smoker in the UK to less harmful alternatives. But we would ask to be judged not on our past but on our words and actions today. We have launched our first heated tobacco product into the UK market. We are about to unveil the first e-cigarette developed by our own R&D centre in Switzerland. We have two other “platforms” in development that we hope will be offer a real choice for smokers who have not switched to an e-cigarette and would otherwise continue to smoke. We have also asked the government and Public Health England to assess our science and to undertake their own independent research into our products.

We are clear that e-cigarettes have been a phenomenal success. According to the Office of National Statistics they have helped more than 1.5 million smokers switch from cigarettes and give up smoking altogether. They have contributed to record breaking falls in smoking prevalence in the UK. That is why we bought an e-cigarette business, Nicocigs, back in 2014.

But we also recognise that, for a certain group of smokers, e-cigarettes do not offer the ritual or experience that they want. After all, government figures show that almost three million smokers have tried vaping and gone straight back to smoking. And, while there have been huge improvements in e-cigarette technology that can help some of those smokers to switch, it is clear that there will be others who want something else. We hope that our four platforms will maximise the chance that every smoker in the country has access to an alternative product so that they can give up smoking, for good. The sooner that happens, the faster we can stop selling cigarettes too. And that is why we are working with vape shops and websites. Why? Because vape shops are often the first port of call for people looking for alternatives to smoking. Their staff are hugely knowledgeable about the options available and provide the essential one-to-one support that many smokers need. The early results of our collaboration with vape shop owners are very encouraging, and we are keen to expand our network. Our vape shop partners have already seen significant increases in sales particularly among their customers who both smoke and vape. But the IQOS heated tobacco device also provides an option for smokers who simply don’t want to vape – and so enables vape shops to expand their businesses faster. We also want to play our part in helping to inform smokers about the relative risk of alternatives. While every person who works in a vape shop knows by heart that, according to Public Health England, e-cigarettes are 95 percent less harmful than smoking, sadly, research shows that half of all smokers do not. So we have offered to put inserts directly into our cigarette packs that inform smokers about the facts and why they should switch. Across every sector of British business, technology is forcing companies fundamentally to change their business models: from car manufacturers to newspaper owners, from taxi companies to supermarkets. And now technology is having the same impact on the tobacco companies. The success of e-cigarettes in Europe and the US, snus in Scandinavia and heated tobacco in Japan and Korea is shaking up the sector in a similar way. Vape shops are at the forefront of that shift. We want to partner with them to ensure that every smoker in the country has the opportunity to switch to a better alternative.

Are tobacco harm prevention strategies being undermined by streaming TV services?

FEWER ACTORS ARE SEEN SMOKING IN BIG HOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTERS BUT THAT TREND IS NOT REFLECTED ON THE SMALL SCREEN

BY GORDON STRIBLING

On September 8, 2017 I, Tonya premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. The film tells the story of Tonya Harding, the American figure skater whose career ended in controversy when she was implicated in an attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan at the 1994 Winter Olympics.

The film attracted universal acclaim and lead actor Margot Robbie received numerous accolades and nominations for her performance. However, it was the performance of supporting actor Alison Janey that drew the most praise.

By the end of the awards season, Janey had received, among other gongs, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a BAFTA.

Janey played Harding’s hard-nosed, chain-smoking mother, LaVona Golden. Rolling Stone writer David Fear was so enamoured by Janey’s smoking that he included it in the magazine’s list of 25 Reasons to Love the Movies in 2017.

Fear wrote: “Has anyone smoked this viciously and vicariously on screen since Bette Davis in Now, Voyager? The way she wields her ever-present cigarette like a weapon almost tips the film into camp – but it also serves as a great way of letting know who this character is and how she views the world.”

Incidents of tobacco use in top-grossing films have decreased significantly over the past few decades. However, a 2017 study by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC) found that the decline did not progress between the years 2010 and 2016.

While tobacco use on film has plateaued, some campaign groups have expressed their fears that smoking on television may be increasing, particularly on digital streaming platforms such as Netflix.

A report published last year by US non-profit tobacco control organisation Truth Initiative showed that that 79 percent of the shows most popular among the 15-24 age group featured smoking prominently.

Critically-acclaimed Stranger Things was the worst offender, followed by Orange is the New Black and House of Cards. Robin Koval, CEO and president of Truth Initiative, said: “There has been a revolution in television that now encompasses a complex universe including Hulu, Netflix and an emerging world of on-demand platforms. And while everybody was watching, but no one was paying attention, we’ve experienced a pervasive re-emergence of smoking imagery that is glamorising and renormalising a deadly habit to millions of impressionable young people. It has to stop.”

The impact of exposing young minds to tobacco images onscreen is well known.

A 2009 study by the Association for Psychological Science found that compared to adolescents with low exposure to smoking in films, those with high exposure were three times more likely to try or become smokers.

“ “

In the UK, Action for Smoking and Health (ASH) and the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies (UKCTAS) have warned that reality TV show Love Island encouraged children to take up smoking. After much criticism, this summer’s season of the ITV2 show has banned smoking in all areas of the reality show house, with just one out-of-view designated smoking area instead. ASH chief executive, Deborah Arnott, said:

“Our surveys show children reporting high awareness of smoking on screen, particularly in films and TV. Ofcom and the BBFC, which regulate these sectors, need to take the necessary steps to warn parents of the risks and protect our children from the harmful effects of tobacco imagery.”

Professor John Britton shared her concerns, saying: “Seeing people smoking in the media can increase the likelihood that a young person takes up smoking by as much as 40 percent. It doesn’t matter whether the people smoking are heroes or villains, glamourous or otherwise. All smoking content is a role model which results in some young people becoming addicted to a lethal product for life.”

Following the publication of a Bristol University study in 2011, UKCTAS wrote to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) recommending that films depicting smoking be raised to an 18 certification. BBFC director David Cooke rejected the proposal, explaining that the organisation had consulted with the public extensively in 2005 and 2009 and had promised to stay vigilant and respond proportionately.

While it’s important that smoking is not excessively glamorised, art should be reflective of the society in which it operates. The first season of Stranger Things was set in 1983, when around a third of the adult population smoked. Rather than attempting to rewrite history, we should acknowledge that our discomfort at the sight of cigarettes on film and TV shows us just how far we’ve come.

“We’ve experienced a pervasive re-emergence of smoking imagery that is glamorising and renormalising a deadly habit to millions of impressionable young people”

– Robin Koval, Truth Initiative

THE SUPERCHARGED PICK-ME-UP THAT COMBATS VAPER’S TONGUE

BY STAFF REPORTER

One of the first positives people notice after successfully ditching cigarettes is their increased sensitivity to taste. The simple act of eating food after quitting opens a whole world of discovery. Add delicious e-liquid to the equation and the newbie vaper won’t know what hit them.

This makes the dreaded vaper’s tongue all the more frustrating. After endless searching you finally find the flavour, but then after vaping it continuously for a few days, you can barely taste it.

Various cures have been suggested. Switching to a different flavour, smelling coffee beans and abstaining from vaping for a few days are among the most popular. But that could all be set to change thanks to the innovative Head Candy ‘flavourchanging electric sweet.’

The brainchild of Jerome H Vaughan, Head Candy began life as a tonic, created using natural chemicals extracted from plants. As part of the process they wanted to create a new flavour profile that could trigger memories. The resulting tonic proved to be hugely popular.

“Most mixers only work with certain types of alcohol,” Jerome explained. “But feedback showed that our tonic went as well with vodka and gin as it did with rum and whiskey.”

The team were unable to stabilise the flavour so instead they decided to roll it into a sweet. And so, Head Candy was born.

Head Candy was never intended to be eaten absent-mindedly like a pick ‘n’ mix. It’s about the experience. There’s a physical dimension to the taste – a reverberating charge on your tongue that boosts the ever-evolving flavour that you can’t quite place.

Jerome knew they were on to something. The question was, how to get the unusual product onto the high street. They needed an industry with a clientele that would be receptive to new flavour experiences. What better outlet for this flavour innovation than the high street vape shop?

It was a vape shop employee who was the first to discover that Head Candy had cured his vaper’s tongue.

“We didn’t know what vaper’s tongue was but it was a great revelation for us. Since then, numerous vapers have told us the same thing.”

Head Candy can also supplement the vaping experience by giving you an intense sensory hit for those times when it’s not practical to vape. Maybe you’re a decorator with your hands full or you’re commuting on public transport. Head Candy delivers a multi-dimensional taste experience that invigorates your senses without you having to reach for your mod.

The challenge now is to raise awareness of the product on social media and at vaping events. As a non-vaping product, it’s up to Jerome and his team to create demand.

“It went down really well at Vape Jam. Once we explained what it was all about people got it. And to see their faces change from scepticism to disbelief was really something.”

“TO SEE THEIR FACES CHANGE FROM SCEPTICISM TO DISBELIEF WAS REALLY SOMETHING”

FAMILY COMES FIRST FOR WIGAN VAPERS

BY RÓISÍN DELANEY

Evana Parkinson was born in 2015 and in her first few months, her parents Scott and Kayley soon noticed she began to miss certain milestones which you’d expect to witness in the development of a child. That’s when the family of five knew something wasn’t quite right.

Avid vaper dad Scott and mum Kayley, together with Evana’s siblings Ellery and Erica, have been overwhelmed with the support from three charities who helped the family through uncertain times. These are Syndromes Without a Name (SWAN), Blessings in Disguise and Unique – Rare Chromosome Disorder Support Group.

The couple, who volunteer for Wigan Warriors of which Evana is a big fan, told us that although she is three, she has the development of an 18-month-old.

Now the family wants to give back to the charitable organisations which have supported Evana’s journey this far, and they’ve made a steaming start by incorporating vape products into their fundraising projects.

Proud dad of three Scott, 31, from Spring View in Wigan organised a mega £1,000 facebook raffle which quickly evolved into a vaper’s dream, with more than ten litres of e-liquids up for grabs from the biggest names in the UK vape industry. The raffle took place June 25 and was inundated with support from e-liquid companies and vapers alike.

A total of £604 were raised. But this was only the beginning for the Parkinsons.

Scott and Kayley own a gaming business called shimlarltd.co.uk and it’s their hope that a combination of raffles, charity walks, fun runs and auctions will raise thousands of pounds more for Blessings in Disguise in particular, as Scott says this charity gave Evana experiences she would otherwise not have. “Blessings in Disguise gave Evana the chance to go to the circus, experience things she otherwise wouldn’t have had.”

As a result, Vapouround has taken the decision to donate to the children’s charity at the Vapouround Awards 2019.

Fundraising with vaping is a happy medium for Scott, who smoked since he was just 13. “It was peer pressure,” he told us, something many succumbed to in adolescence. He eventually found vaping and grew what he says is “a hobby and a passion for collecting tanks.” Through vaping, Scott dropped from 24mg of nicotine to 3mg, something he is very proud of.

We spoke to Scott in the days after his raffle success and he credited the vaping community for coming together when someone is in need, saying: “It’s more of a family, vaping brings people together.”

Next on the list of Scott’s fundraising ambitions is a virtual bike ride to October’s Vaper Expo UK. “The Vaper Expo are hugely supportive of our efforts. The support from many companies including Vapouround, SMOK, Vapegoo, Simon at Vapoholic and Vape Bar in Wigan has been overwhelming.”

For more information or for ways to donate, see: facebook.com/scottkayleycharityraffles

One family is giving back with vapers in mind

VAPE SHOP SATURATION

IT’S NOT HERE YET BUT IT’S CERTAINLY COMING

by Victor Mullin

A vaping story which appeared on a number of UK news websites recently really caught my eye.

The news was that vaping is increasing to ever larger numbers in the UK according to the latest figures by pollsters and this led to the remark that high street vape shops were either at or nearing saturation point.

Could this be true? I don’t think so, at least not right now, but I can understand why people may think so.

For example, one vape shop here in Irvine closed recently and we are now down to just two while there was another recent shop closure in Glasgow, leaving the city with four.

I think there is a similar pattern being repeated in high street vape shops in every town and city within the UK so it is easy to see why people look at this and say the industry is saturated. However it is not as simple as that. Look at any high street and you will see a plethora of vape shops, all usually huddled within the same high footfall places, all within walking distance of each other and all of them, for the most part, selling exactly the same items.

The interesting point is that while these closures are undoubtedly going on, some shops, be they independent, chain or franchise, have been reporting record sales and footfall.

These healthy sales go all the way through from the end of last year and even through the summer, a summer which is turning out to be one of the hottest on record for the UK and hot summers coupled with schools on holiday usually means fewer sales due to people going on holiday.

It is true, there have been closures, but while the mainstream

media looked no further than “Vape shops are closing!” other people, myself included, have done a bit more digging as to why these shops have closed. The shop which closed near me only carried a limited range of stock and its prices were too high. The thriving vape store across the road is doing very well but it has four times the amount of stock and their prices are up to 10 percent lower.

In the case of the shops which have closed in Glasgow, it was after a visit by Trading Standards in which some of their stock was confiscated but I have heard that they should be re-opening soon.

There is a pattern here and uncompetitive prices, lack of choice and enforcement visits from Trading Standards are common reasons for shop closures throughout the UK. So are there “too many” vape shops? On the whole, no. However there has been a tendency of vape shops to cluster around high foot traffic high streets and malls to such an extent that in some malls and high streets, competing vape shops are practically next door to each other. When something like that happens, the shoppers themselves decide which they prefer. Unsurprisingly they will tend to choose the ones with the friendliest staff, the most choice, and the best prices. What has been seen up and down the country is what used to be big name shops in local areas who used to rule the roost when it came to vape shops, slowly being surrounded by newer chain or franchise shops or even locally-based independent shops. The old days of essentially “price gouging” (harsh term, but hey, it’s true), the British public when it comes to vape gear is now coming to a close.

“

When I see news of a vape shop struggling and facing closure, and then I look at their shop on Google Maps, there generally tends to be another shop close by which is doing very well. Deeper inspection on the facebook page of the shop that’s not doing well sees either below or on average reviews, either to do with the stock, the way the customer was treated, and the help the customer received.

Vaping in the UK will reach that plateau eventually but we are not there yet. As there are fewer and fewer smokers converting to vaping, and the pool of new vapers slowly dries up, vape shops up and down the country will be relying on their repeat customers and this is where some shops will fall on their sword. We have all heard of the horror stories of new vapers being sold mech, or 200+ watt cloud chuck kits, or rebuildable… when it would have been far better to sell them something like a mouth-to-lung (MTL) kit to get them started and then gain that customer’s trust.

The majority of the shops and wholesalers reading this article will be nodding in agreement and for the most part a lot of this article is preaching to the choir. But there is still that small percentage who, sometime in 2019, when the numbers of new vapers walking into shops continues on its decline, will find themselves in a very, very, bad position of not being able to get those repeat customers back in.

No.Vape shops have not reached saturation point. However, that plateau is coming, and from what I have seen it will be arriving sometime in 2019. Most of you reading this will know about it and have built up your loyal customer base. But for those that haven’t, you don’t have a lot of time left.

AS THE POOL OF NEW VAPERS SLOWLY DRIES UP, VAPE SHOPS UP AND DOWN THE COUNTRY WILL BE RELYING ON REPEAT CUSTOMERS. THIS IS WHERE SOME SHOPS WILL FALL ON THEIR SWORD

COLUMNIST | VICTOR MULLIN

VAPOUROUND’S NEXT TOP MOD-EL

It was a long, hard road spanning over a year, but @fku_life outlasted 19 other competitors en-route to becoming the first winner of Vapouround’s Next Top Model.

Sponsors Premium Labs wanted to find a new face to use in promotional material for their products and the winner would get a professional photoshoot and feature in Vapouround Magazine.

The entry requirements were simple: strike a pose with a mod in your hand in any way you see fit. Entrants posted their best images with the hashtag #VapouroundModel to show the wider world the best side of our community.

Vapers are unafraid to speak their minds, engage with the causes they care about and rally around those they admire, and this contest brought out the best in them.

It may be a cliché, but we were spoiled for choice from the beginning, always impressed at the diversity and stylistic flair of the people who love vaping.

The man who took the crown was @fku_life. Often, a picture says a thousand words, and his are no exception. He is intimately connected to the vape trade and has the multi-platform online following to prove it.

Though there could only be one winner, the competition was a huge success for the community. All of our entries showed the mainstream how varied and creative we are and how supportive vapers can be.

PREMIUMLABS.COM

The European Commission is holding a public consultation into the taxation of tobacco and vaping products, ending on September 3. The Collective of EU Vaper Associations is issuing an urgent call to action to ask you, the consumers, to respond to the consultation. Vaping has helped more than 7.5 million Europeans to stop smoking and a further 9 million to cut down. If vaping is expensive smokers will not switch and vapers will go back to smoking.

• Making vaping more expensive will keep people smoking

• Taxing vaping makes people think vaping is as harmful as smoking

• There is no case on principled or practical grounds to apply excise duties to vaping products

• The value to health and wellbeing associated with switching from smoking to vaping exceeds any benefits arising from revenue collection

• VAT is the only acceptable form of taxation on vaping products

• Taxing vaping products ultimately protects smoking

• Vape products are not tobacco products and do not belong in the Tobacco Excise Directive

Tell the EU what you think, by responding to this consultation

Answering the consultation questionnaire:

1. The questionnaire is available in all the EU languages, select your language at the top right

2. Answer using your own words

3. If you don’t know the answer to something please reply with “I don’t know”

4. If you choose not to answer the questions on conventional tobacco products the questionnaire should only take around ten minutes

5. At the end there is an option to upload a document – responses carry more weight if they are more personal, so feel free to go into more detail. Tell your story!

More information is available on NNA UK’s EU tax consultation 2018 resources page: https://nnalliance.org/activities/resources/255-eu-tax-consultation-2018-resources-page

A lot can happen in three years

In this anniversary edition of Vapouround, Graham Cook of Vaping Underground looks back at how the vape landscape has changed in the last three years.

We know that the idea of vaping was born back in 1927 and in 1963, the first smokeless non-tobacco cigarette was created and followed in 2003 by the first successful commercial electronic device.

So where are we now?

I remember my first device nearly three years ago, an Eleaf iStick TC 60W and a Melo2 tank. For me, at the time, it was huge but I had been advised that this was a perfect starter kit. Since then I have used an array of devices and have seen the changes from simple pens to barely being able to wrap a hand around them and back again.

When I started vaping, there were lots of homebrewers selling their wares online. Since the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) was implemented in May 2016, we have seen a large reduction online of juice vendors, including homebrewers, which has made it safer for consumers. This has made it more expensive with testing required to move into the market as a business. We also saw the glass bottles, I personally loved, slowly disappear and a flood of plastic bottles that now fills our market.

Vaping has grown on such a huge scale and we have seen a huge increase in sales of products and a wider range available for all types of vapers. We have a lot more pod systems and mouth-to-lung (MTL) devices available, partly due to new people transitioning from

smoking and those looking for a more restricted vape experience. We now have nic salts emerging onto the market that work perfectly with the MTL systems. The salts have a smoother taste and higher nicotine concentration required for pods. Nic salts would have been perfect for the original JUUL device, but, devices in today’s market are more power conservative and give a satisfying vape experience.

Over the last three years we have seen more hospitals become ‘vape friendly’ and provide shelters to support the use of e-cigarettes. This has been a huge step forward and has been helped by the recognition from Public Health England (PHE) who have been urging hospitals to do more for patients. PHE are also moving to encourage hospitals to allow vaping in single patient rooms and GPs to prescribe e-cigarettes as a nicotine replacement therapy.

When I joined vape groups on facebook three years ago, it was for advice, support and to hopefully make friends with like-minded or similar people. The vape community and groups on social media have exploded with so many new groups appearing daily. This in turn has had an impact within the community and causes friction between vendors, members and those that maintain the groups. Vapers now experience randomly being added to new pages purely for numbers just to increase groups’ own member count – size is everything.

With all of the changes we have seen over the last three years, I expect more to take place in the coming months. Let’s hope we can see more positive changes in the future for the industry.

elec

The first commercially successful electronic cig arette is created in China by Hon Lik.

PHE concludes that e-cig arettes are significantly less harmful to health than smoking.

The TPD was implemented in May 2016. Glass bottles fade out.

Nic salts start to emerge onto the market and more hospitals become vape friendly

Herbert A. Gilbert is generally credited with the creation of the first

tronic cigarette device.

THE VAPE DEBATE

WHY DON’T MORE YOUNG WOMEN VAPE? ARE THE REGULATIONS TO BLAME?

BY SOPHIE JARVIS, POLICY ADVISOR AT THE ADAM SMITH INSTITUTE AND PROGRAMMES DIRECTOR AT THE ENTREPRENEURS NETWORK.

The government’s current approach to nicotine and tobacco reminds me of the sex education scene in Mean Girls: ‘Don’t have sex. You’ll get pregnant and die.’ Abstinence may be best contraception in theory, but it doesn’t work in practice. Most of us recognise that abstinence doesn’t work for everyone, so instead we focus on reducing the harms of unwanted pregnancies and STDs by teaching teenagers about contraception. Yet, when it comes to tackling the harms of smoking we still stick to an abstinence-only approach.

We are human and will inevitably fall short of the official advice. So just as we encourage teenagers to use contraception, we should make it easier for adults to switch to safer (but not risk-free) alternatives. Public Health England have to their credit highlighted the relative benefits of vaping by pointing out that it’s at least 95 percent safer than smoking. In other words, it would take 20 non-smokers to take up vaping to outweigh the good of one smoker switching the other way.

British vaping laws aren’t that Victorian, but there’s room for improvement. While we allow vape shops and vaping in public places, e-cigarette manufacturers face stiff regulation and are prevented from talking about the relative risks of vaping compared with smoking.

The EU’s Tobacco Products Directive is particularly pernicious. Brussels’ restrictions cap tank sizes, regulate nicotine content, and restrict the ability for e-cigarette sellers to market their products effectively. We know from other countries that heavy-handed e-cigarette laws don’t help smokers: in Australia, where e-cigarettes are banned,

smokers as a proportion of the population dropped by just 0.6 percentage points between 2013-2016. By contrast, the UK’s relatively liberal approach to vaping lead to smoking rates falling by 2.9 percentage points. Japan also banned e-cigarettes, but they allow heat-not-burn products which has resulted in a significant decline in cigarette sales. America also takes a more realistic approach to tobacco harm reduction in some areas. Juul, an e-cigarette three times too potent for the UK market, is permitted in the US; it’s created a cult on campuses – ‘heroin chic’ no more, it’s ‘Juul dudes’ now. Despite the public health lobby being in hysterics about the ‘Juul epidemic’, since Juul entered the market in 2015 we’ve seen smoking rates fall by 1.6 per cent from 2016-2017.

We could see similar falls in smoking rates in the UK if we liberalised regulation around advertising. Specifically, e-cigarette companies can’t talk about the relative risk of harm reduction products compared to cigarettes. This curtails their freedom to run an effective advertising campaign aimed at encouraging smokers to switch. A current example of the effectiveness of advertising is the latest sunscreen campaign with a tattoo of the word sun damage on a child’s face. Just imagine, if an e-cigarette company released a similarly convincing ad: a twenty-aday ex-supermodel, looking haggard, fag in hand, next to Cara Delevingne vaping away with youthful skin. The switch would be an instant hit among young women. (Saatchi & Saatchi, I’ll send you my invoice.)

The public know about sun damage, but we don’t know enough about the benefits of harm reduction products compared to cigarettes. In fact, the majority of smokers across the UK do not believe that e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes and this situation has got worse over time. “Even fewer are aware of the existence of newer reduced-risk products like ‘heat-not-burn’ devices,” warns Daniel Pryor, the author of the latest report from the Adam Smith Institute.

Adverts targeted towards young women have the potential to be the most effective. And it is young women’s lungs that are most blackened by the Tobacco Products Directive, as women are much less likely to switch to vaping than men. While 8.9 percent of young men vape, for women it is just 2.6 percent. Women are however continuing to smoke with nearly 16 percent of women aged 16-24 smoking.

Women haven’t been adopting vaping products in the UK. Perhaps this is due to their chunky appearance compared to a cigarette; their fiddly nature makes it more Airfix than Audrey Hepburn. American women, however, have been using small, skeek available in the States, which resembles a USB stick, rather than a Hornby train.

Liberalising rules and regulations around vaping and heat-notburn products would allow innovation in advertising and products, ultimately saving ‘over a million years of Britons’ life’. The evidence is on the table, but no-one knows about it. We don’t just need Public Health England, we need Don Draper too.

*This article was originally published by The Spectator Health. Vapouround was granted permission by the author to republish.

“IT IS YOUNG WOMEN’S LUNGS THAT ARE MOST BLACKENED BY THE TPD, AS WOMEN ARE MUCH LESS LIKELY TO SWITCH TO VAPING THAN MEN”

“WOMEN HAVEN’T BEEN ADOPTING VAPING PRODUCTS IN THE UK. PERHAPS THIS IS DUE TO THEIR CHUNKY APPEARANCE COMPARED TO A CIGARETTE, THEIR FIDDLY NATURE MAKES IT MORE AIRFIX THAN AUDREY HEPBURN”

GPSR Matters

Meeting the TPD does not mean that your e-liquid is safe, it is simply a way to register the product and meet the requirements for the banned substances. In-fact within the TPD itself manufacturers are required to also perform a risk assessment in accordance with GPSR 2005 to ensure you also comply with the GPSR. The GPSR 2005 is now high on the priority list for both Trading Standards and the MHRA so you need to act now!

How we can help

EL-Science have invested around £2M into understanding the safety of eliquid over the last 5 years and have produced a robust set of Health Criteria Values (HCV) for many of the chemical components found within e-liquids.

We all know about Diacetyl but there are many more chemicals which may have a harmful effect if not controlled. In fact, EL-Science have identified and characterised over 180 chemicals with HCVs out of over 600 chemicals researched and the list is growing. These chemicals are common flavourings which are often safe by ingestion but have significant toxicological impact when inhaled.

This doesn’t mean you should not have them in your e-liquid, however, the amounts must be controlled.

Our Services

EL-Science offers a completely independent service to help you meet the GPSR 2005 regulations for both shortfill and submitted TPD products. This process isn’t expensive, especially if you already have your chemical composition. If you don’t we have in-house analytical laboratories so we can assist with that too.

Our Product Risk Assessment (PRA) is based around Health Criteria Values (HCV’s) as presented at this years ENDS Conference.

An

example of an EL-Science

Product Risk Assessment

ASK THE SCIENTIST

What is salt-based nicotine?

By Richard Cunningham, Ph.D

Nicotine salts have emerged as a leading trend this year, with an increasing number of e-liquid manufacturers trying their hand at ‘nic salts’. What do you know about them and their chemical make up? Where does the salt come from? Here’s a myth-buster, you won’t find it in your kitchen.

Nicotine is found naturally in the tobacco leaf and exists in a salt-form but this particular salt is unsuitable for vaping.

GENERIC STRUCTURE OFA NICOTINE SALT

N

xH

N

(Nicotine ‘free-base’)

To isolate nicotine from the tobacco leaf, it is first converted to its free-base form and is then extracted using a solvent.

It’s this free-base nicotine that is most commonly used for vaping, however the rate of nicotine absorption versus a combustible cigarette is lower. This is possibly due to the larger particle size of the vapour compared to an ash cloud and not being able to penetrate as deeply within the lung, where the most rapid nicotine uptake occurs.

When vaped, nicotine is absorbed in the nose, mouth, throat, mucosal membranes, and the alveoli. Through experimental investigation it has been found that certain nicotine formulations with organic acids when vaped gave comparable nicotine hits to cigarettes by monitoring heart rate, user reported satisfaction and measuring blood plasma nicotine levels of test participants. In addition, these formulations showed improved stability and a reduced throat hit when compared to the free-base nicotine used most commonly by vapers.

Dr

In the late 1950s to early 1960s, companies began adding ammonia or diammonium phosphate to improve the flavour of cigarettes.

In reality, this created a nicotine ‘freebase’ which when smoked, gives a stronger hit through more rapid absorption into the bloodstream and therefore user satisfaction, leading to dominance across the tobacco market for decades.

H N

(Nicotine benzoate salt) N

This is why some believe nic salts could be more useful for smokers trying to quit as there is a more comparable nicotine hit and feeling of satisfaction to that of cigarettes when making the switch to vaping. One such formulation is nicotine benzoate salt, which is formed by the addition of benzoic acid to nicotine. This is what is used in popular US pod devices.

About the author:

This ‘salt’ is not to be confused with table salt!

Richard Cunningham has a Ph.D in medicinal chemistry from Queen’s University Belfast where he also worked as postdoctoral researcher for a number of years before working in the US at the Mitchell Cancer Institute in Alabama. Among his areas of expertise are organic synthesis, nucleosides, nucleotides, cellular biology, vitamins, aminoglycosides, drug delivery, phosphorous chemistry and chemical analysis. He is now the director of quality control at Liquid Sciences LLC.

Thesurfacearea ofthelungalveoli canbethesame asatenniscourt. DIDYOUKNOW

Thoughts from the shop floor

Helen and

from The Puffin Hut on helping smokers make the transition to vaping

Jodie

The Puffin Hut is a collection of vape shops that offers a one-stop-shop smoking cessation service, providing tailored advice to smokers looking to quit and a wide range of products for a growing customer-base of committed vapers.

This new feature is a window into day-to-day life on the shop floor. This issue, Director Helen Seward and area manager Jodie Barnett discuss the importance of working closely with smokers as they take those first tentative steps on their quitting journey.

“Quitting smoking is not an easy thing to do and there’s no one-size-fits all solution. We’ve come to realise that you often only have one shot at getting it right. If not, people can get frustrated and think that vaping isn’t for them and then get tempted to go back to smoking.

“In a lot of cases it’s down to nicotine. People often opt for low-nicotine, convinced that their habit is about the physical act of holding and inhaling something, rather than satisfying a nicotine craving.

“It’s all about education, which is a big part of the service we offer. We explain that nicotine isn’t so bad and can even be the difference between successfully switching and slipping back into bad habits.

“We often get it where a smoker will come in and say, ‘my mate has one of these devices, so I want one.’ The thing is, their mate has been vaping for three years, so chances are the customer would be better suited to something a bit more user-friendly, like a mouth-to-lung kit with a higher level of nicotine just to get them started. This usually saves people money too as there’s no need to spend £120 on your first device.

“There are a lot of shops out there that primarily cater to subohming customers, but we genuinely want to help people who want to quit smoking who are overwhelmed by their options. It’s not about trying to sell the flashiest device. We take time with individuals. After all, they won’t see all the benefits if they don’t do it right.

“The service doesn’t end when the customer walks out the door. We ring them a week or so later for a consultation where we ask how they’re getting on and if they’ve encountered any problems or have any questions. It’s a lot to take in and can be quite daunting but usually all customers need is a little guidance and encouragement to set them on the right path.”

“One thing that we’ve come to realise is that you often only have one shot at getting it right”

Specialising in state of the art bottling technology, all of our machines are engineered to absolute perfection. We understand your need for reliability, durability and an intuitive interface. This is just what we deliver.

LONDON. JUNE 5-6

BY PATRICK GRIFFIN

It would be hard to imagine more comprehensive coverage of the science of vaping and other electronic nicotine delivery systems than the annual ENDS conference.

Given the vital role that science plays in the e-cigarette industry, there was a huge amount to cover during the two-day event at London’s Amba Hotel in Marble Arch. A series of expert speakers covered a wide range of topics from analytics, testing, regulations, clinical trials and industry standards.

ENDS – the Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems conference –highlighted how universal international testing standards were vital for the industry and showed how scientific cooperation on a global scale can have huge benefits for producers and consumers alike.

As Europe’s only science-based conference for the industry, it attracted more than 120 delegates from throughout the industry including testing companies, manufacturers, regulatory bodies, law firms and product developers.

Patricia Kovacevic, General Counsel Chief Compliance Officer at Nicopure Labs described the industry as a ‘force of nature’ which was growing importance around the world.

She said: “ENDS are here to stay and represent a revolution in improving health and in harm reduction. In the UK we are blessed to have a government that understands that vaping is part of the solution and not part of the problem.”

Ms Kovacevic said the global e-cigarette industry had the potential to save millions of lives and was both able and willing to, “serve as a catalyst to move smokers to new non-combustible products.” She read a statement from Rugby MP Mark Pawsey, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on E-cigarettes, who criticised the “mixed messages” surrounding the way vape products were regulated and presented to consumers.

He said: “Very few employees have policies to distinguish between smoking and vaping and we are determined that Parliament will become vape friendly and lead the way for other employers and workplaces throughout the country.”

Liam Humberstone from Totally Wicked and the IBVTA said that Brexit would not have any impact on the country’s vaping regulatory framework. He said: “Post Brexit the TPD will stay the same in the UK for quite some time. I do not think there is the political will to change it.”

He also called for universal industry standards adding: “If you have standards in place ahead of regulation then we give the regulators very little to look at. Standards are a huge defence against bad regulation.”

Responding to an audience question about whether Big Tobacco should be involved in industry standards, he said: “We are all part of the same industry. We need to act responsibly in doing the right thing. We will accept that the independent sector and Big Tobacco are different, but we achieve the most when we all work together.”

Dr Sudhanshu Patwardhan, Senior International Engagement Manager for British American Tobacco / Nicoventures, said: “Standards and specifications are about assuring key stakeholders, be they consumers or regulators, that we are not a bunch of wild west cowboys but that we are here for the long term and we want to do a good job.”

“IN THE UK WE ARE BLESSED TO HAVE A GOVERNMENT THAT UNDERSTANDS THAT VAPING IS PART OF THE SOLUTION AND NOT PART OF THE PROBLEM”

– PATRICIA KOVACEVIC, NICOPURE LABS

WHY THE UK VAPE INDUSTRY IS THE ENVY OF THE WORLD

LONDON. JUNE 5-6

BY PATRICK GRIFFIN

The approach of UK regulators and our government to vaping was described at the ENDS conference as “benign, if not overwhelmingly constructive.”

John Dunne, managing director of E-Liquid Brands UK and a board member of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) said the future looked bright for the UK vape industry.

He told the conference: “The UK vaping industry is currently in a position that our American and European colleagues, not to mention the rest of the world, would envy.

“It is important to remember that our government and public health communities’ approach has been benign if not overwhelmingly constructive on the whole. We must also recognise how engaged our parliamentarians are on the subject. The debates are markedly constructive and really demonstrate that our country’s politicians, on the whole, really get vaping’s significance.”

He described the recent parliamentary inquiry into vaping as “hugely constructive and positive” and called on the Advertising Standards Authority to “change the advertising rules so that we can let the public know the truth about vaping ourselves rather than relying on Public Health England to do it for us.”

Speaking about Brexit, he said now was the time to build the right advocacy base to help shape future legislation adding: “We can really use the vaping industry as a case study in how things can be done differently and for the better after we get back control of our own laws. We have a real opportunity to take advantage of the progressive attitude of our government and public health community to shape a bespoke regulatory regime for the future, one that really benefits public health.”

Also looking to the future he said there were “great opportunities” for future growth in the convenience and grocery sectors for those consumers who didn’t want to visit vape stores.

He called for more work to be done to counteract the public perception as vaping, saying that just over half of smokers understood that vaping was less harmful than smoking.

Mr Dunne told the conference: “Not only are people not understanding the relative risks of our products, but from 2013 to 2018, the proportion of UK adults who believed that vaping

products are as harmful or more harmful than smoking has nearly quadrupled from seven to 25 percent.

“All of this negative perception has led to the number of UK vapers having increased by just 0.4 percent from 2017 to 2018. If we compare this to 2013, where the number of vapers increased by 86 percent, we can see how significant the slowdown is.

“Despite the mounting public health evidence and the endorsement, the vaping industry has received in the government’s Tobacco Control Plan, it seems that message is not getting through to consumers yet.”

He also criticised several aspects of the TPD where packing regulations of vaping products were more stringent than those of more hazardous products such as bleach.

He described the TPD as “an important starting point” for product standards and said the industry needed ample regulation to build confidence among consumers, but was critical of, “arbitrary, non-evidence-based restrictions on bottle sizes and nicotine strengths.”

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT, BUT MORE SMOKERS NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE BENEFITS OF SWITCHING TO E-CIGARETTES

FOCUS ON EUROPEAN REGULATION

BY PATRICK GRIFFIN

TIM PHILLIPS FROM ECIGINTELLIGENCE DISCUSSES

THE TPD, TAXATION, FLAVOUR BANS AND THE EMERGENCE OF HEATED TOBACCO PRODUCTS.

Taxation will become a huge issue for the industry over the coming years as the European Commission considers imposing new excise duties on the vape and heated tobacco markets. Tim Phillips, the Managing Director of ECigIntelligence, described taxation as one of the issues that would most affect the industry in the next few years.

He said: “Clearly tax is a huge issue. Italy has a very high tax which is doubling the price of a 10-millilitre bottle and we are seeing the same pattern emerge in other countries. Tax is one of the issues that is going to most affect the industry in the next few years.”

The European Commission has launched a public consultation about excise duties for manufactured tobacco and the possible taxation of vaping and heated tobacco products.

Regarding the future for EU regulation, he said: “The European Commission review of the TPD is due in May 2021 so there will be some tweaking of the TPD rules. It is something for the industry to embrace because that means the sector is being thought about, hopefully in a constructive way.”

Mr Phillips said two key aims of the TPD were, “to improve the functioning of the internal market” and to “maintain a high level of health protection.”

He told the conference: “Those two areas are very questionable. We have not seen a harmonisation of rules concerning e-cigarettes across Europe and it is questionable whether this has had a positive impact on health policy in the region.”

On TPD tank size limits he said this restriction was “the bane of the industry” with a clear demand from consumers for larger tank sizes, adding: “There is definitely no harmonised attitude towards tank sizes across Europe.”

He said the short-fill “shake and vape” sector accounted for more than 50 percent of some European markets. “Where more than half of the market is no longer part of the regulated environment, this is clearly a problem for regulators as it is effectively a loophole in the legislation.”

Mr Phillips said there was “very little harmonisation” on labelling requirements across the EU, with the US vape industry in particular failing to understand how such a fragmented approach to labelling could exist in the EU market.

On flavouring he told the conference: “We are also starting to see flavour bans creep in. Flavours are a major issue. The issue of flavours in the e-cig space is absolutely fundamental to the way consumers use the product.”

Moving to heated tobacco he said: “The launch of heated tobacco products in Europe is going to have a big impact on the way that tax is viewed by regulators. The Japanese heated tobacco market this year is going to be bigger than global vape. It is coming and it will be a feature in European markets and around the world and I think it may well be quite positive. I don’t think it is going to cannibalise the existing e-cig market and, if anything, I think it will boost it.”

LONDON. JUNE 5-6

CBD E-LIQUIDS

AND THE CHALLENGES AHEAD

LONDON. JUNE 5-6

BY PATRICK GRIFFIN

ANTONIN COHEN,

FOUNDER

OF CBD E-LIQUID MANUFACTURER HARMONY, DISCUSSES THE HUGE POTENTIAL OFFERED BY THIS RAPIDLY-GROWING SECTOR OF THE INDUSTRY.

Worldwide demand for CBD e-liquid is growing so rapidly, that it represents one of the biggest trends in the vaping industry, the London ENDS conference was told.

Antonin Cohen said the demand for CBD was surpassing nicotine by 92 percent and with 95 million potential CBD vapers in the western world, the growth potential was enormous.

He said: “A lot of cigarette smokers and nicotine vapers want to put cigarettes and nicotine behind them for good and that is why we started making CBD e-liquids. Demand is really booming within Europe. We think by 2020 there will be more than 12,000 distributors of CBD e-liquid in Europe and just in the UK, 78 percent of vape stores are going to stock CBD e-liquids.”

He said around 300 to 500 UK vape stores currently stock the product and said there was no evidence of any public health related problems associated with the use of pure CBD.

The Harmony founder added: “There is no recreational usage of CBD because it does not get you high. Therefore, vaping CBD e-liquid is very boring for young people.”

He described ‘price and affordability’ as the number one challenge facing this sector, with pure CBD costing 300 times more than pure nicotine and the end product being two to three times more expensive than nicotine e-liquid.

Mr Cohen added: “Over the coming years I believe the price of CBD e-liquid will adjust to be in line with the price of nicotine

e-liquid and it will takeover a large market size of the nicotine e-liquid market.”

He said other challenges came from educating the market and consumers about the product and from a lack of regulation. The conference was told: “Most people still do not know about CBD and there is a lot of confusion over what it can or cannot do. Also, there is not a great regulatory framework to really define how CBD should be used.”

He said Harmony is currently working on creating CBD guidelines and standards for the industry adding: “One of the big reasons that I am here today is to create connections and work in collaboration with key companies, key influencers and trade associations in the UK to share our industry standard agreement. My goal is to connect with people interested by this topic in the UK so we can together improve, adjust and then talk with one voice to the authorities.

For me it is extremely important to get agreed quality standards. Currently there are a lot of small companies producing CBD e-liquids, but they don’t know the right quality standards to apply The most important thing with setting standards is to ensure that we have rules about quality control so that everyone is making safe CBD e-liquid.”

He said companies making unsubstantiated claims about CBD products was both confusing for customers and also gave the sector a bad name.

The Harmony CEO added: “I entered the world of CBD e-liquids six years ago. In 2014 we launched the first CBD and terrapin infused e-liquid and that was really targeted towards the cannabis smokers. Today I am very pleased to have introduced Harmony to more than 26 countries and three continents and our distribution network continues to expand rapidly.”

INNOVATION AND DESIGN

BY PATRICK GRIFFIN LONDON. JUNE 5-6

NEIL

MCCALLUM, CEO OF JAC

VAPOUR, EXPLAINS WHY YOU WILL NEVER SEE COLOURFUL FLASHING LIGHTS ON THEIR PRODUCTS

With 80,000 customers in the UK, and another 20,000 overseas, JAC Vapour is clearly doing something right.

The Edinburgh-based company is not one for following the latest fads and fashions when it comes to product creation.

CEO Neil McCallum told the ENDS conference that they constantly seek feedback from their customers to determine what the market wants.

He explained: “We don't want to make big devices with big lights because we don't think that's cool. We like small and discreet. The smaller the better. Well-built with a quality feel.

“We like simple. Battery life is very important for us. Quite a lot of our customers don't have time to mess about changing a menu, they just want to get up and go, get the nicotine and move on.

“We need to believe it makes sense for us to actually design it. We spend ridiculous amounts of time talking to our customers and asking them questions.”

As a result of that feedback – on average, every three months, JAC surveys 8,000 customers – they have a very good idea what to focus on and what to avoid.

Neil added: “80 percent of our customers think our products are designed well. Our customers trust us to produce devices that will work for them and get them through the day.”

Each time JAC produces a new piece of hardware, product

engineers are flown to their factory in Shenzhen, China to oversee the initial production run, conduct tests and deal with any teething problems.

JAC has a 200-strong customer forum whose members are sent pre-production models of new devices to test and evaluate. Part of this process involves completing a 20-page questionnaire so that nothing gets overlooked.

Neil added: “Every time I see a new device come onto the market with shiny lights and party mode I ask myself who is this for and where is the market?

“When we create a new device, we know it must have a really big battery and be really small. It doesn’t need flashing lights.”

He said high street vape shops were very important, especially when helping new vapers who were unfamiliar with the equipment. However, he said that once this initial stage had been overcome people often preferred to buy online.

“The whole world is moving online. The retail process is incredibly important but so too is selling online because our customers are time poor and simply don’t have the time to get to a store, but they can get online,” he said.

JAC was established in 2010 and from day one the focus was on good design. Neil said: “We have always believed that there is space in the market for better products and we still do but we can only do that if we are control freaks and do it ourselves.

“You have to stand for something. You have to want to do something so if you ask what our baselines are we are absolutely 100 percent for the vapers and for the smokers. That's who we back. That's our group.”

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WORTH FIGHTING FOR

BY PATRICK GRIFFIN

CHAMPION JUDY E. GIBSON EXPLAINS

because if everyone was to suddenly decide to start vaping or use snus or IQOS then the amount of (tobacco tax revenue) would go down hugely and (many) countries would really have a problem.” She said sensationalist national newspaper headlines were doing enormous harm to the industry because most of the population would believe the ‘junk science’ presented to them by the media.

The global vaping industry is facing a huge marketing problem – only a very tiny percent of the population actually believe that safer nicotine choices are worth fighting for.

Judy E. Gibson, Secretary General of the International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations, warned that the industry must unite and act now to combat the apathy.

She told the ENDS conference that failure to do so could lead to higher taxes and a missed opportunity to get smokers to switch to less harmful options such as vaping.

“Most vapers have no idea that their e-liquid is likely to be taxed by the EU. They don’t have a clue and they won’t have a voice because the newspapers will probably not carry it or at least not in a big way.”

She said vaping taxes in Estonia had driven up the price of a 10ml e-liquid bottle to €8 – double the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes. The effects of the tax, she explained, included vapers switching back to smoking, vape shops going out of business and a booming black market.

She added: “If you buy a bottle of flavour on its own in an e-cigarette shop it will be taxed but if you buy it in a cake shop then it won’t be taxed. It is the same with VG and PG. There is a huge burgeoning black market going on now because of this so taxation is a big issue.

“We know there is a huge hue and cry for taxation on e-liquid

“When you have junk science happening, no matter how much one rebuts it, the rebuttal doesn’t go into the newspaper.

“The headline “Vaping is worse than cigarettes” remains in people’s minds. They only read the headline because they are not really that bothered about the details.

“In the same way nobody cares much about vape taxes because not many people vape. We are now reaching a tipping point and when the majority of the public don’t like vaping then there will be nobody to push the politicians when it comes to issues like taxes on vaping and flavour bans.”

She said vape companies should come together to fund a powerful industry-wide media and marketing campaign to get the industry some good publicity which would really capture the public’s imagination.

“The anti-vaping lobby say the same thing over and over again, things like ‘gateway theory,’ and this is the message which the public is hearing. We need to counter this with our own message – something big and bold. Something as powerful as the “Labour isn’t working” campaign of the 1970s.

“We need to influence the public more because these are the people who are reading the negative headlines about vaping and we need to act now because changing their minds will take some time.”

LONDON. JUNE 5-6

CONSUMER

WHY THE VAPE INDUSTRY NEEDS TO WIN THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF THE NON-VAPING COMMUNITY.

ISSUE 1 COMING SOON

the middle east vape show makes its debut

BAHRAIN’S GROUNDBREAKING VAPE EXPO MAY BE THE BOOST THE REGION NEEDS

- BY LEO FORFAR

-

The Middle East Vape Show (MEVS) will not only be the first industry expo for Bahrain, but the entire region when it takes place in January. Show organiser Ahmed Fathallah gave Vapouround the inside track on what to expect.

Q: How did you get involved in the industry and come to launch this event?

A: We have been involved since 2015, when the vape industry started booming in the Middle East. Since then, we dreamed of making Bahrain the center of the vape market in the entire region. We saw its potential and did our very best in making this dream a reality. We didn’t just want to start a vape show that will lead the Middle East, but the entire world. Based on that, we’ve worked hard to get all the licenses to proceed, and we’ve coordinated with the biggest global expos to make our event the very best.

Q: The consumption of tobacco is very high in the Middle East, how is e-cigarette use perceived?

A: Middle Eastern consumption of tobacco is very high, which has made the vape industry so successful in the region. With rising awareness of tobaccorelated disease made possible by the campaigns of the government and health institutions, vaping grew on very fertile land for marketing opportunities.

Q: Why did you pick January 2019 to launch?

A: We did research on all the major vape shows and found out that January 17-19

has no main show. Plus, the weather is great at this time in the month.

Q: What level of attendance are you hoping for?

A: We expect the number of visitors to exceed 10,000, with over 270 exhibitors from the wider vaping world.

Q: How is the show beneficial for manufacturers and distributors and why should they attend?

A: It’s the first show of its kind in the Middle East, which makes it so important to be in on from the start. It will unite representatives from over 25 countries and will enable wholesalers and retailers to meet and network with all kinds of potential partners.

We did a VIP Programme where we invited representatives from the most prominent vape companies in the Middle East to visit the show at our expense. We will have a scheduled programme during the show to meet representatives one-on-one in a special onsite VIP room.

Q: How is the preparation going?

A: We have received approvals and licenses from the government to make this event happen – all within only a month of announcing it. The show will be divided into three zones, and we have almost sold the first. We’ve also opened the second under ECC Events management for the companies to register. We will open the third soon, under one of the biggest vape show promoters in China. There will be 11 sponsors.

Q: What’s next?

A: I don’t want to give too much away, but Sawa Services Co, organiser of this event, will bring many positive surprises to the Middle East vape market which will surely be beneficial to the companies and the buyers.

Vapouround is official media partner to MEVS. The expo will run from 10am to 10pm across January 17-19 at the Bahrain International Circuit, Gate 255, Gulf of Bahrain Avenue, Umm Jidar 1062, Sakhir, Southern Governorate.

BY TIM PRITCHETT

VAPITALY, VERONA. MAY 19-21

It came around a lot faster than I thought it would, but it was finally time to go to my first expo abroad.

I didn’t know what to expect but when I stood outside waiting to enter the Veronafiere Expo Centre and saw a swarm of people waiting at the gates to be let in, I knew it would be a good event. When the doors opened there were immediate shouts of excitement and I saw hundreds of people running to their favourite stands, all trying to be the first ones there.

It was incredible to think such a young industry has made this much of an impact already and it was great to witness such excitement from the local vaping community.

After the initial groups were in I decided to walk around the expo for myself. It was great to see so many clients and companies I recognised but it was also a chance for me to see some wellknown companies that I hadn’t had the chance to meet yet.

There was so much to do and so many people to see that in what seemed like just five minutes, it was already lunch time. We went outside and it was like a food festival. There were eight food trucks each selling different things with a bar in the middle. We opted for calamari and chips and I decided that I’d be eating that for the rest of the weekend – it was unbelievable. The rest of the afternoon flew by and it was soon time to go back to the apartment and prepare for the next day. The next two days were just as busy as the first. It was great

speaking to the consumers there and seeing what they liked about the different stands.

I also had the pleasure of speaking to a lot of people from Canada and the US who were beyond happy that they made the trip over. For some of them it was their first time in Europe and I got the impression that they’ll be attending a lot more of the expos over here.

The final day was B2B day. One thing I loved about Vapitaly was that between the two halls they had meeting rooms for businesses. These meeting rooms were top class, they smelled of jasmine and offered coffee and snacks. It was nice to have a coffee in a quiet room and talk with clients – I wish more vape events had this facility.

After my final calamari and chips of the event it was time for a few final meetings and then to pack up and head home. It was an absolute pleasure going to Vapitaly and I would 100 percent go again.

Blueberry Bliss

New York style Cheesecake topped with Blueberries.

Buttercream Dream

Raspberry & Strawberry cake with thick buttercream.

Birthday Bash

Vanilla confetti cake with sugar iced frosting.

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BY ANNABELLE TURNER

VAPE SOUTH AMERICA, COLOMBIA. MAY 26-27

This is the second time that the team has attended Vape South America, so we had high hopes for the show and I am pleased to report that it did not disappoint.

We flew to Medellin via the Colombian capital Bogota where, after a 5,200-mile journey, we landed at the city’s El Dorado airport. We fly a lot at Vapouround so the occasional bump here and there is something we get used to. However, this was a little different. The plane seemed to make a number of often quite dramatic twists and turns as we neared the runway and the descent was less than smooth.

It turns out that the airport is more than 8,000ft above sea level and very close to the Andes mountains which explains the bumps and twists as we lined up with the runway.

Another unusual event during this visit was the occurrence of the presidential election which saw a national alcohol ban from 6pm on Saturday until 6am on Monday to help facilitate voting. During the ban police could arrest people for being intoxicated or for simply being in possession of alcohol.

Colombia has had a bit of a bad reputation over the years, but we have always found it to be a beautifully scenic country with friendly, approachable residents.

The show itself was a two-day event held at the Plaza Mayor in Medellin and it was really well-organised and put together by Jason Monti and his team.

There was also the added bonus of it not beginning until noon, meaning there were no early starts, which is always a positive. Immediately I noticed the busy but well-organised nature of the

expo. The steady inflow of people positively maintained the atmosphere creating a sense of animated liveliness and this was also carried through to the second day of the event. I was particularly pleased with the natural flow of events during the expo. Nothing was forced on those who were there, making the expo even more enjoyable.

Many expos feel the need to bombard the attendees with loud, distracting music, making it a challenge to complete a conversation, yet this was not the case here.

It was lovely to catch up with Vape Dinner lady at the expo while also being able to interact with lots of South American companies who we were meeting for the first time.

By the time this edition comes out Jason will have yet another vape show under his belt – Vape Scandinavia which took place at the end of July in Copenhagen, Denmark, and we hope to have a review of that event in our October magazine.

BY PAUL CAPLIN

VAPOUROUND ON TOURVAPEXPO MADRID, JUNE 9-10

So this was to be our third visit to Madrid and I must say I wasn’t overly excited at the prospect of returning to this Spanish city for another vape-related expo. Not because I have anything against Madrid, I really like the place, but because our previous two visits to a vape expo in Madrid were somewhat of a disappointment. There didn’t seem to be much of a market in Spain and this was reflected in the poor attendance of the previous two shows.

Anyway, we agreed to do a media partnership in Madrid and we were fully geared up for it and hoped it would be third time lucky. This time it was the turn of VapExpo to host a Madrid show, so I was eager to see what they would achieve. Although it was part of the French franchise, the organisers were different and after speaking to them on a few occasions I believed they would pull off something no one had previously done in Madrid.

After a smooth set-up, we arrived at 9.30am on the first day of the show, ready for doors to open at 10. I thought we would have plenty of time to do our final preparations and get ready for a slow to steady day, but I was so wrong. The doors opened and so did the flood gates with hundreds of visitors arriving, all keen, eager and willing to try everyone’s juice and hardware. The hours were 107.30pm and it remained packed all day, right until the end. People were so friendly, they were so keen to experience everything, as if they had never been to a vape expo before and for most of them this was the case.

There was a great mix of exhibitors as well, old faithfuls such as Charlie’s, Vampire Vape, Café Racer, I VG, Nasty Juice and Riot Squad, to the new kids on the block and many Spanish distros and brands that we had never had the pleasure of meeting before.

The booths looked great too with many exhibitors going to great efforts to show off their company to this new market. The one negative for me was the blaring music from the stage area as well as people’s individual booth music. The loud music from some stands meant it was near impossible to do business or even hear what was being said.

Day two opened with another sudden rush of people and with the first three hours being B2B only – some serious business could be done. There was a good B2B turnout, and everyone seemed happy at the business they were doing. The consumer part of the day seemed to be a bit slower than the previous day, but it was kind of nice to have a steadier day on day two.

This was definitely the surprise of the year for me and I can’t wait for the next one. VapExpo has proved that there is a great market in Spain, and I would urge any brands who are exploring this market to act now as it is on the up in a big way.

Finally, Vapouround is proud to announce that off the back of this show we have teamed up with a Spanish magazine and will be launching Spain’s first dedicated vaping magazine, Vapouround Spain, in September.

I would like to say a big thanks to the organisers of this wonderful show and congratulate them on a job very well done and an expo that has the capability of growing enormously in the coming years. Watch this space and make sure you mark this one off on your calendar next year.

BY ANNABELLE TURNER

INTERSTEAM BERLIN, GERMANY. JUNE 22-24, 2018

It was a little unusual, at least on first glance, to discover that the Friday business to business day began at 3pm and went on until 10pm. And while this may seem strange it was actually very well thought out. The idea was that by starting and finishing late, smaller businesses attending the event would not have to close for the entire day. So unusual for sure but certainly very clever.

The people of Berlin were very welcoming indeed and the weather was very pleasant throughout the duration of the show. Friday was perhaps a little quieter than might have been expected but the World Cup may have had something to do with that. However, in keeping up with the German stereotype of efficiency, Friday, although quiet, was smooth and successful.

Moving forward to the Saturday. The numbers of people attending the show picked up and giveaways were a prominent source of entertainment and excitement throughout the day. Vapers, the world over, do love the opportunity of getting their hands on some cool freebies. Another notable feature of the expo was the outdoor area overseeing the River Spree. Intersteam took full advantage of the sunny climate with its outdoor entertainment on stage, featuring the one and only Ashley from Strawberry Queen. It was lovely to see such a familiar face at the expo. The outdoor space was also put to good use to entertain visitors as they waited in line for the doors to open and as the Arena Halle venue overlooked the river, it was great to take advantage of this feature.

In comparison to Saturday, Sunday was noticeably quieter, and the combination of great weather plus the distraction of the World Cup contributed to this. Intersteam Berlin is a quality vape expo and those who attended certainly enjoyed the experience.

The layout of the expo was clear and easy to follow making it effortless finding the exhibitors you needed to see. Just as always, it was lovely to see some of the UK brands situated around the arena such as Vampire Vape, Vape Duty Free and Eco Vape, as well as some of the well-known German based brands like Twisted and Bozz. On top of this, we met some newer German brands which we had not dealt with before. It was also great to see so many Vapouround Award trophies being displayed with a sense of pride by exhibitors. I know plans are already well underway to make the next Intersteam Berlin even bigger and better than before and without the World Cup taking place even more people will have the opportunity to attend.

On top of this, we met some newer German brands which we had not dealt with before. It was also great to see so many Vapouround Award trophies being displayed with a sense of pride by exhibitors.

BY ANNABELLE TURNER

VAPOUROUND CANADA LAUNCHES AT CANADA’S VAPE EXPO TORONTO, 22-24 JUNE

Judging by the response of the previous expo, the anticipation for Canada’s Vape Expo 2018 was high.

Judging by the response of the previous expo, the anticipation for Canada’s Vape Expo 2018 was high. Promoted as “the biggest vape event Canada has ever seen,” both consumers and businesses were itching at the chance to attend the next show in June.

It wasn’t our first visit to Toronto or even this specific expo. But this trip was different. Paul Caplin and I were like children on Christmas Eve as we introduced Canada’s vaping community to its newest vape publication, Vapouround Canada.

I was arriving with positive recollections from last year, with hopes to continue them through the show, and after a very long journey starting at Heathrow, London, stopping off in Lisbon, Portugal for a changeover before reaching Canada, I am pleased to report that this is exactly what followed.

When June 22 arrived, Charlie Pistano and his team’s hard work began to show. Walking into the expo I was immediately immersed in an atmosphere of the unknown. The effort that had been put into it was evident and clearly demonstrated throughout the show itself. The size of the show made this even more impressive. Working my way through the stands was pleasingly simple, as sometimes at bigger shows it is difficult to navigate your way around, but the well thought out floorplan prevented any confusion over the weekend.

It was excellent to see a range of exhibitors from all around the world. This provided us with the opportunity to catch up with brands like Transistor and their awesome boss Shuk, which is always a pleasure. I VG captured the show by being the first overseas company to win an award at a Canada show. They claimed the ‘Best Sweet In Show’ award with their renowned Bubblegum Millions juice.

There was certainly some, you could say, interesting entertainment on the second day courtesy of Classic E-juice creating a stir on stage leaving guests with unforgettable memories.

Arguably one of the most notable aspects of the show was the launch of Vapouround Canada and there was a lot of buzz around the new magazine from faces both new and familiar. This is one of the newest aspects of Vapouround and the first issue is being released in August. We at Vapouround are extremely excited to be growing into the ever-expanding market in the Canadian vape industry. With this, we hope to achieve new relationships and continue to build on our existing ones. The preview edition unveiled at CVE proved to be a big hit, revving the excitement of those of those in attendance.

Being based at the Pacific Smoke International stand was favourable as I was allowed to catch up with the lovely Rich and

Sam who were situated there. At the moment, vaping in Canada may be seen as a bit of a taboo subject with the unknown implications of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act (TVPA), much like Europe faced a few years ago. This, however, did not dampen the mood at CVE. The upbeat nature of the show reinforced the view that Canada will get through this time of ambiguity and obscurity. We as a company are looking forward to any further visits to Canada, whether that be for expos or for the brand new addition to the Vapouround family. Until next time Toronto! Want to know more about Vapouround Canada? Don’t miss the preview edition online now at VapouroundCanada.com Vapouround Canada issue one coming soon!

BY RÓISÍN DELANEY DERBYSHIRE SAUSAGE

& CIDER MUSIC

FESTIVAL & COUNTRY SHOW. JUNE 29-JULY 1

We set off on Friday afternoon to Walton-Upon-Trent to see where the Vapouround Bus was going to be in position at the festival and boy did we get a good spot. Parked front and centre between the main stage and the prosecco and cocktail bar, the bus basked in the 30C heat, the colours and wrap fitting in perfectly with the festival vibe.

On arrival at the festival, the Vapouround Bus stood out as the first thing people saw on entry.

Despite the heat, more and more festival goers made headway for the bus each day, as word spread of the test stations on board. It also worked in our favour that the bus provided welcome breaks in the shade while party folk kept in view and earshot of the stage for fear of missing out.

Friday evening, an estimated four thousand people blew off some steam as the work week came to an end. From the top deck of the bus we could see the boho boutique tipis set up in the back field. The mood was mellow and the vibe relaxed as a George Michael tribute act officially opened the weekend.

By the next morning, the festival crowd had multiplied like we had never anticipated – the tips of the tipis could hardly be seen. It grew so busy on Saturday afternoon as an estimated eight thousand people arrived on the scene to soak up the sun. The Vapouround Bus hosted a hen party of smokers and former

smokers on Saturday afternoon who were desperate not to smoke over the weekend, so we introduced them to e-cigarettes for the first time. The next day, the bride returned looking for more juice.

We met a group of friends in their 20s donning their finest Hawaiian

Blue skies, floral headpieces, foot-long hot dogs and fifteen thousand people surrounding the Vapouround Bus made for the perfect summer weekend in the Derbyshire countryside.

shirts who had tried vaping and a couple of them said they dual use mixing smoking and vaping. After a quick penalty shootout by the side of the bus, several members of the group said they were curious and wanted to know more. With starter kits on offer and friendly advice from the team about what would suit their specific needs, they were much more open to trying every flavour and complimented the bus team for being there when needed, before leaving with their weekend vape supplies.

On Sunday, there was a real sense of it being the morning after the night before as tired-looking revellers were slow to rise. An older crowd descended on Catton Hall with deck chairs and picnic blankets in tow by the afternoon and this crowd, although smaller at roughly three thousand people, seemed quite familiar with vaping and made for the bus throughout the day.

Due to there not being anywhere on site where cigarettes could be purchased, more and more full-time and social smokers were glad to try vaping over the weekend. With such a vast array of flavours to try on board, there was something for everyone and we left happy knowing we might have just helped someone quit smoking for good over the weekend.

The Vapouround Bus is excited for its next summer festival already! Keep an eye on the website for dates and details.

Retail news: illegal trade, top distributors, HnB

The UK’s biggest trade association for the e cigarette industry says its members are losing a significant amount of business to companies selling illegal products.

The Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) is critical of the lack of enforcement and lack of knowledge of vaping regulations among Trading Standards officers.

In its report “The State of Compliance 2018” it found that Trading Standards the regional bodies associated with local government areas had only taken action on around half the reports received on non compliant vaping products.

Two thirds of councils have taken action on every report they received, while 15% have taken no action A further 39 5% of local authorities have carried out no investigations into non compliance with the Tobacco and Related Products Regulation (TRPR), the act that brought the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) into UK law.

Enforcement action once a complaint was investi gated and found to be accurate was also poor.

E-cigs seized

The total number of enforcement actions reported by respondents to this request was 114, the IBVTA said. More than half of this was in the form of advice, it added

Beyond that, in 16% of cases non compliant prod ucts were seized by Trading Standards, and in

About ECigIntelligence

another 13% the shop removed the products volun tarily; 10% received a formal warning and 2% were cautioned.

Distributor choice

Meanwhile, a new ECigIntelligence report has taken a close look at distribution in the UK and the reasons that vape retailers choose to work with specific distributors

It found that the British distribution network is fragmented, with most vape stores purchasing product from a number of suppliers.

Likewise, no single business to business supplier dominates the market, according to research by ECigIntelligence.

The main factors considered when choosing a sup plier are prices, margin, speed of delivery and post sales service

The report adds that among independent and vape store chains, supply has largely switched from direct distribution by Chinese manufacturers to UK based distributors, probably because of their shorter delivery times and post sale services.

Tax on heated tobacco

In recent UK news, ECigIntelligence also reveals that heated tobacco products will receive their own taxation category and rate of duty in Britain later this year.

A rate and commencement date for the duty on to bacco consumables for heat not burn (HnB) prod ucts will be announced in the autumn budget, likely to be in November.

ECigIntelligence is the leading provider of detailed global market and regulatory analysis, legal tracking, and quantitative data for the e cigarette, heated tobacco and combustible alternatives sector worldwide.

We offer tools to navigate the complex market and regulatory landscape of this sector through independent, analytical and actionable data insights, in depth country reports, regulatory trackers and legal analysis. We offer customised research and consultancy.

BUS TOUR

STOURBRIDGE TOWN CENTRE, MAY 18

We set up in the bustling Crown Square and within seconds of opening the doors we welcomed our first curious visitor aboard: an elderly gentleman smoking a pipe. Throughout the day we had a mixture of smokers, vapers and dual-users all keen to find out what the bus was all about. Interest peaked at lunch and we handed out several e-cigarette starter kits The oldest recipient was a 70-year-old man who had been on 20-a-day from the age of 18 proving that it is never too early or too late to quit.

Infinity Vape Store, Bristol, May 25

Smokers and vapers alike were impressed by how good the bus looked. The highlight of the day was a smoker in his 60s who smoked 40 - 60 rolling tobacco cigarettes telling us he finally wanted to quit and thought vaping could be his answer, so we gave him a starter kit and he said he would use it.

Vaping is Personal, Bideford, May 27

Husband and wife Steve and Coleen Ellis, from Barnstaple have both been smoking around 40 cigarettes a day for the last 38 years. They both decided to take up vaping about a year ago and are now enjoying improved health and lifestyles. In fact, they love vaping so much they have created a special page on Facebook to allow local vapers to chat online.

Coleen said: “I suffer from asthma, but I don’t need to use my inhaler anymore and I can walk without getting the shortness of breath I got when I was a smoker.

“I loved seeing the Vapouround Bus here today. There is nothing else like it and it is more like a mobile expo with more to offer than some shops.”

Vape HQ, Newquay, May 26

The people of Newquay were really receptive to the bus and we met some inspirational people here. Take Alan Nichols, 70, for example. He told us how vaping literally saved his life. He had been a regular smoker for 45 years and switched to vaping four years ago following the death of his wife.

Alan said, “I remember that my doctor actually hugged me when I told him I had quit smoking for vaping.” Vape HQ shop manager

Dan said: “This has been our best day of the year! At one stage there was literally no space to stand in the shop. We are so happy to have had the Vapouround Bus here. After seeing how well today has gone, having the Vapouorund Bus down again is something I would most certainly consider.”

THE NEW GLOBAL RESOURCE FOR ALL THINGS VAPE

We are delighted to announce that we have teamed up with Vapetrotter to provide the listings information for our Vaping Directory in each issue of our magazine. You will also be able to find details of all our Vapouround bus tours on their website - www.vapetrotter.com - which is well worth checking out for the wealth of content it contains.

We spoke to Vapetrotter’s chief marketing officer David Boulton to learn more about the company and its role within the global vape industry.

What is Vapetrotter?

D: The initial idea behind Vapetrotter was to provide somewhere for travellers to easily stay informed about the whereabouts of stores around the world, but most importantly what the laws were wherever they were travelling. There are over 20 million vapers estimated throughout the world now, so that’s a fairly large amount of people constantly travelling around with their e-cigarettes. These days with so many constant changes in the legalities surrounding vaping it was imperative that people stayed up-to-date and safe, so we laid out the laws for every country on earth in an easy-to-read format.

These days the directory is the more popular part of the website, and we now list over 27,000 stores in 121 countries where store owners can claim their listings and update their information and photos, and vapers have the freedom to leave honest ratings and reviews,

which continues to make the platform better for the community which is fantastic. Around 700,000 people use our site every month now from nearly every country on earth, and that’s been constantly growing since we launched.

Who is Vapetrotter aimed at and why is there a need for a global listings database of this nature?

D: It started out as a place for travellers, as people don’t simply stop vaping when they go on holidays. When someone takes a trip to Indonesia, for example, it was never really an issue as a smoker with cigarettes being available everywhere you looked, but it was a bit of a mystery as to where you could go and buy some e-liquid, and whether the store you find is reputable. There’s also a lot of places around the world where you can’t bring e-cigarette products through customs, or use them in public,

or even have them in your possession, so this kind of information was an absolute necessity. Recently, we’ve found that people are also just using it to find new stores around them.

Where do you get your listings information?

D: Gathering the initial database to launch the website was no easy task. It took us eight months and a large portion of our sanity to manually collect it. We continue to add and remove stores manually even today, but thankfully the new platform allows store owners to list and update their own now too, so that’s definitely a big help in keeping it as accurate as we can.

What type of information is listed on the Vapetrotter site?

D: On the Vapetrotter Directory we list

a store’s basic information as standard, such as the store name, address, and phone number. Each listing also has a live map of the store with functionality to get directions to it, and store owners can add additional elements such as a bio, product information, photos, and videos.

As well as listings what else is Vapetrotter about?

D: We actually have four different sites on the Vapetrotter network. Along with the directory, we also have Vapetrotter Laws, Vapetrotter News, and Vapetrotter Wiki.

Vapetrotter Laws lists a simplified breakdown of the laws in each country, state, or province, and we also have a bunch of Quick View icons such as “No Indoor Vaping” because people don’t really like reading these days. For the avid reader, we also list the long-form laws, along with links to legal documents from official sources. Our global legal information is now the official resource for the first report on the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction being presented in Poland this June by the Global Forum on Nicotine.

Vapetrotter News covers global vaping news along with exclusive interviews, product reviews, and how-to write-ups. This is actually getting around 600,000 visits a month now, so it’s picking up.

Vapetrotter Wiki lists over 200 detailed definitions to help newcomers understand the lingo and the technical aspects behind vaping. Vapers can tend to forget how big of a learning curve there is with getting started.

Is there a Vapetrotter app for smartphones and tablets?

D: We currently have an app under development, and this should hopefully be finished in the next few months. It’ll incorporate mainly our directory and laws and mesh them together to make it as useful as possible for each area of the world.

Who are the people behind Vapetrotter and what are your main roles?

D: We often have people assuming we’re a big team, and while we do have some writers and outsourced staff, the

day-to-day running is actually just us three Aussie guys working full-time at the moment. Angus is our technical guy and comes from a long career in building systems and security protocols for a bunch of really big companies. Ryan is our communications/partnerships guy and has spent most of his career in event management, launching many Australian brands into the USA. I’m David, and I come from over 10 years in advertising, marketing, and brand development for companies like Dominos Pizza and Mastercard. So, we have a pretty good spread at the moment, but we’re looking to build out the team pretty soon with some skilled individuals.

Poland because we provided all of their legal information for vaping.

Later this year in December we’re also the partner for the very first major vape event in Oceania – International Vape Expo Oceania (IVEO) – which is organised by CECMOL who do shows in Japan and China. The market there is growing rapidly, it’s like how the US or UK was 5-6 years ago, so that should be a really great event too.

What are your plans for Vapetrotter?

D: Right now we’re focused on constantly improving the platform and the user experience. We really want to

Where are you based?

D: We’re all over the world usually. Last year while we were building the website we were living in Manhattan before we moved down to New Orleans. This year we’ve been back in our home city of Sydney in Australia. Later this year – or maybe early next year – we’ll be moving back over to the USA to set up a base and build out the team.

Travelling to vape events around the world is obviously a key part of the Vapetrotter business. Tell us a bit more about that?

D: For the last few months we’ve helped out with the marketing for a bunch of events, but our first was actually IECIE in Shenzhen, which was an amazing time. In June we’re presenting onstage at the Global Forum on Nicotine in

“We often have people assuming we’re a big team, and while we do have some writers and outsourced staff, the day-to-day running is actually just us three Aussie guys working full-time at the moment”.

build out the community-aspect a lot more and make it somewhere people can go for everything they need when they’re travelling; a place where people can share experiences, tips, and feel welcomed and safe when they travel somewhere new. In the next few months we have some exciting new ventures and partnerships coming out, so keep an eye on us.

BH Vape, Bournemouth, May 28

Kathy and Keith Brickell from Bournemouth, have both switched to vaping after being life-long smokers. Kathy said: “Keith got a kiss from his GP after quitting – vaping genuinely saved both our lives. We have lots more energy now and love the fact we don’t stink of cigarettes. We came down here when we heard that the Vapouround Bus was coming. It’s a great social gathering. You wouldn’t ever get chance to socialise like this as smokers.”

Peaches Atkinson from BH Vape said: “This was the second visit this year alone ... The whole atmosphere was amazing, having the bus here gave everyone a chance to socialise and share their stories about vaping. Not only did it bring more people into our shop, it also helped raise awareness about vaping and gave new vapers plenty of knowledge on the basics of it too.”

Swindon Town Centre, June 15

After arriving bright and early into Swindon we were greeted by two fantastic members of The Puffin Hut team, ready to begin their first day on the bus. As the weather picked up, so did the activity on the bus and we had lots of smokers coming on board to swap their figs for vape starter kits. We must have given out more than 30 starter kits throughout the day and that was a joy to see.

Thankfully we enjoyed a gloriously warm and sunny June weekend at Vape Collective. The Vapouround Bus really stood out and looked fantastic at the very front of the pitch. There were approximately 40 to 50 vendors who attended from all over the UK.The booths were basic, but this goes hand-in-hand with being at an outdoor location without power and flooring. The stripped back approach perfectly suited the chilledout festival vibe and everybody had

Vape Collective 2, Doncaster, June

9

– 10

everything they needed for a great weekend.

There was a very social aspect to this event which was great and different to other exhibitions that I have been to. Vape Collective was a charity event and the proceeds were donated to Tommy’s Children’s Charity.

All in all, this was a pleasant and social event and it’s a pity that more people didn’t get to experience it.

Vaping is Personal, Plymouth, June 16

We arrived at Vaping is Personal and were immediately impressed with the quality of the new shop. Kitted out with a pool table, sofas galore and their VIP parrot mascot, we knew this shop was destined for a good start. We spoke with Gwyn, a vaper of four years who told us: “The bus is amazing! The fact that a new vaper can sample 20 juices, get freebies and get introduced to the culture is great.”

It was a wonderfully hot day and the BBQ came out and the supply of burgers and and hotdogs was never ending. Thanks again to Lee & Ash for having the Vapouround Bus team stop by and we hope to see you again soon.

E-LIQUID

VAPOUROUND REVIEWS

HARDWARE

The weight is the first thing I noticed when un-boxing this device. It has a reassuringly solid construction and feels as though it can handle a few accidental drops or bumps without breaking. This is nice to see in a market full of ultra-stealthy pods, which are sometimes on the flimsy side due to material choice. It’s still inconspicuous, though, and will slide into a shirt or trouser pocket virtually un-noticed.

Although the pod is draw activated, the TPOD’s body does have a five click on/ off button, which gives the user peace of mind, knowing that the device can be fully switched off. Due to the presence of a small colour screen, I assumed that this button would also serve to adjust power settings, but this is not the case.

Instead, the screen simply displays information about the device; remaining battery life, puff counter, resting voltage and amp draw are all there. I am somewhat confused about the decision to include the screen. If there were adjustable settings, it would be useful, however I’m not sure I need to know the amp draw on a device that maxes out at 4.2V on a 1.5ohm coil – simply put, it’s unnecessary detail. A battery life indicator is certainly appreciated, but this can be displayed in more efficient ways, such as an LED.

The only reason I can justify the screen here is the puff counter for new users, or vapers that are looking to taper off their usage. This does allow you to track how often and for how long you are vaping. If I look at the TPOD as purely a cessation tool, this does now make sense.

The vape quality from the included pod is reasonable. It’s a tight mouth-to-lung (MTL) draw with a fairly cool, but satisfying vape, provided you are using high nicotine strength e-liquids. I actually favoured 20mg freebase liquids in this device, since I found it to give a somewhat cooler vape than other pod systems I have tried. Nonetheless, it’s quite satisfying when you’re in need of a stealthy nicotine fix. Flavour production is about average for a pod system. It didn’t blow me away but did give a good representation of the e-liquids I used in it.

Battery life on the TPOD is good but not outstanding. I was regularly getting around three to five hours of moderate use before needing to recharge. I still think this is impressive given the small 500mAh internal cell and colour screen. I can’t help but think, though, that if the screen was smaller or not included, that the battery life could have been even better.

Overall, the TESLACIGS TPOD is a well-rounded pod system, with solid construction and minimalist aesthetics. The battery life and vape quality are good for such a small device, though I can’t help but feel the inclusion of a colour screen is unnecessary.

The TPOD is TESLACIGS’ second entry into the pod market, being released only a very short time after the Sliver kit. The TPOD is a slightly more substantial piece of hardware, with a larger battery capacity, heavier construction and colour screen.

The 1K is a simple closed pod system that doesn’t include frivolous features. It’s good to see a gimmick free device which is built with functionality in mind, whilst maintaining an elegant form factor.

At just 9.5mm thick, the 1K will slide into any pocket virtually un-noticed, making it perfect for situations that call for an ultra-portable device. The matte finish, combined with a sharp, industrial silhouette gives the system a minimalistic but premium aesthetic.

There are no buttons or menus to speak of, just tiny LEDs to indicate when the 350mAh internal cell needs a charge. The power is activated by the pressure of your draw, resulting in a vaping experience that mimics traditional cigarettes uncannily. The battery life is very impressive for such a small device. When used as your primary vape, expect it to last for half a day of moderate use before needing a charge. In markets outside of the EU, where the 1K can utilise 45mg nicotine salts, you may be charging even less frequently.

The pods themselves are also impressive. They feel solid, and slide into place nicely with a reassuringly strong connection, provided by two magnets. As is expected from Kilo, the flavours are bold and well balanced. They have chosen to go for simpler profiles than their usual fare, which makes sense given the extremely low power output and high nicotine content.

I sampled Dewberry Fruits, Menthol Tobacco and Lemonberry Ice pods, all at 20mg strength, for this review. They all provided a satisfying but not overwhelming throat hit. The salt nicotine’s higher bioavailability means cravings are satisfied incredibly quickly. Of the three, Menthol Tobacco was my personal favourite. This pod provides an intense icy hit with a subtle tobacco base. I don’t often vape these kinds of profiles, but in the context of a pod system, it just seems perfect.

The Kilo 1K pod system is a fool proof device that delivers nicotine quickly in a convenient fashion, with excellent flavours to boot. The only (minor) issue I have with it is that no pods are included with the device. I will be shocked if this doesn’t become one of the most successful vaping products of 2018.

gold rush seems unstoppable and the company has decided to dip its’ feet into the hardware market.

• Power output: 1W-230W

• Voltage output: 0.5V-8.2V • • Resistance range: 0.1Ohms-2.5Ohms (VW)/ 0.05Ohms-2Ohms (TC)

• Temperature control (TC) range: 200F-600F/ 100C-315C

Once in a while, SMOK release a mod that is so far out of left field it warrants discussion. The I-Priv is such a device. At first glance, it seems fairly standard for a flagship mod released in 2018. It has the option of using 2X700 cells in addition to traditional 18650s, as well as a host of temperature control and wattage settings. But then you power it up for the first time and a robotic voice says, “Hello master, I am your new warrior.”

In the box, you receive a card titled, “Man-Machine Dialogue” which lists all of the voice commands you can use to change settings on the device. The options are comprehensive and allow you to switch between all of the settings using speech.

Unfortunately, the recognition is inconsistent at best. Saying “Hello I-Priv” begins the process, but this only works about 25 percent of the time for me. I’m aware that this may vary dramatically with accent. Even if it worked every time, I couldn’t see myself barking orders at a mod, rather than adjusting it with buttons.

The construction and build quality of the device is reasonable, but not quite as solid as some other recent SMOK devices. The chassis feels just slightly brittle in comparison to something like the X-Priv or G-Priv 2. With that said, the I-Priv is both light and relatively compact for a dual 2X700 device, so this may well be a sacrifice some users are willing to make. Using the included 18650 adapter, there is a slight battery rattle, but it’s not a deal-breaker. Installing two 21700s made this issue disappear. The device fits nicely in the hand, with a large fire bar on one end.

The chip performs nicely. Power delivery is very responsive, menu navigation is simple and battery life is great with dual 21700 cells. Temperature control is again imperfect but tinkering with TCR values will result in a reasonable experience.

The TFV12 Prince tank and its brand new coil options, which are packaged with the kit are the high point of this bundle.

The strip coil which came pre-installed has a recommended wattage range of 80W-90W, and looks similar to a standard mesh configuration, albeit with wider spacing. In my opinion, this is the best high wattage coil SMOK has ever made. It produces good flavour and huge, dense clouds. The longevity is also a major improvement. I put approximately 100ml of e-liquid through it before having to swap it out.

I then installed the mesh coil, which is even better. At 60W, it performs similarly to the strip coil, but with a slightly more intense flavour. This lower wattage requirement and top-tier flavour production mean that the TFV12 Prince is a real contender if you’re looking for fuss-free performance vaping.

• Dimensions: 72x51x29.2mm

• Weight: 165g

• Power Output: 1W-85W

• Voltage Output: 0.5V-9V

• Resistance range: 0.1Ohms-2.5Ohms (VW)/ 0.05Ohms-2Ohms (TC)

• Temperature Control (TC) range: 200F-600F/100C-315C

Coming in at 165g – with no battery or tank installed – the G-Priv Baby feels rather weighty for such a small device. This is a welcome improvement compared to previous mini-mods from SMOK, such as the AL85. Gone are the days of predominantly plastic chassis, visible gaps in seams and noticeable rattles. This little device feels solid and well made.

SMOK has opted for a top-loaded single 18650 to power the device. This allows the G-Priv Baby to retain the power and capacity of an external cell, whilst remaining discrete. It also does away with the wear and tear of a hinged battery door.

The G-Priv Baby is comfortable, if not a tad boxy in the hand. A large firing bar on the front of the device makes operation comfortable regardless of how you hold it, or which hand you use.

On to the star of the show; a two-inch touch screen. The “screen off” button located above the firing bar means that it will only be active whilst you change settings and in my time with the device I have been pleased to find I get almost a whole day’s use from a 3000mAh cell at 40W. The touch screen is responsive and consistent, and the menu layout is fool proof, despite having all of the features most will want.

Preheat settings for wattage mode, temperature control and puff limits to monitor your use of the device are all here. In wattage mode, the chipset is lightning quick, with no delay between pressing the fire bar and power being supplied. A maximum output of 85W seems quite ambitious to me in a single cell device, but it does give users some head room should they want to try more powerhungry tanks or RDAs. The preheat settings will allow people to slightly adjust their power delivery. The temperature control settings are a slight step up from older SMOK mods, but are still imperfect. I recommend playing around with the manual TCR settings in order to get the best experience.

Overall, the G-Priv Baby is a well-built mod that’s a testament to SMOK’s desire to improve the quality of their devices.

The TFV12 Baby Prince is an update from the TFV8 Baby Beast tank and it is a marked improvement. The included Q2 and Q4 coils both performed well between 50W-60W, producing decent flavour and large clouds. For coil life, I was able to get around 80ml of e-liquid through each coil before having to swap out.

Herein lies my only real gripe with the bundle. Both coils supplied with the kit are designed to be used at the higher end of the device’s power output, which means recharging the device or swapping out batteries more often than I would like. If SMOK were to include a coil suitable for the 30W-40W range, this would make the G-Priv Baby kit more practical.

Mod at the 2018 Vapouround Awards and received much critical claim from all corners of the industry.

Aesthetically, the Polar will be familiar to Vaporesso fans. It’s very similar to the Revenger, albeit with straight edges. The only other notable change is the 2” colour display, so if you enjoyed the look of the Revenger, but feel it’s time to upgrade, the Polar could be for you. Ergonomically, the difference is even less noticeable, this is still a compact dual 18650 device that fits nicely in the hand regardless of whether you use your thumb or index finger to fire.

Construction, fit and finish are all stellar for a mid-priced device. There are no rattles, gaps or flimsy materials and I’m confident that the Polar will hold up for a good while when used as a daily driver. It’s not the most rugged device, but there are many options specifically tailored for those who put their mods through the ringer.

The Omni 4.0 chipset and 2” TFT colour screen set the Polar apart from previous Vaporesso offerings. The Omni boards have always been simple and responsive, but the 4.0 is even quicker than previous models. Navigating the extensive options is easy thanks to the intuitive menu design and large screen. Although most vapers will be satisfied by the variable wattage controls, advanced users will enjoy the improved temperature control of the new chip. It’s a very smooth TC experience for a mid-priced device, and the stock and TCR settings are both user-friendly.

The Cascade Baby SE bundled with the Polar Kit is a slightly more petite rendition of Vaporesso’s current flagship tank. The new GT Mesh coils continue to impress with their improved flavour, ramp-up time and longevity over round wire counterparts, saving you money on coils without sacrificing performance. The triple airflow control has no turbulence to speak of, but as with all mesh tanks, is a somewhat loud vape.

Overall, the Polar Kit improves upon an already impressive platform and boasts fantastic performance, construction and ergonomics.

kit, but this slender single-cell device packs a lot under the hood. Construction, fit and finish are outstanding for such a reasonably-priced piece of hardware. The whole unit feels very solid and precisely engineered. This is a lightweight device, but not to the extent that it feels flimsy or cheap. The build quality alone makes the Armour Pro feel much more expensive that it is, and that must be commended.

Ergonomically, the device is fantastic. Curved edges, a slim profile and large fire bar make for a very comfortable user experience. This is the smallest 21700 compatible device that I’ve come across, and it’s astonishing that Vaporesso have managed to keep the chassis so compact.

It’s some kind of miracle that the Omni-Board 4.0 fits in the Armour Pro with space to spare for a large external cell, but the result is a fully-featured yet stealthy mod. It retains all the settings found in Vaporesso’s latest full-sized releases, albeit with a lower maximum wattage due to its single-celled nature. The chipset is extremely quick and ramp up times are totally non-existent.

Power output is smooth and consistent, which makes for a satisfying vape every time. Temperature control, power curves and preheat settings will allow advanced users to dial in the vaping experience to their heart’s content.

Incorporating a 0.96 Inch OLED screen into the fire bar is a novel design choice and doesn’t interfere with navigating the many settings. It’s quite a small screen for a fully-featured device, but this doesn’t cause any inconvenience due to simple menu design. 2A quick charging ensures that you’ll never be caught out on a low charge for an extended period.

With so much choice on the market for inconspicuous, affordable mods, it’s quite a challenge these days to provide something which is head and shoulders above the competition, but the Vaporesso Armour Pro Kit absolutely delivers, and I am struggling to find a single fault with it. Perhaps the conservative aesthetics will be considered a boring choice by some vapers, but for myself and many others, this is as good as it gets.

VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE JUICE REVIEWS REVIEWS

GREEN APPLE ICE:

VG/PG Ratio: 70/30

Additional Sweetener: Moderate Throat Hit: Mild, with cooling

Green Apple Ice from Bazooka is a fantastic example of simple profiles working. This is a stripped back mix of sweet green apple, sour candy and menthol. When making a blend as simple as this, ingredient selection is absolutely vital. I’m happy to report that in this case it works out very well. The candy note accents the green apple to create a mildly sticky texture, resulting in a convincing sour fruit confectionary flavour, and the moderate blast of menthol on the exhale brightens up the mix. This is a no-frills e-liquid that’s moreish and ideal for summer.

Throat Hit: Mild, with cooling

Watermelon can be a tough flavour to master, especially in a simple profile, where it’s unable to hide behind a large supporting cast of other fruits. In this case it works well. The watermelon is sweet but mellow and avoids any soapy off notes that occur in more heavyhanded applications of the flavour. The sour candy element seems to be slightly stronger in this mix, which only serves to enhance the top note, providing that same sticky mouth-feel found in Green Apple Ice. The menthol finish works too and isn’t overbearing. This is another simple fruit/menthol blend that can easily be vaped all day.

PINEAPPLE PEACH TROPICAL THUNDER

VG/PG Ratio: 70/30

Additional Sweetener: Minimal Throat Hit: Mild

This is another simple mix from Bazooka. Pineapple is the top note here for me. It has characteristics of both a natural fruit and a more candied tropical experience. It’s bright but still mellow and is supported by a more subtle peach accent that really complements the slight tartness of the top note. The profile is rounded out by a reserved sour candy flavour which adds body without becoming too artificial and really drives the mix home, making for a wellbalanced confectionery vape that doesn’t blast the palate with sugary sweetness.

As you can probably guess, the main flavour of this e-liquid is a sweet and sour candy watermelon. It is carefully blended with a mild undertone of blackcurrant. Together, they are combined to create a wonderfully delectable juice. This line is 70:30 VG:PG, so copious amounts of clouds are expected.

Alongside the watermelon and blackcurrant, there is an icy edge of koolada to this juice. I found that it really added to the already refreshing taste, making it an ideal hot day vape.

An insane blend of sweet, juicy berries blasts your tastebuds! This eLiquid is an all round delicious blend of blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. They come across in equal amounts, delivering a one of a kind, superbly concocted eJuice. There is little to no cooling agent to this juice, and although it would taste nice if it did, I’m glad this one doesn’t, as it gives you a chance to enjoy it plain and simple. The fruity constituents to this juice remind me of berry flavoured jelly beans, making this eliquid a very moreish overall flavour!

TROPICAL LITCHI

A very popular flavour base in the industry at the moment is lychee. It comes in many forms, however most seem to be in conjunction with either menthol or another cooling agent. This e-liquid does have a very minute edge of iciness added to it, but not too much that it ruins the fruitier flavours. This juice is a sweet blend mainly consisting of lychee, but also traces of other ripe, tropical fruits. The exhale is very smooth and satisfying, leaving extra-large, fruity smelling plumes of vapour, emanating from your lungs. The sweetness to this e-liquid was very pleasant indeed.

GUMMY MELON

BERRY JAM

FRUITY FLAVOUR

An incredibly fruity blend of blueberries and blackberries with just a touch of tart and juicy lemon, this e-liquid is a very welcome flavour, especially for the hot summer months.

The inhale is mainly made up of sweet and sour blackberry, that is then followed with a subtle and ripe blueberry. As you begin to exhale, a note of sharp lemon comes in to play. The lemon is not unlike a cold, fresh lemonade. These various flavour elements work well to give a very simple, yet marvellously well executed revitalising plethora of tastes. The whole time I was vaping on this e-liquid, I found it to be very smooth and easy to vape due to its more-ish nature.

PUDDINGY FLAVOUR

A pleasantly rich and exciting dessert blend, ‘Puddingy Flavour’ boasts slightly sharp green apple, with a wholesome, flaky pastry, topped off with a creamy and smooth custard.

Whilst inhaling, the most prominent flavour would definitely be the green apple, as it has quite a powerful taste to it. As you continue to vape this juice, a soft and subdued note of pastry sneaks its way in, leaving just enough room for the custard to take over. The custard certainly wraps up the rest of the flavours in a satisfying and delectable way. I found that this e-liquid

CACTUSY FLAVOUR

A super unique set of flavours, El Cheapo! has hit it out of the park with this one. Upon inhaling, there is a sweet, almost tart, dark blackcurrant note that comes across as being very flavoursome. The blackcurrant is perfectly complemented by a unique, ripe and somewhat floral touch of juicy cactus fruit. This flavour is quite understated which is just the right combination to work well with the blackcurrant without becoming too potent.

I particularly enjoyed the one of a kind flavour that this juice produces. I can see this being incredibly popular over

RED FOX AWESOME STRAWBERRY

A deliciously simple creamy strawberry, Red Fox presents itself as a sweet but not sickly dessert flavour. There is a soft and gentle strawberry flavour on the inhale and the creamy aspect is accentuated on exhalation. This is a fantastically straightforward e-liquid, involving just a few base flavours to help create a delectable and rewarding vaping experience. The sweet, ripe and sumptuous strawberry comes across as subtle and is complemented perfectly by the equally subtle, yet still noticeable, creamier elements.

As a 60 percent VG e-liquid, the cloud production is not quite as impressive as a higher VG juice, but is still enough to enjoy vaping this e-liquid.

It does taste quite sweet, especially when inhaling. There is no sign of a cool or icy edge to this juice which is actually quite refreshing in itself. It allows you to enjoy the flavour for what it is, without over complicating it with menthol or a cooling agent.

Again, I found this juice to be simple yet well concocted, it involves very few other fruity flavours, but just enough to create a wonderful juice that is ideal for vapers who prefer fruity or candy flavours.

A super sweet dessert vape, this juice will be ideal for those of you with a major sweet tooth. The main flavour I could pick up on was a rich, creamy and wholesome chocolate. In comparison to the previous juices in this review, I found Chocorex to be much more complex in terms of its flavour components. I feel as if there is a smooth touch of caramel or vanilla, although it is quite hard to define the separate flavours in this juice.

The consistency of this e-liquid is great in sub ohm set ups but could also possibly be used in non-sub ohm set ups due to its relatively thin viscosity.

Definitely one for the sweet tooth vapers out there.

CHILLED MILK - CARAMEL COFFEE

Coffee flavoured e-liquids are becoming increasingly popular at the moment within the vaping world. Another trend is Koolada, an ingredient that gives a juice a cold sensation, but without the mint or menthol taste. This juice combines the two in an unusual but well-executed way. As you vape it, there is a strong and flavoursome coffee, mixed with a smooth, sweet and wholesome caramel. The combination of flavours really works well and the cold sensation from the Koolada gives this juice an iced coffee feel. In terms of its likeness to a real caramel coffee, this e-liquid is spot on. It tastes near enough identical to an iced caramel frappé. It is not too sweet either, making it an ideal all day vape.

THE CAKERY – BUTTERCREAM DREAM

Straight off the bat, this comes across as a wonderful concoction of smooth berries and creamy frosting. It is not overly sweet and the flavour carries well throughout the vaping process. There is a mild fruity element to this juice, in the form of sweet strawberries and ripe raspberries. These are then blended with a fantastically soft and fluffy mousse. All of these flavours are then rounded up with a wonderfully rich buttercream frosting that makes your mouth water. The smoothness to this

FIXX-E LOOP DE LOOP

I really enjoy cereal flavours, and this one from Fixx-e does not disappoint.

It presents itself as a sweet and fruity cereal, mixed with a note of mild but smooth milk. The cereal constituent of this e-liquid is carefully complemented by the creaminess of the milk, and in turn, the milk is then livened up by the fruitiness of the cereal.

The main flavour of cereal that I could pick up on was a mild citrus, but I could definitely sense a unique and almost indescribable taste that is only found with a fruity cereal. As a 75 percent VG e-liquid, vaping Loop de Loop gives off tremendous clouds and still retains a fair amount of flavour.

FIXX-E LEMON CHEESECAKE

An incredibly soft and creamy cheesecake, covered with a rich and decadent lemon drizzle, this juice sets out to impress.

The lemon is not sour in any way, but rather mild and gentle. It is perfectly complemented by the equally soft cheesecake notes. These two flavours combine in a very sumptuous way, enticing you to vape it more and more.

All of these opulent flavours are then completed by a rich, biscuit-like base that brings a slightly savoury edge to the table. This e-liquid comes across as being very easy to vape due to its fantastic flavour being not too sweet, nor

TASTY CLOUD – THE GOODS

A smashing smoothie containing elements of both strawberry and banana combined to create a super, flavoursome vape. I really enjoyed the fact that this was not a strawberry and banana milkshake, as there are so many flavours like that on the market already. Tasty Clouds has shaken things up a bit and decided to concoct a fruity smoothie rather than a flavour based on an ice cream foundation. The banana is subtle, but still noticeable. The strawberry is more prominent and offers a slightly sour accompaniment to the smoothness of the banana, helping produce a very tasty and somewhat refreshing sensation. I liked this juice because of its relatively unique flavour profile.

TASTY CLOUD – DRAGONAIRE

If you’re after the perfect revitalising delicious vape, then look no further. Dragonaire is the ultimate combination of refreshing fruitiness and a mild and cool menthol. On inhaling, there is an obvious and tangy touch of exotic dragon fruit, this is then followed by a sweet, juicy cantaloupe melon. Then, a minty menthol presents itself in a subdued way, without taking anything away from

ARTISTRY, CREAM TEA

Artistry describe Cream Tea as scone blended with cream and strawberry jam. This is a relatively simple bakery profile, but that only makes ingredient selection all the more important if you want to create an accurate representation of a flavour. Cream Tea is very nicely balanced. Strawberry jam is the most prominent note, but it doesn’t dominate the mix by any means. This is backed up by a thick, natural cream which imparts a pleasant mouthfeel, and some light cake notes which add texture to the profile. This isn’t very sweet for a bakery e-liquid, either, which only adds to its all day vape potential. It’s difficult to find fault with this blend, since there are no off notes to speak of, and the experience is rather accurate to what the manufacturer describes. If you’re looking for a mellow bakery vape that won’t become sickly, Cream Tea is an excellent option.

THE CUSTARD BASTARD, BASTARD SAUCE

The Custard Bastard describes Bastard Sauce as a creamy custard blended with caramel. Custard profiles have been a staple of the e-liquid world for years and there’s always at least one in my rotation, so how does this compare to the myriad of others on the market? I’m happy to report that Bastard Sauce is among the best I’ve had the pleasure of trying. A decadent, silky smooth vanilla custard is the star of the show here. It’s rich, but not to the extent that it becomes cloying. The eggy notes and warm vanilla provide a luxurious mouthfeel that makes this liquid very difficult to put down. This brilliant foundation is complemented by a nicely-balanced caramel accent. It’s a dark sweetness, reminiscent of soft crack caramel and it only serves to take this profile to new heights. Bastard Sauce is some serious all day vape material and if you enjoy custard vapes, you absolutely must try this one.

PUNK JUICE, ANARCHY

Punk Juice describe Anarchy as mixed berries with menthol and bubble-gum. This is another classic profile in vaping that has been attempted many times by a wide range of companies, so how does this version fare? As far as the mixed berry element goes, I mostly get a medicinal cherry here, though there does seem to be other fruits in the background. This is supported by a mellow bubble-gum note that adds some sweetness to the profile, balancing the slight astringency of the cherry. The menthol component of the mix is rather potent, more so than I would usually expect from this kind of profile. That’s not to say that it’s unpleasant, but it could be a bit much for some people. There is also a subtle hint of anise. When I first mixed this flavour shot, this note was much more dominant, but it calmed down after a few days. Overall, Anarchy is a good rendition of a classic flavour profile, albeit with a more intense menthol hit than usual. This one is a great palate cleanser for people with olfactory fatigue.

ACCA

It’s always nice to try some new UK-made juices and first up from Bandwagon is Acca. The first thing to mention about this juice is the smell. As soon as the lid was removed my nose was filled with the scents of caramel cake and apple. Absolutely delicious. The flavour doesn’t disappoint either. It is a rich and warm caramel cake with a slightly sharp apple flavour. This is a super comforting flavour that’s supremely moreish. Absolute perfection for me.

GRAPI

I am a big fan of grape vape flavours, but not so much menthol. Thankfully Grapi doesn’t go too hard on the menthol side, instead offering an authentic tasting black grape taste with just enough menthol to give it a slight edge. The standout here is definitely the black grape flavouring, it’s lovely and sweet and tastes exactly like the juicy fruit. I’d have no issues vaping Grapi all day, it’s sweet and refreshing and the menthol keeps it as a very clean and crisp vape.

BRI

Bri is somewhat similar in feel to Grapi, but with blackberry and raspberry instead of grape. The menthol undertone is just as balanced as the other juice. Just like with Grapi the fruit flavours are extremely authentic tasting, sweet yet slightly tart and extremely juicy tasting. I think that blackberry and raspberry complement each other perfectly and the menthol is a fantastic addition. Bri is another all day vape contender that is cool and refreshing and very summery.

CHERRY BAKEWELL TART

VG/PG Ratio: 80/20

Additional Sweetener: Moderate Throat Hit: Mild

Vapouriz describe Cherry Bakewell Tart as a blend of almond sponge, raspberry jam, icing and cherry. It’s fair to say that a profile with this many sweet elements could easily become cloying or sickly. Vapouriz have avoided this by creating a well-balanced mix that primarily focuses on one element of the profile, whilst the other flavours work as accents. The most prominent note here is the raspberry jam. It’s intense and warm, to my tastes more akin to a commercial jam rather than the home-made variety. This top note is supported nicely by hints of almond, vanilla and pastry, making for a fullbodied bakery profile. Personally, I’m not picking up much cherry here. It could be getting lost in the heavier jam flavour, but I don’t see this as much of a problem, since the rest of this profile is already quite bold and complex. Cherry Bakewell tart is a solid bakery e-liquid that will likely appeal to a wide variety of vapers.

ORANGE ALMOND TART

VG/PG Ratio: 80/20

Additional Sweetener: Moderate Throat Hit: Mild

This is another unusual offering from Vapouriz. It’s not too often that we see orange in bakery blends, so I must give credit to the manufacturer for thinking outside of the box. The orange here is quite different from what you would normally find in an e-liquid. It’s reminiscent of a liqueur rather than the more candied profile you might expect. There seem to be some spiced notes here too, alongside a hint of almond, which really does add to the complexity of the profile. The bakery element isn’t overbearing, but functions more as a base note to round out the mix, adding a heavier mouthfeel and ensuring that this e-liquid comes across as a dessert vape rather than a cocktail. I think Orange Almond Tart will be an acquired taste, but I find myself going back to it when I’m looking for something a bit different.

APPLE & RHUBARB CRUMBLE

VG/PG Ratio: 80/20

Additional Sweetener: Moderate Throat Hit: Mild

Apple crumble is a tried and tested e-liquid profile but Vapouriz have opted to add a quintessentially British twist to the mix with the inclusion of rhubarb. The top note is a warm green apple. It’s on the sweeter side, though that is what you would expect from the real thing in this context. This is joined by hints of cinnamon and some heavier bakery notes. This baked element adds some welcome body to the mix, along with a substantial mouth-feel, which is vital in any competent bakery blend. Rhubarb permeates through the whole experience, and it does add an extra dimension to this e-liquid. It’s both sweet and slightly sharp and I feel it stops the blend from becoming overly sweet. Apple & Rhubarb Crumble is an all day vape contender in my books.

CHOCOLATE BROWNIE ICE CREAM

VG/PG Ratio: 80/20

Additional Sweetener: Moderate Throat Hit: Mild, with cooling

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; chocolate is an incredibly hard flavour profile to capture in e-liquid form. More often than not, it requires a lot of help from complementary flavours to mask off notes, but I’m happy to say that Vapouriz have done well here. The top note is a baked chocolate, which is startlingly accurate to what you might expect from chocolate brownie mix. On its own, this might be lacking a bit of body, but a creamy vanilla base supports this bakery top note well, resulting in a decadent dessert profile that should please those with a sweet tooth. If the profile ended there, I would without doubt say that this is among my favourite chocolate vapes, but the manufacturer has opted to include a mild coolant in this blend. Although I can see what they were going for here (mimicking cold ice cream), I personally feel it distracts from what is otherwise a rich, warm flavour. Regardless, this is an impressive e-liquid and many people will enjoy the cooling finish.

APRICOT PASSION FRUIT ROULADE

VG/PG Ratio: 80/20

Additional Sweetener: Moderate Throat Hit: Mild

Vapouriz describe this mix as apricot and passion-fruit blended with syrup and pastry. This is certainly an ambitious profile to attempt, let alone replicate successfully. Apricot dominates the mix here for me. It’s not artificial and brings some earthiness to the blend. Passion fruit plays second fiddle, whilst adding both floral and sour notes. This is an unconventional pairing, but I must admit it works well and makes for a unique top note. The bakery element of this mix isn’t overpowering but does provide some additional sweetness to the profile, which seems appropriate considering the more adventurous choice of fruits. If you’re in the mood for a sweeter profile that plays around with some unusual flavourings, consider trying Apricot Passion Fruit Roulade.

DOUBLE DRIP SUPER BERRY SHERBET

VG/PG Ratio: 80/20

Additional Sweetener: Moderate Throat Hit: Mild

Super Berry Sherbet is described as a mix of seven berries and sherbet. In a market brimming with berry e-liquids, it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd, so how does this one measure up? Super Berry Sherbet doesn’t take any prisoners. Right out of the gates this profile is a bright berry cocktail that is both sweet and tart. To me it seems to be dominated by raspberry and blackcurrant, though I’m sure this will be subjective since there are clearly other berries present too. These rather sweet top notes are joined by some florals too, which may be coming from the hint of blueberry that is blended into this mix. Already this is a rather unapologetically loud flavour profile, but it’s then further boosted by a citrus kick from the sherbet. This really helps the berry mix pop and makes for a vibrant, sweet e-liquid that I can see many people enjoying. It’s perhaps a bit much for me to vape all day, but I’m almost certain that I’m in the minority in that regard.

Black Note’s products are all naturally extracted tobacco (NET) e-liquids. This means the flavour profiles are derived from natural compounds found in the leaf, and no further flavourings are added in order to preserve authenticity. Prelude is made using Virginia tobacco grown in Verona. The leaves are processed specially to produce a light and sweet profile. It seems to me that this very involved methodology has paid off. Prelude is an impressive e-liquid that captures the aroma of unsmoked Virginia tobacco extremely well. It has a light, almost nutty sweetness, along with some mild, earthy tones. The blend is also very smooth, which is more than can be said for many other NET e-liquids. It’s important to note that this does not translate to the flavour of smoking a cigarette, though, and is more akin to the aroma of the tobacco itself.

SONATA

Sonata is another NET blend from Black Note, this time derived from dark Virginia tobacco that has been heat treated and pressurised, classifying it as a Cavendish variety. This process is designed to impart a rich, bold flavour whilst maintaining natural sweetness of the leaf. I found Sonata to be an intense tobacco experience, with a complex, dark sweetness and robust earthy body. There is an almost gritty texture to the profile, which is not a complaint, though it does add some throat hit. Sonata is reminiscent of unsmoked pipe tobacco, and may be an acquired taste, but as someone who does not regularly indulge in tobacco e-liquids, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it regardless. This will be an absolute treat for any vapers who are tobacco connoisseurs.

SOLO

Solo is the last of Black Note’s NET range that I have sampled for review. It’s described as a blend of smooth Virginia tobacco and naturally extracted menthol crystals. Menthol tobacco is one of the most ubiquitous flavour profiles in the e-liquid industry, so it was a very interesting experience trying one that’s made using only natural ingredients. The light and sweet Virginia tobacco is the top note in this blend. It’s not as heavy in comparison to the other NET e-liquids I’ve tried and doesn’t outstay its welcome. Rather, it gives way to a stunning natural menthol which is quite unlike anything I’ve experienced before. With hints of a true herbal mint flavour it provides an intense cooling finish to this already light profile. I cannot overstate the authenticity to this blend, I’m very impressed with solo and whole-heartedly recommend it to any tobacco fan.

SALTED CARAMEL MACCHIATO

Barista Brew Co do not try to hide the flavour profiles of their e-liquids with cryptic names and their own description should tell you everything you need to know about this blend. The top note is a dark roast coffee flavour, which is quite true to life and brings some bitterness to the party. It doesn’t dominate the blend though and is complemented well by a luxurious smothering of salted caramel. It makes for a sweet profile that lingers on the palate long after you’ve vaped it. The result is a silky but substantial mouthfeel that’s on the extreme end of the decadence spectrum. This seems to be more of an occasional treat rather than an all-day vape and it is easy see why it won Best Tea/Coffee at the Vapouround Awards this year. Those with a penchant for rich dessert style vapes will be pleased with this one.

CINNAMON GLAZED BLUEBERRY SCONE

Continuing the coffee shop theme, Cinnamon Glazed Blueberry Scone is another decadent flavour profile from Barista Brew Co. Despite being a more complex blend, this is a wellbalanced e-liquid. The top notes here are primarily a candied blueberry and bakery cinnamon. This is supported by a subtle cake base, which adds texture to the mouthfeel whilst making the blend more substantive. Finally, there is an unapologetically sweet vanilla cream to round things off. Similarly to the Salted Caramel Macchiato, this e-liquid is not for the faint of heart. It’s a bold profile that lingers on the palate and this may be divisive to those who prefer more mellow blends. I very much enjoyed Cinnamon Glazed Blueberry Scone, but its in-yourface sweetness excludes it from being an all-day vape for me.

MAPLE BAR DONUT

Described by the manufacturer as a deep-fried donut with maple glaze, it’s clear that Barista Brew Co are not afraid to stick to their US based roots. This e-liquid is a bold taste of Americana that doesn’t pull any punches. The top note here is a potent maple glaze that brings a dark sweetness, almost akin to caramel. It’s sticky and luxurious, almost startlingly true to life. This is rounded out by a strong base of fried dough, that adds texture and some body to what might otherwise become a thin flavour. This is a highly accurate recreation of the intended profile, with all the sugary sweetness included and I very much enjoyed my time with this e-liquid.

PRELUDE

AZURE

First up from Pro Vaperz is Azure, which is a classic blue slushy flavour. I reckon I’ve tried upwards of 50 similar flavours this year alone, it’s very much a trendy type of juice these days. I’m very pleased to say that Azure is definitely one of the top blue raspberry slush flavours I’ve tried. The candy sweet raspberry taste is mouth-wateringly tasty and moreish. There’s a definite bubble gum hint in there as well, that really adds to the overall taste. I really enjoyed vaping Azure and would happily recommend it to everyone.

CORAL

Coral is a beautifully balanced mixed tropical fruit. The initial flavour I got was pineapple and mango, but there are hints and notes of loads of other different fruits like passion fruit and papaya. The overall flavour takes me away to a hot, sunny island somewhere in the pacific with a big fruity drink in my hand. Absolute paradise.

ONYX

Last up from Pro Vapers is Onyx, something a little different to the previous two juices. It’s an icy blackcurrant vape that’s ultra-refreshing. The blackcurrant flavour tastes like a handful of freshlypicked berries and the menthol is well balanced, giving a fantastic icy hit without becoming too overpowering. I really enjoyed Onyx, especially in the hot weather we’ve had of late.

DR FROST HONEYDEW BLACKCURRANT

VG/PG Ratio: 70/30

Additional Sweetener: Moderate Throat hit: Mild, with cooling

Honeydew Blackcurrant from the Dr Frost line is a simple fruit and coolant blend hailing from Malaysia. This is a well-balanced e-liquid, that brings the best out of what could otherwise be a basic profile. Honeydew melon is the first thing you taste. It’s candied without becoming too artificial and makes for a bright top note. This gives way to a dark, sticky blackcurrant which brings both floral tones and substance to the mix. These two contrasting fruits make for a rather moreish profile that remains interesting as the flavours play off one another. A signature Malaysian icy blast finishes things off which elevates the brighter notes and makes for a mellow, refreshing all day vape. Fans of Malaysian style e-liquids should be giving this one a try.

DR FROST CANDY CANE ORIGINAL

VG/PG Ratio: 70/30

Additional Sweetener: Moderate Throat Hit: Mild, with cooling

Described as a blend of candy cane and strawberry, Candy Cane Original is a slightly more complex e-liquid from Dr Frost. Peppermint is the dominant flavour on the inhale. It’s herbal but balanced well by an accompanying hard candy note, making for an authentic representation of this Christmas treat. This is supported by a very subtle cream base which gives the mix some body and enhances the peppermint top note nicely. There is also a faint candied strawberry in the background, which seems to become more prominent at higher wattages. This adds some depth to the mix and helps to avoid Candy Cane Original coming across as a one-dimensional flavour. The profile is rounded out with a mellow coolant. This is a subtle e-liquid and a strong contender for an all-day vape if you enjoy mint.

MR CREAM VANILLA PEACH

VG/PG Ratio: 70/30

Additional Sweetener: Moderate Throat Hit: Mild

Vanilla Peach is Mr Cream’s take on a classic dessert blend that has been popular with vapers for years. This is a stripped back profile that requires intelligent ingredient selection in order to stand out from the crowd. Candied peach is the top note here. It resembles peach rings, but isn’t quite as artificial, carrying some very subtle hints of the earthy stone fruit. This is supported by a decadent vanilla cream, which adds a luxurious mouthfeel and some serious body to the flavour. The cream element is quite heavy, reminding me of cake frosting but it doesn’t distract from the experience or become sickly. I must commend Mr Cream for their selection of peach flavouring in this mix. Many people, myself included, are sensitive to some commercial peach flavourings, which results in a very harsh throat hit. I’m happy to say there is no such effect in this case.

REVIEWS

NASTY BALLIN’ PASSION KILLA

This range of four fruit and low-mint short-fills that has a genuinely interesting design. With a cocktail shaker aesthetic, the bottle contains two ball bearings that allow the user to more easily mix a nicotine shot into the liquid. Passion Killa is billed as a passion fruit and tropical medley profile with a cooling finish and true to Nasty form, this is a vivid blend. Candied passion fruit is the top note here. It’s devoid of the heavy, muskier tones of its real life counterpart and more akin to a sweet beverage, which is ideal in the context of e-liquid. This is complemented by a subtle blend of other tropical fruits. They’re a well-balanced accent and so quite tough to single out, but at a guess I would say pineapple and guava are both present here. Passion Killa is on the sweeter end of the e-liquid spectrum, but it’s combination of bright fruits and mellow coolant make for a real winner in the summer season.

TOBACCO SERIES BRONZE BLEND

Nasty Juice aren’t known for tobacco or dessert flavours so I was intrigued when I heard about this new line. Bronze Blend is described as a mix of vanilla, caramel and tobacco. In essence this is a classic RY4 profile, so how does Nasty’s rendition fare? The top note is a light caramel, supported by a warm, rich vanilla, which adds some substance to the mix. On its own this would make for a satisfying dessert profile, but there is also a subtle tobacco accent here. It’s very mild, imparting a nutty tone and some dark sweetness. The subtlety of this note means that Bronze Blend won’t put off those who dislike tobacco flavours and quite frankly, in a blind test, I suspect most wouldn’t even pick it out of the mix. This is a lovely RY4 style blend, and less sweet than other offerings.

THE SPECS:

COTTON FIBRE: 62.5%

CELLULOSE FIBRE: 37.4%

WATER INSOLUBLE MATTER: 0.09% LENGTH: 1 METRE

PROJECT - COTTON

Any vaper who has been using rebuildable devices for a while can tell you that there are subtle differences between brands and formulations of cotton. This can affect the vape experience itself, and the convenience of re-wicking an atomiser, so it makes sense to find a wicking material that suits your own preferences.

In the last four years of using rebuildable atomisers on a daily basis, I’ve settled on two wicking materials that I alternate between depending on the device. Most often I use Japanese organic cotton pads, which are extremely cost effective, with a short break in time. Their only shortfalls are that they must be cut down to size and tend to collapse fairly quickly when vaping sweeter e-liquids.

In some instances, I use cellulose fibre, which is often referred to as Rayon. Rayon stands up to heat and sweet e-liquids better than organic cotton pads but does tend to have a longer break in period for flavour production.

The SWAG Project Cotton combines both of these materials into one product, and the result is something that has totally changed my view of branded wicking material. Packaged in a convenient

screw-top pot, in a continuous one metre length, it’s immediately clear that SWAG has been well thought out.

It’s incredibly easy to cut down to your desired length, and once you’ve done so, pulling the strip in half will result in a thickness that’s ideal for wicking a 3mm inner diameter coil.

SWAG wicks very efficiently, likely due to the cellulose fibres, which are noticeably quicker to draw in juice than cotton alone. Break in period is almost non-existent. After only a few vapes, I get a full representation of my chosen e-liquid, with no unwanted “cotton flavour” that lingers when using some other brands/ formulations of wicking material.

The most noticeable change is longevity, though. I experienced significantly longer periods of use before needing to re-wick and this is particularly noticeable when using sweeter e-liquids. I’m not quite sure how, but sweeteners do not seem to degrade SWAG at anywhere near the rate of traditional cotton.

Overall, SWAG has absolutely shattered my sceptical take on branded wicking materials, and I look forward to future innovation in this field.

THE SWAG

COLA

Percentage + VG/PG Ratio: 6% at 70/30

Cola is an elusive flavour profile in vaping and concentrates from competing brands are wildly different when compared to one another. Capella’s offering is a great place to start when formulating a good cola blend. It’s not overwhelmingly pungent, which makes for a forgiving mixing process, you can really experiment with concentration here, depending on whether you’re looking for a dominant note or just an accent. As a single flavour mix, Capella’s cola is a little too stripped back for my liking, but when paired with creams, it’s relatively easy to create a convincing “soda float” profile. Alternatively, a quality fruit and coolant pairing make for a great beverage profile that’s perfect for warmer weather. This rendition of cola is versatile and can be part of some amazing mixes in the hands of experienced users.

FUNNEL CAKE

Percentage + VG/PG Ratio: 4% at 70/30

Bakery flavourings are perhaps the most difficult to get right. Often the profile changes dramatically with the concentration of your mix, and each individual concentrate can include a complex profile. Capella’s funnel cake is a flavouring that you’ve probably tried without even realising it, if you have been vaping for a while. It primarily tastes of fried dough, similar to a doughnut although slightly heavier. There are also subtle hints of cinnamon and vanilla at play. With a reasonable steep, Funnel Cake makes for a solid single flavour mix, but as is often the case, it really shines when paired with complementary flavourings. Other bakery elements, such as Capella’s Sugar Cookie will add body to your Funnel Cake mix, and a moderately heavy cream such as Capella’s Vanilla Bean Ice Cream will round out more complex recipes. If you’re in need of a dense and complex bakery flavouring, Funnel Cake is a great option.

SWEET MANGO

Percentage + VG/PG Ratio: 4% at 70/30

Mango is arguably the king of tropical fruits, and it’s fair to say that many successful commercial e-liquids have thrived in the past 18 months by nailing this exotic profile. Capella’s offering is a ripe, juicy rendition and with the right attention to detail can make for a vivid fruit mix. I recommend starting low on concentration with this one. Too much and floral notes from the mango may dominate your mix. Four percent is a good reference point to work from and depending on what you hope to achieve, there is a little bit of wiggle room in either direction. Capella’s Sweet Guava is an excellent pairing here, but virtually any bright fruit concentrate works well. If you find that the floral notes are too potent, you can subdue them with a small amount of Capella’s Super Sweet. As low as 0.25% in your mix will help to round out any unwanted pungency.

TOASTED ALMOND

Percentage + VG/PG Ratio: 3% at 70/30

Nut inspired flavourings are often overlooked by new mixers. This could be explained by the fact that many are extremely potent, dominating flavour profiles even at low concentrations. Capella’s Toasted Almond is slightly more forgiving than most, but still needs to be treated with care. As a single flavour mix, it’s rather authentic but a little dry, and so along with every nut concentrate I’ve used, benefits hugely from being used as a subtle accent in a more complex recipe. I particularly enjoy using Toasted Almond to add depth to tobacco mixes. In this application, it will slightly sweeten the profile whilst imparting a gritty texture. Alternatively, it can be used in virtually any bakery profile for similar results and is especially useful in this instance for manipulating fruit flavourings by layering them in to the mix. Toasted Almond is more suited to advanced users, but is well worth the effort.

JUICY ORANGE

Percentage + VG/PG Ratio: 4% at 70/30

Capella’s Juicy Orange is surprisingly complex for a single fruit concentrate. It has characteristics of a candied soda orange, natural juice orange and even orange zest. Combined with its forgiving potency, this means it can fill a wide number of roles depending on pairings. If you want a fruit mix to pop, but don’t want to overload it with citrus, a low percentage of this concentrate will provide tartness, without the more potent acidity that comes with lemon flavourings. If your mix has an undesirable dry mouth-feel, Juicy Orange can totally rejuvenate the recipe. For a bold and simple orange mix, pairing it with Capella’s Sweet Tangerine will give you fantastic results. This concentrate’s ability to be used as either a top note or just an additive make it a great addition to any mixer’s collection.

This juice is very well named because you certainly get a huge burst of flavour when you vape this e-liquid. On the inhale, the first flavour I get when vaping this is a beautiful honeydew melon, followed by another melon which I find hard to put my finger on. The two are very sweet and they work well together. Next the coolant kicks in, hitting you at the back of the throat but it is not at all harsh. This really is a great summertime vape for those hot days lounging around the garden.

BURST BLIZZARD - STRAW BURST

I found this juice to be very refreshing and reminiscent of one of those flip lollipops you used to be able to buy from the off-licence. This is a pretty basic liquid but what it does do it does well. This is a watermelon vape and that’s exactly what you pick up on in the inhale and the exhale. This e-liquid leaves a very pleasant taste on your tongue and while this is a very simple vape, that is not to detract from this product because sometimes simple is all you need.

BURST BLIZZARD - BERRY BURST

The final liquid from the Burst Blizzard range is a mix of forest berries. I picked up on blackberry and raspberry straight away but also got a refreshing blueberry kick followed by a hit of lingering strawberry. I found the coolant to be a bit more muted on this juice, which worked well for me as it allowed the different fruit flavour to really shine. A very satisfying juice indeed.

Again, a very simple and basic flavour profile from the Slammin range. This time round it is their take on peach and it really reminds me of a very popular ice tea. The quality of the peach flavour in this juice really jumps out at you even before you vape it. As soon as I opened the bottle I got a big whiff of ripe, sweet, freshly cut peach and this carries through to the vaping experience too. If I had to choose a juice to vape this summer, then Slammin Peach could very well be it.

SLAMMIN – PINK

I found this juice to be very refreshing and reminiscent of one of those flip lollipops you used to be able to buy from the off-licence. This is a pretty basic liquid but what it does do it does well. This is a watermelon vape and that’s exactly what you pick up on in the inhale and the exhale. This e-liquid leaves a very pleasant taste on your tongue and while this is a very simple vape, that is not to detract from this product because sometimes simple is all you need.

DREAMY KISSES

Described as a sweet orange ‘creamsicle’ by the manufacturer, Dreamy Kisses is a decadent dessert e-liquid which has clearly been formulated for those with a sweet tooth. The top note is a sticky candied orange with just a slight hint of citrus zest. This is supported by an extremely rich, thick vanilla cream which adds considerable mouth-feel whilst boosting the sweetness of the profile into the stratosphere. If you’ve ever tried an orange creamsicle before, Dreamy Kisses is absolutely true to life, but that does make for a bold, sweet vape that’s not for the feint of heart.

TROPICAL KISSES

Tropical Kisses is billed as a blend of exotic fruit by the manufacturer. This is an ambiguous description, but the flavour profile becomes clear from the very first vape. The top note is a sweet candy pineapple that lingers on the palate. This is supported by a subtle mix of what seems to be melon and mango, though it’s hard to say for sure, because that pineapple is quite dominant. In a similar vein to Dreamy Kisses, the profile is rounded out with a rich layer of vanilla cream, which again gives a huge boost to the sweetness of the mix. This one is a little too sweet for my own tastes, but I’m sure many vapers will love it.

ONE UP ORGASM/ORGASM ICE

VG/PG Ratio: 70/30

Additional Sweetener: Minimal Throat Hit: Mild

Premier Vaping describe Orgasm as a blend of watermelon and guava, with some mystery tropical undertones. A vivid sweet guava is the most prominent note here for me. It’s candied and sticky, but not overpowering by any means. I wouldn’t describe it as a natural guava, but this is no complaint, since the real fruit has a divisive profile and some very pungent earthy tones. The watermelon is more of an accent in my opinion. It’s mellow and plays off the brighter guava nicely, adding juiciness to the profile. There are some other tropical fruits in the mix too, but they are rather subtle. At a guess, these would include pineapple and mango, but due to their low concentration it’s hard to say for sure. If you prefer your fruit blends to be accompanied by coolant, Orgasm Ice adds a light menthol kick to the profile. This serves to elevate what is an already bright profile, making it ideal for warmer days. Definite all day vape material.

ONE UP CHURRO ICE CREAM/ STRAWBERRY CHURRO ICE CREAM

VG/PG Ratio: 70/30

Additional Sweetener: Moderate Throat Hit: Mild

Churro Ice Cream is a relatively simple dessert blend from the One Up line, but that doesn’t prevent it from being a fully realised and satisfying profile. The top note here is a mild cinnamon and brown sugar combination, which isn’t quite as heavy handed as many other e-liquids of this nature. The top notes are backed up by a light bakery note which adds some substance to the mix, without making it too dry. I wouldn’t necessarily pick this bakery note out as the fried dough of a churro, but it’s still a pleasant addition to the mix. The blend is rounded out by a warm vanilla ice cream base, which layers the rest of the profile nicely, whilst providing a luxurious, silky mouth feel and a slight boost to the overall sweetness. If you prefer dessert profiles that incorporate fruit, Strawberry Churro Ice Cream adds a confectionary strawberry top note to the mix. This doesn’t mute any of the flavours found in the original profile, but does result in a sweeter experience with more complexity.

ONE UP STRAWBERRY GUMMY

VG/PG Ratio: 70/30

Additional Sweetener: Moderate Throat Hit: Mild

Described as fresh strawberries and gummy candy by the manufacturer, Strawberry Gummy is a simple profile, that when executed correctly can make for a brilliant all day vape. The strawberry top note is slightly different from the description for me. There are hints of a more natural strawberry flavour, but it is a predominantly candied affair. Premier Vaping have done well here to not go overboard, making for a mellow top note that isn’t sickly sweet. This is complemented by a moderately strong gummy candy base. Along with a sticky mouth-feel, the gummy note brings some mixed fruit flavours to the table. This primarily takes the form of candy pineapple and stops this profile from becoming too one dimensional. I noticed that at higher wattages, the gummy candy notes seem to become more prominent in the mix. In summary, Strawberry Gummy is a well-balanced candy profile that will be to the liking of many vapers.

VG/PG Ratio: 70/30

Additional Sweetener: Minimal Throat Hit: Mild, with cooling Berries, menthol and aniseed. This is a tried and tested profile that has been incredibly popular in vaping for years, and Thor Juice were one of the very first manufacturers to bring it to market, so has Bat Juice stood the test of time? The top note here is a medicinal medley of berries. It doesn’t totally dominate the mix, but it is the most prominent flavour. This is complemented by a potent aniseed which adds intrigue to the mix. The blend is rounded off with a strong coolant that seems to contain some eucalyptus. This is a bold e-liquid that you’ll either love or hate.

FLAMINGO

VG/PG Ratio: 70/30

Additional Sweetener: Minimal Throat Hit: Mild

Flamingo is described as a blend of strawberry, peach and coconut. This is a profile that I’ve not seen before, which is a rarity in an e-liquid market full of adventurous mixes. Strawberry is the most prominent flavour here, and it’s more on the natural end of the spectrum rather than the candied variety usually found in e-liquids. This is complemented by sweet peach that has a very mild earthiness, which adds some depth to the mix. The coconut element of Flamingo is subtle but does add a creamy mouth-feel and helps layer the fruit elements. This is a mellow e-liquid and will be a fantastic option for those who enjoy fruit/cream blends.

is a bold citrus punch with a mild sour note that lingers on the palate. This is not a subtle flavour and is definitely suited to more adventurous vapers. At higher wattages, I found that the mix seems to lean towards more acidic citrus fruits such as grapefruit and lemon, but even then I can’t be sure what’s in the mix. Fuzzy Duck is a really interesting e-liquid, that will appeal hugely to citrus fans.

VG/PG Ratio: 70/30

Additional Sweetener: Minimal Throat Hit: Mild

Described as a blend of blueberry cheesecake, peanut butter and hazelnuts, Poseidon is an ambitious dessert e-liquid from Thor Juice. A mellow candied blueberry is the top note here. It doesn’t dominate the mix but is still the most prominent flavour. The cheesecake and peanut butter elements make for a rich, creamy base that gives this profile a heavy but satisfying mouthfeel. To me it appears the hazelnut is more of an accent than anything else. It’s subtle enough that it doesn’t interfere with the other flavours, instead adding a dark sweetness to the mix. Poseidon is a solid dessert e-liquid with a fair amount of complexity.

LOKI HADES:

VG/PG Ratio: 70/30

Additional Sweetener: Minimal Throat Hit: Mild

Thor Juice describe Hades as a blend of berries, almond and cinnamon. This is another profile which I’ve not seen attempted before, so I was intrigued to see if the combination worked. The top note is a sticky, candied medley of berries. To me this appears to be a mix of blueberry and raspberry, though there could be more going on that I’m not picking up. This is supported by a mild almond note that adds a bakery element to the mix and complements the berries nicely. I’m not really tasting much cinnamon and think it may be getting lost in the dark berry top notes. This is an interesting bakery profile that isn’t overly sweet, if you’re looking for something that’s a bit different, Hades is well worth a try.

LOKI PEGASUS

VG/PG Ratio: 70/30

Additional Sweetener: Minimal Throat Hit: Mild

Billed as a blend of vanilla custard, cream cake and a well-loved chocolate brand, Pegasus is a complex flavour profile that should pique the interest of dessert fans. Strangely, the most prominent flavour I’m getting is a rich toffee popcorn. This isn’t a complaint though, as it’s a really nice note that doesn’t become cloying, and it’s not something often found in e-liquid form. This is supported by a mellow vanilla custard that adds a creamy body to the mix without overwhelming the palate. There is a perceptible cake element too, but it’s more of an accent and doesn’t make the profile too heavy. Pegasus is a unique dessert e-liquid that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, taking the top spot amongst the liquids from Thor Juice that I’ve tried.

BAT JUICE

LOKI POSEIDON

PASSION

This e-liquid has a sweet fruity scent with a hint of alcohol. It smells just like a fruit cocktail. On the inhale the vape gives a light fruity taste that comes with a smooth hit. The exhale develops a very tasty passionfruit taste. It develops an alcohollike edge which pushes this to taste just like a porn star martini. The flavour also develops a very light cooling which just adds that special touch.

The aftertaste has more of a liquorice taste which personally I am not keen on but I know many that would love it.

FEAR

Fear smells absolutely great. It has a mixed scent of grapefruit and lime. On the inhale a sweet lime essence touches the tongue with a sweet throat hit that has a slight cooling agent in it.

The exhale begins with the light coolant undertone helping a sweet grapefruit ascend. This then takes a citrus turn and a lime flavour takes the limelight (excuse the pun). This flavour rollercoaster is assisted by a light absinth undertone. This is a really different vape and I would advise all to give it a try.

LOVE

This e-liquid has a light raspberry scent with a clear minty undertone.

On the inhale the vape produces a cold menthol and smooth hit. The cloud production on the mixed range is incredible. The raspberry flavour is the first to come through. It’s a rich flavour and carries a light undertone of mint leaves. This literally gives the experience of a mojito cocktail.

The exhale leave a sweet note on the tongue and a cold sensation in the throat. This is a very impressive vape and one perfect for the adventurous vaper.

SWEDISH

Based on the classic red gummy fish confectionary, Swedish is a simple but nostalgic e-liquid from Candy King. The top note here is a warm, sweet raspberry. It’s not a natural portrayal, but this is to be expected from any accurate candy profile. This is supported by a gummy candy note that seems to be a very subtle medley of fruits. These accents are too subdued to pick out individually, but it’s clear that there is more than just raspberry here. The gummy candy note also imparts an interesting sticky mouthfeel, which is very true to life. If you’re looking for a simple candy vape, Swedish is a good option.

BATCH

Described as an orange, cherry, lemon and lime gummy, Batch is a slightly more ambitious e-liquid from Candy King. By far the most dominant element of the mix is a candied citrus blend. A sour punch of lemon and lime are most prominent and this is followed closely by a bright orange accent. I’m not quite picking up on the cherry, which could be a result of the bold citrus top notes, but this isn’t problematic, since the mix is so bright already. The profile is rounded out with a gummy candy base and it’s an accurate representation of its real-life counterpart. There’s also a pleasant sour note on the exhale, which only adds to the authenticity of this e-liquid. Citrus fans should consider giving this one a try.

BUBBLEGUM

Fruit bubblegum e-liquids have been popular since the inception of the modern vaping scene, and they can be a difficult balancing act when trying to avoid an overly-artificial profile. Candied watermelon is the most prominent note here. For me, it’s a little bit overpowering, though I’m sure watermelon fans will rejoice at this. The watermelon is supported by a light candied strawberry. This is classic pairing for a reason, and the two complement each other nicely. The profile is rounded out with a mild bubblegum base. It doesn’t outstay its welcome, instead serving as an accent that adds a little intrigue to the profile. Overall, this is a good take on a classic profile and fans of intense candy watermelon will likely enjoy it a lot.

STRAWBERRY WATERMELON

JUICE REVIEWS BY BENEDICT ‘NED’ JONES

GONE LOOPY

Throat Hit: Mild

It can be difficult to balance the botanical flavour of CBD with a fully-realised e-liquid profile and even more so with high-strength formulations. CBD Asylum have been particularly ambitious with Gone Loopy, which is a CBD-infused fruit loops cereal blend. A well-balanced citrus medley is the top note here. There’s hints of lemon, lime and even bergamot. They’re candied, but not overly artificial and bring an almost juicy mouth-feel to the mix. This top note is backed up by a silky-smooth cream base, which further elevates the fruit component, adding body. There also seems to be a subtle hint of meringue in the mix, which further contributes to the mild sweetness of this e-liquid. There are, of course, some botanical notes, though they do not detract from the flavour and perhaps even enhance it!

HOLY MOLY

Throat Hit:

Mild

Holy Moly is described as a custard donut blend by CBD Asylum. It’s refreshing to see manufacturers attempt to recreate more complex profiles in their CBD products, so how does this one fare? The top note here is a wellbalanced bakery profile, reminiscent of commercial glazed donuts. It’s a good portrayal with a fluffy mouthfeel but isn’t so dense that it becomes cloying or outstays it’s welcome. This is complemented well by a light custard base, which gives a slight boost to the sweetness and adds some body to the mix, whilst mitigating any dryness that often comes with bakery flavourings. As is to be expected, there is a hint of the botanical aromas from the CBD, but it doesn’t distract from this pleasant dessert blend at all.

SWEET TOOTH

Throat Hit: Mild

Described as a strawberries and custard blend, Sweet Tooth aims for a classic dessert profile which is a staple in the e-liquid world, when executed properly. A mellow candied strawberry is the top note here. It’s not overly sweet and has a jam-like quality. This is less artificial than what you would usually expect from a dessert blend, which comes as a welcome surprise. The top note is supported by a satisfying but light custard base, adding a luxurious mouthfeel, without becoming overbearingly sweet. This makes for a well-balanced strawberry custard that can easily be vaped all day. The profile is rounded out by some botanical notes from the CBD, which don’t interfere with the flavour too much, especially considering the high concentration of the sample I have tested.

BERRY NICE

Throat Hit: Mild

Billed as a pink berry blend, Berry Nice is the simplest flavour profile out of the CBD SUB ΩHM products that I have tested. This will be a familiar mix to any veteran vapers, with a slight twist that sets it apart from competing brands. The dominant flavour is a classic berry medley, which seems to consist of blackcurrant, raspberry and strawberry. They are well balanced and almost merge in to one. For the most part the berry mix comes across as candied, although there are some floral notes too, which adds authenticity to the profile. Berry Nice is finished off with some botanical notes from the CBD which complements the flavour profile brilliantly and seems to be more prominent when compared to the other CBD SUB ΩHM e-liquids.

PURPLE STORM

Throat Hit: Mild, with cooling

Purple storm is a more stripped-back blend of blackcurrant and cooling menthol. The top note is a sticky candied blackcurrant, which provides a good dose of sweetness, along with some floral notes, which are accentuated at higher wattages. It appears there is a hint of aniseed in the mix, but this could just be the slight medicinal notes of the berry, or perhaps the botanical flavour imparted by the presence of CBD. The profile is rounded off with an intense, soothing menthol kick, which lifts the berry flavour, subdues the botanical notes and results in a refreshing and light profile that’s ideal for warmer weather or clearing out the sinuses. Flavour from the CBD element of the mix is very subtle in Purple Storm, which can be attributed to the mentholated finish.

CBD NANO SHOT

The Nano Shot is a truly unique idea that makes CBD products more viable for businesses looking to test the waters within this growing sector of the market. Described as an “e-liquid enhancer” by the manufacturer, the Nano Shot can be added to any short-fill e-liquid to create a 300mg equivalent CBD e-liquid. Effectively, this means that any of your favourite short-fill flavours can now be infused with CBD, which is likely to be a huge step forward in the eyes of many consumers. I found that the Nano Shot also caused minimal flavour change when added, so those who enjoy CBD, but dislike the flavour it can impart will get along very well with it. The Nano Shot makes CBD e-liquids a much more open-ended experience and I can see this becoming rather popular.

JUICE REVIEWS BY BENEDICT ‘NED’ JONES

STRENGTH: 1000MG EQUIVALENT (40MG/ML) ADDITIONAL SWEETENER: MINIMAL

Branded cotton products have been around for a few years now. When they first emerged, the emphasis was on ease of use, and different formulations laid claim to superior wicking properties and shorter break-in times, with varying degrees of success.

This year, the focus has shifted to heat resistance and wick longevity, whilst incorporating materials other than traditional organic cotton.

Canna Cotton is one such example. With a 20 percent infusion of processed hemp fibre, the manufacturer claims their cotton blend is more heat resistant, longer lasting and more absorbent than traditional cotton blends.

Ready to test these claims, I prepped my favourite rebuildable atomisers. The first thing I noticed about Canna Cotton is that it’s very easy to work with. The convenient pre-cut strips are not a new idea, but this blend seems easier to cut down to size and the grain of the fibre stays quite rigid, with minimal separation or excess fluff. The fibres also compress much more than I’m used to, allowing more fibre to be threaded through your coil, which tends to increase wicking efficiency.

Once wicked and trimmed, the fibres naturally become very evenly spread out, which saves some time and effort on dispersing the ends of your wicks. I was so impressed with this that I didn’t thin out the ends of the fibres as I usually would.

Break-in time for Canna Cotton is impressively short. Experienced vapers know that most cotton products require a good few drips, or even half a tank’s worth of e-liquid before you start to experience full flavour. This was not the case here. From the second or third vape, I was getting great flavour production from an e-liquid that I’m very familiar with. This is a fantastic benefit that ensures minimal wastage of your favourite juice, especially for vapers who prefer to re-wick often.

On to heat resistance and wick longevity. High wattage users will be pleased with Canna Cotton. Using a rather hot, exotic dual coil build, I found that this blend outlasted my long time favoured Japanese organic cotton pads. The difference was less noticeable on low power single coil builds, though this is to be expected. I did find that Canna Cotton stood up to sweetened e-liquids for a longer time though, and there were no signs of collapsed fibres when I did need to change out my wicking.

Finally, absorption rate. Getting the perfect wicking using pads is a somewhat involved process of stretching, using the Scottish roll method and finally thinning out the ends of the wicks. I can achieve the same results with Canna Cotton without doing any of this, which has to be a huge plus for those who are new to rebuildable devices, or simply want to save time. Making rebuildable atomisers more accessible is a huge step forward in my book.

C IL Porn

FEATURING GUEST COIL SPECIALIST JAMES MOWL AKA @TAXIJIM71

THE FLAT WIRE

Go online and search for vaping and coil builds and you’ll be hit with a mass of intricate, colourful and complex builds. From aliens to staggered fused claptons, enigmas to pitchforks, they all have at least one thing in common: surface area.

But what if you don’t have the time to devote to this side of vaping? What if your pleasure is mixing juices, or maybe building mods rather than coils? Maybe you’re just someone who’s trying to quit smoking and wants that little bit extra from your vape. How do you achieve more surface area with the minimum of effort? The answer could be flattened wire.

Flattened wire came about from coil builders trying new things to improve flavour and cloud production, taking a low gauge round wire and attacking it with a jeweller’s hammer and anvil to get the desired effect. Since then, we’ve added pasta rollers and even small jewellery presses to our tool boxes to get better, cleaner and more regular finishes. Sanding has also been used to get a flat surface from a round wire, leading to another subset of builds: mirror polished coils.

It wasn’t long before wire companies saw the potential for flattened wire and knowing that not everyone had the gear necessary to make it, they decided to create their own versions, offering various gauges and alloys, to allow any person at any build level to try out something they might not have attempted otherwise.

Notable companies are Juice Junkie UK, who offer a wide selection of Pro-Flat wire in various gauges and alloys, spooled

and packaged ready to go. There’s also Flatwire UK, who have the flapton amongst their products: a pre-built clapton with a flattened wire core. Whichever product you choose, the option to go wide is available to all.

So, you’ve now bought a pre-flattened wire. What are you going to do with it?

You could just wrap it and vape it as-is. After all, this was what it was initially intended for. You will need to keep in mind that this wire is thicker than your usual run-of-the-mill round wire and accordingly, resistances will come out lower than might be expected. Therefore, the number of wraps and internal diameters need to be adjusted to allow for this.

If you’re more adventurous with your coil builds, you could use the flattened wire as cores to braid over, maybe clapton. You can twist, corrugate, and my personal favourite, mirror polish, using high-grit abrasive papers (an ultrasonic cleaner is strongly advised for the latter).

Whatever you choose to do with your flattened wire, an increase in surface area with less wire used is guaranteed, with some vapers preferring this option to the standard round wire for increased vapour and flavour production.

As with all wires and builds, the experience is subjective to each individual and the only real point to watch out for is the drop in resistance. A firm grasp of Ohm’s Law is advised before building with this wire.

That’s all, folks!

Steve will be back in the next issue. In the meantime, build on!

SCOTLAND

Scotvapes Inverness

2-4 Market Arcade, Academy Street Inverness, Highland, United Kingdom, IV1 1PG Telephone +44 146 326 2470

Vaporized 6 Broad St Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, United Kingdom, AB43 9AU Telephone +44 134 651 3049

The Vapour Lounge 86 Commercial St, Dundee, United Kingdom, DD1 2AP Telephone +44 138 220 4611

Emporium Vapour 11 Dalderse Ave, Falkirk, United Kingdom FK2 7EF Telephone +44 800 612 7270

Aqua Vapour 33 Dalry Rd, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, EH11 2BA Telephone +44 131 629 0900

Dr Vapor 91 Portobello High St, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, EH15 1AW Telephone +44 131 669 1959

Bean Smoking

67 Hyndland St, Glasgow, United Kingdom, G11 5PS Telephone +44 141 334 7284

Pencig

6 Ormiston Terrace, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, EH12 7SJ Telephone +44 131 334 4604

Totally Wicked

112 Gallowgate, Glasgow, United Kingdom, G31 4EB Telephone +44 141 550 3555

Vaporeyes 335 Victoria Rd, Glasgow, United Kingdom, G42 7SA Telephone +44 141 237 9600

Vaporium Glasgow 12 Budhill Ave, Glasgow, United Kingdom, G32 0PN Telephone +44 141 387 5939

Ecigarus

28 Quarry St Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, United Kingdom, ML3 7AR Telephone +44 169 842 0068

Barracuda Vape

Unit 6 Loreburne Shopping Centre, Dumfries and Galloway, United Kingdom, DG1 2BD Telephone +44 138 724 7785

ENGLAND NORTH WEST

The Vapour Bar

5-6 New Oxford Street Workington, Cumbria United Kingdom, CA14 2NA Telephone +44 190 026 7373

The Vapour Corner 78 Lord St Fleetwood, Lancashire, United Kingdom, FY7 6DS Telephone +44 756 145 6592

Up In Smoke 99 Lancaster Rd Morecambe, Lancashire United Kingdom, LA4 5QJ Telephone +44 152 442 1985

Vapepod

30 Finkle St Kendal, Cumbria, United Kingdom, LA9 4AB Telephone +44 153 973 4408

The Vapour Stop

256 Whitegate Dr, Blackpool, United Kingdom, FY3 9JW Telephone +44 125 369 9086

The Gourmet Vapor Shop

42 Harrison Street, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackburn, United Kingdom, BB2 2JE Telephone +44 333 344 6555

Just Vapours 11 Clarendon Pl Hyde, Greater Manchester United Kingdom, SK14 2ND Telephone +44 161 964 4638

Vape Street

17 Hazel Rd Whitefield, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, M45 8EU Telephone +44 161 796 2916

Vape World 226 Ashton Rd Oldham, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, OL8 1QN Telephone +44 161 621 0088

Tutzys Piccadilly Vape Shop

14 Piccadilly, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, M1 4AJ Telephone +44 161 236 9763

Vapour Nation 100 Gorton Road, Stockport, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, SK5 6UE Telephone +44 161 442 5532

Cloud Chasers

248 Grange Rd Birkenhead, Merseyside, United Kingdom, CH41 2QH Telephone +44 151 649 0283

Bulldog Vapours 282 Park Rd Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom, L8 4UE Telephone +44 151 726 9139

Vape Saloon

41 Wallgate Wigan, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, WN1 1BE Telephone +44 194 249 8206

Crystal Vapours

6 Chemical Street, Newton-Le-Willows, Merseyside,United Kingdom, WA12 9AT Telephone +44 192 522 1101

EcigWorld 57 Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire East. United Kingdom, SK9 5BQ Telephone +44 162 553 9550

ENGLAND NORTH EAST

Healthier Smoker - Totally Wicked

6 Fowler St, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom, NE33 1NF Telephone +44 191 427 1760

The Vape Company

2c Leazes Park Rd, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom, NE1 4PF Telephone +44 191 261 9972

Uptons Vapourium

214-216 Chillingham Rd, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom, NE6 5LP Telephone +44 191 265 1011

Vapour Street 194 High St E Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom, NE28 7RP Telephone +44 191 649 8416

Punkmonkey Vape

2 Tyne Terrace South Shields, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom, NE34 0NF Telephone +44 191 456 8995

Vapour Logic

2 New Market Morpeth, Northumberland, United Kingdom, NE61 1LA Telephone +44 167 050 3966

Galaxy Vape

Unit 2 Kellaw Road, Darlington, United Kingdom, DL1 4YA Telephone +44 132 546 9887

The Electric Cigarette Shop

83 Westdyke Road Redcar Cleveland, United Kingdom, TS10 2AA Telephone +44 164 296 1323

EciggyUK

86, Market Village, The Galleries, Washington, United Kingdom, NE38 7RT Telephone +44 191 417 6555

Castle Vape

3c Front St Prudhoe, Northumberland, United Kingdom, NE42 5HJ Telephone +44 1661 831580

First Floor Vaporium

10A Market Place Hexham, Northumberland, United Kingdom, NE46 1XG Telephone +44 1434 604250

Vapour Blast 88 High St W Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom, NE28 8HY Telephone +44 7837 551187

Lunar Vape

100 Coatsworth Rd Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom, NE8 1QP Telephone +44 191 440 2677

Smooth Vapourz

158 York Rd Hartlepool, Hartlepool, United Kingdom, TS26 9DT Telephone +44 7789 692993

YORKSHIRE

Optimum Vapes

299 Roundhay Road Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, LS8 4HT Telephone +44 113 235 0292

Richards E-Cigs

11 Upper Millergate Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, BD1 1SX Telephone +44 790 448 3779

Ikon Vape Lounge

11 Market Pl Batley, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, WF17 5DA Telephone +44 192 469 4240

Vapour Worx

39A High St Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom, HG5 0HB Telephone +44 142 361 0083

Fresh Electronic Cigarettes

4 W Gate Wetherby, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, LS22 6LL Telephone +44 193 758 8410

Vape Safe

8 Stonegate, York, United Kingdom, YO1 8AX Telephone +44 190 484 8488

Richmond Vape Station

5 Castle Hill Richmond, North Yorkshire United Kingdom, DL10 4QP Telephone +44 7464 100993

Moorends Vape Shop

144 Marshland Rd Moorends, South Yorkshire United Kingdom,DN8 4SU Telephone +44 1405 740293

Vapour Workz

17 Sheffield Rd Warmsworth, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom, DN4 9QH Telephone +44 1302 570371

Flava Vape

5 Market St Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom, S70 1SL Telephone +44 1226 289581

SMKD Electronic Cigarettes

The Ridings Shopping Centre, Wakefield, West Yorkshire United Kingdom, WF1 1DS Telephone +44 1924 728100

Avid Vapers

46 Savile St Hull, Kingston upon Hull, United Kingdom, HU1 3EA Telephone +44 1482 221444

The Emporium Hull

279a Hessle Road, Hull, United Kingdom, HU3 4BQ Telephone +44 1482 221883

JAC Vapour

11 Boar Ln Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, LS1 6EN Telephone +44 113 245 2509

VapeShop Leeds

229 Selby Rd Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, LS15 7HW Telephone +44 7873 617767

We Are Vapes

394 Kirkstall Rd Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, LS4 2HQ Telephone +44 7453 804247

NORTHERN IRELAND

The Vape Bar

57 Market St Lurgan, Craigavon, United Kingdom, BT66 6AR Telephone +44 7803 795587

Vape and Tech

42 Market St Tandragee, Armagh, United Kingdom, BT62 2BP Telephone +44 28 3898 9415

Rude Boy Vaping

4 Dufferin Ave Bangor, North Down, United Kingdom, BT20 3BU Telephone +44 28 9147 2097

Vape Hunter

748 Upper Newtownards Rd, Dundonald, Castlereagh, United Kingdom, BT16 1RJ

Total Vapour 148 Cregagh Rd, Castlereagh, United Kingdom, BT6 9ET Telephone +44 28 9070 5428

Northern Vape 10 North St Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom, BT1 1LA Telephone +44 799 996 6944

Ziggicig Unit 9, Upper Main Street, Strabane, Co Tyrone, United Kingdom, BT82 8AR Telephone +44 28 9560 7313

The Electric Smoke Company 26 Irish St, Downpatrick, County Down United Kingdom, BT30 6BP Telephone +44 289 756 2896

Ciggy Point 374 Upper Newtownards Rd, Belfast, United Kingdom, BT4 3EY Telephone +44 28 9543 8867

Titanic Vapour 264 Shankill Rd Belfast, United Kingdom, BT13 2BL Telephone +44 7955 485176

iVape 27 Railway St, Strabane, United Kingdom, BT82 8EG Telephone +44 28 7138 3606

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

Ecigarettes World 3 Wine St Sligo, County Sligo, Ireland, F91 N2XV Telephone +353 873960076

Evapour 7 Market Square, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, Ireland, F92 RT26 Telephone +353 74 911 4746

The Ecig Store Bridge St, Cahernamart, Westport, Co. Mayo, Ireland, F28 HW83 Telephone +353 098 29597

Healthier Smoker Kiosk 1, Tuam shopping centre, Trinity court, Tuam, Co. Galway, Ireland, H5 4YW21 Telephone +353 83 464 5265

Hale Vaping

34 O’Connell St, Limerick, Ireland, V94 A973 Telephone +353 1 253 0594

E-Lixor Vaping

33 Fair St, Mallow, Co. Cork, Ireland P5 1W722 Telephone +353 22 50469

Wicked Vapes

97 Oliver Plunkett St, Cork City, County Cork, Ireland, T12 PK2F Telephone +353 21 239 4545

Vintage Vape Rooms

52 Shandon St, Gurranabraher, Cork, Ireland, T23 VP68 Telephone +353 85 223 6230

Puff ‘n’ Stuff

Smoke Shop

123 N Main St, Youghal-Lands, Youghal, Co. Cork, Ireland, P36 NW58 Telephone +353 24 25576

Hale Vaping

52 High St, Kilkenny, Ireland, R95 T685 Telephone +353 85 713 6523

Smoke Green

Nutgrove Shopping Centre, Nutgrove Way, Rathfarnham, Dublin, Ireland Telephone +353 87 352 9111

Madvapes

12 Bunting Rd, Walkinstown, Dublin 12, Ireland, D12 A9Y2 Telephone +353 1 563 9658

VIP E Cigarette

The Mill Shopping Centre, Ninth Lock Rd, Dublin, Ireland Telephone +353 1 475 0000

The Vape Club

8a Coolock Village Centre, Coolock, Dublin 5, Ireland, D05 WY83 Telephone +353 1 430 6666

ISLE OF MAN

Totally Wicked

7 Market Hill Douglas, Isle Of Man, IM1 2BF Telephone +44 1624 616205

Electrovape

The Victoria Mall, Unit P, 2 Christian St, Ramsey, Isle of Man, IM8 2EN Telephone +44 7624 220993

Offshore Vapes

11 Castle Street, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 2EU Telephone +44 1624 625212

WALES

Ejuice Couture

232 Victoria Rd Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey, United Kingdom, LL65 1UD Telephone +44 1407 238008

Bangor Vapes

173 High Street, Bangor, Gwynedd, United Kingdom, LL57 1NU Telephone +44 7388 344650

North Wales Vapour

27 Madoc St,Llandudno, Conwy, United Kingdom, LL30 2TL Telephone +44 1492 330865

Mat’s Vapour Lounge

30 Vale Rd Rhyl, Denbighshire, United Kingdom, LL18 2BU Telephone +44 1745 350274

Celtic Vapours

46 Commercial Rd, Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot, United Kingdom, SA13 1LG Telephone +44 1639 898220

Barracuda Vape

75 Caerphilly Road, Birchgrove, Cardiff, United Kingdom, CF14 4AE Telephone +44 29 2062 6722

Switch Xpress

236 Corporation Rd,Newport, United Kingdom, NP19 0DZ Telephone +44 1633 549342

Vapourlicious

40 Terrace Rd, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, United Kingdom, SY23 2AE Telephone +44 1970 358693

VAPE Barmouth Church St Barmouth, Gwynedd, United Kingdom, LL42 1EW Telephone +44 7400 898088

Topvape1

50 Heol Maengwyn Machynlleth, Powys United Kingdom, SY20 8DT Telephone +44 1654 703925

Chameleon Vapes

42 Bridge St Wrexham, Wrexham, United Kingdom, LL13 7HP Telephone +44 7943 609219

The Vape Escape Shop

7b Mold Rd, Buckley, Flintshire, United Kingdom, CH7 2JA Telephone +44 7936 469677

Ladybird Vapours

35 Station Rd Deeside, Flintshire, United Kingdom, CH5 1SU Telephone +44 1244 810835

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Beaum Vape

Unit 3, Ivor House Bridge St, Cardiff, United Kingdom, CF10 2TH Telephone +44 29 2037 2687

Vapour Queen 24 Albany Rd, Cardiff, United Kingdom, CF24 3RQ Telephone +44 7714 191102

ENGLAND SOUTH WEST

Betty’s Vapour Lounge & Coffee House 71 Trelowarren St, Camborne, Cornwall United Kingdom, TR14 8AL Telephone +44 1209 711133

Ecigarus Pannier Market, Lemon Quay, Truro, Cornwall, United Kingdom, TR1 2LW Telephone +44 1872 264177

Flavour Vapour 5-6 Kenwyn Street, Truro, Cornwall, United Kingdom, TR1 3DJ Telephone +44 1872 225333

Coastal Haze 11 Strand, Newlyn, Cornwall, United Kingdom, TR18 5HH Telephone +44 1736 448050

Phoenix Electronic Cigarettes 4 Harliquin Centre, Paul St, Exeter, Devon United Kingdom, EX4 3TT Telephone +44 1780 764585

Hodges Vape Lounge 10 Belgrave Promenade, Wilder Rd, Ilfracombe, Devon, United Kingdom, EX34 9AS Telephone +44 1271 269655

AMB Vapours/Totally Wicked 33 Bear Street, Barnstaple, Devon, United Kingdom, EX32 7BZ Telephone +44 1271 322999

Potion Vapour 21a Broad St, Ottery Saint Mary, Devon United Kingdom, EX11 1BY Telephone +44 1392 580008

Vaper Trails 3 St Albans Street, Weymouth, Dorset, United Kingdom, DT4 8BZ Telephone +44 7719 890080

Vape Of Good Hope 18 Fairmile Rd, Christchurch, Dorset, United Kingdom, BH23 2LJ Telephone +44 1202 484108

Trip Hammer

6 Kings Rd E, Swanage, Dorset, United Kingdom, BH19 1ES Telephone +44 1929 421526

Juicy One of Wareham

2 South Street, Wareham, Dorset, United Kingdom, BH20 4LT Telephone +44 1929 556000

Severn Vape

79 Northgate St, Gloucester, Gloucestershire United Kingdom, GL1 2AG Telephone +44 1452 526062

RedJuice

Unit 7, Neptune Business Centre, Tewkesbury Rd, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, GL51 9DN Telephone +44 1242 312024

Electro Clouds Vape Co

21 High St, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire United Kingdom, GL20 5AL Telephone +44 1684 850222

E-Cigarette Direct Unit 18a, Angel Place Shopping Centre, Bridgwater, Somerset, United Kingdom, TA6 3TQ Telephone +44 1792 852843

Flavour Vapour

1 The Courtyard, 47 St James Street, Taunton, Somerset United Kingdom, TA1 1JR Telephone +44 1823 275612

Gorilla Vapes

28 Fore St, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset United Kingdom, TA8 2EX Telephone +44 1278 781834

Exmoor Vape

56b The Avenue, Minehead, Somerset, United Kingdom, TA24 5BB Telephone +44 1643 709251

Amesbury Vapourium 22 Salisbury St, Amesbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom, SP4 7HD Telephone +44 7548 933336

Hazy Trails

19a Station Rd, Tidworth, Wiltshire, United Kingdom, SP9 7NR Telephone +44 1980 258081

The Puffin Hut 18 High St, Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire United Kingdom, SN4 7AA Telephone +44 1793 850200

Choice E-Cigs

16 Maryport St, Devizes, Wiltshire United Kingdom, SN10 1AH Telephone +44 1380 698170

ENGLAND SOUTH EAST

Ecigwizard

75 High St, Newport Pagnell, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, MK16 8AB Telephone +44 1908 766396

Socialites Midsummer Arcade Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, MK9 3GB Telephone +44 845 340 3899

Oxford Vapours

142b London Rd, Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, OX3 9ED Telephone +44 1865 751666

Carmichael’s Vaping

11 Swan Walk, Thame, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, OX9 3HN Telephone +44 1844 216551

Evapo 198 Terminus Rd, Eastbourne, East Sussex, United Kingdom, BN21 3BB Telephone +44 7388 995053

Ejuiceology

14 Queens Road, Hastings, East Sussex United Kingdom, TN34 1QY Telephone +44 1424 547085

ESAUCE

1 Heath Buildings, High Street, Oxshott, Leatherhead, Surrey, United Kingdom, KT22 0JP Telephone +44 1372 849789

Coffee and Clouds Vape Shop

5c High St, Caterham, Surrey, United Kingdom, CR3 5UE Telephone +44 7955 585740

Cheeky Smoke

4 Coronation Buildings, Ham Road, Worthing, West Sussex, United Kingdom, BN11 2NN Telephone +44 7500 015475

IdealVape 249 London Rd, Burgess Hill, West Sussex United Kingdom, RH15 9QU Telephone +44 1444 628758

Every Cloud Vape Shop 105a Commercial Rd, Portsmouth, United Kingdom, PO1 1BQ Telephone +44 2392 815342

There’s No Place Like Ohm

7 Northern Buildings, Northern Rd, Portsmouth, United Kingdom, PO6 3DL Telephone +44 7940 057485

Lucid 111 East St, Southampton, United Kingdom, SO14 3HD Telephone +44 2380 636636

Totally Wicked 127e Above Bar St, Southampton, United Kingdom, SO14 7FN Telephone +44 2381 781020

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Anglo Vapour

42 Market St, Eastleigh, Hampshire, United Kingdom, SO50 5RA Telephone +44 2380 615692

Cloud Vapers

Unit 20, Regent Trade Park, Barwell Lane, Gosport, Hampshire, United Kingdom, PO13 0EQ Telephone +44 1329 283552

Steampunk Vape Lounge 18 St Thomas’ Square, Newport, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom, PO30 1SN Telephone +44 757 250 0135

The Vapour Room 18 St. Thomas Square, Newport, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom, PO30 1SG Telephone +44 1983 716110

Solvape

48A High St, Gillingham, Medway, United Kingdom, ME7 1AZ Telephone +44 1634 855736

101 Vape 34 High St, Gravesend, Kent, United Kingdom, DA11 0AZ Telephone +44 1474 878906

No. 1 Ejuice 50 Guildhall St N, Folkestone, Kent, United Kingdom, CT20 1EE Telephone +44 1303 259333

Premium Vapes 72 Northgate, Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom, CT1 1BB Telephone +44 1227 780544

WEST MIDLANDS

The Vaper Expo Shop UK 8 Alexandra Road, Halesowen, Birmingham, B63 4DJ

Switch Xpress 58 High St, Bristol, United Kingdom, BS11 0DJ Telephone +44 117 336 1278

VapeClass 384 Filton Ave Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom, BS7 0BE Telephone +44 117 904 9752

The Vapour Hut

70 Regent St Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom, BS15 8JA Telephone +44 117 961 5522

The Vapour Place

86 West Street, Bristol, United Kingdom, BS3 3LL Telephone +44 117 939 8665

E-Vapor

58 Union St Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom, BS1 2DL Telephone +44 7473 731198

Black Country Plume

118 Walsall Street, Wednesbury, United Kingdom, WS10 9BY Telephone +44 121 448 7245

White Mist Vapours

9 Kings Rd Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, United Kingdom, B73 5AB Telephone +44 121 439 1717

Vapes R Us

125 Graingers Ln, Cradley Heath, West Midlands, United Kingdom, B64 6AH Telephone +44 1384 910844

UltraVapour

68 Long Ln Halesowen, West Midlands, United Kingdom, B62 9LS Telephone +44 121 293 5786

Grey Haze

163a High St Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom, B12 0LD Telephone +44 121 306 9296

Vape Shack

1a Shirley Rd, Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom, B27 7XU Telephone +44 121 792 9004

Clowdz Coventry

3 City Arcade Coventry, West Midlands, United Kingdom, CV1 1DG Telephone +44 24 7622 5515

Sky Blue Vape Lounge

274 Walsgrave Rd Coventry, West Midlands, United Kingdom, CV2 4BL Telephone +44 24 7644 0055

Warwick Vapes

Vape & Coffee Shop 13C Smith St Warwick, Warwickshire, United Kingdom, CV34 4JA Telephone +44 1926 257390

VapeHQ

41A The Tything Worcester, Worcestershire, United Kingdom, WR1 1JT Telephone +44 1905 25565

Turtle Vapes 80 Edinburgh Place Cheltenham, United Kingdom, GL51 7SE Telephone +44 1242 702484

EAST MIDLANDS

Vapouround Vape Lounge 3 Market Pl, Derby DE1 3PW

Vapouround Vape Lounge @ Delboys 35 Roosevelt Ave, Derby, DE21 6JR

Vapouround Vape Lounge Unit 2, 4 Croft Road, Arnold, Nottinghamshire, NG5 7DX

Vapouround Vape Shop

4A Market Street, Draycott, Derbyshire, DE72 3NB

The E-Cig Shop 26 Chesterfield Rd, Staveley, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, United Kingdom, S43 3QF Telephone +44 1246 472295

The Vapourist

Brimington Rd N, Chesterfield, Derbyshire United Kingdom, S41 9AP Telephone +44 800 195 0077

888 Vapour

17 Sheep Market Spalding, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, PE11 1BE Telephone +44 1775 720205

Phoenix Electronic Cigarettes

18 Maiden Ln Stamford, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, PE9 2AZ Telephone +44 1780 764585

Vapers Place

38 Elizabeth St Corby, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, NN17 1PN Telephone +44 1536 269622

Audacious Vapes

1 Piccadilly Buildings, Sheep Street, Kettering, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, NN16 0AN Telephone +44 1536 628070

Electro Mist

7 The Parade Northampton, United Kingdom, NN1 2EA Telephone +44 7497 593231

Right Vape

88 Kingsley Park Terrace, Northampton, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, NN2 7HJ Telephone +44 1604 313789

VapeWorks

13 & 14 Market Street Loughborough, Leicestershire United Kingdom, LE11 3EP Telephone +44 1509 231457

NGVape

2-4 West End Arcade, Nottingham, United Kingdom, NG1 6JP Telephone +44 115 998 5582

E Liquid Paradise

47 Bramble Dr Nottingham, United Kingdom, DE22 3AF Telephone +44 115 998 0847

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Vape-X

162 Nottingham Rd Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom, NG16 3GG Telephone +44 1773 687201

Eco-Vape 82a Seacroft Rd, Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, LN2 2DR Telephone +44 1507 477268

888 Vapour 3 Lincoln Rd Sleaford, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, NG34 8AB Telephone +44 1529 307045

Vapors Mansfield 19a Ratcliffe Gate Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom, NG18 2JA Telephone +44 1623 237577

VapeHQ

6 The Forum North Hykeham, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, LN6 8HW Telephone +44 1522 687427

Liberty Flights 23 Cornmarket, Derby, United Kingdom, DE1 1QH Telephone +44 1332 297052

Vapourbay 74 Outram St Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom, NG17 4FS Telephone +44 1623 555750

The Vape Cave 33 Queen St Market Rasen, Lincolnshire United Kingdom, LN8 3EN Telephone +44 7821 794095

Vaping Worx 25-27 Mercer Row Louth, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, LN11 9JG Telephone +44 1507 604350

EAST ANGLIA

Peterborough Vape Lounge 5 Wentworth Street, Peterborough, United Kingdom, PE1 1DH Telephone +44 1780 764585

Another Vape Shop 69 Ledbury Rd Peterborough, United Kingdom, PE3 9RF Telephone +44 7745 631959

Make My Vape 21 George St, Luton, United Kingdom, LU1 2AF Telephone +44 1582 722223

The Vape Guru 32-34 Queensway Stevenage, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, SG1 1BS Telephone +44 7570 254629

Liberro Electronic Cigarettes 14A High St Buntingford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, SG9 9AG Telephone +44 800 111 4753

Vape and Juice 71 High Street Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom, SS1 1HZ Telephone +44 1702 339 536

Vapeology Lounge

41 Ness Rd, Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom, SS3 9DB Telephone +44 1702 625581

Urban Vapor 259 Broomfield Rd, Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom, CM1 4DP Telephone +44 1245 255477

The Vape Hut 63 High St Maldon, Essex, United Kingdom, CM9 5EP Telephone +44 7969 759965

Sheppards - Tobacconists and Vape Specialists 15 Eld Ln Colchester, Essex, United Kingdom, CO1 1LS Telephone +44 1206 578201

The Vaping Emporium 10 Northgate St, Ipswich, Suffolk, United Kingdom, IP1 3BZ Telephone +44 1473 871380

Vvapour 8 Hall Rd Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom, NR1 3HQ Telephone +44 1603 948957

The Alchemists Cupboard 12 Charles Watling Way, Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom, NR5 9JH Telephone +44 1603 396906

Huff n Puff

47 Regent Rd Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, United Kingdom, NR30 2AL Telephone +44 7802 693425

Total E-Cig Vape Shop & Cafe 125 High St Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, United Kingdom, NR31 6RE Telephone +44 1502 588788

LONDON

Vapouround Vape Shop 56-57 Barking Road, Canning Town, London, E16 4HB

Vape and Volts 30 Chalk Farm Rd, London, United Kingdom, NW1 8AH Telephone +44 2037 583777

D-VAPE SHOP 142 Southwark St, London, United Kingdom, SE1 0SW Telephone +44 7778 727800

Vape Superstore 51 Rupert St, London, United Kingdom, W1D 7PG Telephone +44 2072 874524

Smokin Sin 21 Borough High St, London, United Kingdom, SE1 9SE Telephone +44 7752 505544

UK ECIG STORE 30-32 Fleet St, London, United Kingdom, EC4Y 1BW Telephone +44 2034 754885

VapeHut UK 35 Oxford St, London, United Kingdom, W1D 2DT Telephone +44 7771 557799

Le-Vap 196 Edgware Rd, London, United Kingdom, W2 2DS Telephone +44 7435 094979

Noble Vaping 36 Great Eastern St, London, United Kingdom, EC2A 3ES Telephone +44 2034 870612

Vapester 34 New House, 67-68 Hatton Garden, London, United Kingdom, EC1N 8JY Telephone +44 3030 311020

Vapourcore 274 Old Brompton Rd, London United Kingdom, SW5 9HR Telephone +44 3333 052822

Tower Vape Shop 111 Abbey St, London, United Kingdom, SE1 3NP Telephone +44 2072 376343

EzCloudz 17-19 Stockwell Rd, London, United Kingdom, SW9 9AU Telephone +44 2077 337641

Peckham Vape 80a Rye Ln, London, United Kingdom, SE15 4RY Telephone +44 7577 580171

House of Vapes 494 Fulham Rd, London, United Kingdom, SW6 5NH Telephone +44 2073 865049

Otherside 261 Portobello Rd, London, United Kingdom, W11 1LR Telephone +44 7802 335476

Hyde Vapes 53 Queensway, London, United Kingdom, W2 4QH Telephone +44 2035 385858

Vapor Works 167 Stoke Newington Rd, London, United Kingdom, N16 8BP Telephone +44 2079 231016

Vape Emporium 87 Heath St, London, United Kingdom, NW3 6UG Telephone +44 2076 937279

CS Vaporizers 9b Perry Vale, London, United Kingdom, SE23 2NE Telephone +44 7399 491451

Vape Shop London 108 Charing Cross Rd, London, United Kingdom, WC2H 0JN Telephone +44 2072 403513

F&S Electronic Cigarettes 114 Newgate St, London, United Kingdom, EC1A 7AE Telephone +44 7592 927485

The Global Vape Store Directory.