Oliver Kershaw

What is Throat Hit?

You know it when you feel it! Throat hit is the sensation in the throat caused by nicotine as it's inhaled. It ranges from a smooth satisfying catch as the vapour travels down the throat to an intolerable harshness. Smokers who've tried to inhale a cigar will know the sensation at its worst. Vapers seek a throat hit that suits them. For some it's practically non-existent, for others it's very pronounced. It's very much a personal preference.

How do I get less throat hit?

You have two options. One, you use a lower nicotine concentration vape juice. If you do this, you may wish to use a higher powered device so that you're still getting similar quantities of nicotine overall (see power and nicotine explained). The sensation will be much less pronounced. The other option is to use an eliquid with a higher PH. The flavourings added to the liquid will change the overall PH - a high PH liquid is what you're after, so you

As reported widely last week, Apple has told a British vaping website, Planet of the Vapes, that no more apps or app updates relating to vape will be allowed on the App Store.

Apple is known for its opacity when it comes to its business decisions, so don’t expect any explanation or justification for this.

Around the same time, news broke that Apple has patented a “vaporizer”. You can look at this patent elsewhere. This led many people to put two and two together and impugn a highly anti-competitive motive: Apple bans vape apps then moves in with its own iVape to corner the market. After all, is this the kind of thing Apple would do?

Well, maybe but of course, this isn’t what’s happening at all. Firstly, as Macobserver sleuth, Jeff Gamet, has shown that the application most likely relates to manufacturing processes. This is the type of thing the named inventor

From April next year vape juice will be illegal to sell within the City of San Francisco. The Flavoured Tobacco Sales Restriction Ordinance bans flavours in all tobacco products without exemption.

Since the FDA’s deeming rule of last year legally confers “tobacco” status on vape, and since all vape juice is flavoured, it will not be permissible to sell any vape juice when the rule comes into effect.

Today, the BOS unanimously approved my legislation to ban the sale of flavoured tobacco in San Francisco. #FocusOnFlavours #DoItForTheKids pic.twitter.com/rmNaOnVVhG

— Malia Cohen (@MaliaCohen) June 21, 2017

In a somewhat extraordinary and unexpected development Scott Gottlieb, the newly appointed head of FDA, has announced that the submission deadline for PMTAs is to be delayed until 2022. 

This is a de-facto endorsement of the vaping industry and heads off the cataclysmic demise that was set in motion by the previous administration. 

The grandfathering date from last year is not changed, so new products may not be introduced to the market, although it’s unclear what enforcement there is likely to be on that front. 

This delay comes as part of a comprehensive anti-smoking plan which also involves the (controversial) denicotinisation of tobacco cigarettes which will start in 2021. In reality, this could be transformative for the vape industry, as smokers move to vape products to get their nicotine which is no longer available from smoking. 

The UK Government issued today its tobacco control plan entitled: “Towards a Smoke Free Future”. It’s a comprehensive review of anti-smoking policy objectives over the next five years and contains significant support for vapor innovation throughout.

As Clive Bates has pointed out, this makes the UK Government the first in the world to adopt an official tobacco harm reduction agenda.

The plan crystallizes the UK’s trajectory from almost prohibiting vapor products in 2010 to being the world’s most forward thinking and liberal on vape today.

It goes further too underscoring that vaping in public

The fifth E-Cigarette Summit took place at London’s Royal Society last Friday. For those interested in the true state of global science and regulations on vaping products (and, increasingly, other alternative nicotine products), the Summit is the calendar-event of note.

The following is my personal take on the overall themes, and I’ll start off with a TLDR listicle:

1. Vaping typically produces well under 5% of the HPHCs of smoking, likely even under 1%…..
2. With the important caveat that cloud-chasing type exposures have not been studied widely.
3. Regardless, it’s always possible that there’s an as-yet-unidentified interaction between those small quantities of HPHC that are present and which causes a problem…

Big victory for vape in Pennsylvania!

Vapers and Vape Shops have won the first round of a battle to keep vape alive in the Keystone State. The House Finance Committee voted yesterday in favour of a bill which will repeal the most regressive tax that has ever been seen in US vaping. But this is only the first round in a battle yet to play out.

Last Monday hundreds of vapers and business owners turned up to the State Capitol for the  PATAXPROTEST. The tax is set to force shops to pay the State 40% of the wholesale price of all products from October 1st.

The act was passed in July this year and includes a hideous “floor-tax” provision. This forces all shops to pay PA State 40% of the value

Professor Stanton Glantz, ardent opponent of vaping, has engaged in the first interview (that I know of) by a vaping supporter.

Brent Stafford questioned Glantz over a 10 minute Skype session for his RegulatorWatch.com show, and the video (part 1) is available on YouTube

Glantz's cites three main reasons for his opposition to vaping:

He believes they are 40 to 60% safer than smoking which, he contends, is not very safe considering the dangers of smoking.

He believes most smokers do not make the full transition, instead becoming "dual users"

He believes vaping is attracting "gigantic numbers of kids who probably would never pick up a cigarette but are initiating nicotine use with e-cigarettes and then transitioning to cigarettes later"

Chinese based mega-marketers, AVE40, are launching what might be the most unique project ever in the vaping world: The Asian Vaper Games show!

Launching September 27^th, the Games promises to be an entertaining showcase of the vaping world - a high budget program of zany vapour challenges interspersed with interviews with major manufacturers, vaping personalities and real vapers. At the same time as being a light-hearted games show, the Games’ have been founded with a serious mission to popularize the passion and earnestness of vapers everywhere.

In a world dominated by negative sentiment about vaping, it’s refreshing to see an endeavour that doesn’t pander to the fear and loathing and which shows off a real part of the spirit of the community.

A leading UK public health official has called for more support for people using “the number one quit aid - vaping devices” ahead of the annual “Stoptober” event, urging a rethink of policies in light of the recent re-evaluation of the risks and effectiveness of vaping products.

Professor Kevin Fenton, director of Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England made his statements on BBC radio yesterday while promoting the annual national smoking cessation campaign. Vapour products feature this year for the first time in the Stoptober messaging as an option for smoking cessation.

The UK has now the lowest levels of smoking in post-war history, with the number of smokers this year dropping below 17%. Researchers at University College London

This is it. August 8th. The end of the golden age of vaping. From today, what you see is all you get. No more innovation, no new products. Vape is fossilized.

Since I set E-Cigarette-Forum up in 2007, vaping has become a global phenomenon, releasing many from the grip smoking. Sadly, vaping has also become the subject of moral panic. The dominant narrative has become: “vaping is an evil plot to hook teenagers on nicotine”.

Most troublingly, smokers are not taken seriously. They are viewed as carriers of disease and excluded from the debate over their own health.

America is about to become more draconian than Europe in its treatment of vaping products.

But there are reasons to be cheerful. These regulations could have come out two years ago when they were first proposed. Instead, the intervening years have seen vast improvements in products available to vapers, and many of these products will be available for the next two years at least.

Maybe

E-cigarettes should be promoted widely “as a substitute for smoking” according to the Royal College of Physicians, a British organisation for doctors similar to the American Medical Association.

Their comprehensive report, Nicotine Without Smoke, concludes that e-cigarettes “are likely to be beneficial to UK public health”. The press release tears down all of the arguments made by those who would like to see vapour products regulated out of existence. The outright bullishness of these statements makes for heartening reading.

According to the Royal College, e-cigarettes are “not a gateway to smoking”, they “do not result in the normalisation of smoking” they are “likely to lead to quit attempts that would otherwise not have happened” and, while potential longer term risk is not ruled out, it is considered “substantially