ECig Lounge

PG or Propylene Glycol is a common ingredient used in electronic cigarettes as a medium/vehicle base for the e-liquid. Many consumer and even some electronic cigarette companies have said otherwise – trying to claim that their VG (vegetable glycerin) is safer.

The fact is that PG is actually more commonly prevalent in everyday foods and lesser harmful than the scary name ‘Propylene Glycol’ would suggest. Same thing as calling water as “Dihydrogen Monoxide” or “Hydrogen Oxide”. However the risks of using PG are there for you readers to judge. I merely present the facts:

1) PG has been approved by the FDA for human consumption as a food additive

http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm

2) It is widely used in all sorts of foods that we feed even our kids and consume in mega quantities anyway such as ice cream and soft drinks.

http://www.ehow.com/list_6962663_foods-drinks-propylene-glycol.html

Hence singling out electronic cigarettes for PG would not be rational or sensible.

Now this is a tricky question to answer – because the short answer is that compatibility is not always guaranteed. Though many brands are actually of ‘standard’ type – e.g. V2 cartrdges should work with Vapor4Life and vice-versa this may not be true.

The real reason is that though these standards do exist they are not closely adhered to by the brand’s manufacturing vendors. For example: in Oct 2011 V2 ended up procuring a large production batch of electronic cigarette cartridges that were not properly compatible with their own V2 batteries – due to subtle design changes from their original design. This likely cause was because they switched their vendors and the new vendor did not replicate the design accurately. Hence if V2 cartridges may not be compatible with V2 batteries then there is no way they will be compatible with Vapor4Life.

Besides the above caveat here are the steps to follow to research if you can use another brand’s cartridges on your electric cigarette:

a) Look at compatibility charts on the web: e.g. http://www.ecigarettes365.com/electronic_cigarette_compatibility.

b) Look at compatibility options from TheMagicMist. Though they have tested compatibility their range of flavors is very limited. So you if you wanted cherry – for instance – you have no luck but to go with the more expensive brands such as blu, V2 etc.

c) Buy a few packs first. Yes, it is easy to get carried away and buy a lot of packs at once but is economical and practical to buy a few cartridges first and then buy more when you like the product. Saving 25% off on a product you do not like is hardly a good deal. True – TheMagicMist has free shipping and a 100% refund guarantee but I am too lazy to mail items for refund.

d) If you do not like the cartridge immediately don’t give up right away. Try a different nicotine strength because harshness/strength does vary by manufacturer. For instance V2’s 16mg tobacco may taste harsher than Vapor4Life’s similar cartridge. Hence try a different strength and give it one more shot.

e) Once you find that another brand works for you please go out on the web and share your story – at least on facebook. Spread the word that there is no need to feed the monopoly of the ecig brands.

Hopefully you do find a quality alternative to your existing ecig brand. Based on the feedback shared by TheMagicMist’s repeat customers they find that this is often true.

See previous article as to why an electronic cigarette cartridges may heat up. The problem is due to a combination of archaic technology and of customer usage. But mainly customer usage.

The reason is because new smokers who are used to traditional cigarettes draw strong puffs to get a similar feeling – of lungs being filled with toxic tobacco smoke. But the key difference is that the real buzz/hit that goes with each puff depends on the amount of nicotine delivered per puff. It takes at least few seconds for the effect of nicotine to reach the newbie smoker’s brain. Hence – outside of the psychological satisfaction – but from a practical standpoint it is quite meaningless for a vaper to draw long and hard. This results in a lesser satisfying, lesser relaxed vaping experience. Besides it causes heating of the ecig cartridge. So what is the vaper to do? A few suggestions:

a) Try to slow down: the most obvious is to slow down so that the cartridge has time to cool down

b) Take smaller puffs: takes more practice but can be lesser tiring for cheek muscles

c) Make your vaping sessions smaller: if you take 15 puffs per session reduce to 10-12. This allows the ecig cartridge to cool down

d) Choose a higher nicotine strength: this one is less obvious. But this will allow the ecig user to take fewer and smaller puffs with the same hit/buzz per session. But be careful as it may be too much nicotine for you to handle. There IS A DELAY for the nicotine’s impact to reach your brain. Research options to your brand’s compatible ecigs – retailers such as The Magic Mist provide not only cheaper quality alternates to ecig cartridges but also the same cartridges in higher strength.

e) Lessen the storage/shelf time between vaping sessions: once a fresh ecig cartridge has been ‘broken in’ the initial heating of the liquid causes the evaporation of the liquid into open air to speed up. This is especially pronounced if the ecig cartridge is kept in open air and not stored away in the box. Hence one should be cognizant that keeping cartridges open and attached on the ecig battery might be convenient but it reduces the life of the cartridge a bit. More relevant to this topic – the liquid dries up and can even burn the wick/sponge that is used to soak up the liquid.

If you have more questions please feel free to post comments below this posting.

Now the electronic cigarette industry has had quality issues but nicotine strength was not one of the problems that seemed to have serious issues. Yes, if the cartridge stated 16mg it might be +/- 2mg. According to an unofficial test done on another forum the nicotine strength can vary quite a bit.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/diy-e-liquid/239728-houston-we-have-problem-nic-titration-results.html#post4564211

Now what does this mean?

1) Buy cartridges and not liquid – companies who sell cartridges naturally need to perform more Quality Assurance than e-liquid sellers. It takes more steps and hence better Quality Assurance checking to manufacture ecig cartridges.

2) If you must buy e-liquid, give it a few test puffs before you blow away like a chimney. If that nic strength is 100 mg instead if 16 mg your brain will get the few minutes it needs to warn you of impending disaster. Remember nicotine may be ok in small quantities but in larger strength it is absolutely fatal. In fact a nicotine overdose is more lethal than cocaine one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine_poisoning

Customers shouldn’t have to worry about this. Companies should. The reality is that many electronic cigarette companies rely totally on their vendors and focus on the marketing aspects. Top ecig companies included.

As your ecig writer/contributor I will follow up by contacting ecig companies regarding how they test their nicotine strength and will keep you updated.

Electronic cigarettes are more like electric cigarettes: they operate on a simple yet fairly strong electric current to generate vapor. The reason for this is two-fold:

1) E-cig companies aiming for more vapor: In an effort to increase vapor production electric cigarettes also emit more heat than ever before. The problem can be improved by using better heat insulation on the body of the cartridge but most manufacturers using metal casing.

2) Heavy smokers: Most smokers – especially those who try ecigs for the first time – tend to draw longer, harder puffs. The same heat that generates vapor also heats up the cartridge. This is the main reason why ecig smokers face this warming up of the cartridge. This problem is made worse by users trying to draw too many puffs in rapid succession. The heat is often worse when the cartridge does not have much liquid left.

Manufacturers are still a little behind as they try to balance the heating problem with the demand for vapor. A majority of the vaping customers do not have a major problem though with heating and vapor production is considered as being more desirable.

A lot of companies claim that their cartridges up to 300 puffs. Though usage and amount of vapor drawn by each person varies quite a bit this number is very unrealistic: 80 puffs is more like it. However this has not prevented marketers from making unrealistic claims.

The method these companies use to test number of puffs is partially to blame: they use a machine that counts puffs until an operator can no longer see vapor. Many problems with this approach. Let me count the ways:

1. the puffs are more like mini-puffs – i.e. none of these are satisfying,
2. when the puffs are taken regularly the e-liquid does not get clumped/dry up and hence the cartridge lasts longer on the machine. During regular human consumption there is a longer gap between puffs and often very long time gaps when the user puts down the electronic cigarette for hours
3. lastly the machine operator keeps the test going even until the vapor is very low which is in a range that would not be satisfying to most consumers.

These are obvious drawbacks to the machine testing process – something that manufacturers are fully cognizant of but either due to lazy marketing or low standards they do seem to perpetuate this myth. Customers are not impressed.

Newer, cartridges such as the FlavorMax cartridges made by SafeCig are supposed to be higher capacity but nowhere in the 300 puffs area. Proper testing of these cartridges has to be done to establish how many puffs a human can draw but the expectation would be around 120 or so. Stay tuned for an in-depth review of SafeCig FlavorMax cartridges.

TheMagicMist are more transparent in this department. They openly claim that their cartridges last 80 puffs or so. In the course of their product development and research they have tested and literally taken apart cartridges of various brands. They have huffed, puffed and sucked the vapor of dozens of cartridges with various types of batteries and they understand the differences between cartridges very well. Factors such as smoothness, vapor content, flavor, richness, taste and after-taste are carefully studied, compared and critiqued by a team of experts who have spent a lot of their time to this endeavor.

Stay tuned for detailed reviews of cartridge quality by brand in the near future.