A vaping great week on holiday !

Last week, I was lucky enough to be able to take the opportunity to have a week off work and go on holiday.

I decided to travel South and visit some family, but that meant driving around the country, and that meant going past some vaping shops.

Now, I love visiting e-cig shops whenever I am away from home - for a chat and to say hello, so I wasn't going to let this holiday be any different.

First stop - on my way down the M1 - I took a little diversion and went to see my friend Stuart, who works at the Ecigwizard shop in Kettering.

I was glad that I did - It was great to meet up with Stuart and have a natter, in between the steady flow of customers. His enthusiasm for the shop was plain to see and I wish that I could have spent more time there. The next time I am passing, I will certainly pop back to sit on the sofa and chat about e-cigs.

Two days later, I was in Peterborough. I had been invited to visit the Ecigwizard headquarters, and spent most of the day as a guest of Chris Carr, who took me on a tour of the factory. I have been selling their WizMix brand of e-liquid in my shop for quite some time now and it is, and always has been, a very popular range for my customers. 

I was glad that I went. Incredible to see the sheer commitment, dedication and enthusiasm of the whole team behind the company, experience the mesmerizing effect of watching the bottling machine go round, and to finally meet people like Sam, for example, that I have spoken to on the phone several times.

The following day, it was time for something a little different and a trip to SweetCloud in Farnborough  to say hello to Jan.

I had met Jan, at her Sweet Cloud shop, back in January - and since then the shop has literally doubled in size! She has extended into the shop next door. If you are ever in the area, then I thoroughly recommend you pay a visit to this shop - hundreds of flavours of e-liquid available, in a choice of PG, VG or 50/50 and choice of products from a CE4 up to a Innokin 134 - and everything in between.

Awesome.

After these 3 visits, one distinct common theme was the genuine sense of enthusiasm and enjoyment of working with e-cigs. It seems to be the same all over the country.

But alas, all good things must come to an end, and eventually it was time for the long ride home !

.

the XL Pro e-cig from Intellicig (Nicoventures/BAT)

The XL Pro is the new starter kit from Intellicig, a company owned by BAT.

It is interesting that it has been timed to launch just after the Puritane from Imperial, however the e-cig itself is completely different.

It works using a glass Aspire BDC tank and a variable voltage, Spinner, type of battery.

Here is my initial demonstration of the XL Pro and a quick run-down on how it works.

It is a good starter kit, there is no doubt about that.

I personally use an Aspire tank on a Spinner on a fairly regular basis, and have been doing ever since the Aspires first appeared a short while ago, so there is nothing especially new here.

It seems as though they have looked at what is available and then come up with a checklist of what would be needed for a good starter kit.

- Refillable
- Glass Tank
- Changeable coil
- Variable Voltage battery

The results are then neatly bundled into a well presented box and supplied with a good set of instructions.

It is noticeable that BAT are using the Intellicig brand to develop their 'Generation 2' e-cigs.

I have a feeling that they will run with this kit, whilst at the same time developing new clearomisers and atomisers in anticipation of the Tobacco Products Directive legislation.

It seems to me to be a good tactic for them to have the 2 brands, both Intellicig and Vype - and the strategy appears to be for the Intellicig label to supply regular e-cig products whilst the Vype brand is used for BAT specific products that they have developed themselves.

Actually, I was both pleased and relieved when I saw the kit. Why ? - because it wasn't a "let down". It was good, it worked, and it is the kind of starter kit that I would have come up with using currently available products.

This is part 2 of my XL Pro video

So, it seems like Nicoventures are trying to get some market share, with the launch of this starter kit.

An whilst they are committed to having a licensed medicinal product, they clearly recognise that the real growth is going to be in the generation 2 consumer products and they don't want to be left behind in either sector.

.

Martin McKee is not an expert on e-cigs

Martin McKee

It seems like we just keep going round and round in circles on this one.

Martin McKee was on BBC Newsnight last night (38 mins in), perpetuating the myth that he is an "expert" on e-cigarettes - he isn't

As Christopher Snowdon pointed out in this post HERE, - McKee has shown no interest in e-cigs until September last year, and then after posting 2, rather dubious, opinion pieces - he is suddenly elevated to the status of an "expert".

After his dismal appearance on BBC Radio 4, which I commented on HERE, it is surprising how he manages to maintain the facade of expertise on this subject.

Let us just remind ourselves how Martin McKee is viewed by REAL e-cig experts :

Going back to his performance on Newsnight, last night - Martin McKee did his usual trick :
In order to try to mask his lack of knowledge, understanding and research on electronic cigarettes, he always brings the subject round to smoking.

He does it every time - simply because he is out of his depth on this.

When confronted with evidence that the EU TPD could result in 105,000 deaths due to restrictions on effective e-cigs, he doesn't have an answer for this, because he doesn't understand the subject.

When asked a direct question, by Kirsty Walk, he replied "thats not the question we should be asking" - because he had no answer - he was unprepared.

Now, if I published a couple of posts about gas boilers, would that make me a qualified gas engineer?
No, of course not.

So lets say this again, Martin McKee is not an "expert" on the subject of electronic cigarettes. He has demonstrated this time and time again - he has done no research and seems to be completely unqualified on this topic.

.