StringDancer

The new carbon-sulphur composite was used as the cathode, the positive electrode of a test battery, and showed what the researchers called an "impressive capacity. "This composite material can supply up to nearly 80 per cent of the theoretical capacity of sulphur, which is three times the energy density of lithium [traditional] transition metal oxide cathodes," Nazar said in a statement. In addition, the material remained stable when recharged multiple times. http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/05/18/...

Working fine for me here, Chris. It's Sunday, 8:30pm EST.

Lemme guess... the acrylic nails on my right hand gave me away, eh? I play nylon strings mostly, BTW. It's sort of a bastardized neo-flamenco style. It's been a long, slow ride getting to this point with it. You can catch some of my jams here and see if you like it (the link is in my profile, as well). I've been a guitar player by trade ever since I can remember (the last real job I had was back in 1981). It's a living.

OK, I'll say it. I want a juice that tastes like blonde poon-tang and Peruvian cocaine on a hot summer night in Cabo. Does this make me a bad person?

If you're like me (and let's hope not), you do a lot of vaping while on the puter. You'd be using a juice that comes in a 30ml glass bottle with an eye-dropper. You'd be looking for an easy way to drip without unscrewing the eye-dropper every few minutes, fretting over spilling the juice, screwing the cap by on, etc. Here's what I did: Take the eye-dropper off and rinse it off to get residual juice off it (or otherwise take care not to let your fingers absorb stray juice). Pull the glass tube out of the rubber core of the eye-dropper, then remove the rubber core piece from the plastic cap. Take some scissors and cut off the entire rounded end of the eye-dropper bulb. Reinsert the glass tube into the rubber part till it snaps back into place. Then mount the rubber/tube assembly backwards in the bottle cap, so that the snipped-off bulb end is inside and the glass tube extends out from the bottle. Screw the thing securely back on the bottle. Now when you need to top-off your cart, just grab the bottle and tip the juice into your cart. The greater the inclination, the faster the juice will drip out. When you right the bottle to sit it on the table, the juice will likely sit suspended in the tube, effectively cutting off the lion's share of oxygen exposure to the juice. Since I go through a 30ml bottle every 2-3 days, I don't worry much about evaporation through such a tiny hole. And if you accidentally knock over the bottle, you shouldn't lose a drop if you right it quickly.

Parallel, yes, he mentioned.

While not focusing on e-cigs, this article reveals some rather damning information regarding our dear FDA and the corruption that fuels it: Source: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_4842.cfm The FDA is no joke. It's a criminal conspiracy against Americans, and needs radical reform. Mention this the next time you write your representatives about e-cigs! EDIT: See also this article on the same topic: Whistleblower Accuses FDA of Corruption

One hesitates to post a page from another e-cig forum (as I just like this one the most)... but since Sean asked: There's a cat who goes by the handle MegaVapeMan over at Vapeatron.com who's getting pretty advanced in his mod concepts. Here's his latest version of a device that combines a 901 atty with hefty batts, a manual switch, and a 4ml pump for juicing on the fly: http://www.vapeatron.com/upac-681/

Dr Adrian Payne is the Managing Director of Tobacco Horizons, a Tobacco Harm Reduction Consulting Agency. During a post-doctoral career spanning more than thirty years, he has worked for both tobacco and pharmaceutical companies, often in the field of Tobacco Harm Reduction. Read the full interview: http://www.ecigarettedirect.co.uk/intervie...-interview.html

Yeah, I got a tip for ya: Don't quit yer day job, sucker. I know... that wasn't funny. Alrighty then, here we go. I'll bet many of you have already figured these out for yourselves: 1. Get a USB passthrough for vaping at the puter -- consistent power means your atty works more efficiently, plus you save wear & tear on your batts. 2. Keep your cart topped off with the juice you like. A moist cart means an atty that isn't cooking dry air and burning out prematurely. 3. And when topping off, occasionally use a straightened paper clip wire or tweezers to jostle around the wick to let juice descend completely to the bottom of the cart. Otherwise you won't completely saturate your wick. I read of a very simple mod a guy did, taking a small plastic straw, cutting it off at an angle on the bottom and sliding it down in a corner of the cart to help trapped air in the bottom of the cart escape, allowing juice to flow down into the wick better. Haven't tried it yet, but sounds like it should work. 4. Switch e-cigs often. If you feel the atty getting hot, let it cool down by picking up a different e-cig. 5. Up-end and drain your atties overnight. 6. Got a good batt, a good atty, but suddenly no vapor? Check the LED to make sure it isn't blinking in time-out mode, and if the switch is stuck, a quick, gentle blow through the mouthpiece will often get the thing vaping again. 7. Employ yogic, circular breathing to vape non-stop. As you exhale a hit through your nose, be pulling a fresh hit into your mouth, then when you're ready, pull the mouthful of vapor down into your lungs. Vape-breathing, I guess you could call it. All for now.

I searched the forum here for any mention of this site and didn't find it, so.... I found what seems to be a fairly good clearinghouse of e-cig news: http://www.e-cignews.com They also have an RSS widget for embedding. Might be a nice add to the site, Chris.

Considering the potential of e-cigs to actually save lives, banning them sounds more to me like... criminal. Yet another example of how our government is out of control and serves no one except those with the deepest pockets.

If you look close you can see me sitting on a back deck vaping away contentedly while Jenna Jameson gets ready to have her way with me... again. Goes to show ya... privacy is a thing of the past.

I have classic penstyles, a Kissbox penstyle with the manual switch, and the 501 manual. I like all of them, but overall prefer the pens for ease of draw, vapor prod, and especially capacities of both the cart and the batts. Topping off these little buggers is our primary chore, and there's a huge difference in how long you can vape on a pen compared to the 501 (the cart for which is basically the same as the 901). Taste seems to me to be a function of keeping the atty and the wadding moist. Let the cart get a little dry, and there goes the richness of the juice. Let it get a bit drier still, and you start getting a discernible taste of the wadding getting scorched. So in this regard, even with the 801s, you need to top off every 10-12 puffs. My main beef with the super mini is the design of the mouthpiece. Dripping into it is a blind endeavor, about all you can do is count drops as they go down the tube.

Well, as it happens... a few months ago, I hardwired a gas-powered backup generator to my circuit box, and if the electricity fails for any protracted length of time, I can just flip a couple of switches in the breaker box and have backup power generation on-site. To conserve energy, I'd have to turn off a few things that are normally on... but charging my e-cig batteries would not be among them.

If you're still looking, you guys might want to check out http://www.meebo.com for an alternative chat/IM webcam system.

Anna, you pulled in some of the e-liquid, obviously... which you want to avoid doing. The nicotine can enter your body if it gets on your skin anywhere, so be careful. When you hit the e-cig, keep the 'headlight' end of it down so that gravity doesn't work to drain juice down from the cart to the mouthpiece draw hole, and don't pull on it quite so hard. With a little practice you can avoid getting the foul-tasting stuff onto your lips.

This just in: 'We're About Harm Reduction... Except I Can't Say That' Jacob Sullum | May 6, 2009, 6:09pm Contrary to an email message that the Food and Drug Administration seems to have sent accidentally, the agency did not announce enforcement actions against leading distributors of electronic cigarettes yesterday. Craig Youngblood, CEO of the e-cigarette company inLife, says an FDA official told him the message contained "inaccurate information," but it's not clear whether that means the "extensive rollout" described in the notice has been called off or merely delayed. "Some of the people I know are saying a ban is imminent," says Youngblood, but "we really don't know." In the meantime, the FDA says it is treating e-cigarettes on a case-by-case basis, which seems to involve looking for health claims that render them unapproved drug delivery devices. The more cautious distributors therefore avoid describing e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool or as a way of treating or mitigating disease. It's clear that e-cigarettes, which contain no tobacco and deliver nicotine in water vapor instead of smoke, are far less hazardous than standard cigarettes. But saying so risks attracting unwanted attention from the FDA, which has seized some companies' shipments. (One of them, Smoking Everywhere, has sued the FDA in federal court, arguing that the agency has no jurisdiction over e-cigarettes.) "Safest, safer—those are mitigating claims," says Youngblood. "We need to be careful as an industry in how we depict our product. Without medical evidence, we shouldn't be saying anything is safer." At the same time, the industry's main argument against FDA interference is that it is providing a safer alternative to cigarettes. In a statement released on Monday, former congressman Matt Salmon, president of the newly formed Electronic Cigarette Association, complains: The message that is being sent by the FDA to those who cannot stop smoking, or who do not wish to stop smoking, is that it is better to keep smoking tobacco, which kills more than 400,000 people in the US per year.... It is time to stop misinformation, to put the needs of consumers ahead of special interests, to put public health ahead of stifling process, and to embrace the first true innovation in a centuries-old space. The industry's regulatory dilemma is clear when you talk to Youngblood. Even while mentioning testimonials from smokers who "have made a transition," he is careful to say, "We are not a quit-smoking device....We are an alternative nicotine delivery device." (That terminology may be risky too, since that's what former FDA chief David Kessler called cigarettes when he unsuccessfully tried to regulate them during the Clinton administration.) And even while contrasting the myriad toxins and carcinogens in tobacco smoke with the "13 or 14" chemicals in e-cigarette vapor, none of which is a known carcinogen, Youngblood says talking about relative hazards is asking for trouble: We can't make those statements. We have to make [consumers] draw that conclusion. And quite frankly, that's OK, because people know it....[Regulators] do put you in a bit of a bind. It's hard to communicate openly without putting your foot in your mouth....We're about harm reduction, and that's truly to our core....Except I can't say that. Source: Reason.com

As it happens, just today I got my 510 from TrueSmoker, and I have to confirm C&S's take on the thing. Yes, it's small (advantage: you can sneak a puff in a restaurant when you don't want to deal with explaining the device to the tight-assed wait who comes up to chastise you if you're puffing on a super-mini)... but it's mighty (yes, it vapes REALLY well... easy draw like a penstyle, good throat hit, plenty of vapor). Sleek and sexy with a blue headlight, it looks very well-made. The manual switch is definitely the way to go with this thing. Unless they figure a way to totally isolate an auto-switch from over-juicing, I suspect it will go the way of the dinosaur. I like to control my atty with my thumb, thank you. Kinda wish the 501 had a whistle mouthpiece like a 901, though. And I'm not convinced it produces vapor as heavily as a well-tempered 801 penstyle, but it comes close. Now, the charging thing. Most e-cigs I've seen recommend you go for a very long initial charge, after which you can use a batt as soon as the charger light goes green. But the 510 is VERY specific about the initial charging procedure: charge non-stop for 8 hours, vape for 20 minutes, then charge again for one hour. After this, use as usual. Don't know why the thing requires this precise sequence of events, but I figure what the hell. I charged the first battery as per the instructions, and tomorrow plan to do the same with the second batt. A passthru will definitely be a plus, though when I'm puting, I prefer the larger juice capacity of an 801, anyway (the 501 has a cart capacity similar to a 901). I've got a penstyle passthru, and I can keep puting without having to stop my chain of thought and top off so often. Auxiliary atomizer: A+. All e-cigs should come with an extra atty, IMHO. The smaller presentation box is nice... sturdy, attractive, but clearly cheaper to make than the gaudy boxes some e-cigs come in, which should help keep purchase price reasonable. So altogether -- the 510 seems to be a real workhorse e-cig. I'm a guitar player by trade, so the 510 kinda reminds me of a Fender Telecaster -- built to work hard without too much glitz. And maybe this didn't happen for everybody... but TrueSmoker included a 2oz branded bag of coffee with my order! Now that's value-added service!! I'll report on the coffee later when I run through my Starbucks and crack the bag. Nice touch, TS.

Well, some e-cig imports are clearly being detained (if not rejected), but many are making it through Customs. Just today I received a package I ordered from China, took about 10 days. From the tracking details, it was only in NY Customs a day or so before it went on for delivery. Many of the suppliers here in the states who a week ago were all sold out are getting restocked. It could also well be that the SE suit, which to date has not been ruled upon, nonetheless made the pinheads at the FDA reconsider a ban at this time. And with the launch of the Electronic Cigarette Association and the excellent congregate of intelligent, unbiased info there, I think if the FDA doesn't move very soon, it will be too late to put a ban into effect, and if enacted will certainly come under considerable scrutiny immediately. While retailers have to be careful about touting e-cigs as being "healthier" or a "cessation device" so as not to attract immediate sanction by the FDA, the rest of us do not. In fact, the more we blog, vlog, post and promulgate our own experiences with e-cigs, the more evidence (anecdotal though it may be) is accumulating to refute the FDA's stance on the issue. Myself, I'm posting in my website about e-cigs, and have written Obama, Biden, my Senators and my local Congressman, relating my own story of how e-cigs got me painlessly and completely off tobacco in just a couple weeks, linking them to the ECA, and encouraging them all to help stop any proposed ban on the devices. I also wrote Rachel Maddow at MSNBC, encouraging her to cover the story (she loves to kick the government's *** and point out political hypocrisy, with which this issue is drenched). It's certainly not time to celebrate victory, but there's a head of steam building (or is it vapor) in a positive way for e-cig technology. I quite expect politicians and agencies in bed with Big Tobacco and Big Pharma to prattle on with their propaganda, but Americans have more common sense than that, I think. It may well not be the government that restricts imports, but tobacco abolitionists and extremist, intolerant health-nazis that whine so much that local ordinances lumping e-cigs together with analog cigs gain a little traction in the less-educated sectors of our country. My two-bits... in spite of the fact that Chris is sick of hearing about it.

I had an 801 atomizer go cold on me over a week ago (was almost a new one... pissed me off). Anyway, I just rinsed it with hot water, blew it out and sat it on its end to drip dry overnight. For two days I tried to get it to vape... no joy. So I tossed it into one of my old presentation boxes and forgot about it. Last night, on a whim, I pulled that atomizer out and juiced it up, and lo and behold, the thing worked! I've been hitting on it off and on all day, it seems just fine. If there's a moral to this story... save those old burnouts... ya just never know.

You could always go with a low-nic formula when using that bad boy.

You may be aware of the latest trend in nicotine acquisition products – electronic cigarettes. E-cigarettes deliver nicotine through water vapor that is heated by a small battery in a cigarette-shaped device like the one shown above. They contain none of the harmful chemicals found in tobacco smoke, they don't create an offensive odor, and they can be used indoors. Because they mimic the oral-fixation-satisfying behavior of a real cigarette – complete with "smoke" that is inhaled and exhaled – many smokers who want to cut down or quit might find e-cigarettes a useful option. E-cigarette maker NJOY markets their product as "all the pleasures of smoking without all the problems." E-cigarettes also can be a relatively cheaper alternative to tobacco products, especially following last month's 160% federal cigarette tax hike. So naturally, the government wants to ban them. But at least one e-cigarette manufacturer isn't backing down: A Florida company that imports and distributes so-called electronic cigarettes filed suit yesterday against the Food and Drug Administration, claiming the agency is illegally blocking imports of its product into the United States. The suit, filed by Smoking Everywhere in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that the FDA has overstepped its regulatory authority by banning shipments of the devices and insisting they need to go through the drug approval process. […] Congress is currently considering the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act, which would give the FDA explicit power to regulate cigarettes. [smoking Everywhere lawyer Walt] Linscott notes that the law would probably give it the right to oversee e-cigarettes as well.A federal agency abusing its authority in the name of regulating personal behavior? Can you imagine? Of course, e-cigarettes may not be completely risk-free, but they certainly can't be more dangerous than traditional tobacco-burning cigarettes. Nicotine acquisition products such as gum and patches have been on the market for bloody ages, so there can't be any serious concern about the safety of adults choosing to ingest nicotine. So why target e-cigarettes? Perhaps the well-meaning public servants at the FDA are disdainful of any behavior that represents tobacco smoking because the negative health effects of traditional cigarettes are widely known. But if that's the case, why ban a safer alternative to tobacco? If the FDA is successful in its ban, it will deprive smokers of the choice to use a product that could add years to their lives, forcing them to continue using traditional cigarettes and paying obnoxiously high taxes. (Ah, I think I may have answered my own question there.) Source: http://www.411mania.com/politics/columns/103662

I located a browser-viewable PDF of the suit filed by Smoking Everywhere against the FDA for its crackdown on e-cig imports. Or download the PDF directly here. Go get 'em, SE!

Ordered one just last night. Thanks for the vid, Royce... eager anticipation over here.