Thursday 17 June 2010

Electrofag update.

Long overdue but I haven't spent any more money on Electrofag so there hasn't been much to update. I still use it, less so now that it's warm outside and I very rarely visit pubs any more. It has been useful this week in a meeting and I have a meeting at the hospital on Friday where it's bound to cause as much panic as if I turned up dressed as the Joker with a coat full of grenades.

I bought a big stock of reloading juice a long time ago and it doesn't take much of a load each time. So far I have not burned out a single heater, nor ruined a battery, and I have stocks of both I haven't touched yet. On a cost per smoke basis, Electrofag is now streets ahead of tobacco. It would be even further ahead if compared to non-Van Man tobacco. But then, that's because I don't use it continuously. The heaters and batteries get plenty of rest between uses. Any continuous Electrosmokers out there? How long do your heaters and batteries last on average?

Electrofag will, I think, get a more serious use again next winter. My lab is only a short distance from the Door to the World and the only ones watching me smoke are the bullocks in the field, the crows and sometimes a rabbit or two. None have complained. As long as it's warm and not bucketing down, going outside is a nice way to spend a break. I can't eat or drink in the lab anyway. Elfin Safety forbid it but that's academic. I'm about to add Clostridium perfringens to my list of horrible pathogens so any hand-to-mouth movement in that lab would be beyond stupid. Smoking might or might not cause me problems in the distant future. I have cultures in there that will kill me in a week. There's a little kitchen for making coffee and microwaving those cheap burgers and hot dogs. I can't smoke in there. I can Electrosmoke in there. It leaves no trace.

As I said, when it's fine I'd rather be outside anyway. The lab is up a backwater road away from any traffic fumes that might give me dreadful respiratory problems, it's peaceful and countrified and smells of bullshit. Proper fresh bullshit, not that rancid political kind.

If I'm outside anyway, I'd rather roll a real one. Electrofag, for me, is all about smoking where I'm not allowed to, without actually breaking any rules but giving the Righteous heart problems anyway.

You know, that's where the ASH claim comes from. The one where they claim Electrosmoking causes heart attacks in bystanders but not in the Electrosmoker. It's nothing to do with nicotine. It's because the bystanders are terrified due to ASH propaganda. They are literally scared to death.

The Joker? Pah. Amateur. I don't need any guns or knives or explosives to cause chaos. I don't even need to burn tobacco. A little battery-powered tube with a light on the end can kill any antismoker within visual range even though it contains nothing toxic at all.

Give it a few months and I bet I can give these people high blood pressure by chewing a pen. Even the ones who aren't called Colin.

I do know a Brian it will definitely work on. Oh, Brian... I wanna play a game...

19 comments:

Amusing Bunni said...

That is funny, L-I, you should take secret video's of everyone getting their drawers in a bunch when you pull out electrofag. I'm glad it's cheaper for you than real ciggies. It's always nice to go outside on breaks and get some air.

Leg-iron said...

It's an awful lot cheaper. If it was more like real smoking it would be great.

Those patches and gum are worthless. We aren't addicted to nicotine at all. We like smoking, the whole experience. If the government were in any way serious about stopping tobacco smoking they'd sponsor research into making Electrofag just like the real thing. No tar, no ash, no particulates, if it was like real smoking we'd be all over it.

But then, the revenue would stop. So they won't do anything other than try to kill Electrofag because it is not, and never was, about health.

It's about money.

Man with Many Chins said...

Thanks for the update LI. I bought a disposable one this morning to give it a go. If it seems OK then I might well get a refillable one!

PT Barnum said...

I've found many interesting places to use Electrofag (locker room at the British Library, football and cricket matches, trains, life-drawing studio) and have only been pursued once by a demented security person, in the non-smoking courtyard of the V&A. People ask what it is, accept the explanation I give them and no one so far has suffered a panic-induced mini-stroke. Except at the V&A.

I think I use mine a fair bit more you, L-I, and so far all the original kit works apart from the very first atomiser which packed in after about 14 months.

I can also have the mentally amusing experience, for someone who cannot drink, of vaping absinthe, my current favourite.

Captain Haddock said...

I can well imagine the fun to be had by whipping out an "Electrofag" ..

I derive great amusement from bimbling into the local Library, or certain shops, where I know full well that I'll get a "bite" with my un-filled, un-lit Pipe clenched between my teeth ..

The "righteous" immediately go puce & point to the "Nosmo King" stickers ..

To which I respond with .. "Yeah, but it doesn't say I can't suck the bloody thing, does it" ?

Anonymous said...

Hi Legg Iron

Im the lady who first told you about em. I pretty much chain smoke elecrofags (swapped from Roll ups because I prefer the taste), and find I go through about 1 "heater" a month. I buy the multi packs of 5 heaters at £22 a pop, so even at one a month, they save me a fortune. I also find the Titan Mega batteries to be better than the normal batteries, as my constant puffing depletes the normal ones too quickly, but the mega batteries last me hours.

I was visiting my dad in hospital the other week on a chest ward - he has OCPD from working in the cotton mills all his life, and had to laugh when I saw some old geezer in the bed opposite taking a few sneaky drags on an electrofag. Wether the nurses knew or not I dont know, but I thought - good on him :)

The only down side to me with electrofags is that they are too big and hard at the mouthpiece. I used to loll very thin rollies - so that too a bit of getting used to.

Unknown said...

I smoke mine pretty regularly, mostly in the car or at work and I'm finding I get through a couple of atomisers a month, and at £4 a go that's a hell of a lot less than real cigs! As for the batteries - I also use the Titan Mega ones, they last quite a lot longer than the ordinary ones per charge and aren't that much more expensive to buy.

I've also got a USB passthrough for when I'm at my PC or in the car, which helps save the batteries for when I really need them - the rare occasions I visit a pub.

The only problem I seem to have is a few friends can't get their heads around them not counting as smoking - I've been told not to vape in the pub/at sports grounds more by those friends than by staff/police!

Man with Many Chins said...

Well, I can report that the disposable one is fucking crap. I have sent an email to the UK agent, it produces no vapour and you have to pretend you are trying to suck a golf ball through a yard of garden hose just to get the tip LED to light!

Might have to spend some of my birthday money on getting a proper Titan one.

Anonymous said...

I bought one of these things but find I don't get enough of a hit from it, so have stopped using it. Can LI's lady friend tell me what are regarded as the best models for a good hit?

Tomrat said...

Meanwhile some artwork for your lab:

http://is.gd/cSIyE

Anonymous said...

Lol - LI lady friend here Anon.

I can only tell you about the one I use - Its a Titan 510 with Mega battery. It gives me a good enough throat hit and enough vapour to be satisfying and "smoke" like - but I suppose its all rather subjective. If you search for "Titan 510 review" on google vids there are a host to view to give you an idea.

Electro fags do take a little bit of getting used to. At first they seem strange compared to a real fag, and sometimes the atomiser (heater) part of it needs a period of bedding in.

Plus getting used to refilling the cartridges just right, so that they are neither too dry (which means not enough vapour), nor too wet (and flooding the atomiser) takes practice and a bit of pereverance.

Nicotine strength and flavor of liquid also plays a part. So all in all setting up to start using these can be a tad expensive as you are risking that in the end you might not like them. But I found it worth every penny.

I def would not recomend the disposable ones.

Hope this helps :)

Leg-iron said...

PT barnum - I have the absinthe flavour too, for when I'm feeling like something surreal.

I have roast chicken flavour which does really taste like roast chicken, but burns itself on to the atomiser for a day or two. So I rarely use that.

Leg-iron said...

captain Haddock - it's so tempting to get a bubble-pipe. How long before 'No bubbles' signs appear?

Leg-iron said...

Lady friend - the size of the mouthpiece was awkward for me too, but it's probably about right for 'readymades'. It weighs much more than a cigarette, you can't have one dangling from your mouth all the time.

That, and the control of the vapour, is solved by using manual batteries rather than the automatic heat-when-you-puff kind. You have to hold the button down so you can't let it go, and you can hold the button for a second or two before puffing to get the vapour ready.

As for strength of 'hit', there are a wide range of concentrations available. It takes a bit of practice to get it working properly too.

I can now blow smoke rings with mine.

Oh, and there is an electropipe available. That looks like a lot of fun.

Leg-iron said...

man with many chins - get manual batteries. I bought one auto battery and it was as you describe - like trying to smoke a cigarette at the end of a hosepipe.

With the manual ones you can pre-heat the juice.

I'm not a big user so I don't get any great benefit from the mega batteries. Like Williamsjk, I also have the USB one so I can send ninetieth hand smoke down the internet to idiots who'll believe it.

Leg-iron said...

Tomrat - nice. I hope he expands into specific malt whiskies!

Leg-iron said...

Titan 510 is the one I have too, as recommended by Lady Friend. Initial outlay isn't really much more than the cost of a few packs of baccy so it's not a huge loss if it's not for you.

It's when you get into the gadgets that you start increasing costs but even so, Electrosmoking soon works out a hell of a lot cheaper than actual smoking. Even if you get your baccy from Man with a Van.

With time, I hope they'll make it just like the real thing. It's not, not yet, but it's close.

The part that gives ASH a dose of brown trouser syndrome is that you can get all of the flavours with zero nicotine content.

Even if you are a non-smoker, you can have one of these and all you're inhaling is flavoured steam.

Legally you could give one to a two-year-old. It's not smoking, there's no nicotine, no tobacco at all, it's flavoured steam. There is absolutely nothing that can even be hinted at as harmful in a flavoured nicotine-free Electrofag loading.

Uh-oh. My 'evil' gene just activated...

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness Leg Iron. You are soooo right. I can't believe I forgot to say about buying the "manual" batteries. Of course that little button is the key to getting a good smoke. :) I've been smoking this thing for so long now I had forgotten my early frustrating experiences with the other type of battery.

Oh and yeah - the weight!

As always - your eloquence shines through.

Lady friend

Anonymous said...

LI,
Is there any way you can use your lab to test the vapour for nicotinic acid? I ask because this might be the critical difference between e-cigs and inhalers.
Tony

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