Want a free battery? Give’em back three old ones for recycling and the trick is turned…

On top of it, Metro is still running it’s Mother’s Day 25% off special until midnight Sunday, as well as offering a special designer “Chick Stick” e-cigarette, a full kit in a box featuring their funky pink-swirl batteries and a built in vanity mirror.

So it’s a little late… get her a card with a promise of a “Pink Surprise” in the mail…

The latest bit of electronic cigarette sniping is from the Center for Global Tobacco Control at the Harvard School of Public Health in a study that claims “researchers found that after five minutes, users showed signs of airway constriction — as measured by several types of breathing tests — and of inflammation.”

While they used regular e-cigs and juiceless digitals – they did not compare the results with traditional tobacco smoking… how scientific!

Little wonder Dr. Josh Bloom of the American Council on Science and Health called it “amateur propaganda”  and ”pure (and not even especially well done) junk — an agenda-based report clumsily masquerading as science.”

Hmmm… whose agenda, one wonders…

Apparently, a woman purchased a NJoy disposahle electronic cigarette which exploded as she took it from its package. The story claims it was so powerful, a 15-pound salt lamp fell off a shelf, a light bulb shattered and an ornament knocked from the wall “across the room”.

The woman wasn’t injured, beyond the ringing in one ear and feeling “socked in the eye”.

However, in the comments section of the bogus e-cig blow-up story, the President of NJOY  is quoted as having “immediately investigated… spoken to the woman who was the subject of the story and she has confirmed that, contrary to reports, the device did not ‘explode’ and is fully intact.”

What’s the story?!?

Stay tuned… though I think it’s safe to enjoy an NJoy while you wait…

It seems Benton County, Oregon’s banned “smoking” – including electronic cigarettes -  in all county-owned facilities and grounds, from parking lots to parks and campgrounds.

Although it appears to apply employees and volunteers and visitors, it seems it’s merely “internal policy” and not an ordinance, unenforceable by law or penalties.

What does this mean?

Well, nothing really. Signs will go up, employees had better obey, but vapers in “natural areas” and parking lots won’t have to.

The Director of the Board of Health’s explanation? The county had an obligation to promote public health.

So it’s… just for appearances?

If your Mother is still a slave of the noxious brown weed, get her a starter kit from one of the many e-cig makers offering special discounts for the occasion.

And while this mostly just means a rebate code for starter kits, one company is offering that little extra touch for mom’s day.

V2Cigs Mother’s Day E-cigarette Kit is reduced in price, features two Special Edition Pink automatic batteries, a pink lanyard and 10  ”Passion Fruit Flavor” cartridges.

She’ll also be getting one of the new Smart Chargers on top of the usual wall adapter.

It’s the little things that mean so much more to Moms everywhere… so go pink!

E-cigarettes

Sexy co-star on HBO’s Entourage series Emmanuelle Chriqui has a hard time quitting analogs, so she’s been vaping a South Beach Smoke electronic cigarette lately.

And other cast members have followed in her footsteps. At least for public consumption…

Speaking of public consumption, The Raven‘s  Edgar Allen Poe, John Cusack, says he quit cigarettes long ago. But he likes “to smoke these in restaurants,” indicating his e-cig. “Just to freak people out.”

Rock ‘n’ Roll takes its toll, and guitarists Eddie Van Halen and Rolling Stones’ Ron Wood have both taken to e-cigarettes.

While 64 year-old Wood seems indestructible and simply pre-emptively switched to his Vapestick, the younger and insanely energetic Van Halen was diagnosed with throat cancer and has had cancerous tissue removed from his tongue on at least one occasion.

There are as many reasons to switch from tobacco to vapor as there are celebrities; just don’t wait for the wrong and worst reason to do it…

They failed.

Seeing as it’s been batteries that exploded in the incidents, they did everything from extremely over-charging rechargeables to literally applying flames, heating them in toaster ovens as well as hammering, piercing them with nails or actively puffing them as they were being charged.

Nothing.

Considering they used the manufacturer’s original battery, as opposed to the Radio Shack Alkalines one of the recent “victims” reported using, it’s no surprise.

Needless to say, do NOT try anything other than the safe, recommended use of your E-Cigs, whether you’re new or experienced…

This is on the level of Coca Cola losing the cola wars to Pepsi when they changed their formula. This is huge!

This latest concession to the electronic cigarette market comes on the heels of – or perhaps as a consequence? – NJoy receiving a $20 million injection of development capital; both signs that, despite Legislative bans and various anti-E-Cig movements in the marketplace, E-Cigarettes are having a kick-ass effect on the smoking/vaping landscape…

The tobacco companies are not dumb. They know that if they don’t get in on the market, they will lose precious percentage points of profit…

Besides, E-Cigs as a product are superior to tobacco – they don’t kill off their market one consumer at a time…

Besides industry self-regulation to commercial/consumer standards and safety, some companies, such as V2Cigs.com, have been taking things one step beyond standards.

V2Cigs now offers not just a detailed list of ingredients and their amounts on their packages, you can even certify your e-liquid’s contents and nicotine levels by batch number.

All you need do is submit the batch number found on the e-liquid box in the space provided on their site, and they will email you the exact details.

Truly, V2Cigs is living up to its motto: “Your life. Version 2.0″.

The Foundation, formed after the 1999 Master Settlement Agreement forced Big Tobacco to compensate government for medical spending, helps kids reject tobacco, and adults quit.

Tobacco companies must also make yearly, indefinite payments –  money which goes to, among other organizations, the American Legacy Foundation itself.

Since it would be unseemly to have an anti-tobacco advocacy group funded and depend on money from Big Tobacco, outside grants and such also exist from companies that have nothing to do with tobacco. Like pharmaceutical companies that produce smoking cessation drugs, devices, “the patch” and pills that can cause heart attacks or make you suicidal.

Isn’t the Legacy Foundation anti-smoking? Shouldn’t it keep its slightly dirty nose out of vaping?

Just sayin’…