Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/455137
February 2015 | Overdrive | 29 The Food & Drug Administration's proposal, released last spring, was simply to treat the devices and the juices as tobacco products requiring warning labels and subject to such requirements, requiring manufacturers to register prod- uct details with FDA before taking them to market. It remains to be seen how that might affect the booming business of juice makers and device sales shops across the nation, largely a mom-and- pop cottage industry. Meantime, vapers like the Andersons are content with their choice. "I've read the 'for' and 'against' arguments on the e-juice and everything else," Cheryl says. "Some say it's worse, and some say it's better. I don't think a lot about it. I made a choice to do it." Says Andy, "For me, nicotine just helps me deal with the stress that every driver goes through out here on the road, and I enjoy it. I enjoy this a lot more than I ever did cigarettes. That was more of an addiction. I didn't look forward to buy- ing a pack of cigarettes back in the day when I was smoking." BATTERY ATomizER TAnk BATTERY ATomizER TAnk Tanks of various sizes for e-juice reservoirs are available and will be cross-compatible to most batteries. The tank on this iTaste can hold 2.4 milliliters of juice. The tank at right holds a maximum 2 milliliters. Jan McCarter commonly vapes at 18-milligram nicotine strength, which is relatively high. The highest commonly available level is 24 milligrams. "The higher you go, you lose a lot of the fla- vor," she says. With most juices, it's possible to step down in strength to zero if one is determined to get off of nicotine. The atomizers inside of these pictured tanks are replaceable. Atomizer life depends on a lot of things, from the juice's consisten- cy to voltage output. Batteries without the option to adjust voltage commonly output 3.7 volts. While the battery's optimum voltage will depend on the atomiz- er's ohms of resistance, atomizer life generally can be extended by vaping at lower power. Tanks like this Mini Nautilus have a rotating ring that allows users to adjust airflow for a tighter or freer draw. After a year and more of using disposable "clearomizer" tanks, owner-operator Cody Blankenship recently switched to KangerTech's Genitank that allows for the same. Some e-juice manufacturers have touted their inclusion on the Vapor Digest trade pub- lication's "Gold standard" or "Elite e-liquid" lists of vendors that meet a set of high-quality manufacturing specifications. Virgin Vapor, which makes the juice in this tank, recently was added to the former. Find com- plete lists at vapordigest.com. ThE EquipmEnT Cincinnati-area owner-operator Jan McCarter found a refuge from traditional smoking in Mistic cigalike e-cigs when they were avail- able widely in major truck stop chains. Today she uses the APV, or "advanced personal vaporizer," pictured on the left. Innokin's iTaste MVP includes features that dedicated vapers laud. One is the ability to read the resistance (measured in ohms) of whatever atomizer or cartridge-style "cartomizer" is attached to it. This allows the user to adjust the battery's voltage output to avoid overheating the atomizer or cartomizer and burning the filter medium. The rechargeable battery also features short-circuit and over-discharge protection, a puff counter and battery-level indicator. Devices like the one on the right also include internal short-circuit and other protections and variable voltage capability, but don't have the ability to finely tune the wattage, enabled by more pricey devices such as the iTaste. This "vape pen" is Vision's Spinner battery attached to Aspire's Mini Nautilus tank. Respondents to Overdrive's e-cig survey indicated such tank-and-battery systems were the most common among vaping truckers, with four in 10 using them. Another 25 percent use cartridge-type cartomizer systems. 74% Really want to quit smoking? This number represents the percentage of successful quit- ters who took Overdrive's vaping survey and indicated they'd used a tried and true method to ditch the cancer sticks: Cold turkey. Signs like this one, illuminated by blacklight in a crowded bowling alley in Nashville, Tenn., are popping up with the proliferation of new vapers.