Is this the Golden Age of Vaping?

[Uncle Willie]

Those that post there is no such thing as a Golden Age are apparently not students of Human History ..

IMO, we are, indeed, in a Golden Age .. advances are quick and worthwhile, availability is easy, prices are more than reasonable, the PV can and does help folks quit analogs, the regulation is non-exisitant .. how much more Golden can it get .. ?? ..

Of course, all Golden Ages come to an end and in many cases, badly ..

 

[MickeyRat]

Nice. Also, with the dna 12, there might be a rush of Darwin clones in other form factors with really good circuitry.

I've thought about trying to throw something together with a dna but, if it's like the kick, you have to have some serious MAHs. I can go through an 18650 in less than 5 hours with a kick. I've come to suspect that's why the Darwin has proprietary batts.

 

[mostapha]

Those that post there is no such thing as a Golden Age are apparently not students of Human History

Any specific reason for that belief?

I'd honestly love to be proven wrong, but every one I've looked at was over-romanticized after the fact. People in them rarely thought anything was out of the ordinary and were always dreaming of a time when specific problems would be solved or romanticizing even older periods.

 

[six]

What would it be trickling down from?

There have been about twenty very noteworthy and another thirty or forty less impressive "breakthrough discoveries" in battery technology over the last 36 months. All of them have, so far, been too expensive to implement. A123, 3M, Stanford University, Infinite Power Solutions, Power Technology Inc, Poly Plus, Envia, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.... (the list goes on and on and on and on) have all announced "breakthroughs" in energy storage technologies in the last three years. None of them have left the laboratory to be implemented in any real world application.

 

[StotheK]

I think we are at a golden age. The way new technology is expanding and innovations that are happening at a rapid clip make it so. There's two ways this can go. Things will continue to advance and the last couple years will sort of be where it began. Or, the heavy hand of regulation will swoop in and stifle innovation and people will look back to now in a nostalgic light when there was a new device coming out every week and there were hundreds of e-liquid vendors with more flavors than could be believed.

 

[zoiDman]

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Winston Churchill, 1942

When I first became a Member here on the ECF, words like Ban, Regulation and Taxation were unheard of. Now it is hard to go thru 30 or 40 posts without seeing something in the works.

I think in many ways, the Golden Age of e-Cigarettes has come and is already passing.

 

[Theken]

I think that e-Cigarettes will be met with a lot of legal issues (tax dollars our government are not getting), they will either put their hefty taxes on them or ban them all together allowing for big tobacco to come in and swoop up what is left. We are in the age of those who, in 10 years, can say "I remember when....". This is certainly, as zoiDman quotes "..the end of the beginning".

 

[UncleKevin]

When I look back at my 30+ year career in software engineering it is easy to recognize several "Golden Age"s of computing. At least the hype would lead one to believe so. Without diving too deep into this line of thinking there are some corollaries that can be drawn.

Perhaps the questions we should be asking right now are not so much things like where is the battery improvements, but why should Big Corp invest time & resources in bringing such improvements (being made in industries like electric cars) to the PV marketplace? Is the ROI really there? Can the current PV pioneers do that without Big Corp?

In those aforementioned 30+ years, many (most?) engineers were smokers. It is easy to imagine that a sizable percentage of those folks are now vapers.

Take a look at SteelJan's channel on YouTube. She has at least 3 videos devoted to forward thinking improvements for PV products. She is certainly one of these engineers to which I am referring. There are some really good ideas in her treatment with regards to the safety of the products that we enjoy. We need more of this.

It occurs to me that there are vast similarities in the PV and Hookah markets. To be sure, there are also differences. But perhaps some smart people can find a way to bring these markets closer together (can you say Personal Hookah or PH) to the benefit of both markets.

I also question the idea of using a product based on artificial flavorings when I have spent time getting processed foods of various forms out of my diet. And now I am inhaling this stuff. Is this really healthy for me? Yes, the standard argument that it is healthier than cigarettes will probably hold. But should I make vaping a long term practice? I am not a young kid anymore such that my body tolerates high levels of abuse. I am reaping the benefit of not polluting my body with all the chemicals in cigarettes. But it may be a case of switching out fries for onion rings because onions are a healthier vegetable.

Golden age? End of the beginning? Only time will tell ...

Certainly we will see some amazing changes in the coming years - some we will view as good; some we will view as not so good. But if this is a sustainable product that will be enjoyed for years to come, change is bound to come as PVs become more mainstream.

Comments?

 

[bnrkwest]

It is an exciting time for vapers that for sure. Who would have guessed there would be a VV ego & twist! LOL I find the industry alot of fun because of so much new stuff getting better and better. Reminds me of the times when I was growing up, so much new and inventions, and people were really into the electronic age. When I grew up TV's were new, you only had on e if you were lucky enough to have one, and it was black & white! Transitor radio's were latest & greatest when I was a young teen, no one had a computer, no cell phones, everyone used pay phones. No seat belts, oh I could go on and on....... But I love inventions and new ideas, it is very exciting to see this industry out do itself. bnrk

 

[Uncle Willie]

Any specific reason for that belief?

I'd honestly love to be proven wrong, but every one I've looked at was over-romanticized after the fact. People in them rarely thought anything was out of the ordinary and were always dreaming of a time when specific problems would be solved or romanticizing even older periods.

One cannot attempt to disprove what is an opinion of another .. historical facts prove there have been multi Golden Ages ..

By definition, a golden age is a time in a specific culture when cultural advancements are at their highest point. Generally, these time periods are simply a sort of cultural explosion occuring where new developments, and new ideas that benefit society as a whole happen with great rapidity.

These cultural facts do not necessarily effect all members of a society ..

 

[mostapha]

Happy people don't change the world.

The periods you describe obviously exist, but I have yet to find a single example when people were happy during them.

Golden era of Photography? Henri Cartier-Bresson and his friends founded Magnum because they were insanely ...... off at Newspapers constantly screwing them over. The full implications of that change have not been felt yet, but none of them were happy. Before that, Ansel Adams shot babies and commercials because he couldn't get people to buy his landscapes until late in his life.

Golden era of Sci-Fi? Everybody was ...... off about how they had to sell their stuff and not being able to make money.

Blues? Buddy Guy was driving a tow truck for most of it.

Hip Hop? Most of them slung rock to make ends meet, and the whole scene came out of kids reacting against their only life path being to join a gang or get killed in the crossfire.

Science/Empiricism? Everyone was afraid of persecution from the Catholic Church.

Rapid developments and serious steps in cultural evolution are driven by people who are ...... off and hoping for a better future, and I think historians unfairly labels them "Golden Ages" with no regard for the suffering or persecution that drove the developments.

 

[dragonbone]

Happy people don't change the world.

The periods you describe obviously exist, but I have yet to find a single example when people were happy during them.

Golden era of Photography? Henri Cartier-Bresson and his friends founded Magnum because they were insanely ...... off at Newspapers constantly screwing them over. The full implications of that change have not been felt yet, but none of them were happy. Before that, Ansel Adams shot babies and commercials because he couldn't get people to buy his landscapes until late in his life.

Golden era of Sci-Fi? Everybody was ...... off about how they had to sell their stuff and not being able to make money.

Blues? Buddy Guy was driving a tow truck for most of it.

Hip Hop? Most of them slung rock to make ends meet, and the whole scene came out of kids reacting against their only life path being to join a gang or get killed in the crossfire.

Science/Empiricism? Everyone was afraid of persecution from the Catholic Church.

Rapid developments and serious steps in cultural evolution are driven by people who are ...... off and hoping for a better future, and I think historians unfairly labels them "Golden Ages" with no regard for the suffering or persecution that drove the developments.

I'm more of the 'glass half full' type of person myself . I am having the time of my life with all my fancy yummy eliquids and awesome devices and hanging out on the ECF, learning new things and making new friends...and new and wonderful things to see and try out ever other day. If this isn't the golden age of vaping, What is?

 

[Uncle Willie]

Happy people don't change the world.

The periods you describe obviously exist, but I have yet to find a single example when people were happy during them.

Golden era of Photography? Henri Cartier-Bresson and his friends founded Magnum because they were insanely ...... off at Newspapers constantly screwing them over. The full implications of that change have not been felt yet, but none of them were happy. Before that, Ansel Adams shot babies and commercials because he couldn't get people to buy his landscapes until late in his life.

Golden era of Sci-Fi? Everybody was ...... off about how they had to sell their stuff and not being able to make money.

Blues? Buddy Guy was driving a tow truck for most of it.

Hip Hop? Most of them slung rock to make ends meet, and the whole scene came out of kids reacting against their only life path being to join a gang or get killed in the crossfire.

Science/Empiricism? Everyone was afraid of persecution from the Catholic Church.

Rapid developments and serious steps in cultural evolution are driven by people who are ...... off and hoping for a better future, and I think historians unfairly labels them "Golden Ages" with no regard for the suffering or persecution that drove the developments.

We are all entitled to our own opinions .. if you choose to re-write history in your own mind, then that's your choice .. obviously, the historians are all wrong ..

 

[mostapha]

I agree. It's awesome…I just don't like that term because of the way it's been used in history.

 

[Berret]

I don't know, I think this is more like the "Wild West" of vaping. We have 4,872 juice vendors out there and lord only knows what kind of "lab" each of them have.

It seems like every week some new product is coming out and a majority of them don't even work out of the box, requiring a number of revisions before it comes close to a reliable product, if it ever does.

Now, I know I'm using a bit of hyperbole here, but it can get pretty crazy at times. Don't get me wrong, innovation is a good thing, but I think a product should only be released AFTER it's been proven reliable.

 

[Uncle Willie]

I don't know, I think this is more like the "Wild West" of vaping. We have 4,872 juice vendors out there and lord only knows what kind of "lab" each of them have.

It seems like every week some new product is coming out and a majority of them don't even work out of the box, requiring a number of revisions before it comes close to a reliable product, if it ever does.

Now, I know I'm using a bit of hyperbole here, but it can get pretty crazy at times. Don't get me wrong, innovation is a good thing, but I think a product should only be released AFTER it's been proven reliable.

So true .. with innovation comes experimentation .. in many cases, tested by the buyer .. like every release of MS Windows ..

 

[DaveP]

UncleKevin wrote: When I look back at my 30+ year career in software engineering it is easy to recognize several "Golden Age"s of computing. At least the hype would lead one to believe so. Without diving too deep into this line of thinking there are some corollaries that can be drawn.

Perhaps the questions we should be asking right now are not so much things like where is the battery improvements, but why should Big Corp invest time & resources in bringing such improvements (being made in industries like electric cars) to the PV marketplace? Is the ROI really there? Can the current PV pioneers do that without Big Corp?

We don't drive development; we benefit from it as ecig users.

Flashlights, Laptops, and other electronic devices drive the development of portable power. When we see the "all day" laptop battery (which now utilzes lots of 18650 batteries) then we can say the technology has matured. People want flashlights that can last all weekend on a charge and light up the whole camping area like a halogen headlight. We want cellphones that can go a week on a charge while talking, texting, and watching YouTube every day.

We are a casual user of these batteries. We don't represent enough market sector to drive development. We just pick and choose from batteries developed for other uses. PV pioneers cherry pick the parts and build around them.

 

[zoiDman]

I think it all gets down to how one defines a "Golden Age".

For me, I define it as a time when Innovations in Design yield Significantly Meaningful Improvements in Functionality. Consider the Personal Computer.

In the IBM 8088 days, just being able to run a Spreadsheet or Compile a FORTRAN program on a desktop was amazing. When Windows for Work Groups hit people were Blown Away. Hardware and Software developers scrambled to bring to market Ideas which Exponentially Improved the ability of the PC.

Then Windows 98 & Windows 2000 arrived. Truly this was the "Golden Age" of Personal Computers. Advancements were being made in Speed and Functionality in 10 Fold Leaps. Would it ever end? Had we reached the Pinnacle of Functionality?

Most said No but many said that Windows XP was the "End of the Beginning". Because after Windows XP, Significant Improvements declined.

Vista was a Train Wreck. And Windows 7, all be it with much Nicer to Look at, yielded Very Few Significant Improvements over Windows XP. Some would say, Myself included, that more functionality was lost with Windows 7 than was gained. The "Golden Age" of Personal Computers was over.

---

I think the PC analogy works well for the e-Cigarette Industry. Sure, New Products hit the Market every week, but are they really New Designs? Do they Significantly work Better? Are the New Products Easier to Fill? Do they Last Longer?

Unfortunately No. For the Most part, the small Tweaks we see to Existing Designs yield Very Little Significant Improvements.

Not to say that All Future Products will just be "Clones" of Existing Designs. But as a whole, I think the Truly Innovative Ideas will be Very Seldomly seen. The "Golden Age" of e-Cigarettes has Pasted.

Now, Unfortunately, we are entering the "Taxation/Regulation Age".

 

[dragonbone]

Unfortunately No. For the Most part, the small Tweaks we see to Existing Designs yield Very Little Significant Improvements.

Not to say that All Future Products will just be "Clones" of Existing Designs. But as a whole, I think the Truly Innovative Ideas will be Very Seldomly seen. The "Golden Age" of e-Cigarettes has Pasted.

Does that mean that vape mail no longer excites you ?

 

[MickeyRat]

We don't drive development; we benefit from it as ecig users.

Actually I think we do drive development. A lot of things we see are first made by vapers themselves. The DCT tank is a variation on a mod made by a vaper using a syringe. I actually made one those. Clearomizers are variations on home built rebuildable atomizers. It happens all the time. I'd venture to say that most development in this area is being done by users. The manufacturers are just perfecting it or in the case of clearomizers, trying to perfect it.