The Panasonics with the ...CH at the end (stay away from the ...CG) are indeed good safe chemistry batteries, suitable for vaping. We are currently testing a range of IMR and NMC cells in the German community: You can find the testing here:
RE: SabbelMR's IMR Akku-Probierrunde - 42 .
The important thing is that there ARE indeed alternatives to the AW brand, especially in the 18650 size: Panasonic CGR18650CH, BAK B18650CC, Sony US18650V3.
When reading the diagram (The second one titled "Messungen auf Hyperion..." is our result diagram) please refer to the violet part of the bars. That's the capacity at 5 Ampere result.
You might not be aware of the NMC chemistry - that is a hybrid of the classic IMR and the classic ICR, basically a safe chemistry with higher capacity. Look here:
Types of Lithium-ion Batteries
We are not yet finished with the testing, and a final result is not yet known, but we already identifed usable cells, some are even better than the AWs in our frame of usage.
We are waiting for a new sample for the BDLs - they have had too high variance in results.
18650:
Panasonic CGR18650CH
BAK B18650CC
AW IMR18650-1600 (For mechanical PVs not worse than the -2000)
AW IMR18650-2000 (For regulated PVs a hair better than the -1600)
Sony US18650V3 (Very new cell, might not be available yet)
18490/18500:
AW IMR18490-1100
BDL IMR18500-1100
18350:
BDL IMR18350-800
AW IMR18350-700
16340:
AW IMR16340-550
14500:
AW IMR14500-600