We have analysed all of the information available to ensure that what we will be offering is of the highest quality and reliable for use in suitable TC devices. Being useable up to 1300°C makes it more flexible than nickel.

NiFe30 has a high temperature coefficient at a relatively high resistivity. It is mainly used in wire form for temperature-dependent resistors. Dicodes are promoting NiFe30 wire under the name  ‘Resistherm‘ for use with the Extreme V2 Mod. It has met with acclaim for a number of reasons including eliminating the Ni200 taste some experience and the Ti worries harboured by others.

Early reports indicate that the wire also offers a number of benefits when coiling. Ease of use is suggested due to it offering malleability between that of tempered and annealed Ni200. Being less springy it is prone to hold its shape better making it simpler to coil. It is possible to close wrap the coils but we would advise against that, as the centre of the coil will heat up disproportionately compared to the ends and impair the vaping experience.

It has around four times the resistance of nickel that means far fewer wraps. No more puzzling over how to squeeze a large coil into a tiny deck: for example, aiming for 0.15Ω using 0.40mm wire with a 3mm coil inner diameter equates to 16 wraps using Ni200, 7 wraps of NiFe30 and 3 wraps of Titanium G1.

It is important to note that our NiFe30 will only work with DNA200 devices, suitable Dicodes mods or others that offer a nickel purity setting. NiFe30 performance with the Diocedes Extreme V2 chip has been tested here: http://vape-safe.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/the-whole-truth-about-temperature.html.

NiFe30 offers dry hit elimination (like all TC wire) but the metal composition is also good news for vapers with those allergies.

It is also important to appreciate that not all NiFe30 wire is the same. Different products from vendors may be classified as NiFe30 but they can have different resistance profiles and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) ratings, 0.40mm/26g for example:

• Crazy/Mesh/Etc: Do not publish TCR and resistance figures
• Resistherm/Dicodes: TCR 3200 – 2.56 Ω/m
• Reactor wire: TCR 4000 – 3.36 Ω/m
• NiFethal70/Alloy120: TCR 5250 – 1.55 Ω/m
• NiFethal52/Alloy52: TCR 4035 – 2.87 Ω/m
• Stealthvape’s NiFe30: TCR 5000 – 1.55 Ω/m

The variation in specification may present a problem when setting up an atomiser if mixing products from different sources.

All in all, NiFe30 presents a very interesting proposition and we are sure you will enjoy using it. As it stands we are looking at other new wire options too, but until we are satisfied they offer a safe and viable alternative we will not be bringing them to market.

I don’t stand around pubs, loiter in shopping areas or get any reasonable use out of my Speedos at the municipal pool. I don’t meet strangers who are non-vapers and I don’t discuss vaping with my friends. As much as I enjoy it I have the sneaking suspicion that it ranks up on the Interesting Scale alongside stamp collecting, train spotting and whatever the damn scrapbooking is.

Someone who barely knows me signed me up to this social media group, supposedly for freethinkers. The kind of people who, I reckon, spend their days drinking expensive coffee and stroking beards. The kind of people who are probably glad I spend my days at a desk in my lounge.

And, within a week, the subject of vaping came up. And within minutes all pretensions of faux-intelligence left the building as the activity…my hobby…was roundly derided. It was mocked. It was mocked like Biggus Dickus.

Now when you have the physique of an Adonis gone to seed you develop a skin thicker than one found on a school rice pudding, I could handle Mock The Weak. But…but…they were roundly making merry about my tube of steel. It’s never happened before. Ever.

It transpired that they thought I was showing off, that we all vape just to show off. It wasn’t explained what we are all showing off but I bet it’s good. So I sought solace with like-minded vapers. We’re all there for each other – like members of a gigantic family of Waltons. We’re all there for each other, right?

Wrong.

The first thread I went into on the forum, the first post I read was by someone who had clearly been interfered with at Vapefest by a man wielding a Hellfire. “I hate anyone who spends £XXX.XX on a mod,” he cried in the style of a person who hadn’t heard the Elite War was over.

That’s when it struck me. That’s when I realised what vaping is and what vapers have become: we are the new cyclists. People in the real world hate us just for doing something we enjoy and subsets of us hate each other because…well, because reasons.

And so, in acknowledging that this is what we have sunk to I demand we have safety clothing to suit. Cloud chasers, for example, look a ramshackle bunch – the only identifying thing they have is a baseball cap that already looks stupid on anyone not from Harlem. We need apparel. We need lycra. I know what you’re thinking (and half of those words would make your mother blush). You’re thinking Lycra looks stupid.

Have you worn it? The gentle caress as it holds bits of you where they used to be when you were a teenager? It’s ideal for those arching backward moves as you attempt to watch your own exhale from somewhere you aren’t. It offers total flexibility when trying to thread four Claptons into a twin-post dripper. If we are going to be treated and act like cyclists then we may as well look like them.

You should see the headlight I’ve got on my mountain bike – cost a fortune it did. It’s far better than your headlight. I’m going into town now to shine it in people’s faces.

Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t entertain helping someone to do something so superfluous but John was my designated driver for the night. John was the designated driver every night – none of us owned a car. John the Driver took us to exotic places like the Overstone Lakes in summer so we could fail to meet girls somewhere new, and at weekends he’d drive us out of town so we could embarrass ourselves in front of women in new pubs.

John felt that adding the spoiler to his car did something. I’m sure someone with a better grasp of fluid dynamics can explain the improvement to me. I’m certain it did something to make the car travel closer to the edge of 30mph in built up areas. Maybe it reduced external noise at 60mph on the dual carriageway to Wellingborough? Who cares? What it did was make John smile when the job was finished. He vanished inside to put his eyeliner on and find his Grace Jones cassette.

I never understood men’s fascination with Halfords; I never got the whole go-faster stripe. I never understood it until I began vaping.

Todd, he of the videos on the Internetz, posted a picture of a switch button on social media this week. If anything is the vaping equivalent of Driver John’s automotive aerofoil then this was it. Beautiful inlay of swirling shiny pattern nested in polished steel and provides zero performance benefit, a replacement part to add uniqueness to a device. Superfluous and smashing in equal measure.

It seems as though the last twelve months have witnessed a growth in ways that people are converting their mods into reflections of their own personality. Gone is the frenzied trading of pristine devices on the second-hand market as we appear to be adding our own influence to the vape. Boxes can now be decked out in silicone sleeves, enterprising machinists are drumming up leather coats for high-end devices and dabbling in patinas on tubes has become an all out assault with engraving equipment.

But what the flip possesses a load of us to do this? What are we thinking when we are throwing cash or time at things that have no material benefit to our lives?

According to a psychology study in Texas it comes down to two things, one of which being a desire for control. By adapting the thing we own to be different we are, apparently, tailoring it to ourselves and this brings us a sense of control – and thereby wellbeing despite the control being illusionary. Psychology Today tells us that this is important. What was important to me was to regain the feeling in my fingers and ensconce myself in a pub for the night, who cared if John improved his notion of self-worth? Hell, did you have to suffer that Grace Jones tape?

No.

No, I did.

Jean-Paul Satre would, if he were alive, contend that we invest importance in our mods because they are external displays of the fruits of our labours. As we all strive to earn money we, well most of us, don’t walk home in the evening clutching the thing we made. Him and Locke would argue that our devices are chosen representations of self and our choices for vaping ancillary items are investments in objects that then become reflections of our identity. The time and choices embody our values and identity. They justify work.

I’ve got optional silver pins in some mods, I’ve paid for handmade Vince driptips and there’s a smattering of aftermarket replacement tanks in all manner of coloured Pyrex. I play with all manner of wires types and coil to my exact tastes. There’s a heavy personalised aspect to my vaping and it makes me feel damn good.

You may chose to disagree with John Locke and Satre but there is only one thing of importance to me: if they were in the back seat of that Volkswagen as we headed to Sywell, they would have agreed that we should have listened to Flock Of Seagulls and not Grace Jones.

That’s right – like the rest of the entire globe, we were shocked and traumatised to hear the announcement this week that piggy products could be as dangerous for you as drinking concentrated sulphuric acid or putting Jeremy Hunt in charge of the UK’s health service. Leaving no time for second thoughts, we immediately contacted our production company and rushed through the development of iBacon™, eSausages™ and liquidHam™.

Vapers, with their experience of an electronic substitute to detrimental alternatives are ahead of the field and will welcome this exciting development with open arms. We sent a sample pack to No.10 but, since he left his career in PR, David Cameron is uncomfortable plugging pigs, battery powered or otherwise.

How have we achieved this marvel of the modern age? Firstly, we optimised the neural network of the standard porker using nickel wire and packs of Cotton Bacon, fed them a steady diet of 18350s and rewired the tail to accommodate a fuse. Bam! An instant source of electronic pig meals!

Vapourised bacon has been shown to be at least 95% safer than the smoked variety in tests carried out by researchers from Hamsterdam. “It snort rash claims,” said Doctor Babe. “We’ve been celebrating the publication of the work with bottles of swine.”

Stealthvape is very cognisant of other potential dangers posed by things we love and therefore people might like to ban. We are currently applying the same techniques to develop electronic beer, chicken curry and weekends.

iBacon™, eSausages™ and liquidHam™ will be available on the site soon and we welcome applications from vendors who would like to stick their snouts in and hog supplies.

Someone at Tactical Workz headquarters must have been offended by the delicate curve of a protractor at school. Or maybe they are assaulted late at night while walking home from a bar by a bunch of right-angle triangles. Whatever happened changed them, the world was no longer a beautiful place to live in and they felt the need to express their anger in metal form.

The thing about anger is that it offers a paradox. Little old ladies become adrenaline-fuelled WWE wrestlers if someone hoots at their driving – but at the same time their all-consuming rage robs the withering brain of its ability to process coherent thoughts. Feelings of weakness and self-doubt become externalised as conflict or, in our case, the Tactical Workz Lotus rebuildable dripping atomiser. Some people look at the city of Hull and believe it’s ugly. These people have never seen the Lotus.

This isn’t an attack on any one company…even if they did go on to make the Dreadnaught; a mod so hideous that its best use was as a blinding implement so you never had to gaze on it again. No, this isn’t an attack on any designer; it’s a statement that sometimes engineers should stick to playing with lathes. Good ole’ engineer stuff. When I discover something I’m good at I’ll stick to that instead of writing this drivel.

You see I was always told not to worry about my visually challenging appearance. I was told that there’d be someone out there for me who could appreciate my inner beauty. I was told I couldn’t put people in a re-education camp and I had to wait.

There’s no waiting with mods – the appeal holds firm regardless of how ugly and horrendous they are. The V3 Flip found fans despite being designed in a dark room by mice with felt tips cellotaped to their tails. The Ehuge? Nothing quite says ‘I have no sexual organs’ quite like a device the size of Gandalf’s staff. Or what about The Only Fools And Horses cellphonealike with a Transformer or Thomas the Tank Engine logo on it?

This is all because for every mod there’s a vaper with big cow eyes coveting it. For Ridley Scott fans there’s the Alien-like Deviate, horror film in vape form. Those blessed with a love of cogs, steam and Victorian dysentery there’s every gruesome steam punk ever made. But what about folks who couldn’t join the Territorial Army because they had a splinter? I present the plethora of mods looking like grenades (upsetting airport security everywhere…despite them having all the power of a small child’s party balloon).

And the new rush of ones looking like knuckle-dusters? Apparently there are people who think they’re a good idea too. Whoda thunk it.

“You don’t want another motorbike,” said the wife. “You don’t need another machine cluttering up the place.” The words were proffered with (probably) good reason. The mancave already groaned like an obese man as the sweet trolley approaches the table. There were functional machines, members of the motorcycle walking dead and lumpy metallic memories from rides long gone. I didn’t bother listening. I never listen.

It was a matter of necessity that the garage emptied out. Beating a hasty departure to South America meant that anything not fitting onto a bicycle was instantly classified as excess to requirements. Periodic clearing of the vape desk takes place for entirely different reasons as items fall out of favour. Of course that space is then useful as you can fill it with new stuff. I hang on to my ability to say goodbye to things with pride, it confirms to me that I’m not quite ready to be the person pushing a shopping trolley destined for the house full of rubbish.

The kids cop the same advice. Usually at ten minutes to dinner when they’re cramming down the entire range from Cadburys and Walkers. Of course, the words get bent and take on the hue of adamant instruction. Less ‘you might like to consider‘ and more ‘stop!’

Age is an awesome thing. Whereas most children respond to direction with blind compliance, aggregated birthdays imbue you with the strength to ignore instructions. Do I need to look at Ikea assembly cartoons? Do I flip. I vote, shave and procreate so I will do what I will with a Halford’s socket set. Only when necessity rears its head do I have to give the appearance of conforming. Until that moment I can give succour to my infantile and stubborn nature, relishing those things that deliver pleasure and give life a dab of colour.

And that’s why I blow some big clouds from my dripper. I do it because I enjoy it, it’s my go-to form of vaping, but I’m becoming aware that it isn’t how others would like me to vape. Having spent a couple of years talking to the local MP and sending off letters to my MEP about the planned changes to our ecig-world I reckon I’m pretty conversant in arguments for the freedom to make informed personal choices. But those who would like to see me stopped are other vapers.

I don’t sit in the front row of a cinema doing it – even if I lament the lack of atmospheric smoke sparkling in the projector’s glare. I’d even go so far as to say that if I did it’d be the least offensive thing happening there given the public’s love of mobile phones, explaining film plots to each other and endless crisp packet rustling. I get it, I get that some places aren’t conducive to cloud production. I’d no sooner vape in Asda than indulge in fellatio in Poundland. I get it. But on the other hand it’s hard to accept that sub-ohming makes those who do it the equivalent of a cross between Stanton Glantz, Pol Pot and Vanilla Ice.

In fact I’d contend that flashing images of vape gear online alongside knives and guns is probably worse. In even more fact, I’m almost pressed to say something like ‘you might like to consider‘ or ‘stop!’ when I see them. But then I’d also have to advise people to do what I do and ignore that request as well.

“Is it meant to be like this?” It’s the only question going through my mind as I run across the dystopian, post-apocalyptic landscape in Fallout 4. Picking up my seventeenth carrot before having a super-mutant scythe me in two because I only have the weapon equivalent of a cap gun…surely there’s meant to be more to this game?

I’ve clocked up days playing Fallout on the PS4 and everyone I’ve met in the game (even the dog) doesn’t like me. Isn’t the point of computer games meant to be escapism? If I want reality I’ll go to the shop or ride a bus and let everyone take an aversion to me as usual.

That juice I’ve just bought, the one everyone is going on about – you know, that one getting rave reviews in videos? Is it just me or is it meant to taste like something cooked up by Heston Blumenthal? Surely it’s not meant to be like this? Quite how does someone manage to skilfully blend the flavour of sheet metal with a subtle nuance of bleach?

“Is it meant to be like this?” I was sitting trying to fix the positive and negative wires to the Evod head. And then I was poking either too much or too little cotton through the coil. It struck me that vaping wasn’t half as enjoyable as other people would have me believe. I spent weeks bouncing from dry hit to flood – it was like a self-made analogy for post-global warming British weather.

Of course it isn’t meant to be like that. “Get a genesis tank, that’s what you want,” they said. “Get a genisys tank and bathe in the rich flavours hitherto hidden from your palette.” Oh yes, just what a new vaper needs: hotspots. I’m not sure how long it took me to work out how to coil with mesh to avoid hot legs but I’m pretty sure I missed out on a couple of wedding anniversaries.

But then shouldn’t love be strong enough to overcome the lack of a bunch of flowers? Shouldn’t marriage be able to withstand the vagaries of a man obsessed with making little bits of wire coil in such a way that he smiles like he did at the birth of his children? Sure it is; love can overcome all. Love can make you forgive anything, even a lumbering oaf who cares more for pizza than he does for his in-laws. *This paragraph was definitely not inspired by the failure to book a table tonight at El Toro but should my wife read it she may wish to consider the words ‘love forgives all’.

Love can make you forgive the Kraken for the months of suffering because it looks lovely. It doesn’t get up to much these days and I’m thinking it probably never will – much like its owner, it sits here quietly contemplating life. But love isn’t at home for the Succubus (the dripper, not a pet name for my darling wife who would have loved a steak for tea). Love has packed its bag and slammed the door. I’m sitting writing this next to a mountain of used toilet roll. Dribbles and gushes from the low-slung holes have recreated Hurricane Barney’s devastation on my desktop. It’s not supposed to be like this, but then without the set-backs in life how sweet would the good things feel? Who needs steak anyway – there’s always Fallout.

I knew who the good side were from reading Warlord and Commando comics, which had the added benefit of teaching me some German. As an adult riding a motorbike to Cologne I discovered that “Schnell”, “Gott im Himmel” and “Schweinhund” weren’t as useful as I’d previously imagined. Fortunately I’d taught myself “zwei bier und ein Schweineschnitzel bitte”.

The feeling of posting off my collection of Kayfuns was similar to when my soldiers went back into their Tupperware barracks for a final time before being redeployed to a car boot sale in my mother’s Hillman Avenger. The Kayfun is a mighty bit of kit. After starting with basic stuff, it was strongly recommended to me by the gaggle of admin from a forum at my first Vapefest. Each of them had bought a new one that day and were declaring them the single best thing in vaping ever. When I eventually got around to grabbing my first from Cloud 9 I shared their opinion.

As time rolled on everyone had at least one, whether the genuine or one of the millions of clones that China churned out. My collection stretched to eight at one point. Easy to build on, convenient and a great vape. Well, a great vape at 1Ω+ coil builds on a mech and taking the vapour into your mouth before inhaling.

The problem they created was that I needed my next fix, I needed to recreate that moment when you try something so incredibly better that it transforms your vaping world. I needed the next leap like the one from Evod to KFL.

As quickly as companies released new tank systems I’d buy them. Each time they seemed to be surrounded by people going “Blimey these are good” or words to that effect. And every time I was left feeling the same as I did when the family first got a SodaStream – invariably more complicated and it didn’t taste as good. I’m looking at you here in particular, Erlkönigin.

My disillusionment grew until I rediscovered the dripper.

Dripping and me parted ways as they couldn’t compete with the Kayfun in my affections. They didn’t suit what and how I vaped at the time, but now there a legion of mechs and RDAs on the shelf. It’s a return to the old days, a celebration of what was really great but I’d forgotten about. So, on that basis, I’m selling my iPad and buying a load of boxes of Airfix troops. “Achtung! Achtung!”

As you might be aware, we purchased 30,000 metres of top grade Ti wire and the full three kilometres of it is still lurking underneath a pile of jumpers and spare Christmas wrapping paper. Despite providing a cleaner vape to Kanthal we felt it prudent not to sell it due to its combustibility on the mods available at the time.

With the number of temperature controlled devices now out in the marketplace we have seen that the proclivity for titanium to burst into flames has been greatly reduced. Despite this positive result we strongly caution against using titanium as a standard resistance wire – it is unsuitable for dry burning and poses a risk when over-heated.

It is springier to work with than tempered Ni200 but we are pleased to see that the development of temperature-controlled boards appears to have facilitated a way of using this wire in a safer manner. Also, annealed titanium has entered the market and appears to be much easier to work with. Titanium wire also appears to be less prone to oxidation than alternatives due to the low oxygen content of the metal, which may well prove to be a positive in the long run.

We should point out that we are not trying to instil a sense of fear; we see it as our duty as responsible vendors of vaping accessories to act responsibly and keep our customers informed. We welcome exciting advances in vaping technology and are proud to have been part of some of them.

Manufacturers of boards utilising titanium wire assure us that it is safe for use and we’re happy to trust them to bear the responsibility of that statement. Our concern remains that vapers should not be tempted to use titanium wire coils in mods not designed precisely for the purpose of using it.

Update 9 July 2015: Customer demand has been overwhelming for titanium wire to use with dedicated devices so we have sourced what we believe to be the best quality Ti on the market for this purpose. It will go on sale here when in stock.

This post is aimed squarely at those out there with an appendage: the vapers who grip their little Red Rods, the 18350 owners amongst us, the folks who resolutely claim that they are happy clutching their small mods. Why? Because vaping advocates are really missing out on dictating an important message to every representative of Homo erectus walking on the face of the planet, every single member.

From one-eyed cave dwellers and butchers slapping their salami on counters to allotment owners pulling their rhubarb – Time Magazine carried a throbbing story, unearthing a rich vein of information. It’s a hammered home by The Guardian and Men’s Health too:

Male vapers have bigger, harder penises than smokers.

The articles rely on information gained by a study carried out by VA Boston Healthcare System in 2011, where they found: “that men who successfully kicked cigarettes had thicker, more rigid erections and reached maximal arousal five times faster than smokers.”

According to the National Male Medical Clinics: “Cigarettes clog the heart’s arteries, including those that fill the penis with blood during erections. The toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke can damage blood vessels that may lead to erectile dysfunction.”

Doctor Lydia Bazzano, Tulane University Health Sciences Centre, is quoted as saying: “There is a fairly strong body of data that link smoking as a major risk factor for erectile dysfunction.” Recent research has demonstrated that the bulk of toxins present in cigarette smoke simply aren’t present in vapour.

Men’s Health reported that researchers at the University of Kentucky discovered: “that when asked to rate their sex lives on a scale of one to 10, men who smoked averaged about a five””a far cry from non-smokers, who rated theirs at nine.”

So, gentlemen, maybe the next time you’re sent out to vape in a smoking shelter you may wish to offer the others there a tug on your big, firm 26650 device.