A week amongst the shadows of the past: lessons learnt from a scientific study

How about lighting a cigarette after five years of being smoke-free? God forbid, it would be dumb of me. But for a scientific study I changed my mind for a week. Was it good? Hell, no. Was it beareable? Yes, it was. Would I smoke again? No bloody way. Has it worth it? Indeed it has, way beyond the scope of the study itself.

E-liquid flavours got banned in Hungary

The updated government decree regulating the sales of vapor products in Hungary, effective from 20/08/2016, bans all flavouring additives in e-liquids.

Five years of vaping - a look back

Today is the fifth anniversary of me not smoking anymore, and I can say it without the slightest exaggeration, that I can thank only electronic cigarettes for this. Half a decade of vapor, after twenty years of smoke. A short retrospection from the perspective of an ex-smoker.

Request for expert opinions

Hungarian vapers are asking for comments from the international scientific and academic community to evaluate the severely partial junk science produced by the Hungarian public health and tobacco control institutes.

See you in court

Back in April I sued the National Institute for Health Development for unlawfully refusing my Freedom of Information Request to disclose their documents, memos, e-mails and letters related to the creation of their blatantly absurd and awfully biased official fictionreport on the health hazards of electronic cigarettes, as well as to their involvement as experts on vaping in regard with the national implementation of TPD2 Article 20. Today I've been notified by the court that the suit is a go and the first hearing of the case is to be held on 15 September 2016. Public health's stance is that documents related to any sort of legislation should be classified for ten years. My stance is that their stance is utter rubbish.

Hungarian tobacco control: not a clue about vaping

I've submitted a Freedom of Information Request to the National Institute for Health (the entity responsible for tobacco control in Hungary) regarding they National Youth Tobacco Survey 2013 (part of WHO's GYTS). Amongst many things (there are a lot of discrepancies) I've been curious about why they thought to query the youth whether they vape flavourless e-liquids to be a good idea.

Sin-taxation of harm reduction in Hungary

According to the updated law on excess taxes, Hungarian vapers will face a new tax of 65 HUF/ml (cca 0.2 EUR/ml) on e-liquids from 1 January 2017 which will subsequently be raised to 70 HUF/ml (cca 0.22 EUR/ml) after 1 July 2017. As a comparison, the local net wholesale price of e-liquids varies between 45-70 HUF/ml.

The law defines e-liquid as tobacco product, regardless of its nicotine content. The limit for personal use will be 300ml. It is not yet clear what the impacts of the law will be on DIY mixing of e-liquids.

Vaping Hungary: a blog primer

So many of you asked me at GFN16 in Warsaw about what is going on in Hungary, I decided to dedicate a blog to such news and updates. I outline the current situation and a bit of its background below. Any future events and updates will come as additional posts.