No reply from Lost Vape.....However it looks like I've possibly been slightly misled by the review i watched for the mod.
It starts at 10:20 in and states the side holes are vents for the radiator strips from the chip, I've no clue re. strips as I've never built a mod, but when I looked in more detail, there are corresponding matching slits cut in the battery compartment which do indeed vent the batteries. A blow test works just fine. Its not a lot of venting, especially if you use the solid carbon fiber panels, but should be enough to avoid a pipe bomb type of scenario in case of thermal runaway.
I've added a comment to the review thread to hopefully avoid anyone else having the same minor panic and i would like to clarify - I'm not slagging Vic off, I love his reviews.
Also, lesson learned for me, I have eyes......use them