Research Ecigarette (Where I disappeared to)

[John]

Just figured I'd pop in and give you all a heads up why I haven't been on the forums the past few weeks. 

Back in April we applied for this NIH program

https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=cd2c77ea70aca289dc5da566adb1510a&tab=core&_cview=1

to develop a standardized research e-cigarette, and Evolv is one of the finalists. I've had to put development efforts on that into high gear, as well as spend a lot of time researching and responding to various requests from NIH. They want to award early and then on top of that they want to compress the timeline further if possible. The grants aren't for a lot of money, but it is really important for the industry for us to get this right. 

If vaping is going to survive, it is because we are demonstrably healthier than smoking. Demonstrably doesn't mean "I tried it and I feel better" and it doesn't mean RJR commissioning a study. It means actual medical researchers running actual medical research. Most of the e-cigarette studies that have been done thus far have been crap.  Honestly, who can blame the researchers when the only tools they have are off the shelf devices. Nobody expects cancer researchers to work with X-ray glasses purchased from the back of a comic book, but "we went down to the local convenience stores and bought some Blu e-cigs" is the best that they can do right now. 

Getting really well controlled, accurate, instrumented, documented devices that record and report into researchers' hands will let them draw accurate conclusions. For example, formaldehyde: you really can set up an e-cig to be a formaldehyde generating machine. You can also set them up to give you virtually none. The questions that really should be asked are "what controls formaldehyde production, where is the limit, and are people actually getting formaldehyde in day to day use" but until they have a good research device, that isn't an answerable question. (Incidentally, the answer to those particular questions seem to be "Temperature, somewhere between 430F and 450F" and "yes, but only some people.")

Also, this is NIH. I have a TON of respect for the National Institute of Health. This solicitation was the only one that I felt was asking the right questions, and I'd really like to see the people asking the right questions get rewarded with the best results. FDA is running a similar development and we did not apply for that one. "The government" is not monolithic. 

You can see a lot of hints of this work in the 200. The device we're proposing as the standard research e-cigarette is not the 200. You don't need to pay for an accurate clock, megabytes of data storage or extra sensors. Researchers don't need to pay for 200 watts. It is 100% an Evolv product. 

Just in the course of developing and characterizing this research e-cig we'll be able to put a lot of unanswered questions to bed.

I think I am over the most time-critical portions of it (the actual device development and research I enjoy, the reams and reams of forms, paperwork, proposals, counter-proposals and all that... not so much) so hopefully I'll be back around here with more regularity. 

I'm happy to talk about this to the degree that I can. 

[Podunk Steam]

Just tell Trump I voted for him when he wins. 

Seriously, thank you for the efforts made for all of us.

[Dampmaskin]

Nice. Will the new device do double duty as a consumer device, or will it be purely a scientific instrument?

[techbearus]

John said:

... They want to award early and then on top of that they want to compress the timeline further if possible. The grants aren't for a lot of money, but it is really important for the industry for us to get this right. ....

Congratulations on winning the SBIR... guess you will be going back to getting busy based on how elaborate this can get going forward. Good thing they are expediting grant funding, wish you good luck. Them researchers need better devices that operate on a wider scale to do their testing so they can identify potentially hazardous regimes of usage 

[blueridgedog]

Is that virtually none in the 430 to 450 range?

[John]

Virtually none below that threshold (430 to 450 actual coil temperature) depending on the juice and atomizer construction. 

[scoopy]

John I just want to say thank you for being one of the companys to represent the community in this development. I also want to say how proud I am to have you and Evolv involved in developing a standardized e-cigarette especially if it comes down to having to have a standardised one.If I am gonna have to have a government regulated e-cigarette then I am so glad that it could potentially be from you guys.I know you don't like the "G" word John but I know I am not speaking alone when I say you are a genius when it comes to to e-cigarette board development.Your products continue to amaze me and the community.Your developments keep setting standards that make the vaping community better and better!Your work and involvement in this is so very important to this community. Congratulations on being a Finalist in the program! I am hoping you win so bad! This is so important.I encourage everyone to support John in this 100%.Im sure u will come up with something satisfying that is able to give the NIH the answers they need. Thank you John and keep up your fantastic work!

[Willy]

Thank you John and the Evolv team for all you have done and continue to do. From someone who's life has been saved because of vaping I can't tell you how important it is to me to see these improvements and the search to make vaping as safe as possible. God Bless you for choosing a business where you can help save lives, with your talents I'm sure you could have taken other paths. I hope your greatly rewarded monetarily, blessed with a good life and with the gratification knowing the good your doing for so many now and for generations to come. A pebble dropped in a pond. Thank You!