Vapers oppose Bangor proposal to restrict e-cigarette use

BANGOR, Maine — The drive took an hour and a half but the trip to the city’s new vape shop was worth it, according to Deer Isle residents Jacob Trundy and Sabrina Hutchinson. The couple quit smoking tobacco cigarettes a month ago in favor of using electronic cigarettes, known as vaping.

“We literally drove up for this,” Trundy said Tuesday while taste-testing flavors at Vapeway, a vaping supply store that opened two months ago on Columbia Street.

The couple came to Bangor the day after the City Council’s Government Operations Committee voted 4-1 to move forward on plans to prohibit vaping in the same areas where smoking tobacco is banned.

Trundy and Hutchinson think the idea is ridiculous.

“It’s a lot better than cigarettes,” Trundy said of the electronic devices that heat vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol, flavoring and, most of the time, nicotine into a vapor that is inhaled.

The practice’s growing popularity, the opening of the new store and the concern of city officials and health care organizations has put Bangor in the middle of the vaping debate.

“My biggest problem is they are trying to consolidate the whole e-cigarette, e-liquid, industry in with tobacco,” Vapeway manager Carl Pillitteri, a longtime vaper who also is a former smoker, said from behind the counter. “Our product is not a tobacco product. It is a nicotine product.”

Some of the flavored e-liquids on the Vapeway shelves do not even contain nicotine, he said.

“We don’t want people getting cancer and hurting their lungs,” Pillitteri said. “If you’re a smoker there are many pros to being a vaper. The biggest is: It’s not smoke and the hundreds of chemicals that come with tobacco. It’s four ingredients.”Vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol, the base for all the e-liquid flavors, are used in many common products. Vegetable glycerin, also known as glycerol, is a naturally occurring chemical used in some medicines, according to the health website WebMD. The Food and Drug Administration lists propylene glycol as “generally recognized as safe,” which means that it is acceptable for use in flavorings, drugs and cosmetics and as a direct food additive, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Nicotine is a highly addictive drug that affects reward pathways in the brain, often producing pleasurable sensations, according to the National Institute of Health website. Long-term use can produce brain changes that result in addiction.

There are many vape flavors available, such as coconut, caramel and even apple pie.

“Do your research,” Pillitteri suggested to city councilors concerned about the contents of e-cigarettes.

Pillitteri also took issue with the way Patty Hamilton, the city’s health and community services director, cited a January study published in the New England Journal of Science, telling councilors that electronic cigarettes contain formaldehyde, which he says is misleading.

One of the five authors of the January report, Dr. David H. Peyton, who a chemistry professor at Portland State University in Oregon, said in an email interview that he understands Hamilton’s confusion because mainstream media have blown portions of his group’s research data out of proportion by focusing only on the formaldehyde, a carcinogen.

“We never claimed that they are more dangerous than traditional cigarettes,” said Peyton, who spent part of his youth in East Holden and briefly attended Brewer High School. “Traditional cigarettes have been studied for decades, and we are still learning more about their dangers.”

The report, titled “Hidden Formaldehyde in E-Cigarette Aerosols,” states that formaldehyde-containing hemiacetal, or formaldehyde releasing agents, were detected with e-cigarettes operated at a high voltage, but no formaldehyde was detected with low-voltage e-cigs.

“We don’t yet know all that much about the toxicities of e-cigs [and] we don’t yet know just how safe (or not) e-cigs are, and under what conditions,” he added. “It would, in my opinion, be a mistake to assume safety.”

“Our research, and that of others will hopefully be used by e-cigarette manufacturers to make safer devices,” Peyton said. “I say this because e-cigarettes are not going away.”

In fact, the popularity appears to be growing, with vaping shops and lounges opening up recently in Bangor, Portland and other Maine locations.

E-cigarettes hit the market in 2006, and the FDA issued a report in 2009 about the dangers of chemicals found in the flavored fluids, which has led to major changes in the industry in an effort to eliminate harmful ingredients, Pillitteri said.

The federal agency issued a statement earlier this year saying more study is needed, and that the FDA Center for Tobacco Products is accepting public comments on e-cigarettes and public health, supported by research and data, through July 2, 2015.

Only e-cigarettes that are marketed for therapeutic purposes — including one for erectile dysfunction — are regulated by the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, but the federal agency has issued a proposed rule to add e-cigarettes.

The electronic devices also can be used to ingest medical marijuana prepared in a highly concentrated liquid form known as “honey oil.”

Peyton said that, “e-cigs may be useful in aiding people who have had tremendous problems in quitting traditional tobacco products,” and said that he would not ban their use by adults.

“I am not currently a fan of indoor vaping. But then I’m not a big fan of total bans on e-cigs, especially in outdoor venues,” the chemistry professor said, noting that Portland State University is going smoke and e-cigarette free in the fall.

“We did report that, at lower power levels, we did not detect the formaldehyde-related products, so that people can make the choice to vape more safely,” he said later.

E-cigarettes come in all shapes and sizes and their voltage is based on their battery. Many, including the one used for the Portland State University study, feature a variable-voltage battery and a refillable tank for the fluid. At 3.3 volts, no formaldehyde releasing agents were detected, but when turned up to 5 volts, the carcinogens were detected, the report showed.

The pre-packaged e-cigarettes sold at convenience stores for around $10 apiece are regulated at 3.6 volts, and middle- and high-cost e-cigs, which range from $25 to $400, have variable voltage, Pillitteri said.

Not knowing the ingredients in the pre-packaged e-cigs is one reason why vaping supply stores, where customers can choose from a selection of liquids to refill their vape pens, are becoming more popular, Pillitteri said. A refill that costs around $7 can last a moderate user up to two weeks.

Hamilton estimated that it would take city staff about a month to draft the vaping ban proposal. The Bangor proposal comes about a month after the Portland City Council banned vaping in public places.

State law bans smoking in all workplaces, enclosed public places and outdoor dining areas with several specific exemptions such as hotel rooms designated for smoking. It also bans smoking in cars when any person under the age of 16 is present.

Smoking is allowed outside so long as the smoker is at least 20 feet from a door or window and smoke does not encroach on any place where smoking is prohibited.

Bangor may also add a provision to ban vaping in cars when minors are present.

Pillitteri said he and others plan to be at the public hearing in Bangor to voice their disapproval of the planned prohibition.

“We will let everybody know about it,” he said.

Resource: http://bangordailynews.com

11 Best Electronic Cigarette Brands

It has not been long since electronic cigarettes came into existence in the United Stated market. Within this short span of eight years, the annual global sales are showing drastic increments! The numbers showing that the graph is going higher indeed, actually points towards startling trends. According to a study, the usage of E-cigarettes have more than doubled, among the adults in The United States, during 2010 to 2013. There are different factors like smoking status, household income and education level, which altogether are the reasons for the abrupt rise in E-cigarettes usage.

There has always been an ongoing debate about whether electronic cigarettes are one of the biggest health hazards or the best chance for smokers to quit their long habit of tobacco cigarettes. Although there are no long term studies that suggest that E-cigarettes are safer than regular tobacco cigarettes, many believe that they are exposed to less harm as compared to more harmful results when using regular tobacco cigarettes. Though E-cigs are increasing in popularity and many smokers believe that it helps in reducing their tobacco consumption or even help them to quit smoking eventually, it has also been noticed by the smokers that getting off these E-cigarettes affects their health a lot.

If you are more of “real cigarette lover” then check our other list of Most Expensive Cigarette Brands.

There are many surveys that had been made about the best electronic cigarettes that are available. The data had been collected from hundreds of vapers and test products to get the top brands of electronic cigarettes preferred by the smokers. There are various factors considered for this survey to get the best electronic cigarettes brands. The first is E-cigarette’s design. For the smokers to get the real experience, the design should resemble the real tobacco one. Also it is identified whether it can be color customized or not. Next area to be considered is the battery performance, the time it takes to charge and how long the charge holds. Of course, the longer the better.

The performance and convenience of electronic cigarettes also plays a major role in deciding the best among them. Vapor production is the next thing to consider. If an electronic cigarette produces thick and satisfying clouds of vapor, it surely qualifies as a good e-cigarette as most of the vapors prefers the same kind of e-cigarette. The next and most important factor is it should be easy to use and enjoyable. Other considerations are the flavors available and nicotine strengths in each brand. The final factor is the overall price of the e-cigarette and how much it is worth. These factors overall give the list of best electronic cigarettes.

According to another survey, there are different kinds of electronic cigarettes as well. The first kind is disposable one which is much closer to regular tobacco cigarettes in resemblance. The next one is refillable cigarettes which is a more economical option as well as produces stronger vapors. The third kind is variable voltage electronic cigarettes. These are much more expensive and offer many advanced features.

The quality of any electronic cigarette can also be estimated by the sales it makes. There is high correlation between consumers’ preferences and the sales. According to recent estimates by Nielsen, ‘Vuse’ is described as the most selling e-cigarettes brand with a U.S. market share of 33.6 percent and is available in more than 100,000 retail outlets. It is followed by blu at second place (23.6% market share) while Logic being in third place (14.5% market share). MarkTen with 5.9% market share and NJOY with 5.1% market share are distant followers.

The similar sales figures are indicated by another sales study with Vuse being the most selling electronic cigarette brand.

Resource: http://www.insidermonkey.com

The Unadvertised Health Risks of E-Cigarettes

In just a few short years, e-cigarettes have grown from an obscure, mostly unknown product into a booming industry across North America. While retail sales data in Canada is hard to come by, sales in the United States have exploded from a mere $80 million (USD) in 2010 to $1.7 billion (USD) in 2014, an over 2000% increase in only 4 years. A 2015 survey in Canada found that 15% of all Canadians and 20% of Canadian youth have tried, or are actively using e-cigarettes. Contrasting these numbers with Canada's rate of traditional tobacco cigarette smoking, which stands at just 16%, demonstrates just how mainstream the use of e-cigarettes has become.

This drastic growth rate has left governments scrambling to create new legislation to regulate these products. With no existing laws addressing where e-cigarettes can be consumed, or where and to whom they can be sold, the current situation has been described as akin to a "Wild West' by prominent figures in health and education, where anyone - even minors - can purchase e-cigarettes and use them in nearly any setting, including public spaces where the smoking of tobacco cigarettes is forbidden. Laws such as Ontario's Making Healthier Choices Act, which on January 1, 2016, will place similar restrictions on e-cigarettes to those that exist for tobacco cigarettes, are quickly becoming the new norm -- usually over the strident objections of the e-cigarette industry and its proponents.

So what exactly are e-cigarettes and how safe are they?

All e-cigarettes have the same basic components -- a battery, a heating element, and a cartridge that is usually filled with a combination of nicotine, flavouring, and a liquid such as glycerin or propylene glycol. When the battery activates the heating element, the liquid inside is vaporized, creating a fog, which is very similar to that seen at rock concerts. It is this fog that users inhale and exhale, rather than smoke from combustion as is produced by tobacco cigarettes. While nicotine e-cigarettes are technically illegal in Canada, nicotine cartridges for e-cigarettes are sold extensively "under the counter" in stores across the country.

Several primary questions over the safety of e-cigarettes have been raised by those in health circles. First, no data exists as to the long-term effects on human health of breathing e-cigarette vapour. While glycerin and propylene glycol are approved for oral consumption, no studies have been performed to measure the effects of their chronic, repetitive inhalation into the lungs, and medical science is replete with examples of substances that, while safe for the GI tract, are extremely hazardous to our lungs. Second, there are concerns that the vaporization process used by e-cigarettes might generate harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde, with potentially severe resulting health risks. A third, oft stated concern, especially among public health experts, is that the acceptance of e-cigarettes, especially in previously off limit public spaces, may lead to a re-normalization of smoking behaviours, particularly among youth, risking a reversal of decades long trends of decreasing smoking rates.

The e-cigarette -- or "vaping" -- industry and its proponents have disputed these worries, often quoting a 2014 study by the Harvard School of Public Health that found that only 1 per cent of non-smokers had ever tried an e-cigarette. Concluding from this data that the vast majority of "vapers" are those that are already smoking tobacco cigarettes, the industry argues that there is no possibility that e-cigarettes could be more dangerous than the tobacco cigarettes that they replace, and that they are a valuable tool in the war to reduce traditional cigarette use. To quote a prominent pro e-cigarette web site: "they cannot be as harmful as cigarettes, since with cigarettes, it is the mode of nicotine delivery...that is responsible for most of the disease."

However, recent data from two new studies raises serious concerns with respect to the industry's assertions of e-cigarettes' absolute safety versus tobacco cigarettes.

In a study published in January by the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that e-cigarettes powered at higher voltages actually produced up to 15 times more formaldehyde than a tobacco cigarette, resulting in a 5 times greater cancer risk versus traditional cigarette smoking. Despite the vocal objections of the industry that the 5-volt setting used in this study did not represent real world use of these products, most adjustable voltage e-cigarettes generate power levels of up to 6-volts, placing this setting well within their operating parameters.

And in February of this year, the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health published a laboratory study of the effects of inhaled e-cigarette vapour on the ability of mice to withstand bacterial and viral infections. Their ominous finding: "The mice exposed to e-cigarette vapour were significantly more likely to develop compromised immune responses to both the virus and the bacteria, which in some cases killed the mice"

Similarly, there is a growing body of recent data to suggest that e-cigarettes do act as a strong gateway to traditional cigarette smoking for young non-smokers. A study published in February by the University of Michigan, of 40,000 US teenagers, found that among 14 year olds, 8.7 per cent had tried an e-cigarette while only 4 per cent had ever tried a tobacco cigarette -- meaning that, in direct contradiction of the previous 2014 Harvard study, the majority of e-cigarette using teens had never smoked before. Even more worrisome, the CHETS study from Wales, UK, published in late 2014, found that 6 per cent of 10 year olds they surveyed had tried e-cigarettes, compared to only 2 per cent that had tried tobacco, and that children who had tried e-cigarettes were 7 times more likely to state they might start smoking tobacco cigarettes within 2 years versus children that had never smoked at all.

So when no evidence exists to show that e-cigarettes are safe for long-term use by humans, when laboratory studies demonstrate worrisome potential physiological risks, and when strong evidence is mounting that e-cigarettes are leading our youth to consider smoking tobacco cigarettes, I would contend that caution here is the only reasonable approach. Laws such as Ontario's, that will prevent minors from purchasing these products and also protect bystanders from inhalation of second hand vapour, are a common sense first step, and one that will hopefully be extended across the country in short order. The alternative -- blind acceptance of a potentially dangerous new product, and a possible reversal in decades of hard won success in reducing tobacco cigarette use -- is just too frightening to allow.

Resource: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca

Carriage of e-cigarettes Banned as Lithium Battery Fires Persist

US – WORLDWIDE – The doubt and confusion regarding the carriage of lithium batteries aboard aircraft has taken another twist with the announcement from US authorities that the carriage of battery-powered portable electronic smoking devices in checked baggage is now not permissible. The move comes in response to recent smoke and fire incidents involving e-cigarettes in passenger baggage, following on from a history of problems involving both freight and passenger flights, something we have been writing about for over five years.
An ‘interim final rule’ has been made by the US Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandating no electronic devices such as e-cigarettes, e-cigars, e-pipes, personal vaporizers, electronic nicotine delivery systems etc. to be carried in checked baggage. Carriage of these items in ‘carry on’ baggage is to continue however.

Only in the US could such a measure be called an ‘interim final rule’, surely a contradiction in terms, however this sensible step has been made necessary by numerous recent incidents involving the products, plus the need to harmonise the Hazardous Materials Regulations with a recent addendum to the 2015-2016 International Civilian Aviation Organization (ICAO) ‘Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air’, which became effective this June.

After the scares involving three flights which caused the deaths of four crew in 2006/2010/2011 and then again the problems with the newly released Boeing Dreamliner, the discord which arose over the carriage of lithium-ion and lithium-metal batteries between the US Department of Transport and the International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) seems to have faded, with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) subsequently issuing guidelines to operators to mitigate risk.

As well as the most serious incidents it is the plethora of minor ones which have spurred the authorities into action. Fires in several US airports including Boston and Los Angeles in the past few months, directly linked to the carriage of e-cigarettes causing combustion, made the matter of control unavoidable. The problem is exacerbated by counterfeit batteries, widely sold on the internet and often the cause of problems including flammability.

With the rapid uptake of ‘vaping’ devices, such as e-cigarettes, and their technical development, the problems have become more diverse than most people will be aware of. There is not one single type of battery cell involved here but dozens of variants. Firstly the equipment may utilise single use or rechargeable cells. They may be manual or automatic, manual means the user presses a button to take a drag, automatics have sensors which react with a change of pressure and deliver the dose of whatever the device is charged with. Some are variable voltage and many suppliers, whilst telling how safe their products are, advise not to charge the batteries overnight or in an unoccupied dwelling.

Photo: UPS Flight 1307 burnt out at Philadelphia 2006. This incident prompted the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to recommend lithium-ion batteries ‘be transported in crew-accessible locations where portable fire suppression systems can be used’. Courtesy of NTSB

Resource: http://www.handyshippingguide.com

Vaping in Georgia

I bought my first pack of cigarettes in April, 2007, and have been abusing my lungs since. As years passed and the days added up, so did the amount of cigarettes I lit up, smoked, and flicked away. At the peak of my habit, I was smoking three packs a day.

Cheap smokes and being able to light up anywhere I wanted did not help with my addiction. I’ve spent many nights playing video games and smoking like a chimney. At one point I realized something had to change, and I decided to try electronic cigarettes.

An electronic cigarette, or e-cig, is a battery powered device which heats and vaporizes a liquid mixture of propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, flavorings, and an optional dosage of nicotine.

In simpler terms, it’s basically a nicotine delivery system minus the other 3,999 chemicals a traditional cigarette contains, 43 of which are known carcinogens. Yes, that cancer causing agent you have been reading about in the news recently.

The modern e-cig was created in 2004 by Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist and inventor. Lik’s invention came into existence after his father, a heavy smoker, died of lung cancer. Lik patented his design in 2003, and it’s been copied and reproduced illegally by US and Chinese companies.

Georgia saw its first e-cig commercial in 2007, marketed as an alternative to conventional smoking. Initial versions of the electronic cigarette resembled their analog counterpart, the cigarette.

Today, vaping devices come in all shapes and sizes, from small and discrete, to large and flashy. Larger devices offer more advanced features, such as digital displays, longer battery life, temperature control, variable wattage, and puff counters.

Georgia, a country where 30%, according to a 2012 study, of the population smokes, is seeing an increase in its vaping market. In the last two years online stores, shopping mall boutiques and shops have opened all dedicated to selling and distributing e-cigarettes, e-liquids and other accessories.

I went to one of these stores, Corsair World Georgia (CWG) - a vape shop located on Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue in Tbilisi - and spoke with its owner, Paata Tsivadze.

“Corsair World Georgia strives to provide a healthier alternative to smoking,” Tsivadze told me.

“A British customer bought five personal vaporizers (PV) to take back to his buddies, because they were cheaper here than back in the UK,” Tsivadze said.

People don’t just start vaping because they are done with smoking, like I was. A CWG employee told me that customers purchase zero nicotine liquids for the experience, not to satisfy an addiction.

“Non-nicotine, fruity e-liquids are becoming more popular, but Parliament and Golden Virginia are still our bestsellers,” the employee said.

CWG offers quite a range of e-liquids: More than 150 varieties of e-liquids can be seen on display, ranging from traditional tobacco flavors, to Rum, Chocolate, and Barberry. Devices from popular brands such as KangerTech, Joytech, Innokin, Smoktech, and others, are also available.

Not everyone is a fan of e-cigarettes. Some argue that it serves as a gateway to cigarettes for kids, due to the attractive flavors and appeal of blowing vapor clouds, similar to hookahs.

A study conducted by researchers from Portland State University tested a brand of e-liquid and found formaldehyde gas was produced when vaping the liquid. Propylene glycol, when heated, is known to release formaldehyde gas. The higher the vaping voltage the more formaldehyde was detected. Formaldehyde is a suspected cancer-causing agent.

Although any harmful chemical is cause for concern, critics argue that real world scenarios of e-cig operation don’t reach the voltages that were used in the study. The long-term effects of vaping are still being studied.

However, it is still considered to be a healthier alternative to smoking, and despite the controversy, advocates continue to support e-cigarettes.

The devices can be purchased around town at Cig-Ara on Ingorokva Street, Inotech Georgia in Karvasla Shopping Center, and at shopping centers and supermarket boutiques. You can also buy them online at smoking.ge while e-liquids can be purchased at 24 hour drive-thru tobacco stores, Drive Tobacco and Nicotine, found around the city.

Unlike some of the small boutiques, Corsair World offers high quality vaping devices, ranging from 25 GEL to 500 GEL, and e-liquids at a fraction of the price of its competitors. CWG, with its friendly and knowledgeable staff, hip interior, and unbeatable prices, is doing it right, if you ask me.

The future of e-cigs in Georgia looks bright. The CWG owner believes it’s a growing market.

“Soon, our e-liquids will be available at all Socar fuel stations, and we have plans to expand into other regions of Georgia as well,” Tsivadze told me.

Resource: http://georgiatoday.ge

Grid-feeding battery system of the future humming in Boothbay

Three large shipping containers in Boothbay’s industrial park look like they might be storing something. They are: enough electricity to run 100 homes for a day.

This is New England’s first utility-scale electricity storage system. It’s the latest component of a pilot program aimed at meeting the heightened need for electricity during the hottest summer days on the Boothbay peninsula, at a fraction of the cost of building new transmission lines.This storage system uses hundreds of special-purpose batteries. It’s designed to quickly deliver 500 kilowatts of electricity for up to six hours to the region’s electric grid.

But the concept also could be used to greatly expand the value of renewable energy in Maine. Battery technology is evolving, paving the way for giant battery banks that help integrate solar and wind power, by feeding electricity back to the grid at the very moment that clouds obscure the sun or the wind stops blowing. This approach now is being refined elsewhere in the country.

The Boothbay project was developed through a partnership led by New York City-based Convergent Energy + Power. The pilot program is being run by GridSolar LLC of Portland for the Maine Public Utilities Commission. Last month, Convergent invited utility representatives from around the Northeast to visit Maine and examine the storage system.

“The project in Boothbay is a perfect example of how to apply these on a grid-scale basis,” said Tremor Temchin, Convergent’s project manager. “We’re hoping there are going to be applications around New England.”

ANOTHER OVERLOAD PROTECTION

Inside the three shipping containers are racks that hold 600 batteries. They are sealed and spill-proof, using absorbent glass-mat technology that holds the electrolyte rather than the flooded, lead-acid cells of a typical car battery. Hydrogen gas given off during discharge is recombined with the batteries, so there are virtually no emissions, Convergent says.

At night, when power demand is low, the battery bank is charged from the region’s electric grid. Beginning at 9 a.m. each day, it’s ready to be dispatched as needed.

The GridSolar pilot combines several alternative strategies designed to keep power lines from being overloaded on hot, humid afternoons, when the area is jammed with tourists and air conditioners are cooling hotels, restaurants and shops.

Thousands of LED light bulbs have been installed to trim overall power demand. Hundreds of solar-electric panels now produce electricity when it’s needed most. Thermal energy storage units that make ice at night are supplementing air conditioning during the day. A diesel generator can be switched on for an added shot of power. And now, the battery bank stands ready.

Taken together, these and other measures conserve and produce 1.8 megawatts, the output of a small hydro dam.

So far, this arsenal hasn’t been called on to actually relieve an overloaded transmission line. But the components have been tested several times by Central Maine Power Co., most recently April 29.

“One important point,” said Steve Hinchman, GridSolar’s general counsel, “is unlike the active, non-transmission resources, such as the battery and backup generator, the so-called passive resources, efficiency and solar, are always on. This has the effect of buffering the grid in Boothbay from ever reaching the point of an emergency. This is what we want – an efficient, reliable grid where the active resources are essentially a last resort to avoid brownout or blackout.”

New England’s electric grid only operates near peak capacity several hours in a typical year, so the Boothbay batteries may only be needed a few times each summer. But the storage system also has value for Convergent and the broader grid day-to-day, by functioning as a small power plant. By charging the batteries at night with cleaner, cheaper power, the company can participate in wholesale energy markets during the day when prices are higher and the grid needs more energy.

Temchin declined to say how much the storage system costs to build. Documents filed by GridSolar show the energy is more expensive than any of the other four alternative measures, more than three times the net price of solar and five times that of efficiency. Even so, the total cost of the GridSolar experiment to ratepayers is coming in three times lower than estimates for building a new transmission line – $6 million, compared with $18 million.

A SOLAR AND WIND POWER TOOL

The battery storage experiment is of interest to the region’s grid operator, ISO-New England.

Moment to moment, grid operators must match power supply with demand, and make sure that voltage, frequency and other stability metrics are in balance. Batteries can help. If a power plant goes off-line, sensors can instantly inject a rush of electricity.

In 2013, a storage system using lithium ion batteries was installed next to a gas- and oil-fired power plant in Moraine, Ohio. It helps provide stability on a grid serving 60 million people in the Midwest and Middle Atlantic States. On a smaller level, the Boothbay battery bank is serving that function.

“Technologies like this are fairly small, but they respond very fast,” said Steve Rourke, vice president of planning at ISO-New England.

That fast response could be critical for integrating large amounts of solar and wind power.

ISO estimates that New England had 900 megawatts of solar-electric output installed last year, and that’s expected to double by 2023. The 1,800 megawatts could account for 13 percent of energy during certain hours, the ISO says, or 2 percent of New England’s net load. At the same time, wind energy in the region, led by Maine, is expected to reach a similar capacity.

“The more solar we see, the more wind we get, it could become more important to use batteries to ride through the variability, minute to minute,” Rourke said.

This concept is being tested elsewhere. One place is Hawaii, where petroleum is expensive and a new law aims for the state to get all of its power from renewable sources by 2045.

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative built solar-electric arrays that provide much of its power on some days. They’re backed up by battery storage, for when clouds appear. An early storage system fell short, according to media reports, because the batteries couldn’t handle repeated charging and discharging. Improved batteries and software controls have since been installed.

Battery storage also is being refined in Hawaii by SunEdison. The effort is pioneered by the former Boston-based First Wind, which SunEdison acquired this year. First Wind learned a hard lesson in 2012, when a storage system installed by a now-bankrupt battery firm caught fire at a wind farm in Kahuku, on the island of Oahu. Since then, First Wind successfully integrated battery storage in a wind farm on Maui, called Kaheawa.

SunEdison is a leading wind developer in Maine and New England. John Lamontagne, a company spokesman, said he wasn’t aware of any plans to integrate battery storage in a wind project here.

But SunEdison does have overall plans to pair solar and wind with battery storage. Last March, it acquired a company that combines battery systems with solar panels, Solar Grid Storage LLC. In a news release, SunEdison said its strategy is to increase the value of its solar and wind projects by improving their availability and ability to interact with the electric grid.

Resource: http://www.pressherald.com

MARIJUANA: TEN WAYS TO DAB YOUR OILS, WAXES, BUDDERS AND ICEWATER EXTRACTS

So you say 4/20 is your weed holiday? Pshaw. That's so old-school. Get with the times. Or, more specifically the time: 7:10 to be exact. Flip it upside down and you've got OIL, as in hash oil, BHO, wax, shatter, errl or whatever you want to call it. And today, July 10 (7/10) has quickly become the new stoner holiday for the highly concentrated.

In honor of the newest excuse to get stoned, we here at Mile Highs and Lows have come up with a list of ten ways to smoke your oils, waxes, budders and hash -- a few of them a bit cheaper and well, more unconventional than others.These dabs can easily be done with a few items from any average stoner's home: a bowl (preferably a water pipe), aquarium rocks, torch lighter and a paper clip.

Once you have the items fill your bowl with the clean and dry aquarium rocks, heat them up with the torch,then use the safety pin to press on the oil and you are dabbing away. This is the only item on the list that has not been tested by the Mile Highs and Lows Completely Unscientific testing crew though and quite frankly freaks us out (especially with those color-dyed rocks). But it's still worth mentioning and is probably something a few of you Stoner MacGyvers have done in a pinch.

This is definitely not the most efficient use of your oil, but it will add that extra kick to your bowl of flowers. All you need is a bowl packed up with some green then sprinkle a little wax or oil on top -- just be careful when you light it, as the oil can ignite and waste your hash.

The joint dab stems from the same idea as the flower dab, but is a little more minimalistic. With just a rolling paper, oil, flower and cigarette lighter you are on your way to high heaven. Take the paper, wrap it around your finger inside out and spread a thin consistent layer of oil on it. This type of dab does take some work though, as the oil must be heated to a runny consistency and then allowed to dry before rolling and smoking.

Hot Heads are one of the cheaper yet efficient and semi-portable ways to smoke straight BHO. Hot Heads come as a bowl attachment or you can buy a pipe with one already attached.

A hot head bowl differs from a typical flower bowl, because it has three holes on the side of it rather than one hole in the bottom. This way you can load a bit of oil (shatter or wax is recommended) in the bottom, then with the glass rod glowing hot, place it inside the bowl and hit it like a normal pipe.

The ultra portable way for any stoner-on-the-go to dab. While you aren't going to get that huge ripper you are with a nail stuck in a diffused bong, it is far more economical to pack around and brings a whole new meaning to a sneak-a-toke. You can get immensely baked off just a couple puffs and leave behind just the hint of an odor. Several of the pens, like the one on the right, are dual purpose and can be used to vape flowers as well.

Probably the most traditional way of dabbing (if that term can be used for a phenomenon that is relatively new). If you already own a glass-on-glass bong, a rig really isn't that expensive. You only have to buy a double-male joint, the skillet, and a torch and you are on your way. Once you have the setup, the process is straight forward: heat up the plate with a torch then slide it under the bell, press the oil onto the hot plate and inhale.

Nail dabs are very similar to skillet dabs; you can still add them on to an existing water pipe with a glass slider and a torch is used to heat the surface before pressing the oil on with a dabber. The advantage to a nail over a skillet is that you can actually see the surface you are pressing the oil to, which makes for less waste.

Nails come in either quartz or titanium and in all shapes and sizes. Titanium nails are more resistant to damage than quartz, but do not offer the same clean taste. Domeless nails are also great as they reduce the number of components needed, just warn your friends before they scar their forearms on the exposed, red-hot metal.

Health Stone pipes and bowls are a good way to go when looking for ease of smoking. It is a small porous stone that soaks up oil that can then be heated and smoked. Several hits worth can be melted into the stone at one time, so it can easily be passed around the couch. The stones can be bought separately and put in nearly any bowl, but the optimum way to smoke one is out of a Health Stone pipe. It has a reservoir beneath the stone that catches any oil that has not been fully vaporized. This reservoir can then be heated and the reclaim dumped back into the stone for smoking.

The ultimate way to put THC in your noodle is from a noodle. It has a torch built into the device so all you need to have is it and a dabber full of goo to accomplish your smoking needs. The bottom area has a reservoir for liquid butane, the top has a reservoir for water, and the tray swivels for ease of heating.

Resource: http://www.westword.com

9 Great Cannabis Oil Rigs to Add to Your Collection

Taking cannabis users beyond traditional smoking methods, concentrates have become the new way to enjoy the best your bud has to offer. A little bit goes a long way, making concentrates comparatively priced to cannabis flower, and they typically offer more potent effects and a cleaner taste.

Most dispensaries will carry a range of concentrates from shatter to budder, but if you want to make the switch from flower to concentrates, you’re going to have to get yourself some new glass. There are so many glass products out there that give you a great smoking experience, and vapour bubblers are no different. Here are some of the best units available at a variety of price points, giving you no excuse but to up your cannabis game, whether you’re smoking recreationally or medically.Since 2009, Hitman Glass has been blowing some of the most unique glass pieces on the market. Now located in California, this innovative glass company was formed by Dougie Fresh and Erik Weissman in Massachusetts after they teamed up with Steven Bates and brought his artistic designs to the masses.

After noticing a shift from flower to concentrates, Hitman Glass swarmed the market and created some of the best units out there, with quality being their priority. One of these devices is the Slum Gold x Hitman Vapour Bubbler, which not only looks incredible, it offers a cool, filtered smoking experience.

Like this bubbler but looking for something (slightly) more reasonably priced? Check out more amazing Hitman products.

Hamm’s Waterworks Glass is somewhat of a household name in the vapor bubbler industry. The brand has won numerous awards for their designs, which include the impressive Tiny Sputnik Recycler Vapor Bubbler.This unit is unique due to its Exo-Diffy percolator, which breaks up the smoke and directs the airstream with precision. Smoke swirls upwards through the diffuser downstem into the round top chamber, where it gets pulled back down again through the square recycler connection tube. This tube then spins the water around like a cyclone at high speed for unparalleled filtration and cooling.

Many oil rigs are simply functional and carry very little weight aesthetically. However, Jerome Baker not only has an appropriate last name for this industry, but also a talent with glass. He’s taken inspiration from the oil rig theme to create robot rigs that both look incredible and work like a charm.This model (one in a series of four altogether) comes with a 10mm domeless nail to complete your package.

Jerome Baker has done it again with another intricate, yet functional, robot oil rig. The difference? This one is built with a honeycomb percolator that better filters the smoke for a cool, tasty hit.These units are all made in the USA and come complete with a quartz nail. While expensive, these robots are more than just your average rig—they’re truly pieces of art.

iDAB, currently located in Southern California, is the premium blower of top-quality German Schott Boro. Their signature product is the iDab Glass Sherlock Vapour Bubbler, which comes in multiple colours and is a great small concentrates unit. Be warned—the unit does not come with a nail, but at such a great price, it’s a hard deal to pass up.

Not quite what you were looking for? iDAB products come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and price ranges.

This unit was awarded the best glass piece award at Seattle’s 2012 High Times Cannabis Cup, and it’s easy to understand why -- it looks like something straight out of a science fair but is guaranteed to give you a great high.

Also made with German Schott Boro glass, the double showerhead perc filters your smoke through lots of bubbles for a cool, clean hit. This kit comes with everything you need to dab with, including a glass concentrate nail.

Think all vapour bubblers are tad pricey? Think again! Four Twenty has created a small bubbler at an awesome price of just $70. This unit is blown with borosilicate glass for durability and easy cleaning, and includes a honeycomb percolator and nail. For those on a budget, there has never been a better time to get your hands on this device.

Four Twenty has kicked it up a notch with the Vapor Bubbler with Slitted Drum Perc. The design is similar to the honeycomb unit in size and materials but features a unique drum perc for filtration. This unit can be used with oils, concentrates, and flower due to its interchangeable herb bowl and vapor dome. Four Twenty has priced their products very sensibly for those looking to cut costs, so check this one out before heading to the checkout.

Blaze Glass has blown the most affordable unit on this list with the Oil Recycler Bubbler at just $39.95, but don’t think that means this glass is any less useful. The smoke travels through the diffuser, which breaks it up into bubbles in the main chamber and then moves into the recycler, where it is filtered again before being expelled cool, tasty smoke. Adding to the value of this unit is the included concentrates nail, making it a great unit for any beginner dabber.

With market trends showing a movement towards cannabis concentrates, dabbing is quickly becoming the Next Big Thing in marijuana consumption. Concentrates can offer a more powerful effect than traditional bud, meaning there has never been a better time to get the most bang for your buck when purchasing an oil rig.

Whether you’re looking for your first piece or you’re a seasoned dabbing pro, find your perfect vapor bubbler solution today at the Grasscity Shop and enjoy a new and super effective way to consume your cannabis.

Resource: https://www.leafly.com

Smoke Cartel: The Rebirth of Online Heady Glass Sales

Trying to find a dope, dependable, and trustworthy online glass company can be a hassle. Smoke Cartel is a premier online glass seller based in Savannah, Georgia. They deliver exactly what you need: affordable heady glass. Smoke Cartel believes in quality; water pipes should be built to last. Additionally, their brick and mortar store is described as “The Best Headshop in Savannah.” Initially, the minds behind Smoke Cartel were fed up with how the online purchasing process worked for glass and smoking accessories, so they negotiated directly with artists, glassblowers, and wholesalers domestically. The results speak for themselves. Prices are beyond reasonable, their turn around rate is extremely quick, and they have access to truly unique, one of a kind, pieces.

This inline to tree water pipe features an extremely gridded inline perc to a fused tree perc. The attention to detail on the inline is noteworthy, and the combination of the tree perc makes it an extremely smooth hitterThe wigwag bubbler features a beautiful worked black and white downstem and matching dome.Exclusively crafted for SmokeCartel, these glow in the dark minitubes come from Colorado. This one of a kind mini tube features a glow in the dark fritted base, beautiful fumed neck, and a matching flower bowl and oil dome set.

A must-have for any true American Dad fan. This sculpted Roger the alien pipe comes from Asheville, NC. Roger is hand blown with incredible attention to detail and the final product speaks for itself. This Circ Perc to Honeycomb Perc Egg Rig is perfect setup for any true concentrate user. The percolation from the circ perc to honeycomb creates the smoothest hit possible. Add that inset egg and it gets a whole lot smoother. It also comes complete with a titanium nail, a black lip wrapped base, and mouthpiece.Smoke Cartel is dedicated to choosing the highest quality glass from the most qualified people and believes that access to local glass is vital to their customers.

Resource: http://www.marijuana.com

E-cig vendors say experience matters when vaping

Two Southwest Florida men are dealing with injuries from e-cigarette explosions occurring within days of each other.

This weekend, vendors from all over the country have gathered at Harborside Event Center in downtown Fort Myers for Vape Con, an opportunity to educate e-cig users.Vape Con organizers said accidents or explosions happen as a result of user error with mechanical mod vapes when too much power is drawn from the battery.

The vape movement is growing, but so is the number of injuries.In less than two weeks, two men - one in Naples and one in Cape Coral - reported their e-cigs exploded, causing serious burns.More than two dozen reports from the Food and Drug Administration indicate e-cigarettes have exploded since they became popular in 2012.Vendors at Vape Con said the vaporizers are not to blame.

"These accidents are pure user negligence. It's the fact that the person is not experienced with what they use and they're not safe with it," said Joey Jux, vice president of DUVO Life.Jux said the easiest ways to avoid injury are to store your vape outside of your pockets, and only use mechanical mods if you're experienced.

"I've never heard of an accident with someone who's experienced with vapor," he said.Unlike other electronic cigarettes, mechanical mods don't have safeguards to prevent overheating or explosion.Those who are new to vaping are encouraged to use e-cigs that control the amount of power drawn from the battery, helping to prevent accidents.

Resource:http://www.abc-7.com

Why the stern action with vape?

Malaysians have mixed opinions with the Health Ministry’s crackdown on vape fluids containing nicotine. While most of the educated ones support the ministry’s action, the less educated (including some politicians) condemn Dr S Subramaniam. Why the banning of vape fluids and not cigarettes? Why confiscate vape fluids and affect businesses? Are cigarette companies pressurising the government to put an end to vaping that is alleged to affect them?

So many questions are asked and assumptions made.

Malaysia boasts one of the biggest vaping communities in the world. We house thousands of brewers in our backyard. How are we sure that all liquids brewed are safe? I have an acquaintance who brews vape liquids at home. How sophisticated and clean is it to brew fluids at home and not in laboratories? Is there any safety protocol to brewing techniques? These questions remain unanswered.

Now compare this with cigarettes. Cigarettes are produced under controlled environments with strict quality control measures. There are constant inspections by authorities on the production of cigarettes.We read about vape mods exploding on vapers. Recently, one even caught fire mid-air in an aeroplane. Why does it happen? When is a vape mod safe? Are the e-cigarettes regulated? Do they undergo safety tests? Under any circumstances, every electronic device needs to pass safety tests and possess satisfactory certification by Sirim and relevant authorities. Are vape mods certified in any way?

There are also regulations with labelling of any consumable. Are the labels on vape liquids complete? Are the contents stated the only ones in the liquid? Some studies reported that experimented vape juices contain formaldehyde.Formaldehyde is a well known human carcinogen that can cause several types of cancer. Additionally, it causes problems to the respiratory tract. Formaldehyde is also used in embalming fluid for the demised. However, no vape juice label mentions anything about formaldehyde.

This brings us back to the question if every content is actually mentioned on the label? Is the label regulated to contain the full truth? While we all know exactly what are the agents in a cigarette we are unable to say the same for vape juices. We are not even sure if the nicotine content mentioned is correct and the quality of nicotine used.I came across statements by some Umno members urging the prime minister to intervene in the ministry’s action or risk losing votes. Are votes all that matter to Umno?

A suggestion for such individuals

I have a suggestion for such silly individuals. Instead of reversing the actions of the ministry; removing taxes for imported cars, taking stern action on the organiser of red-shirt rally Jamal Yunos, increasing wages for government servants, and increasing government subsidies for essential items would definitely win you more votes than the vape issue. Why don’t you put pressure on the prime minister for such things?I have a suggestion for all politicians who support vaping. Since there are lack of scientific studies, all politicians who speak in favour of vaping should enroll their children and family members for a large prospective study on vaping. If they develop fatal conditions, then we know the consequences of vaping. Are they willing to do that? By supporting vape culture, that is exactly what you are doing with the public.

Today, politicians are saying the ministry is going to lose votes for the government, so allow vaping culture. Tomorrow you are going to say that rempits should be allowed to race too because you need their votes as well?Making right decisions are never easy. The popular decision is never necessarily the right one. In this instance, the Health Ministry is 100 percent right. Brewers should get their vape juices tested pharmacologically for proper regulations. There are laws with regards to nicotine. Adhere to them and acquire proper certification.

It is important to get one thing straight. The ministry has not banned vaping. There is no ban on nicotine as well. The ministry is just placing a ban on unregulated vape juices. Once the liquids are regulated then things can get back to normal. Acquiring a handphone or boutique business licence with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) does not give you the right to sell vape fluids as we are rampantly seeing today.

Dr Subra and team should continue doing what they have embarked on in the best interest of the public. Even the National Fatwa Council has declared vaping ‘haram’. Please ignore those who call themselves Muslims but speak against the law of the religion.

Resource: https://www.malaysiakini.com

Confusion over e-cigarettes

THE government must produce a cogent and clear articulation of its position with respect to vaping and e-cigarettes. There appears to be some confusion about which direction the sector should take. The Health Ministry seems to lean towards prohibition, deciding that only licensed pharmacists and registered medical practitioners were allowed to supply e-cigarette liquids containing nicotine. They must also keep a record of the sale of the item. The decision was the result of a discussion held by a special task force headed by the ministry to examine the issue of e-cigarettes. Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, however, was more concerned about Malay vape sellers incurring losses as a result of the Health Ministry’s pronouncement. “Vape sellers can no longer run their businesses because big companies own pharmacies,” he had pointed out.

The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry, on the other hand, wants to formulate guidelines and price adjustments for such products, while Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin suggested banning both conventional cigarettes and e-cigarettes. Apparently, everyone has an opinion on e-cigarettes, said to be the new cool kid on the block “with candy flavours and the trendy nickname of vaping”. Vaping communities are concentrated in the Klang Valley and Johor, but Ipoh, Kedah and Penang are catching up fast, according to one report. At rough estimate, there are a million vapers nationwide — about 10 per cent of whom are under 18. Some 35,000 visitors attended Malaysia’s first vaporiser convention held in Kuala Lumpur in June. And, there are at least 1,000 vape shops across the country and more than 400 local mod (electronic vaporiser device) and juice (e-liquid) brands.

Science has not yet resolved whether vaping is less dangerous than cigarettes. But, deputy director-general of Health Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman says there are sufficient global studies showing that vaping is detrimental to health. It is useful to remind ourselves that World Health Organisation scientists only found out that smoking traditional cigarettes caused cancer in the 1960s. But people had picked up the smoking habit long before the release of a definitive report on the dreadful harm of cigarettes. It is possible that vaping will be a “gateway” to smoking conventional cigarettes, especially among the younger generation, say doctors. The nicotine in the solution is likely to be addictive which could influence teenagers to smoke cigarettes in the future. Nobody is questioning the people’s right to vape or smoke. At the same time, until more information is available, it is better to err on the side of caution when it comes to the damaging effects of vaping. The Los Angeles Times, in calling for a tightening of the rules on e-cigarettes, says new information suggests that they “are looking less and less like benign alternatives to traditional smoking”. “Teenagers are apparently taking up the so-called vaping habit in droves and now, we’re also learning that the exhaled vapour contains multiple harmful chemicals.” Public policy on vaping must factor in the following — protection for minors and caution about allowing vaping in indoor settings, given that the health effects of second-hand vapour are not known.

Resource: http://www.nst.com.my

David Arquette admits he's 'an odd choice' to play Sherlock Holmes on stage

TORONTO – David Arquette has found himself greatly affected by his latest role playing Sherlock Holmes in a touring stage production that’s now in Toronto.

“Right before we started previewing, I literally thought I was losing my mind,” he said in a recent interview.

“I was like, ‘This is too hard, I don’t think I can deal with it. It’s so much dialogue.’ It’s like two hours of dialogue, so it’s a lot.

“But once we got into a groove, then it really started working, and when you get comfortable with it, then you can have fun with it.”Arquette admitted he felt he was “an odd choice” to play Holmes.The British accent and dignified air he puts on — not to mention the top hat, overcoat, magnifying glass and pipe — are a far cry from the moustachioed simpleton Detective Dewey he played in the “Scream” films.

Then again, Arquette noted that this production of Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales, by late Montreal playwright Greg Kramer, is more comical than usual.And it features a Holmes who’s an “oddball” and “probably a little lighter than a lot of people play.”

“He laughs a lot, he finds humour in things,” said Arquette. “He’s still the eccentric sort of wild thinker, very quick-minded, but he’s not quite as smart, perhaps, as some of the other Sherlocks.

“He’s not the smartest man in the room, necessarily, but in the play he’s the smartest of all the dumb guys, is what I like to say.”Kramer’s 2013 adaptation, which is playing at Toronto’s Ed Mirvish Theatre through Nov. 8, features a nine-person cast.

James Maslow, who starred in the Nickelodeon show “Big Time Rush,” plays Holmes’s faithful associate, Dr. John Watson.Andrew Shaver of Toronto directs the production, which won five Montreal English Theatre Awards and starred Jay Baruchel as Holmes back in 2013. The show is in Toronto after a six-performance preview in Los Angeles. It will next go on to a multi-city U.S. tour, including stops in Washington, D.C. and Chicago.

Arquette said he wasn’t that familiar with his character before taking on the role but prepared by listening to all of the “Sherlock Holmes” books on tape.He’s since found himself taking on some of Holmes’s characteristics, like the habit of surveying everything and everyone when walking in a room.

“You really have to lose your mind a little to play him. He’s really out there,” says Arquette, who runs Coquette Productions with ex-wife Courteney Cox.

“I’m letting my eyebrows grow, which are beastly now, but it’s part of the whole thing. You have to get this mad professor quality.

“He’s an idiot savant. No, I’m an idiot savant. He was just a savant.”

Resource: http://www.680news.com  

‘The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories’ and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s ‘Mycroft Holmes’

Shadrach Voles, Upchuck Gnomes, Rockhard Scones and Blowback Foams: None of these great made-up detectives appear in Otto Penzler’s giant compendium of fake Sherlock Holmes stories, or Sherlock-Holmes-stories-written-by-persons-other-than-Sir-Arthur-Conan-Doyle. You will, however, be able to find stories about Sherlaw Kombs, and Solar Pons, and Picklock Holes, and Shamrock Jolnes, and Warlock Bones and (my own pick of the pseudo-Holmeses) Hemlock Jones, who in Bret Harte’s “The Stolen Cigar-Case” almost destroys the ardently worshipful Watson-like narrator with the sheer puissance of his intellect. On Hemlock Jones’s shelves are glass jars containing “pavement and road sweepings” and “fluff from omnibus and road-car seats.” When he thinks, his head shrinks, “so much reduced in size by his mental compression that his hat tipped back from his forehead and literally hung on his massive ears.” Jones’s diamond-­encrusted cigar case, a present from the Turkish ambassador, has gone missing. There can be only one culprit: the narrator himself! Jones lays out the case, deduction by damning deduction. “So overpowering was his penetration,” declares the narrator in a fit of purest proto-Kafka, “that although I knew myself innocent, I licked my lips with avidity to hear the further details of this lucid exposition of my crime.”

We in 2015, we the entertained, who live in a fun house of Sherlocks — Cumberbatch Sherlock, Downey Jr. Sherlock, Jonny Lee Miller Sherlock, etc. — need no convincing of the imaginative vitality of Sherlock Holmes. But the fact that Bret Harte, revered and shaggy forebear, of whose stories Conan Doyle felt his own early efforts to be but “feeble echoes,” could come out in 1900 with such a spot-on and beautifully modern satire of a Sherlock Holmes story tells us something of the immediacy with which Holmes franchised himself into popular consciousness. He quickly overcame his creator, of course: Having plunged Holmes — for good, it seemed — into the Reichenbach Falls in the fatal embrace of his shadow-self, Moriarty, in 1893’s “The Final Problem,” Conan Doyle found himself, 10 years later, rewriting his own story. “We tottered together upon the brink of the fall,” Holmes explains to a not unreasonably astonished Watson in 1903’s “The Adventure of the Empty House.” “I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me. I slipped through his grip.” Slippery, unkillable Holmes!

What’s his secret? In a sense Holmes is the perfect literary creation: a caricature with depth. A few quick strokes — pipe, brain, violin, Watson — call him into being, while beyond these scant markings an abyss of personality instantly suggests itself. Dimensions open up, speculation is invited, and what Tolkien called “sub-­creation” occurs: People begin to tell their own stories about him. There’s his tragic side, the paradoxically romantic ennui that arises from his being such a brilliant micro-materialist, knowing everything about train timetables and typography and trousers but finding himself lonely, so lonely, in this suddenly atomic and demystified universe. He reaches for his drugs, he scrapes at his violin; he shoots holes in the walls of his apartment. Around him, invisibly, a vast cerebral plexus shimmers and twangs. Then there’s his fantastic and inexhaustible yin-yang buddy-movie Quixote-Panza double act with John H. Watson, M.D., whose awe-struck narrations keep Holmes at one remove from us, the human race.

A pastiche is a form of literary criticism, as a tribute band is a form of rock criticism. There were things I didn’t understand about Bon Jovi, for example, until I saw, in a bar in Boston, a band called Jovi. (I just Googled them, incidentally. Now they’re called Bon Jersey.) So in Penzler’s Big Book we find the various parodists and imitators zooming in on key elements: Stephen Leacock, in 1916, lampooning the “inexorable chain of logic” that leads Holmes to an absurd conclusion, and John Lutz, in 1987, describing a Holmes who in the absence of a good case “becomes zombielike in his withdrawal into boredom.” It’s all, properly defined, fan fiction, some of the fans being quite distinguished, others less so — long-forgotten bookmen lowering themselves into the Holmesian atmosphere as into a hot bath, with many a grunt and sigh of luxury. Kingsley Amis puts on a good performance in “The Darkwater Hall Mystery” — although because he’s writing for Playboy he has Watson go to bed with a servant called Dolores, “raven hair, creamy skin and deep brown eyes.” I loved Neil Gaiman’s elegiac and dreamlike “The Case of Death and Honey,” which really breaks up the mood. Anthony Burgess’s contribution to the genre, “Murder to Music,” is rather too elaborate in its formalities, but it does give us a Holmes of thrilling and merciless aestheticism: “If Sarasate, before my eyes and in this very room, strangled you to death, Watson, for your musical insensitivity, . . . I should be constrained to close my eyes to the act, . . . deposit your body in the gutter of Baker Street and remain silent while the police pursued their investigations. So much is the great artist above the moral principles that oppress lesser men.”

Grinding our Holmesian gears slightly, let’s turn now to “Mycroft Holmes,” by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse. For outsize polymathic energy and accomplishment, Abdul-Jabbar — N.B.A. champion, cultural ambassador, author — rivals Conan Doyle himself. Of his many triumphs I will always chiefly prize the line from “Airplane!” — “We have clearance, Clarence!” — that he delivered while playing the co-pilot Roger Murdock, but that’s because I know nothing about basketball. At any rate, here’s his novel about Sherlock’s older, fatter, cleverer brother, Mycroft — tantalizingly alluded to in the canon — who works for the British ­government.

The idiom of “Mycroft Holmes” is genially chaotic sub-Victorian with 21st-­century lapses — someone over here is “assailed” by a coughing fit, while someone over there “splurges” on a new overcoat — but the plot is a solid romp. Young ­Mycroft, early in his career, is dispatched to Trinidad to investigate certain grisly goings-on: missing persons, children turning up on the beach with their bodies drained of blood, that kind of thing. Mycroft is additionally in love (with the ravishing and enigmatic Georgiana) and watching with interest the development of his faintly inhuman younger brother, Sherlock, whom he tutors in deductive reasoning while administering boxing lessons. Their mother is insane. Given that Mycroft is, legendarily, a kind of database on legs, I might have made him a bit more cyber, a bit more “Terminator”-like — but Abdul-Jabbar and Waterhouse have gone another way, and the mood is very expressive. “ ‘Whatever is the matter?’ Holmes bleated. ‘You must keep me apprised as we go along,’ Douglas blurted out.” Bleats, blurts — not quite the Holmesian vibe. But the narrative rattles along, and the plot ramifies impressively, and it’s by (with Anna Waterhouse) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, for God’s sake, an extraordinary man, a novel in himself, about whose fictionalized post-C.I.A. older brother — 15 feet tall, with purring Spock-like mind — there will one day, for certain, be a book.

Resource: http://www.nytimes.com