up smoking to that I can later switch to
vaping instead.
I will just have to be content in knowing
that this movie will certainly help many
existing smokers make this exciting,
life-changing transition for
themselves instead.
Speaking early on in the film, Kounen
says: “In late 20th Century sci-fi films,
cars fly, robots have souls, man has
colonised space but he still smokes
tobacco rolled in paper.
“Tobacco consumption seemed part of
the future. Writers and film-makers never
imagined the collapse of the powerful
tobacco industry, that the cigarette, this
lethal invention, would disappear to
be replaced by a less harmful way of
inhaling nicotine.”
The film also briefly runs through the
(relatively short) history of vape and
spends a lot of time on what is perhaps
the most pressing issue facing the
vaping industry right now…regulation, or
more accurately, over-regulation.
It explores how the very act of classifying
e-cigarettes and e-liquids as ‘tobacco
products’ and regulating them as such
is already putting people out of business
and is likely to prevent smokers all over
the world from switching to vaping - a
move that could cost countless lives.
Perhaps even more shocking, at least
for me, is how the film highlights how the
big tobacco companies deliberately hid
the links between smoking and cancer
for years.
As scientific research began to find links
between smoking and cancer, tobacco
companies did all they could to delay
public awareness of the health dangers
associated with smoking and their
stalling campaign worked.
It has been estimated that 8,000 billion
more cigarettes were smoked in the USA
alone because of the delay in educating
the public about the dangers and this
led to the deaths of around 6 million
smokers due to the ignorance of the
health dangers involved.
This film is not all about the shock
factor though. The stories about former
smokers who are now vapers are both
uplifting and inspiring while there is a
liberal sprinkling of humour injected
Having watched this movie I
felt that I was missing out from
experiencing the transition
from being a smoker to a vaper
but I am certainly not going to
take up smoking to that I can
later switch to vaping instead.
throughout the movie.
Vape Wave also contains the most
memorable description of vaping that I
have ever heard. When one contributor
is asked to describe the physical act of
vaping he says: “It’s like giving a robot
a blow job.” One cannot do anything but
laugh at that graphic imagery.
Vapers will enjoy this movie, and from
that point of view it is likely to be a huge
success. However the true measure of
this film’s success will be how effective
a tool it can become in helping smokers
quit cigarettes. This is where its true
potential lies.
Vape Wave opens with the following
warning: “If you’re a non-smoker stay a
non-vaper. If you are a smoker, or know
smokers, watch this film.”
That is excellent advice. Bullying
smokers into quitting does not work.
Educating smokers about a far safer way
of experiencing nicotine is far more likely
to succeed.
* In the next issue, we speak to Vape
Wave director Jan Kounen and find out
how this project has changed his whole
approach to how he will portray smoking
in his movies from now on.
VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE ISSUE 07 93