F E AT U R E
Penguins, kilts and Donald Trump masks
Why the Vapouround Awards 2017
was an evening never to be forgotten
By Patrick Griffin
From the moment we announced the second
annual Vapouround Awards, we promised that
it would be a night to remember.
The only thing we couldn’t predict was just how
memorable it would be…and that was thanks
to the many unique characters which make up
the vaping community.
For example, who could have predicted that
co-host Johnnie Lovell would make his grand
entrance on a mobility scooter with a toy
penguin sitting in the front basket?
I certainly had no idea that our juice awards
judges would turn up wearing hooded capes
and Donald Trump masks…very odd indeed.
And, to this day, I still don’t know why I (together
with my Vapouround colleagues) were asked to
stand on our chairs and sing ‘Sweet Caroline’
but we all did so none the less.
The awards acceptance speeches themselves
also brought forth one or two rather memorable
moments to say the least.
You can read a separate article in this magazine
as to why the Attitude Vapes team were missing
when they shou ld have picked up the Best
Fruit award.
58 ISSUE 11 VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE
However all of the above was nothing compared
to the exuberant, over-the-top way Riot
Squad collected their award for Best Drinks/
Cocktail with their new Iron Bruise e-liquid. Last year there seemed to be a little
confusion as to whether guests could vape
or not but we ensured that there would be no
misunderstandings this time round.
“You can take our freedom but you’ll never
take away our flavour,” was the Riot Squad
acceptance chant which was repeated over
and over again, much to the amusement of
the room. The evening was
relaxed and informal
hosts Johnnie and
Ashley Hansen were
The fact that Riot Squad representative
Hamish Guerrini was wearing nothing but a kilt
made the evening even more memorable.
When he turned his back on the audience to
promptly reveal what a Scotsman wears under
his kilt - in this case absolutely nothing at all -
gasps rang out throughout the room, followed
by a few moments of astonished silence.
At that moment I felt a little sorry for the camera
and video crew on duty, that was one sight that
they could not have expected to fill the frame of
their viewfinders.
There was a huge cheer at the start of
the evening when it was announced that
vaping was allowed at the tables and in the
bar outside.
also a little more
than last year and
Strawberry Queen’s
a perfect double act.
Johnnie was a human dynamo, a walking,
breathing ball of energy from the moment he
walked onto the stage to the moment he left it.
How Ashley managed to stay so calm as
she battled to get him to focus for more then
a couple of seconds is a mystery. She has
patience and charm in abundance for sure.
As I said, the combination worked very
well and if these guys are available to do
it all again next year then I, for one,
would certainly not be disappointed.
Magician Nick Einhorn and his team were back
for a second year to do close up magic tricks
while Nick performed an exclusive set from the
stage which left the audience in awe.