F E AT U R E
Why the vaping movie Vape Wave should be
required viewing for every smoker still alive
This brilliantly creative documentary will be loved by vapers but is really aimed at smokers
Vapouround Magazine writer Patrick Griffin gives his thoughts about Vape Wave - a featurelength movie documentary about the electronic cigarette and the global industry it has spawned.
Vape Wave is currently on a cinematic tour of France and plans are currently underway for it to be
released throughout Europe and further afield.
Billed as “the first and most
thorough movie about the
electronic cigarette’s incredible
worldwide phenomenon,” Vape
Wave is not to be missed.
I can’t think of a single vaper who would
not enjoy this film. It is informative, witty,
laugh-out-loud funny in places, brilliantly
shot and edited and with a couple of
awesome sci-fi sequences added in for
good measure.
But director Jan Kounen has not made
a film specifically for the vaping industry
- the target audience he has in mind is
made up of current smokers.
In fact this film should be required
viewing for every single smoker on the
planet, because it has the potential
to save more lives than any graphic
government health warning found on a
packet of fags.
How many smokers pick up their packet
of cigarettes, see the warning “Smoking
Kills!” and think: “Oh my God. I had no
idea. I must stop this immediately?”
Probably very few indeed, if any.
But if you are a smoker and you
watch this film then you might just be
persuaded to quit smoking and give
vaping a go instead.
64 VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE USA
You might do so for the very reason
that this movie does not attempt to
bully you into giving up smoking. Such
an approach simply does not work and
Kounen, very sensibly, has opted not to
go down that route.
Instead you are presented with a number
of vapers, all former smokers, who tell
their own fascinating stories about their
journey from being smokers to being
vapers and the positive impact this had
had on their lives.
I suspect Kounen wants the reaction
from smokers in the audience to be: “Hey
this could work for me too. I can still get
a nicotine hit through vaping but I don’t
have to gamble with my life any more.”
Vape Wave premiered in Paris on
How many smokers pick up their
packet of cigarettes, see the
warning “Smoking Kills!” and
think: “Oh my God. I had no idea.
I must stop this immediately?”
Probably very few indeed, if any.
But if you are a smoker and you
watch this film then you might
just be persuaded to
quit smoking and give
vaping a go instead.
September and is currently being
toured throughout France in a series of
screenings which is due to end in Nantes
on October 13.
Initial feedback suggests that smokers
who have seen the movie have already
tried vaping for the first time based on
what they learned in the movie.
Should this trend continue, and there
is no reason why it should not, then
everyone who was involved with this
project will have reason to celebrate.
This is a documentary but not in the
traditional sense of the word. Taking its
roots in “gonzo journalism”, it is made up
of interviews, archive footage, humour,
and fictional scenes picturing the vape
world’s future.
Director Kounen - a passionate
advocate for the vaping industry - is in
front of the camera for quite a lot of the
time and, indeed, he is central to this
film’s success.
His passion for the subject comes
through from start to finish to such an
extent that, for the first time in my life I
regretted never having smoked.
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