My argument wasn’t “vaping isn’t healthy” or “vaping is more harmful than cigarettes”. It was “more research is needed”, which each of those studies I linked support. Thank you, though, for proving my point in your attempt to build a lovely strawman to argue against.

The number of ingredients is irrelevant, especially since the idea that there are “at most” 6 ingredients is simply wrong: https://hub.jhu.edu/2021/10/07/vaping-unknown-chemicals/

A major area of concern for vaping is the fact that vaping generates much higher concentrations of nano-particles compared to regular cigarettes, and therefore may penetrate much further into the lung material (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6312322/ and https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0210147). There are also concerns about contaminants, variations in delivery devices (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6312322/), and other confounding factors that require a lot more research to ascertain the long term impact.

As for whether I have a study or information contradicting the conclusion that vaping is safer than smoking, it depends on whether you selectively ignore the parts of the studies that say “more research is needed” (because apparently that’s an “ignorant take”), but searching for “peer reviewed articles electronic cigarettes safer than tobacco” returns these top results (I did not cherry pick in any way, and instead took the top results sequentially):

• https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2042098614524430: “In conclusion, toxicological studies have shown significantly lower adverse effects of EC vapor compared with cigarette smoke. Characteristically, the studies performed by using the liquids in their original liquid form have found less favorable results; however, no comparison with tobacco smoke was performed in any of these studies, and they cannot be considered relevant to EC use since the samples were not tested in the form consumed by vapers. More research is needed, including studies on different cell lines such as lung epithelial cells. In addition, it is probably necessary to evaluate a huge number of liquids with different flavors since a minority of them, in an unpredictable manner, appear to raise some concerns when tested in the aerosol form produced by using an EC device.” Granted, it does go on to say that existing evidence shows that vaping is safer than tobacco, but clarifies that there still needs to be more research on some of the unquantified risks of vaping.

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5469426/ This is an older study using a very small sample size. It focuses on e-cigs as a tool for smoking cessation, but also concludes “Similar to cancer risk, there are no published data describing the long-term lung function or cardiovascular effects of e-cigarettes; ongoing surveillance, especially once e-cigarettes are regulated and standardized, will be necessary.”

• https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0129443 This study was primarily measuring how likely e-cigs were to get people to stop using tobacco, rather than comparative safety (despite the title). The conclusion makes clear that it is not known (at the time; this was 9 years ago) if e-cigarettes could be considered “safe”: “Adding e-cigarettes to tobacco smoking did not facilitate smoking cessation or reduction. If e-cigarette safety will be confirmed, however, the use of e-cigarettes alone may facilitate quitters remaining so.”

I’m not sure what your Google search was, but its probably best not to cherry pick a single source to support your claim.

It is premature to declare vaping safer than smoking, as there is relatively little comprehensive research on the long term effect of vaping. The whole “vaping is safer” spiel is not that different than when doctors were paid to tout the health benefits of cigarettes: propaganda not based in conclusive science.

Yes, these are all part of an annual advent calendar released by Drinks by the Dram. They sell a variety of different calendars, including Scotch, World Whiskies, and Gin. Each day is a different 3cl sample.

I think it depends. I’ve had a couple at 43% that didn’t seem too diluted, like Laphroaig 10 and Caol Ila 12. I probably would prefer them a bit stronger, but its not objectionable at that level. Macallen 12 year double cask felt a bit bland to me, and it may have been in part due to the 43% ABV.

I’ve only had a couple that were above 55%. Most of them I alternate between adding water and drinking neat, except for a MacDuff IB bottled at 64.5%(!) that’s just too raw at that ABV.

Yeah, I didn’t love this one, but I didn’t hate it either. The nose was the best part.

That’s what I like about the advent calendar concept. I’m going to be trying a bunch of things i’d never pick on my own. If I find a handful of new drams that I enjoy I’ll count it a resounding success!

I had it shipped to the states. Cost me just a bit over $30 in shipping. They don’t ship to every state, though.

At this point, I think most people who qualify as merely conservative are Democrats. The Republican party in general has moved far right of “conservative” and well into “fanatical”.

A limited release of High West Rendezvous Rye finished in both Tawny and Ruby Port barrels.

They had me at “port barrels”!

I’m hoping I can stay focused enough to do a brief review of my thoughts on each one. It won’t be a full review, because I find that I can focus on trying to identify tasting notes, or I can focus on enjoying the dram, but not both at the same time. Given the sample sizes I’ll be focusing on enjoying them :)

That holiday blend sounds delightful! I can’t wait for my next trip to Europe; I feel like I completely wasted my first trip to the Whisky Exchange (except for the Laga Special Release 2021 the clerk recommended).

I’m confident that the amount of things you cannot imagine is quite substantial; certainly far more than that of an average person.

I knew nothing about whisky when I had Scorch. I’d be curious to try it again now that I’ve learned a bit, but I also can’t see myself shelling out after-market prices for it. Which is starting to summarize how I feel about non-core Ardbegs in general. I’m holding out judgement on the higher end Ardbegs like Traigh Bhan, but I also don’t expect I’ll get to try anything in that price range for a while.

Given the length of my review, there’s absolutely no need to apologize for the length of your response :) I very much appreciate you taking your time to respond and to share your experience and perspectives!

I think maybe where I struggle most is that there clearly is no such thing as a “correct” review, but then what qualifies as a useful review?

You make excellent points about the variability and subjectiveness of perception of taste (and smell!). Memory indeed plays a huge role. But so does biology. There are a number of well-documented flavors and odors that vary wildly in perception based on genetic markers. Cilantro is one of the most familiar; some people enjoy it, while others cannot ignore that it tastes so strongly like soap.

If one person tastes chocolate and another tastes gym socks for whatever reason, whether genetic or due to how our brain wires chemical associations, how do I determine which review has value to me? One way might be to look for reviews for a whisky that I’m familiar with that describe similar things to what I experience when tasting that expression, but that seems a lot of work, and still subject to vast opportunities for error. Maybe the reviewer interprets the flavors that I identify as “chocolate” the same way I do, but they view “stone fruit” vastly different than how I perceive it.

I enjoy sharing my experiences, particularly for things I love, like whisky. But I want that sharing to be as helpful and meaningful as possible. In that spirit, are there more objective markers I could cite?

I have been working on my routine, and I’m documenting my impressions across variations of that routine (for example separate tasting notes if I add a few drops of water vs if I try it neat). I also keep intending to run comparisons across multiple samples (e.g. Ardbeg 10 vs Wee Beastie), but keep getting either too absorbed in enjoying and documenting the first one to move on to the second, or too sloshed to write coherent notes :)

The flavor wheel is something I looked at previously, but struggle to understand some of it. For example, I don’t understand the relation between “spice” and “pencil rubber”. In other cases, I simply am not familiar with the outer edge choices for entire categories. For example, “iodine” is the only “medicinal” note I would say I might recognize from a blind smelling.

Again, thank you for all your feedback and advice! It is very much appreciated.

And please don’t take my use of the phrase “bullshit” to indicate derision for others’ reviews. I used that to add some levity to my review and to soften my bafflement at what I felt like I was missing in my own experiences :)

Nah, wombats just lure you into sticking your head in the hole they’re hiding in, and then crush your skull with their muscly ass. https://theoatmeal.com/comics/wombats

I’m not avoiding Islay. It’s just that my current collection is exclusively Islay, and I want to start exploring some of the other options. I’ve had some unpeated whiskies, but so far none of them have really ticked all the boxes for me so to speak.

Classic Laddie is one I want to try, simply because I really like Port Charlotte 10 year and am curious to see what else Bruichladdich puts out.

Thanks for the other recommendations, too. I’m particularly interested in the Penderyn. I was just in Wales (Cardiff) a couple of months ago, and skipped the local options in favor of seeking out Islay options I hadn’t tried yet, but I’m regretting that decision.

Okay, that all I can agree with. And I feel like there’s a huge difference between buying items on Amazon, and buying groceries on Amazon. I find it really hard to justify the later, but I can still imagine some circumstances where it would be justified (e.g. someone with a disability who can’t travel/carry groceries, and no other local store has viable delivery options).

It’s a shame. I used to love Amazon. Back when they just sold books they were one of the sites that really highlighted just what the Internet could be. More than a place for entertainment, but a place to obtain things that were otherwise unavailable. Their transition from ‘we sell books’ to ‘we sell everything and we’ll actively destroy anything that might compete with us if we can’ was terrible.

They managed to even screw up the cost of gas for me. I live in a small town that happened to be chosen by Amazon to be one of their major distribution centers. Our area is filled with their delivery trucks, and as a result the cost of gas is a full $0.20 USD more here than if I drive to the next town over.

Fuck Amazon. But I refuse to judge people who shop there as harshly. Judging them requires too many assumptions about their personal circumstances.

And why do you think you have no other choice than Amazon and Walmart in America?

That’s what you said, which is somewhat ambiguous phrasing. It could mean “why do you believe that there are no other choices, because there are?” or it could mean “yes, you have no other choices than those two, but how do you think that happened?”

Given that you started off by arguing that it was infuriating that anyone would ever shop at Amazon, and have been pretty consistent in your other comments that the solution is to just go to “an actual shop”, the first interpretation is much more appropriate to the context.

If you really meant “yes, you have no other choices than those two”, then sure, I’ll accept the back pedaling. It doesn’t change that you are infuriated that anyone would shop at Amazon, and accuse those that do of personally destroying the climate because we are lazy. The fact that you are aware that many people simply don’t have a better option, and yet you still judge them so harshly, only makes you look worse.

Really? I had no idea! /s

Seriously, though… just because there are other vendors that sell online does mean that each and every thing someone may want/need is available from other vendors online. Amazon has spent decades forcing competitors either out of business or to work through Amazon. They also leverage volume and loss leaders to drastically undercut prices of competitors they can’t eliminate.

Even if you can find someone else that has what you’re looking for and are willing to pay more (and for the record, I absolutely pay extra to avoid Amazon whenever possible), there are a lot of small businesses that provide even shittier service (or are outright scams) than Amazon. You may or may not actually get what you ordered, and if something is wrong with it, good luck getting a replacement or refund short of a formal dispute with your bank. Many require credit cards for online transactions, and you have no idea how they’re handling that data. Plenty exist that store CC info on local servers with nonexistent security precautions.

“Just shop online elsewhere” is just as lazy and undeservedly self-righteous as assuming everyone can just walk to a physical store to buy whatever they want.

Yeah, I’ve been making a real effort to look for alternatives to Amazon whenever possible. It’s hard, though, depending on what you want. Sure, there’s a ton of stuff on Amazon that I can get local if I’m willing to put up with some inconvenience. I don’t buy books off of Amazon anymore, for example, because I’d rather call the small independent book shop that’s about 35 minutes drive from my house, have them order the book for me, and then drive out and pick it up.

But the sheer volume of things Amazon sells means there’s going to be LOTS of things that they have that just aren’t available around me. A new fan for my specific model of laptop? A replacement knob for my specific washing machine (for less than a dollar)? Amazon it is.

No, your comment was clear: anyone who doesn’t make whatever level of effort it takes to never shop at Amazon infuriates you. Furthermore, you assume that there are always other choices besides Amazon and Walmart. What you obviously still aren’t getting is that those other choices besides Amazon and Walmart may not be practical for everyone.

Amazon is bad. No one is disagreeing. But if I need a left-handed monkey wrench and my choices are either buy from Amazon or drive 2 hours to the closest major city, go to a big box store that let’s be honest, isn’t really much better than Amazon in terms of economic impact, and then drive 2 hours back, you being infuriated by my choosing to not waste half a day to choose the slightly-lesser-of-two-evils is a lovely demonstration of privilege.