Cravin’ Vapes- Strawberry/Banana

Love this picture!  The one for Strawberry/Kiwi is even better, so check it out if you get a chance at the manufacturers website.  Now, back to your regularly scheduled program:  I was introduced to this company through a vaping friend of mine, and it was described to me as a good, discount E-juice company.  After trying this one flavor, I venture to say that the products of this manufacturer taste like they’re from a discount E-juice company.  That doesn’t mean, necessarily, that the juice is bad.  It’s just that it could be a lot better with higher quality ingredients.

The taste of Cravin’ Vapes’ Strawberry/Banana is definitely detectable as a mixture of strawberries and banana, but the flavor is light and could be a little stronger.  The smoothness of the vape was exactly as expected from a 50/50 PG/VG mix, so the throat hit is a little rough, but not nearly as bad as other discount E-liquid brands with the same PG/VG ratio, making this brand a good choice if you’re looking to cut costs while sacrificing as little quality as possible.  Let’s not forget that walking into a convenience store as a smoker, there is a veritable plethora of tobacco brands and qualities to choose from, depending on your taste and budget.  Pall Mall and L&M are among the less expensive brands, but I would much prefer (when I still smoked) an L&M to a Pall Mall because to me, the quality, taste, and smoothness are a little better than that of Pall Mall.  E-juices are the same way, and retailers need to become aware of this fact.  Cravin’ Vapes could be the E-Liquid equivalent to L&M cigarettes, while Hangsen’s or E_Liquid Depot would be more akin to Pall Malls, and Mr. Nice Guy, Flavorz by Joe, and VaperMate would be more like your top-of-the-line Benson and Hedges, Nat Shermans, Dunhills, or Davidoffs.  If you are an owner of a Vape-related business and you sell E-juices, carrying a variety of different brands and qualities will draw a wider range of customers into your establishment.

I’m beginning to notice a trend with the less expensive brands of E-juices; that steeping and playing around with your voltage can make all the difference.  With Cravin’ Vapes’ concoction, I steeped overnight and used 4.5 volts on my ESCO to crank up the production of vapor.  With this particular juice, both of these factors improved both the volume of vapor and the flavor.  The one category of my rating process that I was the most disappointed in was the olfactory reception of the vapor plumes.  I can’t say that this vapor smells either good or bad.  It actually has no smell at all.  This also means that the all important French inhale of the experienced vaper is completely unnecessary in this case.

If you’re a vaper on a budget, and you’re wanting to get the best flavor and quality for your dollar (or pound, or Euro, or peso) look into ordering directly from Cravin’ Vapes’ website or find a local retailer offering their fare.  Given the requirements of keeping your E-juice costs down as low as possible, you’ll be very happy with this decision.

Beat the Anti-Vapers at their own Game!

In an effort to give credit where credit is due, I stumbled across this idea in the response forum to “Call to Action- California E-Cigarette” on CASAA.org’s blog (CASAA = Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association).  The response that I found revolutionary in it’s ingenuity was posted by user BXCellent in response to the suggestion that recent legislation in California, the land of really dumb-f**k ideas and total misunderstandings of social-responsibility, has made regarding vapers.  If passed, vaping would be categorized exactly the same as smoking, so that means you won’t be able to vape in workplaces, indoors in public places, on the public sidewalk outdoors in Hollywood Hills, and within 20 miles (or whatever the distance is) of a doorway.

BXCellent suggested in response to this aggressive anti-vaping move that we retaliate with the same vigor they’re throwing at us and file suits protesting the fact that vapers are now being forced to be in close proximity to the very thing they are trying to stay away from through the blessing of harm reduction, electronic cigarette technology.  Why not?  If they’re going to treat e-cigarettes as tobacco (smoking) products, then obviously vapers will be forced into smoking areas in order to utilize their health-rescuing devices.  So the vapor, who more than likely began the practice of vaping to replace the much more dangerous practice of (analog) cigarette smoking, will now be forced to stand next to burning cigarettes, breathing their toxic, carcinogen-laden, second-hand smoke into their recently liberated lungs.

I’ve noticed that a lot of readers of the various e-cigarette news sources out there are responding, rightfully so, to bad news about threats to the e-cig community with statements like, “What do we do to stop this?”  Well, here’s a start.  If they’re gonna file ridiculous legislation about us, we can throw a few not-so-frivolous lawsuits their way.

This is the way we’re gonna win this fight.  They (the self-important pricks who feel that they have been ordained high priests of ruling all others in their presence) need to know that we bring a gun to a knife fight, a tank to a gun fight, a battleship to a tank fight, a nuclear missile silo to a large-scale naval battle, a star destroyer to a nuclear war, and a Death Star to a star destroyer skirmish… you get the idea.  And I don’t mind nominating myself for the Star Wars reference of the week award.

Brainstorming Some Guerilla Activism for Vaping Rights

In light of the information I’ve uncovered through my investigations into the multi-layered corruptions In both the FDA and Big Tobacco Corporations, both individually and as a dynamic pair of vicious, rabid beasts, I’ve come to realize that it’s going to take some sort of unexpected, wholly original plan of action in order to even stand a chance of fighting the upcoming legal and legislative onslaughts concerning E-cigarettes and vaping.  Guerilla activism is characterized by a combination of both the spirit of protest and ingenuity in lieu of multi-million dollar campaigns.  So, I’ve literally racked my brain for a solution that the enemy won’t see coming.

Here’s what I’ve come up with… and unfortunately I don’t even have the funds to make this happen, but maybe someone else does.  This idea occurred to me through a conversation about the all-too common gay marriage debate.  I argued over a shell (cup) of kava the other day that the best way for the gay community to win their fight for the legalization of same-sex marriages would be for a group of activists to file for 501c3, non-profit corporation status and incept a “religion” containing official tenets establishing the allowance and acceptance of same-sex unions.  This was an academic debate, and not at all based on personal feelings over the issue, of which I have none.  I’m an I’ll-stay-over-here-and-you-stay-over-there kind of person.  I do, however, have personal feelings about the issue of vaping and E-cigarettes.

So, I applied the same concept to our current dilemma and danger:  How do we keep the evil, flesh-eating FDA and the malicious, soul-sucking Big Tobacco Companies from derailing our one saving grace in the world of addiction harm reduction?  Simple:  Let’s file for 501c3 status for the formation of an officially recognized “religion” that cultivates the physical and mental health of its believers through the outright banning of cigarette smoking, and the requirement of utilizing e-cigarettes instead.  This can be a smaller dogma under the parent dogmatic category of “acceptance and utilization of technology for spiritual health.

I don’t know… maybe this is a far-fetched plan that seems ridiculous or over-reactive.  But what is the FDA going to do when we counter their new e-cigarette regulations with an appeal to the “free practice of religion” item in the Bill of Rights?  Are they prepared to tell us that we can’t exercise our firmly-held religious beliefs?  What if another of those beliefs is a prohibition against unnatural, chemical additives in food, drugs, “tobacco/nicotine” products, etc?

So, in order for this to work, our protest against the planned shenanigans of Big Tobacco’s polluting of E-juice, which heretofore only contained four ingredients, could take place under the protective banner of religious freedom… think about it.  This doesn’t mean that we require complete religious loyalty… This religious organization wouldn’t have any problem  with you going to mass on Sunday, or Sabbath on Saturday, or the drum circle on Tuesday evening.  Let’s do something that they wouldn’t be able to predict in a thousand years!  All we need is somebody to finance the 501c3, which I’d be happy to do if I could just talk my bill collectors into giving me a free month off.

Mt. Baker Vapor- Cucumber Mint

Cucumber Mint E-Juice from Mount Baker Vapor

What I like about Mt. Baker Vapors so far is the ingenuity behind their flavor mixes.  Their Cucumber Mint E-juice is no exception to this rule, and I couldn’t help but be completely fascinated by this fusion of tastes.  It’s almost impossible to describe just how this vapor hits the tongue, but I’ll do my best… The first drag I took of this E-liquid introduced the strong minty/mentholy presence.  The cucumber has it’s own brand of cooling sensation, different yet complimentary to the cooling of the mint.  I did detect a slight earthy flavor just briefly on the exhale, but I was outdoors at the time… maybe somebody had recently mowed their lawn nearby.  I wasn’t able to replicate the earthiness after that.

There are a slew feminine hygiene products available out there that are cucumber-based.  Even some that employ the cucumber/mint combination.  My wife uses one of these fairly regularly.  The scent and scent-flavor of this vapor is highly suggestive of these products, and I see that as a good thing, but I suppose that’s all a matter of taste.  The pairing of cooling effects in Mt. Baker Vapor’s Cucumber-Mint makes for a very smooth, yet adequately noticeable throat hit.  I’d even venture to suggest that the cucumber and mint medley affects the vaper with a sense of calming energy (I know, that sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s the best I can do to describe).  My only real issue with this flavor is that the cucumber flavor is easily missed if you stop paying attention to the tasting process, and the mint seems to stand out by itself.  Maybe a little less menthol and a little more cucumber would improve this E-juice slightly.

Steeping, unfortunately, didn’t seem to do a whole lot to improve, or highlight the flavor of this liquid.  Cranking up the voltage, however, stressed the cooling sensation even more, which is odd considering the tendency for burning associated with higher voltage e-cigarette batteries.  The higher voltage also increased the aura of aroma emanating from the E-cig.  I asked a few of my friends what their nostrils detected form my vapor, and they responded that all they could really pick up on was the mint.

So far, I’m pleased with Mt. Baker Vapor, and I have a few more flavors to try and review.  Just for sh*ts and grins, I used my Megatwix Dual-Tank Clearomizer to combine Mt. Baker Vapor’s Whipped Cream and Cucumber-Mint.  I’m glad that I was sh*tting and grinning at that particular moment because the resulting cocktail was spectacular!  It make the mint flavor so incredibly smooth.  It reminded me of crème de menthe and cream.  If you’re into cocktailing E-juices… don’t miss this strange but wonderful kinship of unlikely spirits.

If it’s your first time ordering from Mount Baker Vapor, use ejuiceconnoisseur11 as your coupon code for an 11% discount! If you’ve ordered before, use ejuiceconnoisseur10 for 10% off!

Secondhand Vaping? Are you Serious, FDA?

I suppose this was wholly inevitable.  The majestic Food and Drug Administration is now suggesting that people who are in the same room as someone enjoying their new found health through an E-cigarette filled with clean, harmless ingredients (Yes, nicotine is actually harmless under most circumstances… Google it!) are now in danger of catching the cancer and dying a horrible screaming death, alone and unloved.

According to their Holiness, the FDA, the emitted smoke (yes, they actually believe that e-cigarettes emit smoke) contains “ultra-fine liquid particles” (just like in real smoke, right?) laden with every carcinogen known to man… including lead.  So, it’s safe to say that the FDA has moved completely over to fiction now in their announcements, statements, and official documentation.  But my question to them is this:  What about the massive quantities of rat poison in printer ink which is propelled through the air on the backs of sound waves created by the noisy printer motor?  Or how ’bout those deadly, irradiated flubblerictens that fall off of spiderwebs hanging over airport bathroom stalls on Thursday afternoons?  See, I can make up wild, senseless facts, too!

The one thing that bothers me the most about this new vomitous schlock spewed forth from the Big Tobacco-owned lips of the FDA is their insistence on referring to E-cigarette vapor as “emissions.”  This is a great example of wordage chosen specifically to invoke a conditioned response.  The conditioned response in this case is a negative one, due to the association of the word “emissions” with the chemical fumes given off by vehicles and industrial machines.  Someone in the insane asylum of the FDA is at the very least skilled enough in spin doctoring to use a word with extremely negative popular connotations to, in turn, condition a new response in the reader/viewer.  The response they want to instill in you is that E-cigarettes pollute the air with dangerous, poisonous emissions and must be slain at all costs to save our children and our childrens’ children from man-eating, flesh-charring, fire-breathing demon dragons from Hell… or something like that.

P.S.  Pay attention to the interesting fact that each time the FDA releases yet another statement on the dangers of E-cigarettes, they conveniently add another non-existent, poisonous component, or additive to E-cig vapor… Now we’re up to the following list:  tobacco-specific nitrosamines, volatile organic compounds, acetone, form aldehyde, acetaldehyde, benzo(a)pyrene as well as silicate and various metal particles (sodium, iron, aluminum, nickel, copper, magnesium, lead, chromium, manganese, while potassium, and zinc) are all present in something that doesn’t actually consist of ANY of that.  Let’s see what else we can add next time.  And by the way, aren’t you (FDA) trying to regulate E-cigarettes specifically so that Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds can add their own, addiction-increasing, cancer-causing additives to their own brands of E-cigs?  Can you say “inconsistent contradictions?”

OK, Does This Bother Anybody Else?

This is really bugging the shit out of me.  (Forgive the use of the word “shit.”  I usually don’t use words like “shit” while I’m writing, but I got a serious shittin’ problem with this!)  I’ve been looking for pictures of celebrities vaping to put up as small, entertaining posts on this website.  Unfortunately, there seem to be very few celebrities who vape, and the ones who do seem to have no interest of knowledge in “real” vaping, and have only been photographed vaping crappy, convenience store throw away models like Blu, NJoy, etc.  Bruno Mars actually just recently invested in the NJoy company, which has been “acquired” by the Lorillard company (the Big Tobacco firm responsible for Newport and Maverick)  If you’ve been reading my other articles, you’ll know what an immensely bad idea that is.  Quit smoking through vaping, then invest in the very thing that’s trying to get you back on cigarettes.  Good job, Bruno!

Where are the celebrities with gorgeous e-cig mods, kick-ass VV batteries, top-of-the-line clearomizers, and E-juices imported from the South of France?  The only pictures out there are of celebrities holding tiny, cartridge-based, ancient 510-series joke-e-cigs.  Are they all really so stupid and unwilling to do anything for themselves that involves even the most pedestrian amount of research?  They have the money to buy an impressive collection of crazy, unusual, custom-built mods.  They have the power to promote real vaping technologies and clean ingredients against the onslaught of Big Tobacco and their planned additive-laced e-cig brands, but they vape the very e-cigarettes that have already been bought up by the Big Tobacco conglomerates!  WTF, Hollywood!?!?

And the insult is complete with pictures like the above dumbassery.  The article that accompanied this picture was about Simon Cowell switching from his two pack-a-day habit to vaping, so what picture do they take?  Why, a picture of Simon Cowell smoking an analog cigarette, of course!  Because obviously that encapsulates the gist of the entire article about QUITTING SMOKING!  I have to take a break… a stream of dark red blood just fell out of my eye and I hear rushing water.

Mt. Baker Vapor- Whipped Cream

Whipped Cream E-Juice from Mount Baker Vapor

I finally got my Mt. Baker Vapor in the mail!  And I must say I am fairly impressed by what I’ve received.  With 240+ flavors to chose from, I was a little apprehensive about my selection process, but I think I picked some pretty good ones.  The first one I’m going to review is the Whipped Cream E-juice, which I have to say is much more realistic-tasting than I thought it ever could be… right down to that “whipped,” aerated feel that one would think only possible in actual, gas-propelled whipped cream.

The flavor of the Mt. Baker Vapor Whipped Cream has similarities to a few of the Marshmallow flavored E-liquids I’ve tried in the past, but as stated above, that aerated sensation is very unique, and I would love to know if it’s merely the power of suggestion, or if some other flavor has been included in the mix that simply simulates the whipping procedures applied to sweet cream in order to produce the world’s greatest pie topping.  And yes, the sweetness level of this flavor is actually very light, with a surprising lack of chemically, PG essence.  Steeping made all of the good points of this product simply more noticeable, without actually adding strength.  Cranking up the voltage, though, is definitely not recommended!  Unless you like napalming your whipped cream before eating.

A few people around me commented (interestingly) that it smelled like a bagel shop in the room.  I looked around and didn’t see any bagels in the immediate vicinity, and the best explanation I can come up with here is that those two people (married I believe) ordered whipped cream-covered lattes at bagel shops often patronized by themselves.  Either that or they’re zombies, pretending that they still have human senses in order to fit in and avoid gunshots to the head.  Who knows?  Anyways, the aroma of this creation of Mt. Baker Vapor’s is pleasant and, to me at least, seemed to be a mix of rice crispie treats and actual whipped cream.

Now, the “lightness” sensation of this flavor unfortunately has an effect on the throat hit experienced upon vaping.  I’m sure, especially with the adequate vapor production involved, that enough vapor is actually being inhaled to effect a decent throat hit.  The problem is, of course, that whole “lightness” and “whipped” trait that makes the flavor of this E-juice so unusually enjoyable.  I could hardly feel this vapor hit my lungs, which caused me to drag harder, which eventually burnt the liquid.

This brings me to my next important point about the Whipped Cream E-juice… Cocktailing!  I used my MegaTwix Dual-Tank Clearomizer to make some interesting concoctions.  I left the Whipped Cream flavor in one of the tanks, and I circulated the following flavors through the other tanks:  Boston Cream Pie, Banana Cream Pie, Banana-split, Chocolate Cherry, Chocolate Vanilla, and Cinnamon Blueberry Crumble.  The results… pure, unadulterated, taste bud Buddha-caliber enlightenment!  Adding Whipped Cream to these flavors is exactly like adding real whipped cream to the actual pastries themselves.  No difference!

So, I would recommend having Mt. Baker Vapor’s Whipped Cream E-liquid on hand to use as a “topping” on your favorite desert juices.  I regret that my strawberry bottle was unacceptably empty during this truly awakening taste test.  Strawberries and cream is something that, if captured correctly, might actually become one of my all-time favorite vapor flavors!

If it’s your first time ordering from Mount Baker Vapor, use ejuiceconnoisseur11 as your coupon code for an 11% discount! If you’ve ordered before, use ejuiceconnoisseur10 for 10% off!

How Philip Morris Plans to Screw Us!

It took me a while to follow this particular trail of breadcrumbs… but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life it’s the fact that there is always a trail of breadcrumbs.  In an official report filed this month (June, 2013) by Altria Group Inc. to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the corporation announced it’s recommendation to the FDA that the agency (among other questionable things) include in their regulation of E-cigarettes (or MRTP- Modified Risk Tobacco Products) guidelines to “Good Manufacturing Practices that enable consistent product performance and reduce variability.”  Remember the terms in bold print… these are the terms that will attempt to bury the smaller, healthier e-cigarette companies.

It has already become apparent that Big Tobacco companies are referring to e-cigarettes as tobacco products, which is inherently false.  Nicotine is derived from tobacco, true, but it is no more tobacco than Premarin is horse piss.  Nicotine does not maintain the qualities, traits and characteristics of tobacco after it is isolated.  Why does this matter?  Because Altria’s Nu Mark MarkTen E-cigarettes will turn a higher profit if E-liquid is regulated as a tobacco product, by which Altria is already prepared to abide.  And abiding by the FDA’s tobacco regulations is something that only the wealthiest corporations can afford to successfully finance.

Now, let’s revisit those aforementioned, highlighted terms.  If you can remember back to your analog smoking days, you’ll remember that a Marlboro Red bought at a crappy gas station in Bumf**k Mississippi tasted EXACTLY the same as one bought at a high society cigar store in Beverly Hills.  This is because the Tobacco companies go to extreme measures to ensure that they provide consistent product performance and reduced variability.  Straight from the horse’s mouth, in a report filed by Big Tobacco to the World Health Organization entitled “ADDITIVES, CIGARETTE DESIGN and TOBACCO PRODUCT REGULATION” a spokesman for a tobacco corporation discussed the use of reconstituted tobacco.  Essentially, this term refers to tobacco that has been processed and combined with additives and various other chemicals (Ammonia chemistry) in order to “equalize the concentration of nicotine.”  Ammonia chemistry produces “free nicotine” which is more potent than naturally occurring nicotine.

This is all fine and dandy… I suppose if I wanted to sell billions of cigarettes to millions of people, I’d prefer that they all be fairly similar in constitution.  The problem comes in the form of greed, and is seen in another statement made during the same World Health Organization-submitted report.  One might assume that reconstituted tobacco (a severe misnomer of the highest degree) is a fancy term for “recycling waste tobacco” or making the manufacturing process more economically feasible.  It is admitted that this is not the case, implying that the process more than likely costs more money and uses more tobacco than the alternative of keeping with the natural farm-to-cigarette method.  They give two real reasons for the use of reconstituted tobacco: 1. It introduces a significant amount of additives into the blend increasing the “addictive capacity” of each cigarette.  2.  It makes the smoke of the cigarette easier to inhale.

So, to tie all of this together… this is how it’s all going to go down:  The FDA, with the full support of Big Tobacco, will regulate E-cigarettes as a tobacco product.  In doing so, they will establish guidelines for “Good Manufacturing Practices,” which will require consistent product performance and reduced variability.  To fulfil these requirements, Big Tobacco will modify it’s processes of reconstituted tobacco to make their E-liquid blends more addictive and consistently uniform.  There will be very few smaller, private, proprietorship or LLC-based E-cigarette companies who can even dream of ever being able to afford the manufacturing equipment, not to mention labor, energy, insurance, etc. costs required for the process of tobacco reconstitution.  And without that equipment, they will never be able to meet the FDA’s regulatory requirements.  So, there you have it.  Corporate America wins again by standing on our shoulders to reach their goal, then after they have a firm grasp they reach down with a scimitar and decapitate us.  Say goodbye to your three-ingredient E-juices.  Gotta love the ingenuity of the ultimately corrupt and the absolutely greedy.