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It has been a while since I did a review for my friends over at LeCig, and checking their website, you’ll notice that they have really been doing some interesting stuff over there! There are a bunch of great new products they carry there, not the least of which is their 1300mAh Dual Battery Tank Kit! They sent along a sample of this great little kit for me to check out and tell you about.

This kit is an intermediate vapers dream kit, and, indeed, this may be all some people would ever need. What you get here is two 1300mAh eGo style batteries in your color of choice (black/red/blue/stainless), 2 matching colored CE4 clearomizers, a USB charger, a mains adapter, a needle bottle (nice addition) a manual and a nice black semi-hard zipper case to carry it all in. The kit retails for $83. Again, buy some e-juice with this thing and you are good to go, and with two 1300mAh batteries, you are set for a LONG time!

OK, OK. I know what some of you are thinking “So what, another eGo style battery kit. Big deal.” Well, in this case, it is a big deal, or rather maybe a short and fat deal? Just take another look at those batteries. For starters, 1300mAh is more vape-time than I have ever seen in a self contained eGo style battery. Second, if you are familiar at all with eGo style batteries, you’ll notice these have quite a different appearance (click the pic for a close up). Normal eGo batteries measure about 1/2 inch in diameter and these come in around 5/8 inch, which has a noticeably different feel in the hand, at least to me. My actual preference is for a wider style / more substantial battery as my fingers resemble sausages 🙂 It is just more comfortable to hold and operate. Also of note is the overall length. These are about 3.5 inches long, which is about the same length as a normal eGo 600mAh battery. These are also really cool looking, especially with the matching CE4 clearomizers. Five click on and off just like you would expect so you can turn it off when you put it in your pocket or purse. A nice blue lighted button that works every time with no misfires.

How about the rest of the kit? Well, the business end of it all is the two CE4 clearomizers. I have been running these with a 70/30 pg/vg e-juice in them and have yet to get any foul burnt or plasticy taste, no dry hits, no wicking issues, etc.. They have just worked, and that is what we all like! You can just fill these up with about 2ml of your favorite e-juice and go and not have to worry, and, since you get 2 of these, most people will be able to easily make them last an entire day together. Should you need a refill, though, you get that nice little needle bottle in the kit too! Now what is nice about this is sometimes your e-juice comes with a big tip instead of a dripper tip on the bottle. This has the propensity of making a mess while filling if you aren’t careful. Instead, just fill up your needle bottle and when you fill your CE4 from this, everything stays nice and tidy. It is also worth mentioning that needle bottles come in really handy if you are one of those folks that likes to do a little e-juice tweaking on your own as well. It’s a convenient place for you to mix a couple e-juices together for a special flavor or maybe thin one out a little for easier vaping. The USB and mains adapter work as you would expect them to (and no problems charging these batteries off the USB port on my laptop) the instruction manual covers all the basics about the kit, and the case is just the right size. No jamming stuff into it and making it hard to close, everything fits without it being to gigantic to carry and it is nice and rugged/durable. What more could you ask for!

I definitely give this kit a thumbs up and would highly recommend it to anyone stepping up from the stick-style ecigs. I really cannot find anything about it that I don’t like. Stop on over to LeCig’s website and check it out for yourself. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me and I’ll do my level best to help out and you can also always contact LeCig directly, those folks over there are very knowledgeable and helpful.

This post is a bit of an informative review on some of the most common items you may find atop your ecig battery. These are some of what many intermediate vapers use and I hope to follow this post up with some more advanced items at a later date. This review has been made possible by the generosity of 2 great vendors:

and

The first item in this list is here because, if you are coming from beginner or “stick style” ecigs, you should be intimately familiar with this. It is a cartomizer. A cartomizer is basically an atomizer head, wrapped with a filler material enclosed in tube of some sort. These are designed to imitate, mostly, the look of the filter end of a traditional cigarette. Although with many stick style ecig vendors the cartomizers come in many interesting colors, for the most part, the blank ones most vendors sell come in silver/stainless/unwrapped and wrapped in an adhesive black paper. Cartomizers can give a nice even vape for even the most hardened chain vaper as long as they are kept full/wet. Using these is very easy and natural to prior smokers. You can pop that little top off and either drip your e-juice down the sides of the filler material to fill or, my preferred method, use a blunt tip needle. Slide the needle tip between the filler and casing and push in e-juice until the filler is saturated. Although cartomizers are available in different sizes, the most common size will hold approximately 1ml of e-juice. Once filled, pop your top back on, screw this onto your battery and you are ready to vape! Life expectancy from these devices is quite good and depending upon your e-juice ingredients, you can successfully refill these several times and many times they can be cleaned (by boiling for a few minutes) drying and reusing again 3 or more times. If you want to jazz things up a little bit or you don’t like the feel, you can always add a drip tip to the end instead of replacing that cap. This, to me, makes things much more pleasant and comfortable. Drip tips are available from many vendors in a variety of interesting shapes, colors and materials to suit your fancy.

This next setup is a 2 piece setup and seems to have fallen into some disuse, although it is still widely available on some older model e-cig kits.

This is the cartridge system. As I said, this is a 2 piece system consisting of an atomizer, which is a small bit of wire coil enclosed in a metal tube which heats up when current is applied, and the cartridge itself, which is generally a plastic tip filled with a liquid absorbent material. The cartridge is filled with the same methods as used for a cartomizer, however, it doesn’t hold nearly as much e-juice. This may be why it is falling from popularity a bit. Much like a cartomizer, these really need to be kept full for a good vape, but it’s a little harder here, because of the smaller capacity. To use this system, the cartridge is filled and then for best results you can “prime” the atomizer by dripping one drop of your e-juice into the metal wick inside the atomizer and then push the 2 pieces together. Although the plastic cartridge will probably never really wear out, the filler will eventually stiffen up and need to be replaced. Many people have tried using a bit of cotton, or more successfully, a bit of folded up teabag. The atomizers can also be cleaned by simply rinsing out with water and allowing to dry and, for the more encrusted atomizers, people have even used denture cleaner to get their coils sparkling again. Chances are good that you will tire of this because of the number of refills you will have and start looking for something that holds a bit more e-juice. If you do, do not throw out your working atomizer! You will need it for dripping, which is something I’ll cover in another post.

Clearomizers are where things really start getting interesting for most folks. These devices hold considerably more e-juice than cartomizers or cartridges. Many will hold 2 to 2.5 ml or more! Clearomizers come in a variety of different styles, but they mostly consist of a see-through tube containing an atomizer toward the top of the tube, with several long wicks that extend down the inside length of the tube. Some variations you might encounter are rebuildable clearomizers, which usually allow the base to unscrew so you can more easily clean and replace the atomizer heads, and bottom coil clearomizers, which have the atomizer and wicks at the bottom of the clearomizer instead of the top. Filling these is pretty straight forward. In most models, the top mouthpiece unscrews and allows you to drip your juice directly down the inside of the clearomizer until it reaches full, which is usually up to the bottom of the atomizer head. These can be refilled, cleaned and reused many times, and with the rebuildable kind, you can even purchase new atomizers with wicks to extend the life indefinitely. While these work very well, it’s best to use a thinner e-juice with them to help aid in the wicking process. Thicker e-juices may take longer to wick and produce the occasional dry or burnt hit. My preference is a 70pg/30vg ratio for e-juices in them and that seems to work pretty well. Also of note, some more caustic e-juices have been reported to crack the plastic in these. Be wary of e-juices with heavy cinnamon or citrus content. It is best to check with your clearomizer vendor about cracking issues before using those kinds of e-juices. This being said, I vape heavy cinnamon all the time and have yet to have an issue.
** More good clearomizer info.

Last up in this review is tanks. You can find tanks in all kinds of shapes, sizes, materials and prices, but generally speaking, there are 2 kinds, clearo-tanks and carto-tanks. The common things between the two kinds are they usually hold 3.5 ml or more of e-juice with the most common sizes being 5 or 6 ml, and they are built with a tube, a top and bottom cap and take a removable drip tip for a mouthpiece.

Clearo-tanks are much like they sound. They are a tank with the same atomizer and wicking setup that a clearomizer uses. One of the most popular models/examples of these is a 3.5 ml Vivi Nova. The one you see pictured here is a newer model available with a metal tube (no issues with juice cracking that). They fill, clean up and are used similarly to a clearomizer but with more capacity. They also suffer the same shortcomings as a clearomizer in that they are best used with a thinner e-juice. You should be able to keep these going forever though as I have never seen one without a replacable atomizer head and wick. These are great, sturdy and easy to use devices that can keep you vaping all day without refills.
Carto-tanks are slightly different in that they are large capacity containers that keep your cartomizer filled. They way they do this is the tank cartomizer has holes in the outer casing for the e-juice from the tank to get through to the cartomizer’s inner filler material. Many people buy the appropriate sized cartomizer and punch holes in it themselves, and there are also prepunched tank cartomizers available. These are nice because most come with a flange at the bottom to keep the tank from sliding off the cartomizer and the holes are laser punched and cleaner. Using these is as straight forward as using a regular cartomizer. Fill the tank cartomizer just as you would any cartomizer then insert 3/4 of the way into the tank, leaving a small gap between the top of the tank and the top of the cartomizer – just enough for you to squeeze some juice into. Fill the tank to the top of the cartomizer, then push the cartomizer up to the top of the tank and insert your drip tip mouthpiece. Unlike clearo-tanks, you can get away with slightly heavier e-juices in these because you can adjust your cartomizers to allow for easier filler saturation by simply adding or enlarging the holes in the cartomizer casing. Cleaning is also straight forward. Disassemble the tanks pieces and rinse in hot water. Replace your cartomizer or you can try cleaning it by boiling as described above. This is currently my favorite delivery method and I find that it gives me a very even and always ready vape, even when I am chain vaping, and it lasts all day long. One disadvantage is that much e-juice is going to take a while to finish, so if you are into sampling lots of different flavors, you will need more tanks or a smaller delivery system 🙂

I hope this information helps some of you out. I remember when I was moving up from stick style ecigs that much of this seemed complicated and it really isn’t. I find the more I progress through these the more satisfying the vape becomes and also the easier it is on the wallet. For example with pre-filled stick style ecigs, you may purchase enough cartridges to last you a couple weeks for $25 or so. If you are using a tank and a bottle of e-juice, that price may go down to $15 or $20 for a month and with better vape and flavor. As always, if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me or either one of the great vendors here as well.

Important Links:
Cartomizers: Kingpin VaporPhoenix
Atomizers: Kingpin VaporPhoenix
Cartridges: Kingpin
Drip Tips: Kingpin VaporPhoenix
Clearomizers: Kingpin VaporPhoenix
Clearo-Tank kits: VaporPhoenix
Carto-Tank Kits: VaporPhoenix

So the other day I ordered a second Bolt from VapingXtreme ($20 WOW!) to replace my eGo v6 that died. The order before this I got a sample of e-juice from them called NicVape Chocolate Covered Cherries. Although I don’t really taste the chocolate, the juice tastes to me like Maraschino Cherries, which could be one of my most favorite flavors. So I ordered some of this with my new Bolt.

I received my new Bolt in the mail on Friday and with it came yet another juice sample. I really think this is how companies suck you in. They send you teasers, which, in turn, make you go back. The sample I got this time was their Xtreme Juice Vanilla Sky Tobacco Road.

Now I really should preface this by saying that I recently came to the realization that I am a big RY4 fan. RY4 is a mild tobacco flavor with sweet tones of vanilla and caramel. I don’t know if VapingXtreme has been paying attention to my posts or they just have the best luck in the world, but that Vanilla Sky sample was FRIGGIN AWESOME! It is, essentially, a RY4 without the caramel. It has this mild tobacco base with a heavy and delicious vanilla taste on top. It’s almost a marshmallo(y) vanilla taste and, to be honest, I haven’t been able to put it down and my 5 mil sample is spent. I was thinking hard about putting in an order for more this morning when I got an email from them about a promotion they are running until February 8th. If you buy $20 of merch from them, you get a free sample of Xtreme Juice. Just put the flavor and strength in the comments of the order. Well, that pretty much seals the deal.

Well played, VapingXtreme, well played…

eGo V6 and the Bolt!

I had a little Christmas card money hanging out that I promised myself this year I would actually use for me, and I thought it would be cool to find a “simple” mod to check out. I wandered over to VapingXtreme and lo and behold, in the clearance section they had the Bolt, cheaper than anywhere else I have seen it, and also the eGo V6 (which they brand the “Chrome Bullet”) on sale. I figured, what the heck and a few days later they were both at my doorstep (well, mailbox really).

The Chrome Bullet, is, like I mentioned, actually an eGo V6 and it is a really nice looking chrome tube, stainless steel construction, which takes 2 16340 batteries (stacked). This is a limited variable voltage device, meaning that it rotates through 3 separate voltage settings by means of multiple clicks on it’s singluar chrome clicky button. 5 clicks turns the device on and sets it to 4 volts and makes the LED indicator ring light up red. 5 more clicks and you get a red/blue led on the LED indicator ring and 5 volts. 5 more clicks and it turns blue and 6 volts. 5 final clicks makes the device turn off and it is now safe to carry / pocketable with chance of misfires. It has a single 510 connection on the top with a couple really nice air channels, so you can screw your favorite carto-tank right down on top and tight.

Mark, from VapingXtreme dutifully warned me that this was no novice vaping tool, and boy, was he right! This particular mod kicks like a horse and it *only* recommended for use with high resistance devices (cartomizers / atomizers / etc.). Using low resistance *anything* on this mod will surely burn up your atomizer, and in a hurry. That being said, I have been using a 2.n dual coil cartomizer on it most of the time and it feels like they were made to be together at the 4 volt setting. I am eager to get some 3.n dcc’s to try those at a higher voltage! I do not believe this device will have any trouble whatsoever driving your favorite high resistance carto/clearo/etc.. You won’t get a weak vape off of this thing until the batteries die!

The kit comes with the tube body, 2 batteries and a charger for $29, which seems to me like a great price! Unfortunately, it seems that right now, they are out of stock. No doubt because other people jumped right on that bandwagon. On the website, this is listed in the bargain basement section, so let’s hope that means he still intends on carrying more. You know you want one 🙂

The other mod I snagged was the Bolt. I got the black one and although the website pics look like they carry the anodized ones, this one has the crinkled texture to it. I LOVE THIS THING! The texture almost reminds me of the feel / look of leather. It’s super comfy to hold on to and works ridiculously well.

The Bolt is a little bigger (circumference) than any of my other tube mods and I really like that about it. Most other mods feel sort of tiny in my hand – anemic almost. Not this burly guy.

The Bolt is a 2 piece design that holds an 18500 battery and drives a 510 connection. It has a large horn button on the side near the top, which I actually kind of like. It is not a clicky button by any stretch of the imagination, but more of a squishy feel, albeit very durable at the same time. In fact, everything on this feels quite durable. It is made of metal and you can tell. This has quickly become my “go to” mod to putter around with. Like I said, I just like the feel and it just works when you push the button. No muss, no fuss.

The Bolt sells at VapingXtreme for $20, device only. At that price I am absolutely shocked that he actually has any left. It sells for at least $30 anywhere else unless you buy the plastic one. He does also carry the batteries and chargers there and $12 will get you one of each if you are in the need. 3 colors are available, red, black and gray, and as I mentioned, although the website pics look like the anodized version, mine has the nice textured finish on it. It is also worth mentioning that there are a plethora of places on the net where you can purchase a Bolt extender ring for around $7, which will allow you to use an 18650 in the Bolt, making it even beefier and last even longer. This is fantastic stuff at LOW prices. Better go pick yours up today before they are gone!

A Screwdriver that should definitely be in your tool kit!

I had this great conversation with Matt from ecigscrewdriver.com (which also resolves to http://www.cavecom.com/screwdriverSD) and he was telling me how the Screwdriver “mod” has pretty much been around since the dawn of vaping, and although some small tweaks have been made to it, it has pretty much stayed the same basic design. I figured with that kind of longevity, this must really be something special – and then Matt said he would send one along so that I could find out!

Unbelievable! They shipped this nifty little Screwdriver to me in PA, USA straight from England!

The screwdriver, the MK1, comes in 3 colors now, the silver, black and the newest, a golden copper color. That is what they sent me. It it strikingly elegant looking, and, indeed, I can see why it’s called a Screwdriver! Looks *just* like one when it has a cartomizer attached 🙂 The finish appears to be maybe anodized over an expertly machined aluminum body. The handle is a 2 piece design that unscrews to separate for insertion of the battery. The threads are finely machined and the halves screw together so finely you almost cannot tell it’s a two piece unit when they are in place. The unit perfectly fits a single 16340 battery which provides 3.7 volts and 880mAh to the 510 connector. This is my very first peek at a mechanical mod as well – absolutely no electronic circuitry or wires here. The switch is on the bottom of this unit and is a nice looking black plastic spring loaded button. In order to use the Screwdriver, I hold it in my hand with that button resting on the inside of my pinky and push up slightly. This causes the button to make contact with the bottom of the battery and complete the circuit to fire your atomizer. What makes this a particularly elegant ecig, worthy of it’s longevity, is the shape. In it’s Screwdriver shape you’ll notice that there is a bulge in the handle about 2/3 from the bottom. Your thumb and forefinger naturally rest here and it provides the perfect grip for you to be able to compress the unit in one hand to make the pinky switch work. I have looked through pictures of other mechanical mods with a bottom button design and I noticed that they are missing that seemingly important feature.

Although they sell the screwdriver body as a standalone piece, I got their complete kit, which retails for approximately $113 USD, if my conversion is correct. This kit provides not only the “handle” part, but also comes with 2 of the batteries, a battery charger, a nice leather case and a 5 pack of pre-filled cartomizers. The leather case perfectly fits and protects your fully assembled Screwdriver mod with one of the included cartomizers attached. The one caveat there is if you, like I, prefer to use a drip tip on your cartomizer, the button will stick up in the end of the leather case enough to be fired if you aren’t careful. I haven’t really found this to be too much of an issue though. The cartomizers that came with the mod are XL sized, which provides a lengthy vape time and they are each reusable / refillable and quite reliable and of good quality. I believe the ones they sent me were their Lambert and Butler flavor at 18mg nic, which is a very nice, mild and dry English tasting tobacco (to me anyway). I really enjoy them. Plenty of tasty vapor production from these and as I mentioned, they seem to last forever and work perfectly with the Screwdriver! They also have several other flavors to chose from which seem to encompass most flavors a tobacco person would be quickly comfortable and familiar with.

As an added bonus, Matt sent along one of their SD KeyRing Ecig Kits, which retail for about $21.50 USD. This is a *very* small silver 300mAh rechargeable automatic battery with a 510 connector and keychain / lanyard loop (they also sell a 650mAh version). As you can see from my picture, if you are looking for that “stealth vape”, one that can be easily and completely hidden, this is the kit that you want. It’s so small it conceals completely in my closed hand with little indication that there is actually anything in there. The kit comes complete with the battery, a USB charger and 2 cartomizers of your choice of flavor. Although the cartomisers, of course, work perfectly with this battery, I have to mention that it sure does work and look pretty snappy with a mini vivi nova attached as well 🙂 This is a great little vape for a short event like work breaks, trips to the market or something to carry to your favorite pub without having the gigantic bulge of your regular PV in your pocket. This little thing is just great!

You can’t go wrong with either of these products. They are both absolutely top quality and come from a company that has been around long enough to know what they are doing. Make sure to check them out, you’ll be glad you did!

OMG Handle!
I think the reason all these have “OMG” emblazoned on them in big bold letters is because that is what you say to yourself after you try them for the first time.

Seriously, Vapor4Life originally sent me one of their starter kits to review. It was pretty good, don’t get me wrong, but for some people like myself, after you “get into” vaping a little bit, you start looking for different things. You might like more power, a different look and feel, more vapor production, capacity, etc.. That is one of the greatest things about V4L as a company, is that they can provide all that, from starter to advanced stuff and everything works with everything else. In my case, I wanted more. More battery. More control. More flavor. More VAPOR! I contacted Brian, my Vapor4Life buddy, and he said he knew just the thing. These guys are good!

He sent me one of their V4L Handle Kits. This is a variable voltage device, shaped into a handy handle that easily holds a tank full of juice and a gigantic battery. Variable voltage, as I have mentioned before, is an important feature for many vapers because it gives you a lot of control and allows you to really dial into that particular sweet spot for your favorite container medium and e-juice. You see, they all vaporize best at individual settings. Your tank or cartomizers may all have different ohm ratings not to mention your e-juice might like a lower or higher temperature to give you that perfect taste.

The handle itself can be black, blue, green or magenta and has 4 finger grip indentations on one side. Now I don’t have particularly big hands, but I cannot put all four fingers in those indentations comfortably. That just feels too cramped to me. What works really well, though, is 3 fingers on the grip and my pinkey underneath, kind of as a resting point or stabilizer. Sometimes I even flip it around and hold it in kind of a gun grip using my index finger to push the fire button.

There is a really nice LCD display on the Handle and 4 buttons. The fire button is pretty large and on the top of the device, right next to the battery terminal. This is really comfortable to use and although a bit plasticky it has a nice clicky feel and is surely designed to hold up well as I have been clicking it like crazy for weeks now without even 1 misfire. The other 3 buttons are arranged in a triangle configuration underneath the LCD display. The top two are – and + buttons which, you guessed it, control how much voltage the device puts out. Voltage can be adjusted from 3 to 6 volts round robin in .1 volt increments. You will also notice that if you hold both of these for approximately 3 seconds you get a display that says L-0, L-1 or L-2. This will change the brightness of your LCD display and this, in my opinion, is a really nice feature. The third button underneath is your on/off power switch. 5 clicks on/off and if you press this button once when the device is powered on the LCD will first display the ohms of the tank or cartomizer you have attached to it, and then a second later it will show you the remaining battery voltage. Make a note here that pressing the – or + buttons when the device is on will change the voltage whether the display is previously lit or not, so if you want to see what voltage you are set at, you’ll have to press one button and then the other to get back to your original voltage settings.

On the bottom of the Handle you will see a door for the battery slot. This device takes an 18650 battery at 2800mAh, and these are about the size of a finger and last for *DAYS* of vaping. No more worrying about having to charge your batteries throughout the day or carrying multiple batteries, etc. all you need is one of these and you are set!

Finally, on the back of the device, you see this speaker grille looking thing. This is a battery vent. Although I have never had this happen, sometimes batteries go horribly bad and vent gasses. This vent is a safety feature so if that were to happen, that would vent out of the device instead of breaking your Handle.

The Handle kit comes with the handle in your choice of colors, a battery, a charger, a tank with driptip and a bottle of e-juice of your choosing for $85. This is a GREAT price for everything you get here. This kit comes with everything you need to be vaping for days on end. If you wish, you can buy the Handle, battery and charger for only $70 (just get the full kit). Again, since this is a Vapor4Life product, and they assure you that it’ll work with all their other products as well. If you already have cartomizers, just screw them on and you can use those too! Good quality and GREAT customer service as well, and that is worth a lot! I love this thing and it rarely leaves my side! Go order yours now to avoid missing out and tell Brian I said “Hi” while you are at it. I’ll be sitting back in my chair, vaping my handle and waiting for you to join the club!

Indigo Vapor – Simply Yummy!
To be honest, many times it is not just product and price that make a vendor really stand out, it’s the little extras. There is customer care and service. Excelling at these things really is a big deal, and Indigo Vapor really seems to put some real effort into this.

I initially contacted Indigo Vapor because I saw this absolutely gorgeous looking carto-tank on their site. I am not even sure I saw they made e-juice through the gleam of that thing in the picture. I tell you what, though, I am awful glad I finally looked at their juice and even gladder they allowed me the chance to write about some of the goodies they have available there. They graciously sent me a box in the mail and when I opened it I found 6 e-juice samples and that gleaming tank too (which was a surprise because I knew they were out of stock at the time). What really struck me, though, was the fact that all the bottles were GLASS, there was this fantastic little velvet pouch in there (I use this every day btw) and they even included a personal note as well! Woot!

The first e-juice I pulled out of the box was their Pumpkin Mocha Supreme. I figured for sure that this was going to be something similar to my local coffee spot’s seasonal pumpkin coffee that I occasionally get. The coffee is a good coffee with this delicious hint of pumpkin. This is not at all what the e-juice was like. Now before I go on, I knew this day would come and I want to remind you that taste is, of course, very subjective… 🙂 That being said, the pumkin in this e-juice didn’t whisper “pumpkin” to me softly as I had expected, but instead got all in my face and screamed it – “PUMPKIN MAN!”. The pumpkin taste to me was enormous and overpowering and there was just this hint of mocha at the end in there somewhere. This was just too much for me and I have solemnly sworn off pumpkin flavored anything for a very long time. I can still taste it even weeks later 🙂 I do want to mention though that it smelled absolutely fantastic, both in the bottle and as exhaled vapor and I handed off what was left of my bottle to a vaping buddy (always paying it forward) and he thinks it is absolute genius! Like I said, taste is subjective. The unfortunate part of this is this is one of their seasonal e-juices, so, assuming they make another run next year, you’ll probably have to wait until their fall schedule rolls around to get some. If you are a pumpkin lover, however, make sure you mark your calendar to check in with them!

The second sample I pulled from the box happens to be one of my all-time favorites and I am considering starting a petition to get them to make it all year (it’s a limited time seasonal e-juice). This e-juice is called “Santa Sauce“. OH MY GOODNESS this was good, and the saddest thing that happened to me over this past holiday season was seeing the bottom of that sample bottle getting closer and closer. Come on guys, you don’t even have to call it Santa Sauce – you can call it Lincoln Sauce or something when it is not holiday time! Santa Sauce tastes like this really nice mild tobacco blended with a chocolaty/cocoa top note – just the slightest bit of sweetness. Just outstanding!

Grape ape! When I tried this my imagination immediately had me picturing this giant smiling beverage filled water pitcher bursting through my wall screaming “OH YEAH!” Yes, you guessed it, this tastes to me exactly like grape cool-aid. Smells like it too. There is nothing subtle about this whatsoever. It’s delicious and reminds me of the grape cool-aid and grape popsicle filled fun summer days of my youth.

The next one I pulled out is called Oasis. Boy, this was an interesting one. This is one of their ice flavors so there is a cool note in there, but the big flavor part for me is this unidentifiable tropical fruit taste. This has been driving me crazy trying to figure this out. Dragon fruit maybe? I am not at all sure but its very tasty and reminded me of a day on the beach. The smell is really interesting because it carries this slight hint of coconut, which really reminds me of suntan lotion 🙂 I don’t really taste that, but I can smell it.

Blue Ice, another of their ice flavors. I bet you can’t guess what this is! Can you can you? YES it’s blueberry! It’s very tasty too and there was this odd sweetness in there that I just could not place until I actually read the description on the website, which says it’s honey. After I read that I could place the taste every time. This, to me, is more of a natural blueberry flavor as opposed to a blueberry candy or cool-aid type flavor. Very nice!

The last sample e-juice in my mystery box was Mint Choco Fusion. Now oddly enough, this is one of their normal year round flavors and this is the one that reminds me the most of the Christmas season 🙂 When I was a kid, I remember my mom giving me these chocolate covered peppermint stick candies at Christmas time. These taste **exactly** like this to me. This is a fantastic flavor combo and I am sure I will be happily puffing away on some of this occasionally year round even if it does make me want to do Burl Ives sing-alongs.

Now I do want to mention that all the juices I received were at a 12mg nic level, which I personally found just a touch throaty, especially on the fruity flavors. I am not a huge fan of throat hit so when I order I am going for the lower nic level (6mg), but if you like that kind of thing, you may actually want to start right out at least 18mg because these are right on that border at 12mg. Also, all their juices come mixed 50/50 by default unless you request otherwise (very vapable in anything at that mix) and they say they do not use any dyes, oils or diacetyl. All top quality stuff here and you can easily tell!

Now the last thing in that box was, of course, that sweet looking tank. This is the “Ultimate Carto Tank” and it is a locking cart tank, which means it has a little bottom ring that screws on over top of the bottom flange of your cartomiser, holding it firmly in place. What a cool idea! Once you have the tank put together in that fashion, there is just no possibility of you pulling the carto out enough for this to leak e-juice. At least not on accident 🙂 The tank is constructued, well, like a tank (the military kind). It has a metal top and base and glass cylinder. Really beautiful with a gun-metal sort of finish on it. The tank holds around 5ml of your favorite e-juice and comes with a dual coil cartomizer all ready for you to use! Note here that it seems to work better with liquids that are not 100% vg. I ran a couple 100% vg tanks full through it and had some issues with a little vapor-locking, or suction issues, when the tank got below 1/4 or so. Doesn’t seem to have any such issue with the 50/50 stuff from Indigo Vapor though. Imagine that 🙂

Lastly, Indigo Vapor has graciously extended a coupon code to my readers, good for 10% off any of their e-juices. Simply check out with the code “LINC10”! Thanks to Indigo Vapor and for the rest of you, I’ll meet you in line at the check-out 🙂

The Ovale emini!

The emini from Ovale is an ecig (vaping) device that rather resembles a real cigarette. Th kit itself comes with 2 900 mAh batteries, 2 atomizer heads, 3 tanks, charging cable, 1 atomizer cone, a Personal Charging Case (PCC) at 1090 mAh and a manual. This is a really good looking kit and retails from Ovale for $70 (with a free bottle of e-juice while supplies last).

What I immediately noticed was how strikingly small this whole setup is. In a world of ecig stuffs where the really good working kits are at least the size of a good cigar, and I find *them* small, this is down right tiny. But don’t let the size fool you, this little joy packs a big boy sized punch!

The entire idea behind this kit seems to be the PCC. This charging case, at 1090 mAh, is enough to keep your ecig ready for action all day. The battery itself is only 90Mah, which is really meant for a cigarette break style time length, will always be ready as long as you return it to that PCC in between. The PCC is slightly smaller than an iPhone – a very pocketable size. It has a very nice finish on it and inside the magnetically closed cover, you find a single slot, which perfectly fits one completely assembled ecig, and one small button/lever at the top, which, when pressed, will lift out your ecig enough for you to be able to remove it from the charger. Charging time on the PCC is a couple hours and it purports to be able to charge your ecig fully 6 times before needing to be recharged itself.

I mentioned the battery is 900 mAh and it bears repeating that this, although ideal for a cigarette break type of vape, is just not going to do it for someone who continually vapes all day long. That being said, most people take breathing breaks in between vaping anyway 🙂

Putting the ecig together is really easy. You simply put one of the included atomizers on the battery, the atomizer cone on top of that, fill one of the tanks with about half a ml of your favorite e-juice and push/screw that down into the atomizer cone. The resulting ecig looks a quite a lot like a traditional cigarette (at least if you get the white, which I did), it is slightly shorter than the length of a cigarette and just slightly larger in circumference. You will also notice how very light this ecig is, which makes it extremely easy to carry around between your lips like you would a standard cigarette. It is an automatic ecig, which means it operates by simply inhaling instead of having to use any buttons. This also makes it a very hands free device – perfect for a new vaper or just one who just wants one that is very discrete.

So, what makes this different from all the other various and sundry stick-style ecigs? Well, this one not only uses a tank system, which gives a very bright taste to your e-juice, but also uses the same sort of atomizer that you might find in a bigger device such as an eGo-C or Ovale elips-c. This is a big boy atomizer and gives big boy performance. You get a gigantic volume of tasty vapor out of this for the size!

I have to say that I used this quite a bit and can only find fault with a couple sniggly things. The first is that the draw is a little tighter than I generally like. I find a very easy draw preferable, and this has one that is about the same as a standard cigarette. I am sure that this could be easily addressed by slightly widening the single air hole in the atomizer cone, or just adding another. The single hole also presents a problem in that almost every time I go to vape this I invariably have my finger over that hole – like a air hole magnet or something. I consistently have to remind myself to either grab closer to the tip or end, but that may just be my bad habits. The other issue I found that makes this kit *almost* perfect is the absence of a second atomizer cone. The kit only comes with one, so you can’t be using one ecig and charging a second at the same time. All the rest of the parts are there for a complete second ecig except this. It just makes it feel slightly incomplete to me.

All in all, I enjoy using this a lot. It is very convenient to carry around, it vapes like a pro and I have gotten lots of compliments on it from other vapers and gear junkies alike. Very nice!