18 Likes
Good to see you back!
5 Likes
Thanks Jose!!! Appreciate that. I’ve got one more to do then we’ll see what happens. I’m not seeking out distributors or manufacturers but if one comes in I’ll do a review.
4 Likes
Ya know… I really want to clear the air with this and your post gives me the opportunity. As you can see this post has been up for two days and a lot of folks have been kind to give the post a like and I thank you all for that. Let’s be honest. Nobody is very interested in reviews, especially now that by far the products are either pods or mini-mods. I’m not interested in doing them either. Especially pods, I mean what can I say. It looks nice. You suck on it and fog comes out. After doing a good number of reviews even the full sized kits offer little new. The majority of the products are over rated and do not perform to the specifications stated. I have a mantle full of shit I will never use. I’ve got one that will flash lights in all kinds of patterns and wear down the battery while out of the 5 modes only VW works worth a shit. Maybe someday I’ll hang it off a Christmas tree. I’m getting quite a collection of AIO’s and pods and they all taste like shit compared to a good RBA. Even DJLsb is only putting out about one a week and I rarely watch them as they are mostly pods. I had all the cameras and gear for other videos I produced so it was fun for awhile but it’s just another obligation when I get one now. I much prefer doing Sandy’s cooking videos as I can get three cameras running at once and cut back and forth between the views as the videos progress. A lot more creativity involved. It’s just not fun any longer.
11 Likes
I know exactly how you feel 
5 Likes
It seems there has been a sort of shift with vape hardware. Used to be a time when a mod or an atty would drop and everyone put it on their Must Have list. Nowadays it’s mostly geared towards the tootie puffer pods and disposable shit. Even with the vendor emails I get there seems to be a noticeable lack of what I would call real hardware being advertised.
4 Likes
@TorturedZen I’ve noticed that trend too, and wonder why. Slimming expensive offerings due to (whenever in the fuck they do come online) deeming regs ?? Trend shift to the lazy vaper ?? Other reason(s) ??
5 Likes
Absolutely. I haven’t seen anything I would call exciting for quite a while now.
7 Likes
I think it is a shame… sorry I have been super busy, Ogre… but I really do agree with you…
it sucks badly…
I wish we could roll time back or baring that… that makers would wake up and realize… those of us that have been around, see thru the crap and we want gear that is heavy duty, with long lasting bits bobs and cadoodles… their efforts at crap stuff don’t cut it.
6 Likes
That pretty much sums it up for me.
5 Likes
I feel you man. And was really surprised to see this review having read about your other efforts lately.
Vaping in general seems to be in some kind of transition. Shops around here back, oh 7-8 years ago, were selling all sorts of RDAs and mech mods. Some had higher-end stuff like PWMs, DNA mods, etc. Now, and for about 2 years, those kinds of things are almost impossible to find in vape shops here where all that was replaced by tanks with manufacturer’s coils and pod systems. Personally I wonder where vaping will be in another year.
4 Likes
Pretty much same thing here. Three years there was a selection to include RTA’s, RDA’s some DNA devices and Yihi devices with a pretty good selection in between. Within a year or so it was only sub ohm tanks, Smok, and VooPoo. Now it’s almost all pods and AIO’s.
5 Likes
Well I’m not going to be one to argue much with the changes. For some time now I’ve looked at scaling back on what I do. Just a few recipes to be made into one shots. And now thinking of investing in a couple of really good mech mods. I can see the day where I have 2 - 3 mods I use, all mech, all drippers with no electronics and minimal moving parts. Pretty much done giving China money just so I can vape.
6 Likes
A topic I would love to talk about with you and of course whoever else comments. This has been on my heart for quite some time now. It’s funny you pretty much wrote what I have been thinking about.
The Whole pod thing annoys me to no end. All it is is a money grab. Let’s make vape gear that wears out extremely quick and then they will have to buy another part (pod, coil, battery, etc.)
As for the whole thing with trying to get rid of vaping people say they don’t want to go back to smoking cigs. I don’t know about y’all but if vaping somehow disappeared overnight, I for one would not go back to analogs. I am curious how many long time vapers would go back to cigs.
My thoughts seem to be fragmented and I’m not sure I can pull it all together. I have been thinking on this for a while now and sense The Ogre brought it up, why not. I have been considering not doing the “reviews” any more also and have recently transitioned mostly to DIY type videos which get MUCH fewer views and to be frank, the only reason I still do it, is to convert smokers.
Thanks for bringing up this subject.
5 Likes
It’s called Planned Obsolescence. The concept has been around for decades at least. The automotive industry used to be the biggest culprit but consumers caught on pretty quick.
@SthrnMixer’s idea of just having mech mods is probably the best defense against those greedy little Shenzhen companies.
5 Likes
I definitely agree with both of those thoughts. I think planned obsolescence is totally in play with these, but I do see the other side of it too…
As a smoking cessation method, vaping is wonderful. We all know that. But here, in this and other forum communities, we the people transitioned from smoking cessation to hobby long ago. We like (even love) everything involved with the DIY aspects. Happily we build coils, brew juices like fine wine, covet our favorite setups, share in the Fellowship of the Vape, etc.
But there are a lot of people out there that don’t really want to go past smoking cessation. So, when vaping works, they happily wean themselves off it and never look back. And that’s wonderful- the more folks tossing out their lighter, the better.
These annoying little pods are excellent for those folks. Simple to use. Easy to operate. Very little interaction and education needed. So I can see why those devices don’t necessarily need to be all that fancy or robust. It’s used until it is no longer needed then discarded. It did the job, and that’s OK with me.
But yeah, they do also build them cheap so they need to be replaced often, too…
Oh, but nice review, Oggie!!!
4 Likes
This thread has morphed into a much better thread than a review. Forgive me for not responding to each and every comment as is conventional but I’d much rather be one with this new thread scope than than OP. A lot of great perspectives here already. A lot to think about and ponder for a bit.
3 Likes
Yes, you make a good point and now that you mention it, giving pod devices to smokers is cheaper. Especially when they go on sale.
3 Likes