THE BIG FOUR
A lot of people have been asking me lately which is the best for the big "throat hit".This is going to be a review of the big four Vaporizer devices. I like the look of this new site. So here I go. If you don't know who the big four are, then I am about to tell you. The big four are the four toughest, most vapor producing machines in existance for nicotine: The Magnum Mod, Penstyle (or 901) with Passthrough, The ScrewDriver, and The I-Inhale. And I shall begin with the Magnum Mod.
THE MAGNUM
I have heard very little success stories about making the magnum mod on the discussion boards. But I did make one, and it does for the most part work. This thing holds two 900 mah batteries, which is like the equivalent of I don't know around 12 hours of real straight smoking. I love Kate at ecigsales but for her to claim that her penstyle has a sort of 12 hour battery... Such bull. What is that a 350 mah battery on it? LOL. Okay I digress. Back to the Magnum Mod. This thing at first inhale shoots out more voltage then the atomizer is intended to handle - Around 4.2 v I think it is and the atomizor is only supposed to handle 3.7 v. So with that said, the inhales are extremely potent letting out a considerable amount more vapor and throat hit then the Screwdriver. Well for that matter more vapor and throat hit then the passthrough and I-Inhale as well. Its nearly out of control. O.K. As you will see I am a snob about e-cigs and I have to say this is not the way to go. Why? Well for one thing, its
too powerful. I have burned out 3 atomizers in one week with this thing. At best I destroyed one atomizer in five days. Also, it burns the liquid so hot you don't really taste much flavor. The Maddog Mod also breaks all the time based on the cheap design (or perhaps in my case, bad construction). Be it button failure, or atomizer sway, the top falling off... I am not stopping just yet. The maddog mod also is terribly ugly. We are talking twice as ugly as the ScrewDriver and is quite a bit larger then the screwdriver.To completely trash this device I want to finally say that since it burns so strong, you really need to refill the tiny 901 cart and drip on the atomizer every like 8 puffs for it to work and it's annoying. Now I am not saying these items could not be tweaked better to fix these problems. It sure did fix the battery problem which is huge. Also, it is inexpensive coming nearly completely from dealextreme.com parts - about 40 dollars worth of equiptment to make! (And eight hours of stress to build if your not an engineer). So that one is DONE. Ouch...
THE SCREWDRIVER
Next up I am going to give you a review of the professional model of the Maddog Mod, the ScrewDriver. Keep in mind the SD came way before the Magnum Mod. Unlike most of you I find Trog, the seller of the SD to be a great guy who tells it like it is and does not mince his words. But thats the man... We are talking about the device here. Ok sure it is true to everyone who is constantly discontent with what they own as far as e-cigs go, your next step typically is looking into this device. Most people balk at the crazy price especially cause Bastage has up on the web a DIY device he made that looks and appears to be exactly the ScrewDriver except he made it, and all for 20 dollars?!. When meanwhile Trog sells his for... What $150? I don't care what kind of customer service you give me, you better come here and give me... Ummm... more then just a flashlight shaped E-cig for that kind of money. Compared to what you are probably smoking your going to be impressed. It does have a considerably long lasting battery. Long enough that you won't bitch and moan thats for sure. It comes with two and you keep one in the charger and one in the device and you will have a somewhat pleasant vaping experience. Personally I like shock humor. So when I walk down the street with it, ignorant fools who don't know what a crack pipe actually looks like see this and assume it is one. I had a real funny experience on a bus once. Where I had it dangling in my mouth and a obese woman next to me whispered to me sternly to put it away because a child was sitting across from me. I just wanted to tell her that kid is from the streets and he knows what a real crack pipe looks like and will be smoking one later, he is not shocked by this thing. I didn't. Because I'm nice and thats how I roll. So I am going to tell you smoking this outside can be annoying at times. Also it suffers one of the same issues the Magnum Mod has in that it burns through the liquid so fast in that little 901 cart in it that you have to refill and drip on it every eight or nine drags. Finally on the negative side I want to say that since it is completely off balance as one side is bulky and the other is light, it is difficult to smoke like a cigarette and thus feels slightly less satisfying believe it or not. Other then that, I still use it, not extremely happily but in some ways its the best we got out yet.
THE I-INHALE
Next I want to preach about the I-Inhale. Man was I grinning when I first tried this device traditionally made for marijuana but capable of handling liquids. NO ATOMIZER, NO BATTERY, BIG VAPOR, and almost painful strong mouth hit. I thought I was holding the ugliest device of all three so far, but at least it got rid of two huge viruses of the ecig world. The atomizor issues and the battery issues. How does that work? Well I don't know exactly but it is purely powered by butane. You carry around that little bottle of butane fuel with you and it lights this baby up. I figured I was never going to go back to regular e-cigs after this... I mean are you listening to me? This device VAPES with no atomizor and no BATTERY! Run all day long on a little squirt of butane. The holy grail... My mission finally over. And then, well - I went and used it for a full week.
Man was that a terrible week. Okay yeah you do get the great big vapor and the amazing attributes of no atomizor to deal with and no battery to deal with. But how did they correct those issues? With Butane. Well after a couple hours using this thing you begin to get quesy and nauseated. Mostly because with every vape your inhaling none other then a whole lot of butane. The flavor is off in every inhale because it it tainted with it. And your stomach is not a happy camper with all the butane you inhaled. And I don't even know the other possible health hazards. Also on a few occasions the device "spit up" the eliquid into my mouth. Now that does happen once in awhile with regular ecigs. But this device did it different. The liquid was en fuego! It was nearly boiling hot! Not the kind of thing you want to drop into your mouth. Finally the thing feels extremely cheap, like irritatingly so and once again its big and awkard to hold. Let us also mention the 200 dollar price tag... And that one is stepped on as well... Next...
THE PASSTHROUGH WITH USB PACK
I want to leave you with my favorite and nearly almost the only tolerable one of the four devices. When all else sucks in the industry you have to chose the cheapest, most accessible, and easiest to use device until they come out with something better. And thats what this is.The Pen Style or 901 Variation with Passthrough and USB Power Pack. (mine is the APC Mobile Power Pack you can find on ebay). Its huge and has a long wire attached to it. I admit it. But it works. And it works well. So based on the power pack (which seems to last upwards of 15 hours) you have no battery issue any longer. And when you are near your computer you can just plug it into that. Appearance is still obnoxious like the other devices but what I do is since my power pack is slim I can slip it in a pocket, and put the wire under my shirt and run it up to out the neck of the shirt if i want to conceal it a little better. It doesn't help much. But I still do it. And people are much more tolerant when they see it in public compared to the Screwdriver for some reason. Maybe because at least this device still somewhat remotely looks like a cig. Or maybe they think its a portable hookah? Anyway no crack kills comments. You still have the annoyance of a terrible refilling of liquid situation but that is with all ecigs available yet. The smoke that comes out of this combination is beautiful. Not too hot, not too cold, lets you taste the flavor of the juice, and it's consistent. The throat hit is strong. As far as 901 or Penstyle atomizors go, its still a mess, but at least its a cheap hot mess because if you look around and talk to all the real factory manufacturers you can get them for like 4 bucks a piece. Try it f you haven't. I think it is your best option. Or hey! You could do what I did, spend over 700 dollars in six months trying equiptment out you won't be satisfied with! Like I said... This is not the holy grail of devices, but it sure beats a ton of the alternatives and you will be able to live with it. Also try to get your passthrough from a reliable vendor and treat it a little gently, these things have a low survival rating. I really love the 901 With a Dura (or model 510) tip attached as it holds much more liquid and the passthrough on it.
THE CONCLUSION
Anyhow thats the review. I rate them in this order #1 Passthru, #2 SD, #3 Magnum Mod, and #4 the I-inhale.
Love Ya,
VaPoR MiSt
