My Apologies Again...

I know I promised both MJ Brownies and the Southern Ambrosia review would be up by end of day Wednesday and I know I only upheld part of that promise. BUT I did put three new videos on my YouTube account in as many days. I'm hoping to be finished with the Southern Ambrosia review some time today or tomorrow and will continue updating YouTube fairly frequently... so stay tuned.

If you haven't, come find me on YouTube: DamnDirtyVapes

and Twitter @DamnDirtyVapes

Vape on!

Juice Review: Ms. T's MJ Brownies

All right, let me start this off by saying you'll have to bear with me a bit. I'm sure you can guess what this flavor is all about just by the name, and I'm going to have to be a little vague about some things because this is the internet and I don't want to incriminate myself... though at the same time have to admit it's a flavor I'm familiar with on multiple counts.

If you've never ordered from Ms. T, I bet you've heard about her. She's quite famous in our little corner of the world, and rightfully so. This is the first order I made and I've already sampled most of the fourteen (FOURTEEN) juices I got. I wouldn't normally order that many at one time from a new vendor, but her reputation as a master mixer precedes her. I am floored. Not all of them are perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but most of these juices are truly something wonderful and all of them are special, for better or worse. I also want to include that I love vendors with a concept. I believe in marketing. I love Erica at Southern Ambrosia and her whole wonderful Southern-cooking vibe. I love Volcano's molten Hawaiin theme. And I love that Ms. T runs a giant, nicotine-filled bakery.

This 24mg juice is very, very dark and heavy. It's got a wonderful deep brown color to it, with perhaps a little hint of green. (Gee... wonder why?) If you've ever ordered from Ms. T, you know she doesn't allow PG/VG tweaking, which I'm totally fine with, but it means I'm not sure of the ratio on this one. Suffice to say it's very thick and I'm guessing there's a fairly high VG content. It's a good thickness, though. Nice and gooey... kind of like brownie batter itself. It's also got a great, aromatic, dark chocolate scent that reminds me of melted baker's chocolate.

Now, here's the thing about real MJ brownies, or whatever you'd like to call them. I know that some of you may have never had them and would never like to, but let me just tell you if you make them right, they should really just taste like delicious fudgey brownies. Their "special" quality is all in the prep and ideally, should not affect their final taste at all. Because of that, I wasn't really sure what to expect from these. Obviously, Ms. T was going for something "special" (I'll stop with the quotes) to this mix other than just straight brownies, but if you can taste the MJ in a real one you probably screwed it up.

I have tried this juice in a variety of set ups. My preferred methods of vaping are to either drip or use a carto, and I gave this one a whirl on a 1.5 ohm cisco 306 at 3.7v, a 2.5 ohm IKV cannon stealth atomizer at 4.2v and, my current set up, a 2.0 ohm Boge carto at 3.9v.

First thing's first, how does it taste? Wonderful, I'll tell you that. The flavor on the inhale is nice and dark, very flavorful, and with perhaps a tad of a bite. I'd say the chocolate flavor leans more towards dark or bittersweet, and I personally found it to be irresistible. I love dessert vapes, but they can be dangerous because there needs to be just the right balance of flavor and pure sugar so it doesn't get overwhelmingly sweet. This chocolate is top notch; it is just the right amount of sugary goodness without going totally overboard. It tastes much like it smells, like melted baker's chocolate and just a hint of something, well, special.

The flavor on the exhale is hard to describe. The immediate impression is more chocolate, but after all the vapor is gone there's something extra that lingers on the tongue. I've wrestled with trying to figure out the best word for it, and what I've been able to come up with thus far is "earthy," and perhaps a little minty. Don't get me wrong, this is not mint chocolate. It's like there's a single drop of clean, fresh mint in my whole 15 mL bottle that is ever so subtle and gives just the faintest impression of the "MJ" in question.

This juice performs great no matter how I tried it. Plumes of vapor, excellent throat hit, and that fantastic chocolate flavor all around. It even worked great on my plain ol' 510. Two words of warning, however. Number one that I can almost promise you that this juice would be impossible to use in a tank, and because it's so thick and so flavorful you may need to give your atty a thorough cleaning after a little while to get things running smoothly again. That's not really a downside per se, just something you should be aware of. The second word of warning, and again, not really a downside, is that the vapor itself smells VERY strongly. I was vaping it in the car with a friend and she had to ask me to stop just because it was starting to overwhelm her a little bit. So just be courteous about where you vape this. It's a wonderful smell, but it's very, very strong.

So there you have it. I've got lots more from Ms. T that I can't wait to review, but I felt like this was as good a place as any to start. This is a really standout juice, and even if you aren't necessarily a fan of dessert vapes I would still recommend picking up a 6 mL bottle. This is one of the better chocolate vapes I've ever had, and I am a big chocolate fan, so I've had a lot. I am extremely impressed at the subtlety to the other facets to this flavor, because as I said, I wasn't sure what to expect given the fact I have sampled the real deal on more than one occasion. This was an excellent approximation and clearly had a bit of Ms. T's own spin on the flavor, to great success. Go check it out, go check her out in general-- she truly is a talented, talented juice maker.

Hope you enjoyed, and vape on!

www.mstsbakery.com

My Apologies

If you've seen either of my YouTube channels, you may or may not know my computer went all batshit crazy about two weeks ago. I had the use of another computer on and off while mine was being repaired, but couldn't sit on it all day the way I normally do. I got mine back this past Saturday so I am very happy. This also means I can get back to doing YouTube videos and reviews here. So... stay tuned. My next two upcoming reviews are of Ms. T's MJ Brownies and Southern Ambrosia's Violet Beauregard, Country Fair Crumble, and Kooky Granny. Those will be up by end of day this Wednesday, July 13th. Promise! 

Stay cool and vape on!

Got Vapes DIAMOND Single Coil "Clearomizer" First Impression Review

Before you read any further, I'd like to get one thing out of the way. Even though these are called "Clearomizers," they are not CE2 clearomizers, just regular polyfilled cartomizers with a clear plastic tube rather than an opaque cover. 

I purchased these cartomizers from GotVapes the other day and received them just yesterday, so this is definitely a first impressions review. I'd like to begin this by saying that the three times I have ordered from them, GotVapes has been excellent with timely shipping. All three shipped out the day after I ordered them. (I ordered them all at night, after business hours and they shipped during the next business day.) Their website is pretty slick and they carry a bunch of different cartomizers, atomizers, and accessories, including the coveted and in my opinion, awesome, SmokTech Dual Coils. I'd like to eventually do a review on those too, but sadly have not gotten any in a fairly long while and though I know pretty well how they perform and how the hold up, I forget precisely how good a fresh one is out of the box... and as carto users know, there's nothing quite like a first fill. (Or maybe you don't feel that way, but I certainly do). I also picked up some SmokTech HV atomizers-- review to come.

At the moment a pack of five of these cartos are $8.95, marked down from $10.95, which looks like it's a monthly special for July. If you can't or don't feel like doing the math, the normal price of these cartomizers is $2.19 a piece. Not the cheapest, but not the most expensive, but with the sale they're $1.79 each- not too shabby. I do find the normal price a little steep, however, as Ikenvape sells theirs (my personal favorites) individually at $1.95. Obviously we're talking about cents of difference, but it all adds up if you order a lot and some of us are on budgets. Others have monthly budgets that we (I) have problems sticking to. Whoever said you save money by using e-cigs over analogs was full of it (though certainly worth every penny for a healthier life). Granted, it is indeed possible... but very, very difficult to use that kind of restraint. At least for me. I hear DIY juice is much cheaper once you get the hang of it. Can anyone confirm?

So what's the deal with these cartos? As stated above, despite what they're called, these are not CE2 Clearomizers, but rather normal, polyfilled cartomizers that just have a clear tube instead of a solid stainless or black cover. They're rated at 2.0 ohms, +/- .2 ohms, and that's the only ohm rating  GotVapes carries, and perhaps the only rating they exist in. I've never seen these specific ones anywhere else. The one I have on my ProVari right now is reading 2.0 ohms, so right on the money. Here's what GotVapes has to say about these:

"GotVapes DIAMOND is a SMOKtech quality 2.0 ohm SINGLE COIL Clear Cartomizer. NO MORE GUESSING HOW DRY YOUR FILLER IS...WATCH YOUR FILLER SOAK AS YOU FILL.

    •    Nice absorbant filler will easily hold 20-25 drops. As with any fillered carto, to ease in filling and reduce leaks, it might be suggested to use a small plug to cover the center air intake (something such as the plug that goes into the butt end of our disposeable e-cigs) then tilt and drop 2-3 drops at a time on each side of the carto, let it absorb and fill completely before your first vape.
    •    You experiences will vary on certain PV's. You want a switch capable of handling 2 amps+ as with any LR device."

They each come with a whistle tip, which I was most certainly not a fan of. All it seemed to do was draw juice directly into my mouth, so my recommendation is to shuck 'em and go with your favorite 510 drip tip or put on an extra carto cap you may have lying around.

I'm not sure 100% why this is, but you should DEFINITELY heed GotVapes advice on using a small plug on the bottom. You don't really need to cover the air hole, necessarily, but if you have some rubber covers that most cartos initially come in that you haven't tossed, put one of those on the bottom. (These do not come with those rubber covers.) I've used two so far, and both times on the first fill they leaked like a sieve and required a little blowing out. Now, maybe I was being sloppy but I thought I was allowing ample time for everything to soak in nice and well.

Thought? Yeah. Even though these are clear, so far on both I have not seen my juice absorb evenly all the way to the bottom of the filler even though they were clearly full. I know that sounds contradictory, but my thought is that the juice begins to soak into the middle of the filler surrounding the air passage as it nears the bottom rather than evenly soaking all of it. Maybe now I'm the one who's full of it, but trying to top off after waiting about 20 minutes for it all to absorb just creates more gurgling and leaking. These hold about 35-40 drops if you allow enough time for the juice to soak in. 20-25 would be a definite under-fill.

I find the look of these cartos to be simultaneously neat and sort of hideous. For me, aesthetics is important and the black or stainless cartos look effin' sweet and sleek on my powder black ProVari. Because the juice doesn't seem to really absorb evenly in the bottom half of the cartomizer, it gives it a sort of patchy look that, while helpful to see as your juice runs dry just doesn't look very nice. If the juice absorbed better it might look a little nicer. Now, that's obviously just my opinion and the aesthetics of these things have nothing to do with how they work.

Aaaannnnddd how do they work? Despite my feelings on the overall look of them, they work like absolute champs. I've tried them on both my ProVari and my eGo, and they work perfectly wonderful on both. These cartos are SLIGHTLY wider than others, however, and if you have an eGo with a cone, the cone will most likely not fit. My eGo is an Inferno from Volcano, so if you have something else the cone MIGHT fit, but to the best of my knowledge pretty much all eGos are exact clones of one another. If I'm wrong about that, so be it- it's just the cone I'm talking about. They do perform fabulously on the eGo, especially if you have a passthrough. In terms of higher voltages, they work great at 3.7v and if you have a VV 4.0v seems to be a sweet spot. In my opinion, they seemed to be okay at around 4.3v but by 4.5v were going very, very dry and tasting pretty shitty. Keep in mind, these are rated at 2.0 ohm so they are on the higher side of LRs, but LRs nonetheless.

Flavor is excellent, and throat hit is great. I like a tingle in my throat but certainly don't want to choke, and these provide a very nice, very present throat hit without being overwhelming. The taste in these is as good as any carto I've used so far.

Now, these have plastic tubes instead of a more durable material, and cracking is a very real risk with these. I have not have a problem so far, but they're very new. My advice is to give ample time for them to cool off... don't let them run too hot. As long as you give them a minute or two break every 4-5 drags, they should be okay. These perform very well for a pretty long time before requiring a topping off.

And that's pretty much what I have to say about them. I'm not crazy about how they look, but the performance well makes up for it. They're not necessarily standouts compared to other cartomizers, but overall perform just as well as other premium brands. "Premium" is, of course, a relative term... but if you've tried out many cartos before, you know some just work better than others and these are certainly among the better ones I've tried. My personal favorites are Boges and the Ikenvapes, and I like these almost as well.

So, that's that. I hope you found this helpful and insightful. If you've got a few extra pennies hanging around and want to give them a shot, I definitely recommend these to any cartomizer fans. Some might definitely be drawn to the clear plastic cover and I do appreciate you can see as they run dry. Even though juice doesn't seem to absorb perfectly evenly, it does not impact performance and as you use them it's a definite plus that you can see the juice slowly being used up. I wish they were sold separately, but so far IKV is the only vendor I've seen doing that. I'm sure there are others, but I haven't found them.

Good job, GotVapes. You are a good company and carry great products.

Once again, hope you all found this helpful in some way or another. If you're going to pick some of these up, I think you'll enjoy them. Vape on!

Welcome, welcome one and all... and a juice review to kick things off.

I recently made a decision to become more connected with the vaping world. Though home is in New Jersey, school is in Wisconsin, and being in Wisconsin during the year puts me very far away from most of the live action and meets. Sadly, this means there are very few times I can afford either the time or money to make it to events like Vapefest and Vapestock. This also means the internet is my best weapon for being more active and involved. I believe strongly in the importance of helping each other out and sharing information. We can all learn a lot from one another. There's always something new on the horizon, and everyone's horizon is a little bit different. 

The other reason I decided to do this is because, like so many vapers, I just love to gas on about all things vaping. And frankly, I think my dad is getting tired of hearing about my PV, even though he's fascinated by it and has truly been my number one supporter in my e-cig discovery/analog abandonment that slowly began around 6 months ago. I don't know a single vaper in the flesh (yet!), so I'm immensely looking forward to getting to shamelessly gas on even more on here. And to continue shamelessly gassing on in the forum. And on YouTube. And on "the" Twitter.

Speaking of gassing on, the past few days and the upcoming week or so have and will be exciting times for me. Don't we all love getting new stuff? I splurged hardcore and either have things coming or have recently gotten juice and/or parts from Ms. T's, Want2Vape, GotVapes, Gourmet Vapor, BWB, VapeTheRockies, and Juiceblaster. I think that's it. There may be one or two more that I'm forgetting. Naturally, I'm excited to review as many things from those orders as I can, and of course some of my favorites-- and most hated-- of all the other juices and devices I already own. I'm lucky to have lots of goodies and lots of things I feel very strongly about (for better or worse) to share with to community.

Now that I've provided that brief introduction, I do indeed want to do a juice review to kick things off right. It's not actually a juice from all my loot coming in but rather one I've had for a few weeks now. The juice in question is Nhaler.com's Pomegranate Lung. 

I want to first speak briefly about the concept, marketing, and my feelings about Nhaler.com's Lung Juice line. The following is pulled directly from Nhaler's website: 

"Lung juice is a new product we've created to stimulate a natural body healing process by vaping herbs that have been said to nourish the lungs and other vital organs. Lung juice is mixed with liquid flavors and is availble in 12mg and 24mg (8mg on specific products.) The ingredients are as follows:

• Elecampane Root and Flower
• Mulletein leaf
• Osha Root
• Yerba Mansa(whole Plant)
• Yerba Santa Leaf
• Dandelion Leaf
• Licorice root
• Lobieala Root
• A water extraction tincture of Cordyceps
• Reishi Mushroom Alcohol Extraction
• In a base of pure grain alcohol, distilled water and vegetable glycerin"

Whoa. Hold up, son. The last time I checked 99% of all e-liquids contain the same basic ingredients, and those ingredients don't include licorice root or a "water extraction tincture" of anything. I don't even know what that second one means. I decided to pick up a sampler pack of this juice largely because, while I enjoy pretty much all sorts of juice, fruit vapes are my favorites and I had heard good things about Pear and Orange Lung. (The Lung Juice sampler pack contains five 6mL bottles of Pear, Orange, Watermelon, Pomegranate, and Green Tea Lung.) The reason I mention that this sampler's reputation preceded it because if I had not heard about the quality of the flavors, I may have balked after reading that whole questionable marketing ploy. 


To be perfectly fair, Nhaler has a disclaimer directly underneath above quote that states "Liquid and Lung Juice is NOT intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any diseases... The statements have not been evaluated by the FDA." Now, call me crazy, but I feel that if Nhaler finds it necessary (and perhaps legally obligated?) to include the fact that their claims of "stimulating the natural healing process" have not been evaluated by the FDA or any health association, then they probably shouldn't be making those claims to begin with. I'd like the clarify that while Nhaler is the company in question in this review, I do not condone any company (e-cig related or not) making unsubstantiated health claims. Questionable statements regarding supposed but unproven health benefits are misleading and I personally find it extremely disrespectful to the consumer to base a large part of the marketing of a product on what is essentially a soft lie. Once again, at least there is a disclaimer in this case, but really all that does is draw attention to the fact we're basically being BSed.

As I mentioned, I was already fairly decided on getting the sampler pack, so my negative feelings about all this did not deter me from ultimately making a purchase, obviously. While I don't agree with their marketing strategy on this one, I don't necessarily feel this fact alone should completely turn anyone off from considering adding a bottle or two of this juice to their repertoire. I just hope everyone out there bears in mind that the most valuable piece of information Nhaler has published about this juice is that it is not intended to treat, cure, or prevent any diseases. It is just another e-juice with some extra, frankly unnecessary crap in it.

Whew. Sorry for the rant. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, maybe I can finally move on to the review itself. 

As this is my first post, I'd like to assure everyone I will now and will continue to provide my completely unbiased opinion on everything I review. I have no investments in any company and it is important to me that you know I will always be honest about my feelings on a product, whether they're good, great, or miserable. Hopefully, that's already clear since I wasted no time expressing my dismay with the Lung Juice marketing scheme, but still. Now you know. 100% unbiased honesty always and forever. Finally, I'll remind everyone what we all already know: taste is subjective.


I think most of you can guess this, but I'd like to get one other thing about this juice out of the way to avoid any possible confusion. Just because it contains all of those whacky ingredients does not mean this juice tastes only vaguely fruit-flavored with hints of licorice, dandelion, and reishi mushroom. All of those extra ingredients are undetectable in terms of taste. Again, I'm pretty sure most people would assume that to be the case but when I saw literally 10 unfamiliar ingredients on the order page, I myself wondered if the essence of this juice would taste fundamentally different or alien compared to other "normal" juices. (It doesn't). Okay, here we go. A short novel later, let's talk about this juice.


I can't tell you conclusively the PG/VG content of this liquid. While the ingredients list says it's a base of grain alcohol, distilled water, and VG, there is a another safety disclaimer at the bottom of the page besides the one I quoted cautioning those with PG allergies. I have just sent an e-mail to Nhaler asking what the ratio is and I'll edit this post once they get back to me. While the website says Lung Juice is available in 24mg, which is what I normally vape, I don't recall having an option with the strength of the sampler pack and this juice is 12mg.

Pomegranates are often hard to find except during the holiday season, at least where I live, and even then it's hard to find a good one. They are among my favorite fruits, though. Even when I can't get my hands on one that's really good for eating, I'll still get them to split them open and enjoy the seeds, which are honestly half the fun of a Pomegranate and are very juicy and flavorful all on their own. While the flesh of a pomegranate is nearly white, the encasement around the seeds is a brilliant shade of deep red and when I first ordered this juice, I expected the color to be reflective of the seeds. Instead, it's a very pale, slightly yellow tinted juice... and I do commend Nhaler for appearing to not use any artificial coloring. I can't tell you that for sure, but it does seem to be the case. (Sidenote: I had some Strawberry Cheesecake from PrimeVaping once that was roughly blood red. Delicious juice, but a little frightening to look at.)

Upon opening, the scent of this juice is subtle but noticeable and really, pretty pleasant. You definitely have to put it pretty close to your sniffer in order to get a whiff, but it's absolutely there. Pomegranates themselves don't exactly exude a smell the same way some other fruits do, though, so I can't truly compare it in regards to authenticity. (Or if they do, I just can't recall because they're so hard to come by and I don't get to handle a real one too often.) The juice gives off a definite sweet scent, though it's perhaps a little more artificial than I would have expected given Nhaler's whole holistic, natural vibe to the marketing scheme. I don't see anywhere on the website that definitively says Lung Juice is all natural, but if that list of ingredients is indeed the entire list of ingredients, it sounds mostly natural to me. Because of that, I was a little surprised that even though the aroma of this juice is again, quite pleasant, it's got a definite artificial edge I was slightly surprised to find. 

The flavor on the inhale is almost imperceptible. It is largely some undefinable sweetness with a touch of fruit flavor, but not one I could put my finger on. Without the previous knowledge that this is a pomegranate juice, I might peg it as more akin to a berry, though again the taste upon inhaling is hardly there. The flavor on the exhale, however, is superb. It's not too strong and not too weak; it's simultaneously a subtle and yet still somehow assertive fresh, fruit flavor. It doesn't taste as nearly artificial as it smells and I have to give credit where credit is due: I find the natural quality of this juice to be very satisfying, and I'm glad it doesn't taste like a piece of candy.


That said... I don't believe this juice really tastes like pomegranate. For me, it has an extremely familiar flavor and it took me a very long time to put my finger on it. If you have ever smoked hookah, this juice is extremely similar to strawberry shisha, but without the extra layer of tobacco (since of course, flavored shisha is made with tobacco 99% of the time). While very nice, this juice tastes more like a blend between a pomegranate and a strawberry, which means it missed its mark. It's not sweet enough to be a strawberry juice but not tart enough to be pomegranate. Even though pomegranates are not the tartest fruits out there, they've got a definite bite that I feel this juice is missing. 


As for vapor production and throat hit, it's a little hard to say without knowing the PG/VG ratio. In terms of throat hit, I find the higher the nicotine content, the stronger the hit. I'm used to vaping 24mg juice (sometimes 18) so for me, throat hit was lacking for sure. The vapor production is about what you'd expect from a PG blend, so if this juice is indeed 100% VG I'd say the vapor is below average for that. But, as I said, until I know the ratio for sure I don't know what my expectations should be in terms of vapor production.

Even though I only received a 6mL bottle, I was able to try this juice in both a carto and dripping, my two preferred methods. It performs quite well in both cases, and though I don't use one anymore I'm going to guess this is probably a pretty good juice for use in an eGo (or any) tank. Dark juices tend to gunk up tanks more easily, but this one is a nice and light color. Even if it does turn out to be 100% VG, it's not a super thick juice, which also suggests it will perform well in a tank. It does not, however, hold up well at higher voltages-- that is, pushing 5v and above. Not for me, at least.

After all of that, allow me to sum things up. Number one is, of course, that I truly don't appreciate the unsubstantiated health claims behind this line of juice. Despite that fact, I find this to be a well-performing, natural tasting fruit vape. Even though it misses the mark of a true pomegranate flavor, it certainly has its own unique pleasantness and I think most fans of fruit flavored juices will find this satisfying so long as no one expects 100% pomegranate. Overall, I would say it is a juice I would recommend... though perhaps not as strongly as some others. If you are a fruit lover, it's absolutely worth a try. There are some fruit juices I find so outstanding that I'd recommend them even to those who do not generally like fruit vapes. This is not one of those juices, but still an overall strong showing. 

I don't think any of the other juices in this sampler pack will be subject to a full review, but if you are contemplating purchasing the sampler rather than individual bottles, let me provide a flash review on the rest of the flavors. For me, Pear Lung is a toss-up with this as the best of the five. It tastes more like its target, but not quite as natural as this. Watermelon Lung is also pleasant, but definitely gives off a vibe that's more like a piece of candy than a piece of fruit. I have no problems with candy-tasting vapes, but only if that's what I'm expecting. Despite hearing some good things, I found Orange Lung to smell and taste like a citrus cleaning fluid. The last flavor, Green Tea, I honestly haven't gotten to although I haven't heard wondrous things. 




PHEW. If you have made it this far, I commend and thank you. I hope you found that insightful and helpful in some way. For the rest of the summer I will be maintaining both YouTube (DamnDirtyVapes) and this blog as a places for reviews, tips and tricks, and any and all other things e-cig. There may not be too many other posts that are quite as long as this, but if I'm going to subject something to a review I always want to be as thorough as possible. So if you're reading this, I'm glad you are, and feel free to stop by again soon. Welcome to my little corner of the web.