The Vaping Lounge #2 - Fidget Spinner Atomiser Stand

Make your own Atomiser stand! 

 I just happen to have a bag full hanging about...

What?
For those looking for an easy and novel way to store your spare vaping atomisers look no further than your humble fidget spinner!

You know, those annoying spinning toys you often see kids (and adults) messing about with.
They seem to be the current playground fad which can be bought in shops, pharmacies and petrol stations everywhere up and down the country.
If you have kids the chances are that you have already a few of these things knocking around the house and if you are like me you may have a plastic bag full of them!

 Atomisers - Roticery style!

Personally I cant see what all the craze is about with fidget spinners. They serve little to no purpose in life as far as Im concerned although the general concensus is that as well as keeping the kids quiet they can help people with ADHD relax and concentrate their minds? Im yet to see any evidence of this myself so for now they are just another yo-yo type toy to me.
However..... There may be a use for these little plastic feckers after all.
Yes! Atomiser stands. Somewhere to park all the tanks and drippers that are not currently being used.

Add another when the first one gets full 

Concept
This idea is so simple, so cheap, so lazy its untrue.
Each of the three holes in your generic spinner measure roughly 22mm across and so can easily hold drippers and tanks of that diameter no problem.
I think you may even get away with a slightly larger 24mm in there if you are lucky.
The vast majority of the mainstream atomisers made in the last couple of years seem to have been around 22mm diameter and thats certainly the case in my vape stash so I shouldnt have any problems with them fitting.

And another.....

Customise
Fidget spinner atty stands are customisable to a certain degree.
As your atomiser collection grows so does the amount of stands that can be added to the mix. 1,2,3,4, as many as your shelf can cope with.
As these fidget things come in an endless number of colours and designs a truly unique look can be achieved with a little imagination (if you can arsed)

Practicality
They can be kept as a spinning thing or have the bearing ring removed and fixed, the choice is yours.
Personally I leave them as they are as they dont tend to move around much when they are locked together in a line.

Travel
So you go away for the weekend or something and you take your vaping gear with you. Where do you keep your tanks? (assuming you take a few backup spares)
Well, popping one of these in your rucksack could be the answer.
Fidget spinner stands are ideal for travel purposes and as you only need to take one or two along, it shouldn't have a impact on the weight in your bag.

Cost
Fidget spinners bought from the shops can be expensive but they can be picked up from ebay from as little as 80p each. No point getting ripped off is there?
Alternatively pinch one from a child instead (no dont!)

Yeah, you get the idea...

What next?
The Engineer in me is now working out a way of making a permanent multi-spinner vertical stand which will involve a shiny steel rod, a tube of gorilla glue and some electrical tape.  Something akin to a mug tree!



Till next time....Vape on! 

Twilight eShisha Ecig

Twilight eShisha pen 

 Quite good looking 

Manufacturer: Twilight eShisha Ltd
Model: Disposable electronic shisha
Country of origin: China
Company based: London, England
Power: single lithium rechargable cell (unknown capacity)
Coil: Silica style wicking coil
Price: 99p each
Source: Ebay seller

Im going to make this review as brief as I possibly can. This product doesnt really deserve my time in all honesty as its absolutely shite.
Where do I start with this one?
Well, apparently the Twilight eShisha pen is supposed to be a good quality cig-a-like containing no nicotine, no tar, no carcinogens and no odour. Well I can add that it also contains little to no flavour. No the stated flavour on the box that is.
Both of the flavours I tried were way off the mark in terms of what they should have tasted like.

 They dont contain anything...including flavour!

These fancy looking shisha pens are what I imagine were sold in arty farty hippy craft shops. You certainly wouldnt find these in the local corner shop or petrol station thats for sure. They look quite premium I guess?

I tried two different flavours of Twilight shisha pen.
The red coloured 'Strawberry Shajah' and the blue coloured 'Blueberry Breeze'
Both of the shisha pens tasted nothing like their stated flavours instead tasting like the rubber bung which sits in the mouth tip mixed with the taste of silica wicking material......with a slight hint of chemical fruit flavouring. Not very nice at all it has to be said.

Twilight eShite

These pens work by pressing a tiny micro switch located in the middle of the pen. A coloured LED light glows at the end of the ecig and a small amount of vapour is generated when you take an inhale.
Really simple (and old) technology.
Allegedly they are meant to last a full 600 puffs each but im afraid this is a load of crap.
In truth they lasted for about 50-70 puffs before dying a slow death and fading away. It was all over too soon.....

Feeling a little angry/disappointed by this I thought I might take one apart and see exactly what was going on inside.

Unsurprisingly I found a cheap PCB with a microswitch fire button and a small resistor onboard. This was connected at one end to the coil/wick arrangement whilst the other side of the PCB was connected to what looks like a small rechargable lithium cell.  Simple and cheap (of course, what did I expect?)

 

The pic above shows the frankenstein silica wick and coil arrangement.
It uses a very basic single piece of resistance wire passed around a few strands of silica wick. The flavouring impregnated cotton swab is then wrapped around thhe whole thing and then its stuffed down the aluminium tubing - looking something akin to a school project.

This little battery could be recharged.....

I said I would make this brief and I think I have kept to my word.
One last thing though.... The battery... what a waste! A fully rechargable cell made to be disposable and chucked in the bin when it runs out. Not only is that environmentally unfriendly, its just silly.
The company could have added a micro USB port and made the cartomiser section refillable, at least then I could have added my own eliquid and reused the pen as a shealth vape device.
After all,  they dont actually look that bad from the outside!

Rating: ✅😖 1 out of 5
This has to be the worst cig-a-like I have ever had the misfortune to take a toke on.  It tastes of rubber and wick, the battery lasts about ten minutes and at 99p each they are seriously over priced IMO. The company behind these was dissolved back in 2014 and if this is an example of the quality of their products then Im not surprised they did! absolute crap!

iCloudcig Teapot RDA

iCloudcig Teapot RDA

Bizarre looking dripper don't you think?

Manufacturer: iCloudcig
Model: Teapot RDA
Country of origin: China
Design: 3 post deck - Tugboat style  can be single or dual coiled
Size: 24mm
First released: 2015
Price: originally £15  I paid £5
Condition: Used
Materials: Pyrex glass cap, stainless deck, copper 510
Source: some dude off ebay

Simple two piece affair

Ha ha! Where do you start with the teapot RDA? It's a dripper I had seen a few times on the internet and thought that it looked a little different, a little fancy,  a little bit unique to shove on a mod.
These teapots first saw the light of day back in 2015 made by that well known Chinese brand iCloudcig (right!). As these things were a few years old it proved difficukt to source a brand new original. The clone model was available but it was subtly different and it's always better to get the authentic ones I thought.
Enter good old eBay and some guy in England flogging one cheap.
Suffice to say I didn't hang when it came to bidding on it.

Authentic and numbered

The iCloudcig teapot RDA is basically a tugboat V2 style three poster with a rather unusual glass teapot sat on top. The teapot itself is made from Pyrex glass with a width of around 2mm (in places) with a single air hole on the top and a 4cm spout on one side. The spout is the drip tip of course.
The teapot has triple O-rings to keep the juice in and twin 3mm juice wells to drip juice into. So far so good.
The air flow on the teapot is not adjustable as it's basically a 3mm hole bored into the glass,  maybe not so good?

Easy build three post coil deck

Building out the deck was actually really easy, especially if you are used to working on a 3 deck system.  only the center pin has to be shared when a dual coil build is required. It can be single coiled though making this deck simple even for a beginner.

Two home made twisted FeCrAl coils @ 0.4ohms

The teapot offers a unique cloud and flavour experience compared to the results you might expect from a conventional dripper.
To be honest I'm not too sure why this is? Perhaps it's because the air flow is on the top for a change and the rounded tank swirls the vaper around a bit more? Who knows? It works like a dream though, I'm not complaining.

The glass is quite thick on the bottom

Cloudy with a chance of raised eyebrows
There's no way of getting around the fact that this thing looks like an illicit crack pipe!
I haven't dared to take it out in public yet for fear of ridicule or arrest, I certainly don't fancy the idea of explaining to the local police what this is and what it isn't.
Therefore I would suggest that the teapot never leave the house and is kept as a novelty for vape friends when they pop around.

The single air flow hole up top

Cloudy with a chance of blindness
I must draw attention to perhaps the worst aspect of this dripper mainly because it could lead to a visit to the hospital!
Imagine you have just coiled and wicked the deck, filled the wells with juice and set the wattage to the desired setting then all of a sudden, POP! and a magma hot giezer of eliquid shoots out the top and directing into your nearest eyeball. It's painful and totally unnecessary. This painful juice popping isn't a one off either, expect it to happen time and again like a sick and twisted game of Russian roulette, you just don't know when!!!
Ironically the lesser priced clone teapot has a longer spout  allowing more of a  chance to avoid a painful eye scalding.

Good points

• Unique design
• Good flavour
• Good cloudage
• Easy to build deck
• Deep juice wells
• Cheap

Bad points

• Risk of injury
• Risk of unwanted attention
• Fragile 
• Limited, non adjustable air flow

Overall this atomiser is good at what it sets out to do. It provides a satisfying vape and is simple to set up and use. If you don't mind your innocuous vaping habit looking like an illegal one then this is the dripper to get your hands on.
Personally I really like it and more than happy to keep it as a party piece. It won't be to everyone's taste though!

Looking strange atop the Zenith mod

Rating: ✅✅✅✅ 4 out of 5
For those looking for something a little different to show off to their mates then the teapot may be a good choice.
It produces good cloudage and reasonable flavour although eye protection is advised  for the enevitable coil pop!

IJoy Maxo Zenith 300W Mod

Ijoy Maxo Zenith 300W Mod

Manufacturer: Shenzen IJoy Technology Co.  ltd
Model: Maxo Zenith
Country of Origin: China
Max power: 300W
Batteries: 3x 18650 li-ion cells
Working Voltage: 9.3V - 12.6V
Variable Voltage Selection: 2.7V - 6.2V
Resistance range: ? not documented
Maximum current: 50A
Type: VV Potentiometer based mod
Chipset: Iwepal
Dimensions: 88mm height x 50.5mm x 40.7mm
Price: £30-£50  I paid: £22 + free batteries + free ejuice
Condition: New
Source: Private ebay seller
Shipped from: UK

Zenith with lightning dial

Potentiometer based regulated box mods have made a bit of a come back recently it would appear.
The Hexohm and Tesla Invader III are perhaps the best known VV mods to hit the market in recent times.
It wasnt that long ago when all you could buy were variable voltage devices and then variable wattage devices came in.
Now it seems that VV devices are back in vogue and more specifically ones with potentiometers on them.
The relative success of Tesla invader III mod in the last year or so has given other manufacturers the impetous to release their own including the likes of IJoy.
Here is the IJoy Maxo Zenith. A simple variable voltage device that is capable of some serious high power.
No OLED display, no temperature control, no wattage control, just straight voltage selection via a mechanical potentiometer. Its big, its heavy and it packs a punch!

Huge top firing power button - with battery indicator LED

The maxo zenith has the physical appearance of a Wismec RX200 with the hard hitting direct voltage to pin power of an Invader III. Its a sort of cross between the two really.
What you get with the Zenith is a comfortable to hold regulated device thats capable of driving even the wackiest of chunky coils. No need for a fancy screen or chip to sap the power. its just straight voltage to the 510. (with a wee touch of regulation)
Its not a mod for the beginner thats for sure. It requires a bit of respect.
So just how well is it made?

Battery orientation scribed on the bottom

Well build-wise, the zenith is as good as you are going to get at this price point. The main material used here is Zinc alloy if Im not mistaken. Its strong, weighty and feels  like you paid a lot more for it. There doesnt seem to be much in the way of cheap plastic anywhere on the mod except for the lightning dial, fire button and the main battery tray.
The overall design of the mod is kinda snazzy. along each side are strips of silver mesh which act as the PCB vents which actually look quite good. The word 'Zenith' is written along the front and the word 'IJoy' is cut into the battery cover to act as battery venting. Overall I really like the design.

A decent battery tray and compartment cover

The battery tray has plenty of space to accommodate the three 18650's which are held firmly in place by large gold plated contacts. The negative contacts are springy enough to be able to insert and remove the batteries with relative easy. There isnt a pull ribbon inside the compartment to aid removal but I dont think one is needed with this mod. Positive and negative polarity symbols are etched into the tray to help with orientating the cells - although if you get them the wrong way round the mod will flash the red LED a few times to let you know.
The battery compartment cover is made from a solid piece of metal and weighs a fair bit. Im not sure if its made from Zinc alloy or not? certainly feels  like it.
The cover fits nice and snug against the mod with little to no movement once its on. Its held firmly in place by four strong magnets. There isnt much chance that the cover will accidentally fall off or anything.

Batteries fit nice and snug in the mod

The Zenith is something of a pseudo-mech mod in the way that it has direct power straight from the batteries but still has some form of regulated protection built in.
As well as having low resistance, high resistance, PCB overheating and reverse polarity protection the zenith also buzzes and vibrates if it detects a short circuit! how cool is that? I certainly havent seen a vibrating/buzzing mod before.
The zenith also flashes a red LED if it detects a problem.

Strange green LED lights on either side

What were IJoy thinking when they came up with the green LED lights on the side thing? They cant be switched off!
So if you are like me and dont go in for all the flashing lights thing you are essentially screwed. This aspect of the mod has to be a negative point in my opinion. Although to be fair its a minor issue and perhaps Im nit picking a bit.
IJoy should have included an on/off light switch though - they missed a trick there.

Now theres nothing at all wrong with the LED power indicator on the top of the device. That LED light is actually useful.
It gives the user a decent indication as to the charge state of the batteries, changing from green to red as the batteries run down. It also acts as a warning indicator should anything go wrong. It works quite well.

With the Steamcrave aromamizer 

Its a good idea to know what your tank wattage limit is before firing the zenith. And as the mod doesnt have any kind of readout it might be a good idea to brush up on your ohms law and work out the right wattage yourself. This mod is clearly not for a beginner or someone who doesnt know how mods work.
That said, its a really easy mod to use once you know what you are doing.

Good Points

• Very powerful
• easy to use
• long lasting battery life
• good level of protection - including the buzzer/vibration feature
• cheap to buy
• Coloured LED battery indication

Bad Points

• The green LED side strips? (some people will like it though)
• Cant think of any bad points to be honest

Rating: 4 out of 5
As a first venture into the VV potentiometer scene im actually very impressed by the Zenith.
It has more than enough power for what most vapers would require and the battery life is simply stunning. The silly green LED strip lights down the side are a distraction and wont be to everyones taste and thats why this device doesnt get a full 5 marks. On the whole though the zenith is a very powerful mod at a very reasonable price.

MCV Little Boy RDA

MCV Little Boy RDA dripper

Manufacturer: Masterpiece Custom Vapes, Philippines
Model: Little Boy
Size: 22mm
Configuration: Tri-post (single or dual coil)
Type: Dripper
Materials: Stainless steel
Colour: Brass
Price: Originally around $120 USD (2014) now £7.99 GBP
Source: Ebay
Shipped from: UK

Silica wicks? Who the hell uses silica these days!?

Regular readers of this blog know that I very rarely look at brand new designed stuff.  Yeah it might be new as in never used but never newly released stuff and this is true of my latest vaping dripper the 'Little boy' from MCV philippines.
It was originally released back in 2014! thats three bloody years ago and they are still going strong and being peddled on the likes of ebay.

Apparently the little boy originally sold for a small fortune ($120) when it was first released which was quite a lot of money back then (and still is in my opinion). Quite why it was valued so highly is anyones guess but as I got mine brand new for under a tenner im not complaining.
Reviewers and industry experts back in 2014 applauded the little boy for its immense cloud chucking capabilities but knocked it back on flavour. We shall see!

The MCV Little boy is a simple three post dripper offering either a single or dual coil configuration.
Airflow is managed by a series of slotted holes.
One side of the cap has one air hole for single coil builds whilst the opposite side has two for when using dual coil builds.
conversely, the build deck has air hole cut outs to match the ones on the cap. The only design downside to this is that its very easy to lose juice through them. It can piss out all over the place if you happen to accidentally over drip!
The little boy features an engraved alloy cap, huge delrin chuff cap and stainless steel build deck.
Together with the dripper a small bag of spares are included to keep it in good working order.  Spare O-rings, post screws, mini screwdriver and 510 drip tip adapter are amongst the bits and bobs.

The giant Delrin chuff cap

The build quality of this RDA is not bad. Its not the best I have seen but its not the worst. The outer brass cap is made from either stainless steel or an alloy? Im not sure. The coil deck is made from a single piece of stainless steel. The positive pin is the center post whilst the negative pins are the two outer posts.  The 510 positive connector on the underside of the dripper is brass plated (I think) and is adjustable with a flat blade screwdriver - good news for hybrid mod users.
The wide bore chuff cap sitting up top is made from heat resistant Delrin plastic which is great in my opinion. The chuff cap can be substituted for any standard 510 drip tip by way of the special adapter which comes with it.

Building on the Little boy RDA
Anyone familiar with the Mad hatter style drippers will find coil building a synch on the little boy. Its just a basic three post design which requires very little effort.
One coil lead wraps around an outer negative post whilst the other coil lead wraps around the center positive post and thats it. Repeat on the opposite side if you want it dual coiled. Theres nothing else to do apart from wicking it up!

A modest dual micro coil build - 0.4 ohm

Good points

• Price point
• Easy build
• Good chuff cap
• Adjustable 510
• Great design
• Huge clouds!!

Bad points

• Shallow juice well
• Single coil airflow is flawed
• Flavour gets a little lost

Overall this is a great priced RDA. The flavour is a little muted for my liking however the snazzy design and cloud making capabilities far outweigh the flavour faux pas which I can live with. No I wouldnt have paid top dollar for this back in 2014, no way! But for under a tenner in 2017 its a real bargain. 

This Brass version of the little boy is the best looking in my opinion and goes really well with my Tesla nano 100W steampunk.

Rating 4 out of 5 ✅✅✅✅

The Little boy might be considered old now but it still holds its own as a champion cloud chucker. The flavour isnt the best but the clouds certainly take some beating and keep this dripper up there with the very best. Originally priced at over $100 USD it can now be purchased for under a tenner! A bargain in any ones book! 

Swiss SM-67 Gas Mask

Cold War Crap

Swiss SM-67 Gas Mask

Manufacturer: Huber + Suhner, Switzerland

Model: SM-67

Country of origin: Switzerland

Year: 1975

Production run: 1967 -1975

Condition: Brand new/Unissued

Fitting: 40mm NATO

Size: -2

Condition: New/Unissed

Availability: Rare

Price: £30

Shipped from: UK

This particular mask happens to one which I have been chasing for some time now.  Its rare on the UK market and I felt that my collection wouldnt be complete without one.  To my knowledge there was only one seller on ebay selling them and he didnt have many to start with. The one thing that was putting me off buying one for so long was the price. Thirty quid sounded a lot to me especially when I normally get masks for anything between a tenner and twenty quid. But who was I kidding? Thirty notes for a rare mask is actually a bargain when compared to the usual price of the likes of the Scott GSR or Avon S12 for instance. Im just a bit of a skint flint I guess.

Anyway, I bit the bullet and parted with the cash. Just as well really as this was his last one and I havent seen anymore on there since. 

So whats all the fuss about? Well this mask hails from neutral Switzerland sometime in the early 1970's. I dont suppose it was made in any great numbers judging by the lack of them generally.

Information on this mask is very thin on the ground but the general concensus is that it was intended for both civilian and military use though I cant confirm that at this point. 

In the kit we have the magnificent face piece, a brand new sealed NATO 40mm filter and a less than impressive haversack (more on that later)

The face piece

The face piece is made from good quality rubber and very reminicent of the german Draeger masks of yesteryear. The eye pieces are round and made from anodised steel. They are very nicely made. They have a DIN rating etched into each one which I havent seen on any mask before.  Both eye pieces have knurling on the edges presumably so they can be replaced easily should the need arise.

The SM-67 came with an inner mask face former for storage purposes so the mask keeps it shape. A nice touch.

The head harness is made from soft elasticated straps and adjustable buckles. 

The inside of the mask is actually quite basic and not at all what I was expecting. No inner mask, no tissot tubes. Its far less advanced than a GP-5 in that respect which is saying something. If it was for the fact that the mask was so rare I would be a little dissapointed.  The inhale/exhale section is also as basic as they come. Its nothing special, just cheap plastic. 

Overall then the face piece is very simple in design but well made.

The Filter

Like the mask, the filter is high quality in its construction. I cant find a manufacturing date anywhere on it, I presume its the same age as the mask so that makes it a 1975 vintage. Its in immaculate condition of course due to the way it has been stored.

Its a full NATO NBC 40mm filter (order number: 4240-756-0015) 

I dont dare take it out of its plastic bag for fear of lowering the resale value. 

The SM-67 was replaced by the SM-74 (in 1974). The newer mask was essentially the same except for an added voice diaphram in the form of a round disc around the nose area. 

It might appear that I am stretching this review out a bit and thats absolutely right. I have very little information on the SM-67. It seems to be a total unknown quantity.  

The Haversack

I really dont like the haversack that comes with this gas mask. Its a steaming pile of shit, it has to be said. 

Basically its made from the same stuff as the ground sheet you might find in a tent. A cheap nylon/plastic tarp material not worthy of such a nice mask. 

I dont know what the swiss were thinking when they opted for this bag. Its rough to the touch and not entirely puncture proof meaning the mask would be in danger should the bag get dropped. 

Not very durable or protective. Even the cheap ass soviet haversacks were better made than this. Bloody awful

Look at the state of that bag! absolute shite!

Overall its a great mask for the collector. Its a pity mine was a minus size meaning I cant try it on. 

(There would normally be a pic of me wearing the mask at this point.) It would probably fit a kid of 10 -12 years old in my opinion but i didnt plan on wearing it anyway.  This mask is going straight into long term storage again.

A ground sheet from a tent?

Rating 4 out of 5
A true collectors piece the SM-67 is worth shelling out the extra cash for. The fact that hardly anything is known about it just adds to the mystique of this rare gas mask.
As elusive as the loch ness monster and just as scary looking. The least said about the haversack the better.