Subohm Issue 5

#5

Ben Johnson Interview with the CEO of Riot Squad

Vaper Expo

6-page picture special of the recent Vaper Expo

Ohm Brew DIY virgin takes on the ‘Make my vape’ kit

Battle of the Tanks The Devil Vaper judges Smok TFV8 Vs Aspire Cleito 120

Editor Notes

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Contents 4-5 Dotmod

Steve Nichols gives the Dotmod RTA a road test.

7 Drip Co

ello and welcome to issue 5 of Subohm Magazine. It’s been a great month since the last issue.

We have been up at the Vaper Expo in Birmingham, which was great fun.

Our sights are now firmly set on the next big event - Vape Jam - at London’s Excel Building on April 17th 2017. You may remember that this was the show where we launched Subohm last year; and this year we’re delighted to be going back as the event’s media partner. This is huge news for our little magazine.

We’ve been receiving great feedback from vapers around the country and have been taking it all on board to make Subohm an even more enjoyable read for you, the vapers.

If there’s anything you want to see in future issues, hit us up on the social media.

Contacts Charlie Kent Kent@sub-ohm.co.uk +44 (0)7900 353 611

Milo Phillips Phillips@sub-ohm.co.uk +44 (0)7557 121733

Address: 4 Una Way, Kings Langley HS, Herts WD4 8BH Follow us on social media: @subohm_magazine Subscribe for free at www.sub-ohm.co.uk Subohm magazine is published 12 times per year by Kent Phillips Publishing Ltd. Subohm Magazine is distributed exclusively to professionals in the e cigarette trade and is not intended to be viewed by consumers. We make every effort to ensure the accuracy and reliability of material we publish, and accept no responsibility for claims made by contributors, manufacturers or advertisers. Copyright for all material in this journal rests with Kent Phillips Publishing Ltd and their Agents. © Kent Phillips Publishing Ltd. 2016

Ashleigh Gilbert taste-tests e-juices from Drip Co.

8-10 Sub Ohm Innovations Callum Ferrier tries the Subzero Short Switch out.

12 Battery Safety

Battery safety has never been more important than now.

14-15 Double Drip

The Vaping Pogonophile tries two Coil Sauces.

17 Riot Squad

A new brand is emerging and causing a riot across the UK.

18-19 Wanko

Jay Petit whips out his new Wanko and gives it a play.

20 Zeus

Rachel Saffer gives three Zeus juices a go.

22-23 The Devil Vaper

Smok TFV8 “Cloud Beast” Vs Aspire Cleito 120.

26-27 Decadent Vapours Josh Paine tries Decadent Vapours High VG range.

29-34 Vaper Expo

A 6-page picture special from the recent Vaper Expo.

37 Halloween Party

This month we were invited to Island Vape’s Halloween Party.

38 Shlurp

Aaron Harris tries Original, Cold Filtered and Export flavours.

40-42 Ben Johnson

Subohm has a Q&A special with the CEO of Riot Squad.

43-46 Ohm Brew

Jon Grosvenor reviews the ‘Make My Vape’ DIY kit.

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RTA review

RTA Review DOTMOD RTA

By Steve Nichols

Anyone that knows me will know that I love the Dotmod Petri V2 RDA. So, when I stumbled across the Dotmod RTA at the Vaper Expo I had to have one.

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he tank itself comes in a presentation box with a spare Pyrex glass tank, frosted chuff cap (the one on the tank is clear glass), some spare “O” rings, spare grub

screws and a spare centre pin, two Clapton coils an Allen key plus your certificate of authenticity.

The first issue I had was opening the RTA, I didn’t realise you have to remove the 510 centre pin first, which I can’t say I’ve seen on another tank and left me pulling it at it for ages.

Dotmod have come up with a design where the chimney of the tank locks into the deck so that your juice flow holes are perfectly aligned every time.

Once disassembled the build quality shines through. The post-less deck is easy to build on. It has raised airflow holes to prevent leaking and two large wicking points. I am assuming Dotmod have chosen two so that if you desire you can build a single coil setup.

I used the two coils that came in the box and, after a bit of trimming, they sat in well and fired at 0.15 Ohms.

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There was plenty of room for the wick (Cotton Bacon) and, after a quick dab of juice, they fit well inside the deck.

The chimney section slots over the deck and screws to the base easily, then it’s just a matter of replacing the centre pin and you are done.

The top of the RTA unscrews for juice filling, revealing four juice holes that, to be honest, aren’t the biggest I’ve seen - and using a glass pipette requires patience.

I have had quite a few tanks that have been good for flavour but nothing comes close to this.

After all that comes the fun part - Vaping it.

Worth every penny!

Tech specs: • 4x 24K gold plating • Post-less Deck • Elevated Airflow holes (prevents leaking) • Floating deck (prevents misalignment of wicking holes) • Tank capacity of 2.0ml • A pair of prebuilt coils • Adjustable airflow 5

juice review

DRIP CO

by Ashleigh Gilbert

I really liked the packaging for this range of juices by Drip Co - it looks a lot like the juice packs I used to get when I was a kid - and the flavours are just as mouth-watering at they look.

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he first one I tried was Kiwi Berry: the sweet mix of strawberries and kiwi is really well balanced; leaving a pleasant aftertaste.

Next up was Triple Berry: at first I was woried that the mix of blueberry, raspberry and blackberry would be too overpowering, however, combined they make a lively fruit medley.

Finally Wild Melon: definitely my favourite of the entire range - a sweet and sour combination of wild cherry and melon. I just couldn’t put it down.

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mech review

Sub Ohm Innovations

SUBZERO SHORT SWITCH ‘A Review Love Story’

by Callum Ferrier A few months ago I found myself stuck in a rut; nothing was really interesting me; I wasn’t excited anymore - the glow had dwindled.

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in the last few months; everything had merged into one big box that seemed to fire up to 200ish watts and fire down to 0.1 ohm.

I’d grown bored and sceptical about any new mod that had come out

So, I did the only thing I thought would get me out of this box I’d pushed myself into - I decided to get back to

t some point in a vapers’ life, you will have felt this or, at least, you will feel it for those still new to the game.

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the roots of sub ohm vaping and find myself a single tube mech just like the one I used to enjoy.

While not being a stranger to mech mods, having owned a handful, I’m willing to admit that I’m by no means an expert.

But, with my previous knowledge of Ohm’s Law (a must for any vaper really but especially those looking to toy with mechs) and my VTC4 batteries for my own safety, I was now back on the market.

After playing around with a

few, and a bit of uming and ahing, I had near enough settled on one - a CAM by Kryptonite - a nice little 22mm mod with a hybrid connection (that’s where your RDA touches the battery directly instead of a 510 middle man), a hard hitting little thing that feels

sturdy and reliable.

It wasn’t until a colleague of mine stopped me from hitting the ‘buy’ button that I had even heard of the Subzero. He told me he was looking to sell one and that, if I’m looking, I may as well try it.

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mech review

Well, the short story is, since the moment I used it I haven’t put it down.

The mod is fantastic, hard hitting, innovative and, if it looked any sleeker, it would even give me movements.

The 24mm rubberised beauty is a little on the longer side for a good reason and hits like a freight train.

It’s a 510 connection that feels like a hybrid, with an unmeasurable voltage drop.

It’s button connection is the real innovation! A pin

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touches the positive end of the battery, which is put in with the positive side down - while the other side of the pin touches a connector plate split into four. When the button is pressed the plate splits apart creating a point of contact no matter where you press the button.

The adjuster for the 510 is reverse threaded for ease of screwing the top back down. The solid copper construction not only offers a fantastic connection all round but it gives the mod the weight it needs to feel sturdy and comfortable in your hand.

All in all, this is a mod that has helped me enjoy vaping again, it makes me proud when I have built myself a good set of coils, when I’ve built for my 4.2 volts and it’s come out just the way I want it. It’s a real sense of achievement that has been overlooked since the dawn of the high wattage box.

So, you can keep your DNA chips and your triple battery behemoths, if you want to have real fun get yourself and Subzero and enjoy building again.

BATTERY SAFETY With the rise of mods with removable batteries the topic of battery safety is more important than ever.

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atteries, while one of the safest methods of power generation, still carry within them a risk. Reports of leaks, shorts and, in some rare cases, explosions should remind us that batteries require the same care and attention that we give our mods, tanks and RDAs.

• Always charge batteries externally. Whilst it is possible to use a USB linked directly to the device this should not be used as the primary method for charging your vape; instead the USB should be used for firmware updates only. Invest in an external charger and you’ll receive a far better performance and lifespan from your battery.

See below some top tips for battery care to get the most out of your vaping experience.

• Don’t leave batteries charging unattended. It’s happened to all of us before - it’s been a long day and we’ve forgotten to charge our batteries for the next day so we leave them on overnight. This can lead to overcharging and potentially volatile batteries. It also decreases the lifespan of your batteries, costing you more money in the long run.

• Inspect your batteries regularly - the smallest leak or split in a battery’s wrap can lead to issues. Battery acid is incredibly corrosive and can damage your mod and, more importantly, you!

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If you can see a battery is damaged either dispose of it safely or rewrap it. The latter should only be attempted by those with experience – it’s far safer and easier to purchase a new battery.

• Keep your batteries married and stored safely. Married batteries are charged at the same time, to the same level of charge. This ensures best performance as well an even level of power output.

Crucial for the larger two and three battery mods.

When your batteries are not being charged or used they should be kept in a protective case where they are not in contact with each other or other conductive materials.

juice review

Double Drip Coil Sauce Review by Vaping Pogonophile

Double Drip Coil Sauce is a UK company which launched at the Vaper Expo UK – The Return boasting a four flavour range: – Twisted Ice Cream; Strawberry Banana Waffle; Raspberry Sherbet and Lemon Tart. I have been given two of the range to review for you today – Raspberry Sherbet and Lemon Tart.

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am loving their bold and colourful labels with a graffiti and foil effect they really do stand out from the crowd.

Raspberry Sherbet Smell: sweet and sour raspberries Flavour: a good juice for triggering memories and for me this juice does just that. As a child I used to get a Sherbet Dip, a paper tube half full of sherbet with a liquorice stick to dip in it. As I’ve never liked liquorice I would get rid of the stick and just eat the sherbet.

Tipping it back into my mouth, sometimes too much so that it would hit the back of my throat and make me cough,

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producing a cloud of sherbet dust.

watts and the flavour comes through very boldly.

On the inhale I get a wonderfully fresh raspberry which has sweet and sour notes coming back and forth bouncing off my taste buds with a slight throat hit (which I feel is needed). On the exhale this just blossoms into a delightful raspberry sherbet, as it should be.

A great juice.

This outstanding likeness to the real thing, and my love for a raspberry vape, makes this juice an all day vape for me.

As well as dripping this juice for the review, I tried it in a Cleito tank 0.4ohm coil at 40

Lemon Tart Smell: a rich pastry crust and a soft lemon sauce in the background Flavour: oh my goodness, this has to one of the best lemon tarts I’ve tried and tested!

A favourite real lemon tart I have is a Tescos finest dessert and this juice replicates this in so many ways with the bonus being you don’t get the calories.

On the inhale - a sublimely

rich and smooth lemon curd with slight sharp notes that tantalise the taste buds followed by a beautiful buttery and crumbly pastry base.

On the exhale the lemon curd is accentuated and the pastry notes drop further back, leaving you with a sweet zingy lemon aftertaste on the palate.

I was a little taken a back at how full bodied the flavour was, making me believe I could, in fact, be eating my favourite tart. Another fantastic all day vape for me.

Once again I tried this juice in a Cleito tank and was really impressed that there wasn’t much difference to flavour.

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RIOT SQUAD A new brand is emerging and causing something of a riot across the UK vape scene.

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e first came across these guys at the UK Vaper Expo where they were grabbing bystanders, dressing them up in boiler suits and treating them to a full on shouting match in the back of their SWAT van.

Our own Milo Phillips experienced this first hand. “It was a little more than I anticipated” he commented. “I’ve seen some aggressive arrests in my time but these guys left me shaking.” Milo describes the interrogation experience as “All too real, right down to

the creepy guy performing cavity searches!”.

Riot Squad’s creativity, and out of the box thinking, won them the highly sought after ‘Stand of The Show Award’ as well as coming out on top for their juice range and branding.

Ben Johnson, founder and CEO, intends to send the riot van out and around the country. He says: “We set out to introduce our flavours to as many vapers as possible, but we want to make it fun, so we are creating anarchy and memorable mayhem along the way!”

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RDA review

THE WANKO… It’s Japanese for dog

by Jay Petit

There’s nothing I like better than a new mod, so when I received my Wanko, I whipped it out and started playing with it straight away screwing it tightly on top of my Owl Mod.

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t felt good in my hand and uses a fuseslot type coil, like a fuse in a plug which doesn’t need screws. The first coil I tried was the 1 Ohm KA1 Wave which was very good,

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however when I used it on a mechanical mod it took a fair old time to heat up.

Next I tried the 0.6 SS316L wave coil, which literally took a few seconds to change due

to the postless slot system.

I then re-wicked and had a puff again, using it on a mechanical mod; and again, took a fair time to ramp up, almost two seconds.

So onto the third coil, which was the lowest of the Ohms at 0.35, this is actually my preference, a Clapton coil. I am sure you know what I am going to say - yes you’re right it took a bit of time to ramp up, almost killing my hit.

Then I tried all three coils on a regulated mod (an older Sigelei 100W) this time running at a higher wattage it was far quicker to heat, about one second maximum, the only problem there was I had got the atomizer to use with my Owl Mod.

ends of the wire, then simply slotting it into place. This, in my opinion worked better than the factory made coils.

Although I had reduced the ramp up time on my Owl Mod to about one second, this was still not quite cutting it for me - I then noticed you could build straight onto the deck which was almost as simple as slotting in the fuse coils.

All you have to do is remove the fuse slots via the little screws and replace them

with slightly wider screws which are supplied with the Wanko. Trap each end of the wire under a screw to create a complete circuit. This performed so much better, with a very quick ramp up and it also gives you room to build whatever coil you want. I have also added a glass drip tip to help cool the vape a little. I am now getting my Wanko out on a regular basis. I would say it’s definitely my go-to dripper at the moment!

After trying out all the different coils supplied, I then decided to try making a few of my own, using 20 AWG Kanthal wire, slipping the fuse end caps over the

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juice review

Nectar of the Gods:

ZEUS JUICE A Review by Rachel Saffer

All flavours were tried on a Council of Vapour Vengeance Tank, with 0.2Ω coils, on a Sigelei 75w TC Mod at 60W.

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always like to know a little about my choice of juices before I try them. Zeus Juice is a UK based company, with a huge range, with a bit of something for everyone.

I had to pick three to review, not an easy task at all.

Death by Bunny There’s a sharp strawberry taste on inhale, with a nice dollop of cream on the exhale. It’s not too sugary, which is perfect for me and makes it good enough to be an all-day vape.

Atlantis Tastes just like a raspberry slush! A smooth berry flavour mixed with menthol, which lingers leaving a very pleasant aftertaste.

ZY4 This flavour is a bit different from the kind I usually vape, I’ve got quite a sweet tooth. It’s a smooth tobacco with caramel; there is also a hint of vanilla on exhale. A very smooth tobacco flavour, definitely one I’d try again.

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battle of the tanks

Smok TFV8 “Cloud Beast” Vs Aspire Cleito 120

by The Devil Vaper The Smok TFV8 series seems to be quite popular amongst vapers but there’s a new player in the game: the Aspire Cleito 120. I decided to put these two tanks up against each other in a head-to-head ‘battle of the tanks!’

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irst up we have the TFV8 by Smok, AKA “The Cloud Beast”.

It’s a 25.5mm diameter tank with a juice capacity of 5.5-6ml.

With seven different coil types including an RBA, this tank can run from 40w, all the way up to a massive 260w!

Next we have the Cleito 120 from Aspire.

It’s a 25mm diameter tank with a 4ml juice capacity, just one coil and an RBA that has only recently hit the market. The 0.16Ω coil is recommended for use between 100w and 120w.

So, how do they compare on paper?

The TFV8 is wider, taller, has a larger juice capacity and range of replacement coils, but comes with a price tag to match. The Cleito 120 on the other hand is more compact and less complicated.

Now let’s get into the flavour. I found that the

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TFV8 is extremely muted and has a strange metallic and almost talcum powder taste with the V8Q4 coil. The other coils that are included decided to fail within five minutes of being in the tank, even when primed and broken in correctly. The RBA deck is probably the best coil to use if you are looking for flavour on this tank, but still, it’s not that great.

The Cleito 120 has far superior flavour in comparison to the TFV8. It is pure, smooth and

has no weird taste whatsoever. It’s also great to use below the recommended wattage range at around 60-80w!

What about the clouds? The TFV8 wins hands down on the cloud side of things. They are denser and absolutely huge! So if you’re a cloud chaser, the TFV8 is the one for you. The Cleito does produce some brilliant clouds, but they aren’t as good as the aptly named “Cloud Beast”

recommend you either carry round spare batteries or use a triple 18650 mod to ensure you have enough battery life to last you the day.

For general, everyday use, both of these tanks absolutely drink juice - the TFV8 even more so.

Does the TFV8 live up to the hype? In my opinion no - it lacks in flavour, it’s impractical for everyday use and the coils are unreliable.

The only things, I believe, that this tank has going for it are the clouds, the larger capacity tank and the wider range of coils; whereas the Cleito 120 has better flavour, is more reliable for everyday use and is cheaper to buy and run.

With the increased wattage required to heat these coils, both of these munch through batteries like mad. Again, the TFV8 eats through your battery percentage quicker than the Cleito so, with both of these tanks, I would

So, to conclude: if you’re looking for clouds, the TFV8 is for you, but if you’re looking for flavour and a more economical vaping experience, then the Cleito 120 is a great all rounder!

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juice review

DECADENT VAPOURS

HIGH VG RANGE Review By Josh Paine

Some people thought that Decadent Vapours only produced juices suitable for plus-ohm vaping. I was lucky enough to try their High VG Range, with a 75/25 VG PG mixture: the range matches its magnitude of flavours with the clouds you will produce. So, open up the windows and stand away from the smoke alarms as you’re going to want to enjoy every hit.

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lavours were tested on a Wismec RX200S, with a Triton 2 tank, firing at 50 watts.

Fruitiful

Vape the afternoon away, with this light combination of summer fruits and citrus.

Fruitful starts with a mouthwatering fruit blend, which leaves you guessing, and then is quickly punctuated with a sharp hit of citrus. A vape I was reluctant to put down.

Purpelle Step right up to try the alternative to the everyday vape. Purpelle hits hard and it hits fast. It’sone of the purest 26

blackcurrant flavours I’ve tried to date; it blends the sweetness of the berry with a tart finish.

MSB Menthol Special Blend, codename MSB is one of Decadent’s best kept secrets.

Normally mint flavours leave you feeling chilled, this one, however, is built on sweet Eucalyptus and leaves you feeling refreshed and cooled.

Crème Anglais More than the sum of its parts, Crème Anglais fuses

rich custard, sweet vanilla and a sugar finish. They all blend together to create a moreish taste. It’s a nostalgic flavour for me, as it isone of the first flavour profiles I tried; admittedly I haven’t tasted one that hits the spot like Decadent’s offering.

Cherrylicious Tastes like fruit fresh from the tree - a sumptuous cherry tempered with a light aftertaste of summer fruit.

Cherrylicious is fresh all day long. On inhale the almost sour cherry lifts your taste buds to a great height and the fruit exhale brings them back down to earth.

Bubbly My personal favourite of the entire range, as the name suggests Bubbly is a tasty bubble gum flavour. You’re just as likely to want to chew it as vape it. A sweet strawberry inhale, the real intrigue lies in the banana almond exhale. A real all-day vape, to the point it caused one man in the street to demand ‘Who makes that flavour?’

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Picture Special

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Northampton

Halloween Party While vaping is a business for many of us, we still get an enormous amount of pleasure fromit. Great examples of this are the community backed events such as store openings and seasonal celebrations.

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his month we were invited to Island Vape’s Halloween Party in Northampton - which was really good fun.

The event was jam packed and entertaining.

There were cloud comps in almost every

category you can think of and competitions like ‘The Iron Lung’ - where vapers competed to take the biggest hit of this crazy hot ghost pepper home brew.

We had our photographer with us, and here’s what we saw….

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juice review

SHLURP Original, Cold Filtered and Export Review by Aaron Harris

Original - This flavour reminds me of old-school sticky sweets and ripe fruits. The blend of the two tickles the taste buds leaving an explosion of flavour behind it.

Cold Filtered - Very similar to the Original but this time adding an ice popsicle menthol effusion that lightens up the flavour.

The menthol complements the sweet and fruity mix which leaves a cool, cold exhale.

Export - This flavour was really moreish. The cocktail fruit blend was a really nice, subtle fruit. Not sickly - just ripe, fresh fruit.

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interview

BEN JOHNSON Q&A with the CEO of Riot Squad

Riot squad is quite a recent addition to the UK vape market, where and when did you launch?

We first unleashed Riot Squad on the vaping scene at the recent Vaper Expo in October this year.

It’s a highly charged and extremely competitive arena to enter for any

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established brand in the vaping marketplace, let alone a virgin vaper expo newcomer wanting to ensure the launch of our Riot Squad eliquids didn’t go unnoticed.

We went with the intention of raising the bar and we achieved that and more!

You have been popping up all over the place in recent months to what do you owe this exposure?

With a name like Riot Squad we knew we had to attack from all areas. We’ve caused a coup on social media as well as enlisting an army of Riot Squad supporters. We’re really pleased with the reaction we’ve had so far from the vaping community and we’re lucky to have a growing group of vapers helping to spread the world.

We all saw your interrogation chamber at the Vaper Expo, where did the inspiration for this come from?

In all honesty it’s doing what we do best, and that’s coming up with new flavours as well being at the heart of finding creative ways to engage with the vaping community.

Riot Squad and the crazy chaos created at the Vaper Expo is just one example of this and I love to get immersed in it all. It’s great to go off on a tangent, throw a creative grenade, and see what happens – it’s the aspect of my job I enjoy the most.

What’s your current vaping setup?

From the outset we had a clear vision of how we wanted to stand out in what is a very competitive marketplace. It was always our intention to grab attention with proactive, bold, brave “in-your-face” tactics.

I’m currently using the EVO75 kit by Aspire.

I love the premium feel and flavour output.

The best thing is that you can totally customise the power settings and it’s so easy to use.

We knew our hard-core approach would turn heads. You can’t be too wary of whether or not people are going to be up for what you are doing, you’ve got to be fearless in this game and not take things too seriously.

If you could choose to have any one super power, which one would you choose and why?

What’s the most exciting part of your job?

Fairly simple this one, nothing too much of an ask - Superman’s speed. It might help me find the time to go home a little more often to be with my family! Traveling up and down the country takes up a great deal of my time.

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interview

What are your top five favourite (non Riot Squad) e liquids of all time?

My absolute favourite is our own Tropical Fury, but I also like Cuttwood’s Unicorn Milk, Cosmic Fog Chewberry, Djinni Zingo and Twelve Monkeys Kanzi. I started off with creamy flavours but soon switched to more fruity vapes as they are much more

interesting all day vapes.

Do you have any hidden talents?

Nothing overly exciting however, I did manage to complete the whole Panini sticker book as a kid which wasn’t easy!

If a movie was made about your life who would you want playing you and why?

A slimmed down John Belushi, National Lampoon’s Animal house. What more needs to be said?

Harvey Keitel – cool as ever as Mr White in Reservoir Dogs amongst other great performances!

Paul Newman - I believe he is a class act and I’ve always wanted to go out in a blaze of glory like he did as the Sundance Kid.

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ohm brew

DIY VIRGIN Takes on ‘Make my vape’!

By Jon Grosvenor

When I was asked to review a ‘Make My Vape’ DIY kit I couldn’t believe my luck as I’d been contemplating taking up home brewing for some time.

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hen I received the parcel I was like an over excited child at Christmas delving in to see what goodies were inside. It was a very comprehensive kit including what seemed to be everything involved in

home brewing: a bottle of VG (pharmaceutical grade EP99.7%), a bottle of PG (pharmaceutical grade USP/EP 99.9%), 72mg/ml nicotine VG (EP99.7%) and 8 x 10ml bottles of flavour concentrates.

mixing bottles, unicorn bottles, 10ml tester bottles, a selection of syringes and pipettes for measuring the liquid and even a few pairs of latex gloves plus the allimportant sticky labels for the bottles post mixing.

The next layer revealed the apparatus required - various

After laying everything out and studying the instruction leaflet

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ohm brew I was back on track. Ten percent was recommended so I filled in the last section on the calculator and my recipe was created telling me how much VG, PG, nicotine and flavour concentrate to add.

I noticed one inconsistency in the otherwise comprehensive kit - the instructions stipulate to use a mixing cup for mixing the liquids and then transfer them to the bottles but the kit didn’t contain a mixing cup which, in my opinion, is a shame because it was the only thing missing.

The instructions tell you to go to www.makemyvape.com to find a selection of recipes and the liquid calculator, so out came the laptop and I went straight to the website.

I decided to start off easy and make a simple e-liquid using just one flavour as I had received a bottle of Pink Lemonade concentrate.

The ‘Make my vape’ e-liquid calculator is very straight forward but, being a total novice, one section baffled me - flavour percentage? How on earth am I meant to know what percentage of flavour I want? I knew everything else from the e-juices I normally 44

buy. I knew I wanted 70vg / 30pg, I knew I wanted 3mg Nicotine strength and I knew I was going to make a 10ml sample but I had no idea what flavour percentage to use - a quick google search explained exactly why… flavour percentage is subjective and down to the brewer’s preference. With this in mind I still felt I needed a starting point so a quick phone call to a good friend and fellow reviewer ‘Mr Homebrew’ himself, Martin Norton, and

On went my gloves and, using the syringes as instructed, I measured out my PG, VG flavour concentrate and nicotine into a bottle, a good shake and - boom my first homebrewed e-liquid had been created in little more than 15 minutes! A word of advice - due to its viscosity VG is near impossible to suck up through a needle so, in hindsight, I should have used one of the pipettes provided.

Another shot concentrate I received was strawberry milkshake so another easy mix: I popped the mix details into the calculator and another e-juice was born.

Now, in my early days of

ohm brew weeks steeping with 12-24 hours breathing time.

vaping, Heisenberg was a favourite of mine and, low and behold, one of the flavours I had received was called “H-type”. It smelled remarkably familiar so it was back to the calculator and 15 minutes later my third mix was created.

By now I’m feeling like the Heston Blumenthal of the vaping world so, after taking another look at my flavours, I decided I had all the ingredients to make something in a tropical range containing 6 different flavours. Again I had no idea of flavour percentages so scoured the internet to find the common amounts used.

Full of excitement - in a somewhat geeky manner - I was off again.

Next was an extremely frustrating stage - allowing my collection of freshly made e-liquids to steep. The ‘Make My Vape’ instructions state a steeping time of 2-3 days but did not mention anything about a breathing period, as opposed to what seems to be the general consensus of 2-8 46

So with a 12 hours breath, and regular shaking, I decided to see how extending the steep time affected the flavours. I sampled my e-liquids after the recommended 3 days and was really impressed with all apart from the strawberry milkshake, which I believe needed longer. After three days I couldn’t really make out strawberry or the milk flavours and found an almost chemical like aftertaste. After another 7 days I tried the juices again and, although the strawberry milkshake had darkened in colour, the flavours had disappointingly still not settled. I might need to come back to this one in a future article.

The pink lemonade’s colour had not changed but the vape had become smoother, with an old fashioned homemade lemonade flavour developing.

The ‘H-type’ juice had not

changed in either colour or flavour but, in fairness, it really didn’t need to as it was pretty much spot on the previous time I tried it.

Last, but certainly not least, came my tropical mix which had become a little cloudy.

The taste had mixed nicely allowing each fruity flavour to mature and to hit the palate one at a time, some on inhale and some on exhale.

It reminded me of a perfectly balanced summer cocktail.

All in all I was extremely impressed with the kit. The instructions were clear and precise, everything needed was included (bar the mixing cup), the flavours vaped well and, for the most part, tasted exactly how they should.

If you’re considering enjoying the freedom and money saving opportunities of home brewing I couldn’t recommend this DIY kit enough - don’t keep putting it off!! It’s fun, quick, easy and nowhere near as daunting as you may think.