Subohm Issue 7

#7

Vape Jam

Subohm catch up with Amir, owner and creator of Vape Jam

Fusion

We visited Nottingham for the launch of the Fusion Vape Lounge

Old Man Vaper The Beauty of DIY Building

by Christian Viola

Don’t miss your free telescope inside!

Editor Notes

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ompleting the first six issues of Subohm magazine felt like an exciting milestone…. but we don’t have time for nostalgia when we have another issue full of fresh news and views ready to hit the streets.

This month we were up in Nottingham for the launch of the Fusion Vape Lounge. We had a good laugh, and it was good to catch up with old friends while making some new ones too. There are some great pictures of the event on page 28.

The team here at Subohm is planning all sorts of exciting new projects which we’ll be reporting on throughout the year – keep tuned in for some adventurous, and downright barmy stuff.

This month we’ve included the 1:1 magnification Subohm roll-up telescope. Cut it out, keep your eyes on the sky and your head in the clouds.

Next month will see the launch of The Subohm SpaceProgramme.

With all that, and the non-stop stream of awesome and innovative products coming out, we’re not going to be short of things to talk about.

Enjoy the issue and we will see you next month.

Contacts

Charlie Kent - Publishing Editor Kent@sub-ohm.co.uk +44 (0)7900 353 611 Josh Paine - Feature Editor Paine@sub-ohm.co.uk +44 (0)7943 096792 Milo Phillips - Publisher 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. 2017

Contents 4-6 SMOK TFV12

The UK Vapster tries the SMOK TFV12 Cloud Beast King.

8-9 Old Man Vaper

The beauty of DIY building.

10 Riot Squad

The Van Tour is in full flow.

12-13 Amir

Subohm speaks to Amir, the owner and creator of Vape Jam.

14-15 The Wismec RX300 Craig Mellor gives RX300 a test.

16 Sluice

Vaping Pogonophile tries Sluice.

18-19 Wraith Squonker The Telford Vaper trials the Wraith 80W Squonker.

20-21 You chose poorly

Some of vaping biggest no-nos.

23 Bad Drip

Ashleigh Gilbert tries 3 flavours.

26-27 HCigar VT167

Artem Kalikin takes a good look at the HCigar VT167.

28 Fusion Vape Lounge A picture special of our trip.

30-31 Squonking Part Two Another look at Squonking.

33 Zeus

Rach Saffer tastes three of the Zeus juices range.

34-35 Jack Rabbit Vapes

The Devil Vaper gives JRV a try.

36 Riot Squad

Stephen Nichols tastes two juices from Riot Squad.

39-41 Vaping With Vic Vic tries the Aspire Zelos.

42 Decadent Vapours

The Cardiff Vaper takes a look at Shake & Vape.

44-46 Ohm Brew

Carla Pink reviews Alchemist’s Cupboard’s DIY Mixing Kit. 3

hardware review

THE RETURN OF THE CLOUD BEAST

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SMOK TFV12 Review by Rob – UK Vapester

In the last six months we have seen a continuous growth in the production of cloud-chasing tanks - the front runner being the wellknown manufacturer: Smok. Today is no different, with the recently released ‘Smok TFV12 Cloud Beast King’. What a name!

Before I get into the review I’ll go through what you get in the box: • 6ml tank with a pre-installed 0.12Ω duodenary coil (60w-350w) • 0.15Ω quadruple coil (60w-190w) • 0.15Ω quadruple coil (60w-200w) • Spare O-rings • Spare glass • Manual & warranty card • TVF12 tank band.

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hardware review

First impressions of the tank is that it has all the characteristics of a Smok atomizer: wide bore delrin drip tip, top filling cap that opens to the side, and large adjustable bottom airflow. It’s one of Smok’s larger tanks with a 25mm base, measuring 28mm at its widest point. At a quick glance it just looks like a slightly larger TFV8.

Having a tank like this is all well and good but, unless you have a mod powerful enough to back it up, it’s useless. I’ve been testing the TFV12 with the Wismec RX300 (Max wattage 300w) and the Smok G320 (max

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wattage 320w), both are great mods that have enough power to satisfy this high demanding tank.

Here come the clouds! As you would expect from a stock coil,which has 12 built coils inside, this thing chucks out the vapour. I found the most comfortable wattage for the pre-installed 0.12Ω duodenary coil to be 200 watts; any higher -it’s too hot, any lower - there is a loss in flavour.

Something to bear in mind, even with all this power and all that vapour, the flavour is still second to most RTA’s

& RDA’s. Don’t be mistaken, the flavour is very good but when reviewing this side-byside with the Smok Skyhook RDTA box mod it’s just not on the same level.

This tank is a big, demanding, e liquid drinking monster. It has its positives with a high juice capacity, big clouds and big flavour.

However, at the cost of gallons of liquid and a pricey mod to power it, I don’t think it’s worth it. This tank was purely made as a high wattage gimmick for vapers who want big clouds without the hassle of building their own low resistance coils.

The Beauty of DIY Building

OLD MAN VAPER

By Christian Viola

When I started vaping some years ago, I found that the little vapes weren’t up to much so I went down the road of buying the ones with a built in battery… then I found I wanted ones with batteries I could change at will.

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hat led me to having a go at building a mod myself. It can’t be that difficult! So, I had a look online, and found two very good companies called ‘Stealthvape’ and ‘Modmaker’. They supplied

me with every part I could have dreamt of and were incredibly helpful. They both make some of the parts themselves and they’re really nice quality compared withsome of the questionable Chinese imports! The ‘Stealthvape510’ I reviewed

is built like a tank and it is engineering perfection.

When I started making my first mod I had this lovely aluminium box with a beautiful push- button switch for the fire button, a great lovely board and a shiny 510 adaptor onto which you screw your atomizer. I wasn’t going to go for the standard 18650s so I used a big lipo battery. When it arrived everything fitted beautifully in the box - until I put in my nice switches and board then the battery didn’t fit! So I decided to wire the battery externally…..a good example of me thinkingquite literally outside the box!!

For my first attempt it wasn’t bad but I needed to go bigger, so I had the idea - why not include a big bad ass lipo battery and create a monster? It ended

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up producing something like 15,000 MAHs (you can see the video of it catching fire onYouTube.

Then I wanted to make more interesting boxes. While I was shopping in Waitrose I saw some little gift tins of gin and thought they would

make a good little mod. It was really easy to turn them into a working vape – with the added bonus of a free bottle of gin!

I’ve tried to make boxes out of everything, including an old AVO Multimeter. Perhaps the most disastrous was the wine bottle mod. Quite a few shattered when I tried to cut them upbut a bit of trickery later and I was in, that’ll stop me whine-ing haha.

My most ambitious project to date is probably the Macro

Mini Stealthvape with 10 x 18650s. The battery pack was put together for me by ‘Ecolux Batteries’ and it boasts a ‘YiHi SX 550’ board with bluetooth and USB C connectivity. It is a beast!

Anyone can make these mods if they have a soldering iron, patience and technical know-how. I hope my adventures inspire others.

Check out Old Man Vaper online for more tricks and tips to build outrageous creations of your own.

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RIOT SQUAD Van Tour

We’ve hosted, and attended, a few shop events in our time and you know what would make all of them a bit better? A visit from the Riot Squad Van!

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his year Riot Squad are taking the show on the road offering their brand of brutal party ethics to help pep up - shop openings, birthdays and other vape events.

We’ve seen games, hot boxing the van (the only time you can force people to get

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in a van and not expect to do five years), giveaways, brilliant cloud comps and

all other manner of vape madness. We’ll see you there.

interview

CATCHING UP WITH

AMIR

With one of Europe’s largest vape events just around the corner,this month we’ve been chatting with Amir, the owner and creator of Vape Jam and P-Vaper.

How did you come up with the idea for Vape Jam? In 2014 I started P-Vaper wholesale and distribution.

Back then American e-liquid brands were still incredibly rare to find and unknown.

I met the people behind Ruthless Vapor and got exclusive distribution rights for the UK and Europe. The brand blew up and the reception was really positive so I decided to travel to Los Angeles and visit ECC (Electronic Cigarette Convention) with the Ruthless team. This was my first experience at a real vape convention. I wondered why there was nothing like this back home.

I took the initiative and as soon as I came back to London - I requested a meeting with the staff at 12

Kensington Olympia and booked the dates for the first Vape Jam UK on the same day.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at the event?

The craziest thing that I have witnessed at Vape Jam is something very positive the support from not only the UK vape community, but the global community as well. The show has had an incredible attendance rate of both visitors and exhibitors, and has continuously grown.

breakdown. I look forward to meeting new faces and seeing all of the old ones that are returning. I’m excited to see our panel of speakers, the Modders Block and the results of our Charity Raffle.

What are you most looking forward to seeing at the event this year?

Probably the same way most of us did, I had to cut down on smoking, saw a first generation device, tried it and inevitably it worked. Naturally, as a first generation device, it didn’t

Like every year I look forward to absolutely everything, from build-up to

How did you get into vaping?

perform to its full potential!

What’s your number one e-liquid at the moment?

At the moment it’s the TPD Bluberry Eliquid by Cream Puff Factory.

You’re trapped on a desert island, you’re only allowed to bring one set-up what is it?

This is an unfair question! It would be a set up that has infinite battery life.

Who would play you in the film of your life?

The idea of a film of my life is definitely intriguing, however, I don’t feel that I’m at a point in my life where this is relevant, I am still far too young and my achievements don’t live up to such recognition yet.

Maybe I’ll be able to answer this question in my 60s.

What’s the best thing about your job?

The fact that I work with

my friends in an industry that saves lives and helps people. I love what I do.

What would be your last meal on earth?

Anything that my mother made, she is a fantastic cook!

Tanks or drippers?

A couple of years ago I would say drippers but now, with all the technological advancements, it’s definitely tanks.

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hardware review

ASSAULT AND BATTERY

The Wismec RX300 Review by Craig Mellor

The new, larger, shape is a lot squarer and heavier compared with the previous RX200 & RX200s. Personally, this fits well in my hand despite the mod’s size, but I can see how the dimensions could create obstacles for some vapers.

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etting used to its weight is something I haven’t quite adjusted to yet.

I only use this at home as it’s far too bulky to just carry around with me on a day-to-day basis.

The front of the mod has a simple design which incorporates the Jaybo logo on the large fire button sitting at the top of the panel. The battery cover on the RX300 is magnetised to ensure it stays closed along with a little latch, and is large enough, and sturdy enough, to house the four 18650 batteries without any worry the cover will swing open.

The 0.93″ oLED display on the RX300 is the same display as on all Reuleaux models; on the screen are four individual icons, each shows the level of charge for the corresponding battery.

I could see one of my batteries was not charged, but found it difficult to identify which battery this was from the icon. After

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unit it couldaccommodate atomisers that are bigger than 25mm.

I’ve spent the last 7/8 weeks using the RX300 and put it through its paces using a variety of tanks and drippers.

I’m really impressed with the mod and can’t find many faults. The main problem it has is just the sheer weight and size of the mod itself when paired with a tank.

swapping batteries around a little I managed to work it out.

The latest feature of the RX300 would have to be the power bank that’s available for this mod. The power bank allows you to charge you phone or tablet directly from the mod. In my eyes, the feature itself is kind of pointless because you could easily buy yourself an external USB charger which would have a higher mAh

rate, and you wouldn’t waste the charge in your mod batteries, but each to their own.

The top of the RX300 has the stainless steel 510 connector with a spring loaded centre pin which will accept almost any atomiser. I like how the centre pin is set back enough to allow for atomisers of up to 25mm to sit on top without any overhang. If the 510 connector was a bit further into the centre of the

In summary, this is definitely not for beginners, or anybody that wouldn’t be able to get on board with the weight and size of it. I can’t think of many people, if any at all, that would use the 300W available so this just feels like overkill. This mod has fantastic features that consistently work, no misfires and no problems, all of this paired with amazing specifications. If you’re a fan of the Reuleaux series of mods, can get used to its bulk and have at least two sets of four married batteries then this is for you.

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juice review

SLUICE JUICE

By Vaping Pogonophile

Sluice Juice is a UK company from Newport in Shropshire with a ten juice range - three of which I am reviewing this month.

Creamy Biscuit What I love about this juice is how simple it comes across at first when, in fact, it is probably a very complex blend. On the inhale you get this delicious, almost shortbread taste, followed, in light waves, by a lovely smooth vanilla cream. This continues on into the exhale with hints of chocolate and coconut, subtly making me questions my senses.

Blackcurrant Yurt On the inhale I got a blast of rich, full-bodied, blackcurrant 16

which certainly doesn’t leave you guessing. On the exhale the blackcurrant is joined by a not too creamy, nor too sweet, yoghurt taste, leaving you with a slightly dry and slightly sour sensation in the mouth just like you get with real yoghurt.

Rhubarb Custody As a child, on my way to school, I would pop into my local shop and pick up a bag of sweets for the day - my favourite being Rhubarb & Custard. On the inhale you’re hit with an explosion of rhubarb. It’s a double hit of

fresh rhubarb and candied rhubarb, that’s followed by sublime creamy custard.

On the exhale the custard comes further forward. This is certainly an all-day vape for me and by far the best rhubarb & custard flavour I’ve tried.

Final Note I made a wonderful discovery - purely by accident. While I was testing Rhubarb Custody I accidently picked up the Creamy Biscuit and dripped it on top. What a delightful blend I had created!

hardware review

WRAITH 80W SQUONKER

Council of Vapor

By Kevin Hill – Telford Vaper

The Wraith 80w squonker is a game changer for mods. When I saw Steve Nichols review it on his YouTube channel, I said to myself – ok, I so need to get this mod to see if it’s any good.

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he squonker is designed to push juice through a hollow centre pin, up in to your pre-wicked cotton instead of thestandard RDA where you drip juice over your wick and coils. Once releasing pressure on the bottle any excess juice is squeezed back in to the bottle making sure the atomizer isn’t over juiced, to avoid leaking.

When the Wraith arrived it was encased in a sleek black box with the

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embossed silver ‘Council of Vapor’ logo on the front.

Inside the kit comes with two squonker bottles: one forcarrying around and one to be inserted at the bottom of the 80w mod. You also get spare o-rings and grub screws. The mod itself is gorgeous and slim. Its carbon fibre inlay makes this mod stand out from the rest.

It fits perfectly in your hand it and doesn’t feel bulky or heavy.

The Wraith atomizer features a 23mm diameter, twopost,velocity style deck; it sits perfectly to coincide with the fully adjustable air flow. It can take two coils, but I stuck to one single fused Clapton coil, running at 0.45 ohms and firing at65w which is perfect for this set-up.

It takes a single 18650 battery. Two silver buttons sit below the LCD display

screen - five clicks switch the device on andoff; three

clicks takes you into the function modes that include temperature control and screen lock and you can even rotate the display. The battery life lasts almost a full day. It is the perfect mod when you’re out and about. I use mine when I’m driving.

The flavour and clouds are on par with any other mod I have vaped.

To sum up the design and durability of this mod is definitely for me. This has to be the best mod I have used for some time.

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You Chose POORLY… The average vaper spends hundreds of pounds each year on vape products: from tanks to boxes to the newest flavour of E Liquid.

The choices are endless and, with technology constantly evolving, we’re all guilty at least once of making a spurious purchase that we should have avoided like the plague.

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o you like your phone? Do you like your vape?

Then why not combined the two? But just because you could, doesn’t mean you should. The clip-on phone vape is a perfect example.

Giving the on-the-go vaper the option to run a plusohm tank using your smart phone as a battery seems like a good idea in theory.

This bit of kit allows you not only to deplete the battery on your phone but to look like a berk while you’re doing it. If you’re that desperate buy one of the hundreds of small dedicated vaping devices out there.

On that note, when we start

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out vaping it’s very tempting to cut corners and save costs; no more is this true

than when we purchase a clone. The most prominent clones are normally cheap

imitations of popular rebuildable atomisers, such as the Kayfun series and, as you’d expect, they’ve got the build quality of one of Del Boy’s VCRs. Purchase at your peril - and be prepared for some unwelcome facial scarring.

You’ll like the vape’s answer to Flava Flav while beating a mod-shaped tattoo on your own ribs as you walk down the street. Wear your poor

decisions with pride young vaper!!

The overall message is simple, caveat emptor!

In the same vein as cutting costs, we’ve all forgotten to bring a bottle of E Liquid with us when out and about; in cases like this you could be tempted to go for the two pound corner shop specials we see everywhere, but these mixes are about as stable as Nicola Sturgeon watching Braveheart and they taste like a chemical bath.

Finally, the worst offender has to be the neck lanyard.

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juice review

BAD DRIP

By Ashleigh Gilbert

The first thing that catches the eye when you look at the Bad Drip range is the packaging. Each flavour is ensconced in a pill bottle but, rather than prescription medication, there’s a much sweeter prize is inside - a bottle of tasty E Liquid.

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started with a visit down memory lane in the form of Cereal Trip. This is a lovely, fruity cereal flavour similar to fruity Pebbles - a tasty hit of doughnuts with a nice sweet milk to top it off. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day – this is probably the most important vape as well!

I don’t know who Farley is, but his sauce is definitely gnarley- based on the classic combination of kiwi and super sweet strawberry. What really puts Farley’s Gnarley Sauce outside the norm is the bubblegum added in. It’s a really sweet berry that undercuts the slight sour taste of the kiwi and is definitely something you can enjoy throughout the day.

This butter isn’t ugly, this butter is beautiful! Despite its name Ugly Butter is a rich creamy flavour that lingers with you forhours. I was sorely tempted to dump the entire bottle on somewaffles and enjoy a tasty trip straight to the Emergency Room.

A brilliant cinnamon edge keeps up a sweet aftertaste.

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hardware review

HCIGAR VT167

by Artem Kalikin

The HCigar VT167 is a relatively cheap (by the DNA device standards) DNA 250 mod. Since most devices, with the same DNA board, are very similar it’s worth saying the VT167 is a dual 18650 battery device which, in combination with the DNA250 board, means that it will go up to 167 Watts.

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he days when I have to either bring a 3-battery device to work with me, or grab another set of batteries, are over. I’d like to point out a useful safety feature that is reverse battery protection - you won’t actually fry your mod if you insert batteries the wrong way anymore.

I’m still nervous every time I charge batteries and insert them back to my Triade DNA200 but with the VT167 that’s absolutely not a concern.

Anyway, those are the well-known details about DNA250 boards so let’s jump into the aesthetics of this particular mod.

I picked up the carbon fibre option; while I don’t know whether it’s real carbon or not it’s definitely something I haven’t come across before on a mod. It’s not bad, but it’s slightly soft and malleable - to the point that a small dent can be made if you apply any pressure.

It’s certainly different from its competitor the Lost Vape Therion.

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think it’s aluminium whereas VT167 is made of Zinc Alloy.

The 510 connection is great as well. Threads are as smooth - as they need to be.

The pin is spring loaded, has an interesting cone shape, retracts easily -and by quite a lot - so atomisers shouldn’t have a problem sitting on this device. Speaking of atomisers – there’s one problem I’ve found - it doesn’t really support larger tanks. 22mm RDAs are just fine, 24mm is pushing it and 25mm I can just notice little overhang from the front. By no means is it a big problem, but still something to point out.

The battery door sits snugly in place so it won’t fall off and it’s not too hard to open. It’s held by two small ball bearings that the door latches onto. I even tested the door strength by shaking the mod while only holding onto the door. It’s very well built and didn’t come apart once.

It feels cheaper than Lost Vape devices, which it certainly is, but still a very big step up from usual lower-end models.

I’m comparing it with say, Wismec RX2/3 - the metal on RX feels thinner, and I

Overall the Hcigar VT167 seems to me like an absolute bang for your buck. You get a phenomenal DNA250 board and a pretty solid device.

It might not be the best in terms of looks, but it feels like an upgrade from every other ‘regular’ device that I own.

As for the form factor, it sits nicely in my hand. I’ve never had a wide device like this before, but it’s pretty natural and comfortable. (I do have rather large hands though, and usually find any large mod sits fine).

Comparing it with my Triade, vt167, it’s taller and wider, even though the Triade has three batteries in it.

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Fusion Vape Lounge

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SQUONKING PART TWO: Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the Vape Shop

In issue three we touched on one of the better DIY aspects of vaping - that is squonking.

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o recap - the idea behind a squonk box and atomiser is to remove the need to carry around vape paraphernalia such as spare bottles

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by creating a box mod with a juice bottle inside, which feeds juice into the atomiser by squeezing the bottle.

A simple and clean approach

to vaping, no wonder it’s so popular. A number of companies have started producing squonk starter kits that require no DIY crafting from the user apart from routine coil-building.

Here are some great examples: Pico Squeeze by Eleaf A light, and relatively small, set-up it’s about 10 centimetres tall by 5 centimetres wide. This little kit comes complete with the Coral RDA with dual post building. The squonk bottle has a 6.5ml fill capacity. The box itself has a maximum output of 50w and a resistance range of 0.15 to 3.5 Ohms. In terms of portability and ease of use the Pico is hard to beat.

Wraith by Council of Vapour A bit higher up the chain than

the Pico, the Wraith boasts a maximum output of 80w with a cool black finish; it looks very sleek and has a zinc alloy body along with OLED screen.

There is a TC feature with an impressive 200-600f range.

All this istopped off with a 5ml squonk bottle. The bottom feed atomizer included has a great airflow and is wide enough to build on with ease.

Coppervape BF Made from a single piece of brass, aluminium or stainless steel, the Coppervape is a well-balanced mechanical device with awhopping 10ml squonk bottle that fits securely into the body. An on/off switch is located on the

body of the mech allowing for peace of mind when it comes to the issue of safety.

The atomizer again features a two post velocity deck and four large air holes for decent cloud chasing.

VT Inbox Hcigar A squonk mod powered by the DNA75 Chipset allowing the user to switch to TC mode with ease. On looks alone the HCigar is adecent device with a box shape design and centre oriented atomizer port. This, combined with the Haze RDA that comes as part of the kit, creates a great all-day squonk device, topped off with an 8ml capacity juice bottle.

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juice review

ZEUS

Juice by Rach Saffer I love tantalizing flavours which is why, today, I’ve been lucky enough to try three of the Zeus Juice range that fit exactly that profile.

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erhaps the most well-known and popular flavour from the range is The Black. As you can guess it consists mainly of dark fruits, particularly sweet hits of blackcurrant and blackberry, this can be a bit much for some people which is why I’m really glad there’s a cool menthol head at the end to help balance things out.

Next up Dimple Berry, it tastes sharp and crisp, something I could vape all day. On the inhale you get notes of summer berries, and a bit of sweet and spicy aniseed, which

really compliments the fruit, however you can really taste its sharp and clean citrus on exhale that altogether makes it a very refreshing flavour.

Finally the coolly titled - Phoenix Tears - if you’re suffering from vapers tongue, and looking to rise from the ashes, thenthis is the juice I’d recommend for you. It’s a simple peppermint and lemon flavour; they combine so well it feels like a cleansing hit on the inhale chased by a lovely sweetnesson the exhale. I went through an entire 10ml bottle of this in a day.

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juice review

JACK RABBIT VAPES

By Dean the Devil Vaper

After a bit of research on social media, and a look on their website, I saw there was quite a bit of hype surrounding Jack Rabbit Vapes, so how could I refuse a review?

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n opening the box, you will find five 5ml bottles, nestled in sponge, along with a flavour card giving you a description of the flavour profiles. The presentation of the liquids in boxes, rather than in a jiffy bag, is absolutely great and gives them a premium touch.

In my video review, I commented that their website was slightly confusing. But since receiving my criticism, they’ve changed things around and made it a lot more user friendly.

All liquids were tried on the Augvape Druid RDA with a simple 0.5Ω SS316L build and wicked with Texas Tuff Cotton.

Banoffee Pie Firstly, you get a taste of fresh, sweet banana - almost like a banana puree. Then there’s a sugary caramel flavour mixed with a light, whipped cream sensation.

I didn’t taste a biscuit or pastry base on this but the banana and creamy-ness was absolutely lovely! After trying different wattages, 40w seemed to be the sweet spot for this flavour.

Rio 100% tropical cocktail!

Pineapple, mango and papaya straight on the inhale, then on the exhale

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you get a subtle pina-colada sensation. With the after taste the coconut comes out of nowhere, which is pleasantly surprising! All I can say with this is it needs a tiny bit more colada to give it that ‘ice-cold cocktail’ feel.

Overall, though, it’s a great tasting tropical e-liquid.

Cinnamon Sugar Cookie

Cream of Tobacco

Now this one is sweet. You get a mellow cinnamon flavour rather than a fiery hot cinnamon on the intake.

And, instead of a biscuit/ cookie flavour, it was more of a doughy/churros taste on the exhale. It’s nice but not my favourite from this sample box. Great for donut lovers.

Now, I’m no tobacco connoisseur so I’ll describe this as best as I can. It’s has a subtle tobacco, sweet vanilla and creamy-nuttyness. The tobacco flavour is more of a warm, rich and dark pipe tobacco, but light at the same time as the flavour isn’t smashing you around the face. I could almost imagine vaping this on a pipe, sitting in a big chair by an open fire.

Fruit Loops This is your typical Fruit Loops cereal flavour. You get notes of citrus and berries with a back note of cereal but, in my opinion, ALL fruit loop flavours taste like fruity cardboard. This just isn’t a flavour that suits my taste profile.

Overall Opinions: Overall this is an extremely consistent range of e-liquids.

Some could do with some tweaking to suit my flavour profile, but other than that, they’re a pleasure to vape!

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juice review

RIOT SQUAD Pink Grenade & Apple and Slapcurrant

By Stephen Nichols

I first tried the Riot Squad range after meeting the Riot squad guys at the Vaper Expo back in 2016. Today I’m here to tell you about two cracking flavours from their selection.

Pink Grenade I used a simple dual coil 8-wrap stainless steel build for this review to ensure the best taste and clouds.

On the inhale your taste buds are assaulted by a massive lemon slap - and I mean a proper slap. It’s like a monster sherbet lemon exploding in your mouth.

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While you’re recovering from that, a gentle strawberry flavour comes along to calm your nerves. The strawberry is slightly sweetened and tastes almost like a candy, but it sits well with the aggressive lemon. Not an allday vape, for me personally, but a very good mix of flavours.

Apple and Slapcurrant Again I used a simple dual coil 8-wrap stainless steel build for this flavour. On the inhale, you’re met with a delicious juicy, sun-ripened blackcurrant. It’s a good flavour, not too sweet,and true to the fruit, with no hint of artificial sweetener - which I’ve had in the past with some other blackcurrant flavours. As you exhale you taste the crisp apple flavour that compliments the blackcurrant perfectly, adding a refreshing feel to the vape. The combination of tastes sit together extremely well without overpowering each other, definitely an allday vape for me and the best juice in the range

hardware review

Aspire Zelos VAPING WITH VIC

Many of you will have seen or used the original Aspire Nautilus Tank when it was released back in 2014.

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t’s taken almost three years, but the next version of the Nautilus has arrived. The Nautilus II comes as part of a kit with Aspire’s new 50 watt mod, the Zelos, and it’s already

becoming a very popular set up.

The Zelos reminds me of the original release of Eleaf’s iStick. It has a slim build with well pronounced buttons for controls and a screen which

is clear and easy to read. The charge port is on the lower front of the Zelos, and you can also vape while charging.

Featuring a built-in 2500 mAh capacity battery, it has the staying power to vape 39

hardware review for a good 5 hours with the Nautilus II - the only downside is the charging time. It lacks the “zip� charge capability of a lot of other mods so expect to allow up to 3 hours for this mod to charge.

The menu is a single level scroll affair covering variable wattage, voltage, bypass and temp control for Ni200, Ti and SS316 coils, and the temp control is spot on.

Moving on to the Aspire Nautilus Two, the design of the tank has been likened to the top of a baby’s bottle, a party popper and, my own

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personal favourite (coined by the co-host of my live show), an old glass gallon whisky jar.

I can see where Aspire is going with this tank though, they wanted to keep that

same diving bell shape which made the original release very recognisable. The tank itself is TPD ready, holding 2ml of liquid.

This one has a steel sleeve

and Nautilus Mini used. The only difference being the wick holes are slightly bigger on these new coil heads. My Nautilus II can handle any high 80 VG juice just fine (even when I chain vape), so why change the coil head for this new mouth to lung tank, if it worked perfectly anyway?

over the Pyrex tank to protect it from drops which would have smashed the original tank. It features a generous sized drip tip at the top, along with top filling, with a fill capacity of 2ml, the tank is

also TPD compliant.

I’d like to make a comment about the 0.7 and 0.8 Ohm coils that this tank uses. The Nautilus Two utilises the BVC heads that the old Nautilus

The Zelos Kit is perfect for a new vaper, or a vaper who wants that stealthy mouth to lung vape. With a mod which has great battery life, and a tank which has great mouth to lung flavour, the kit is on my recommended list for new and old vapers alike.

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juice review

DECADENT Shake & Vape

By The Cardiff Vaper

If you are thinking of starting DIY mixing, the Decadent Vapours Shake & Vape Kits would be a great way to begin. All the juices are pre-mixed and measured out for you in these shake and vape style kits. As an added bonus you can also access various tools on the website - including mixing ratio charts.

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ll bottles are fully TPD compliant, with childproof safety caps, anti-tamper seals, clear labelling and safety instructions. I’d recommend wearing gloves for mixing (safety first) as it can get a bit

messy, so have some tissues or a cloth to hand as well to mop up any spilled juice.

Mixing is very easy: you just combine the three bottles that come in each kit – the 10ml PG/VG solution, 10ml nicotine solution and the 10ml flavour concentrate - in

the provided mixing flask. I added the nicotine first so the mixture canimmediately start steeping as soon the other juices are added.

Shake vigorously for about ten minutes, or until the contents resemble a fizzy drink, and you can start vaping the juice,although you can repeat the shaking process just to be sure all nicotine is mixed in, if you’re worried.

This juice definitely delivers on flavour. I tried the Cinnamon Donut and was immediately met with a rather intense, but lovely, cinnamon flavour which instantly overwhelmed my taste buds. I was very impressed.

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ohm brew

ALCHEMIST’S CUPBOARD Review by Carla Pink

This month I was asked to review a D.I.Y. mixing kit from the Alchemist’s Cupboard. I’ve been mixing my own juice for about a year so this seemed like a nice challenge to put my experience to the test.

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was given my kit, which was quite big and contained everything needed, including extra vegetable glycerin - which anyone who mixes their own juice will know you tend to get through very quickly. I would suggest either a bigger syringe or a mixing cylinder could be added to the kit, as the 10ml syringe that came with it wasn’t enough to mix some of the components of the juice which made the overall process a bitlonger.

The first step was to mix the juice together - but with 20

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different flavours to choose from it was a case of ‘Where do I start?’

components and processes.

A clearer instruction booklet would be preferable.

The kit’s instruction leaflet advises using “e-juice me up”, the digital mixing calculator, in order to obtain recipes and also suggests mixing juice at 25% concentrate, which is a little higher then I would do normally but, of course, this is down to personal tastes and preferences.

Using the ingredients from the kit I created several flavours at different PG/VG ratios to see how they would work across the board. The first batch mixed at 80 VG / 20 PG with 25%flavour and 3mg of nicotine. I ended up with cherry bakewell, salted caramel, banana custard, Devon cream and cookie dough. I found these concentrates quite oily and hard to mix,they need a lot of shaking and airing during the steeping period.

The leaflet wasn’t very clear in terms of how to actually make the juice.

Had I not done this before I would have struggled to understand some of the

Next batch I mixed together

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ohm brew

was ‘Rainbow Sweets’ and ‘Sour’. This was mixed at 70 VG / 30 PG with 3mg of nicotine. I reduced the concentrate percentage on these to 20%, as there was a higher PG ratio which carries the flavour better. This juice mixed really well.

The final batch I chose to mix at 50 VG / 50 PG with 3mg of nicotine and chose two flavours to mix together -strawberry and watermelon.

Once all my flavours had been mixed I needed some guinea pigs to test drive them, so I enlisted the help of some friends to give me there views.

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The recommended steeping time for these flavours was listed as 14 days, so I’ll have to stop my review here as I need to wait…

bit harsh on the throat.”

14 days later... My friends have now tried and tested the juice. Rik stated that “Salted caramel was a little bland, but had a nice natural flavour with decent clouds.

Cookie dough has a strong flavour with a chemical aftertaste which was quite off-putting”.

Alex confirmed: “Rainbow sherbert has a light, subtle flavour that would be suitable for an ‘all day vape’ although not much of a ‘rainbow’ of flavours - mainly a light strawberry with some citrus undertones. The sherbet fuzziness hit lightly and pleasantly at the back of the throat. Sour on its own tasted of nothing, but could make a good mixer for other flavours”.

My friend, Chris, commented that: “Banana custard was lush, but the banana overpowered the custard. The Devon custard was like a smooth light coffee but still a

All in all this isn’t a bad kit; there’s a good variety of flavours to choose from and I had fun mixing them and trying them out. I’d definitely go back for more.