Capping off my Vapecon USA 2014 coverage is a chat with Joseph Upton, the owner of Joe Blow’s Incredible Juice. This was a fun piece for me to put together, as it was the most personal interview of the show. Joseph spoke about his daughter inspiring him to quit smoking tobacco cigarettes and start Joe Blow’s Incredible Juice. One of his flavors — Red Eye No. 36 — is a special blend that’s named after his late brother.
I was impressed by the inventiveness of Joe Blow’s Incredible Juice. A few of the company’s juices have unique twists that I haven’t encountered before. For example, Sweet Molasses blends extracted molasses with tobacco for a novel combination of sweetness and earthiness. While there are hundreds of peach flavors on the market, Peach Blow stands out with its use of dragon fruit.
Learn more about Joe Blow’s Incredible Juice and see what’s coming next in my Vapecon USA 2014 interview above.
Gmodz was showing off some unique and beautiful 26650 mods at Vapecon USA. The Gmodz 26650 is available in a variety of finishes and uses a unique atomizer. The company claims that the Gmodz 26650 is the smallest and lightest 26650 mod on the market. What really caught my eye was the beautiful finishes the company offers. It all starts with a base of 304 stainless steel. After that, the possibilities are endless — 24-karat gold, Tiffany blue, and powder coat paint are available, with brushed, matte, and polished looks. You can even go as far as getting your signature engraved into the mod.
At Vapecon USA I chatted with Gmodz’s Jeff Luciano to learn about the mod, the different finishes, the customer service behind the product, and more. While I didn’t know anything about the company going into the show, I left very impressed by its products and customer service philosophy.
In addition to the Gmodz 26650, the company announced plans for the Gmodz 18650, which will be available with all the custom finishes the company offers. Learn more about the company and see its gorgeous products in the video interview above.
Whether you call them the seven deadly sins, the capital vices, or the cardinal sins, this group of naughtiness is something most are guilty of every week, if not every day. Gluttony (my personal favorite), greed, wrath, envy, lust, pride, and sloth (my second favorite) are things that all of us should endeavor to avoid. They’re also fantastic names for vaping e-liquids. That’s where Saints Vapor comes in. The SoCal e-liquid company has seven juices named after the seven deadly sins, as well as a standalone flavor called Divinity. At Vapecon USA, I chatted with Saints Vapor co-founder Shane Bell to learn more about his e-liquids.
There are some pretty unique flavors in the Saints Vapor lineup. The three that intrigued me the most were Sloth (raisin red oak), Wrath (horchata), and Greed (pineapple ice cream swirl). While it sounds unusual, I was also curious about Pride (menthol with rose). While I only had a brief taste of Saints Vapor e-liquid, I enjoyed the little bit that I vaped and am looking forward to spending more time with the company’s juices. Check out my Saints Vapor interview above to get an idea of what the company is all about.
Beyond Vape is one of the most aggressive and successful American companies in vaping. As a vaper, I appreciate that Beyond Vape — and its high-end Aria Built line — reaches a wide variety of vapers through a wide variety of products. From inexpensive mods geared towards beginners and intermediate vapers to high-end gear aimed at vapers that value build quality and performance, Beyond Vape and Aria Built has it all covered. At Vapecon USA, I caught up with Beyond Vape’s Edison Tan to chat about three products in the Aria Built lineup.
Naturally, we spoke about the made-in-the-USA Oros mod. When I chatted with Beyond Vape co-founder Billy Chen in May, the Oros was still being prototyped. The mod has landed and has been receiving great reviews. If you’re looking for a high-performance copper mod with minimal voltage drop then you should definitely check out the Aria Built Oros.
If you’re into hybrids then the Aria Built Hyperion could be a great choice for you. Made primarily from gold-plated brass, this hybrid reminded me of C3PO. It features a T-shaped positive post that gives vapers a lot of versatility; from single-coil builds to quad-coil beasts, the Hyperion can handle anything you throw at it. Since it’s a hybrid, expect great performance from this all-in-one setup.
Last, but certainly not least, Edison told me about the Aria Built Orion atomizer. This rebuildable atomizer was made specifically for vertical-coil builds. It has deep, kidney-shaped juice wells that help keep refilling to a minimum. The positive post features a big block of metal that allows for easy building and also fills out the chamber, allowing for more flavor. The Orion is one of the more original atomizers I’ve seen in 2014. On paper, it should deliver a great combination of flavor and vapor.
Check out my chat with Edison to learn more about these three Beyond Vape products in the Aria Built line.
Inspired by the cult classic film The Big Lebowski, The Big Levapeski is a line of vaping e-liquids that will appeal to fans of The Dude, Donny, and The Jesus. At Vapecon USA 2014, I met up with The Big Levapeski manager Brandy Tseu to learn more about this line of juices. There are a few notes here. First, I didn’t realize that I still had Lilly Evans lipstick on my face while I was interviewing Brandy until I edited the video. So, oops. Secondly, with juice names like “Shut the F*ck Up Donny!” and “Nobody F*cks With The Jesus,” I had to make ample use of the censor sound. Ha!
Check out the The Big Levapeski interview above to learn more about the four launch flavors in this line of juices.
The Vape Kit is one of the smartest companies in the vaping business. The company originally started with a question-and-answer site, similar to a Quora or a Yahoo! Answers for vapers. Considering that there’s a lot to learn in the (relatively) new and (relatively) wacky world of vaping, a crowd-sourced and community-driven solution that answers questions many vapers have was a fantastic idea.
For its second act, The Vape Kit has released a compact and complete toolkit made just for vapers. Again, this was a really smart idea that solves a problem that many vapers encounter. Since there isn’t a vaping section at Ace Hardware or Home Depot, many beginning vapers start out with the wrong tools that end up being a waste of money and space. The Vape Kit toolset packs all the essentials in an easy-to-carry package. You get an ohm reader, tweezers, needle-nose pliers, a wire cutter, precision screwdrivers, and more.
Learn all about The Vape Kit — both the company and the toolset — from founders Aleks Blagojevich and Aaron Silva in the Vapecon USA interview above.
The highlight of my Vapecon USA 2014 show was hanging out with Lilly Evans at the Ruthless Vapor booth. One of the hottest models in the SoCal scene, Lilly does a lot of work in the Hot Import Nights and vaping communities. She’s also an avid gamer, currently digging Destiny and a longtime Halo fan. In addition to promoting Ruthless Vapor at the show, Lilly Evans was showing off her new Model Water. Yes, you can enjoy a refreshing and healthy bottle of water with a sexy photo of Lilly Evans on the bottle — that’s just genius.
So yeah, Lilly is pretty awesome. She’s sexy as hell, delightfully charming, a vaper, and a gamer. Honestly, I don’t know how I made it through the interview. She’s too much to handle. Ha! Anyway, check out my chat with Lilly Evans to learn about her gaming and vaping habits. Hit her up on Xbox One if you want to enjoy a space-shooting adventure with scintillating model.
The Vapor Spot owner “JJ” John Jenkins was one of the first people I interviewed for RPadTV’s vaping section. The Vapor Spot was America’s first vape shop, according to JJ, and the company has come a long way. When I first chatted with him a few years ago, The Vapor Spot had three house juices named after rock ‘n roll artists (Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin). The line has expanded and evolved to become the “Jazz, Funk, & Soul” series of vaping e-liquids.
JJ matched flavors that represent each artist. For example, Ray (Charles) is a sweet Georgia peach, while Herbie (Hancock) is a watermelon flavor. (On a side note, some kid was at The Vapor Spot booth and was insisting that naming a watermelon juice after Herbie Hancock was racist. It took a ton of restraint to not slap him for his ignorance of the outstanding “Watermelon Man.”) From Nina Simone to John Lennon to Tito Puente, the Jazz, Funk, & Soul juices cover a wide variety of artists and flavors.
Check out my Vapecon USA interview with JJ to learn more about The Vapor Spot’s Jazz, Funk, & Soul e-liquids and to see which artist fits into your vaping wheelhouse.
Infinite is known for making high-quality clones of well-known mods and atomizer. Vapers looking for a bargain, often go with the company’s replicas. Vapers that have issues with clones mostly avoid the company. At Vapecon USA 2014, Infinite showed off two products that appeal to both types of vapers. The Inifnite Mod and CLT v2 Plus are original products that will be available at a low price. Checking them out quickly at the show, I was impressed with their combination of features and quality.
Cloud chasers at Vapecon USA made a B-line for the CLT v2 Plus, so much so that it sold out the first day of the show. This Infinite atomizer offers a versatile deck that can accommodate a wide variety of builds, a deep juice well, massive airflow, and a top cap that integrates a wide-bore tip for additional vapor production. It combines features of the popular Tobh and Helios atomizers. For cloud chasers on a budget, the CLT v2 Plus looks like a fantastic choice.
Vapers that want an elegant mod for a low price will want to check out the Infinite Mod. This copper beauty has a magnetic switch and can accept the three most common 18xxx vaping batteries. What impressed me the most about the Infinite Mod was its seems. Even though this is a modular mech, you can’t see the seems. The practically transparent lines reminded me of the ones on JD Tech’s excellent Stringray X mech.
Check out my chat with Infinite manager Jeffrey Wong to learn more about the mod and the atomizer, and stay tuned for a review in the near future.
As I was walking past The Oil Company’s booth at Vapecon USA, its bottles immediately caught my eye. The Oil Company uses bottles that are unique, different, and cool. Each one is hand finished and hand painted, so no two are the same. I immediately want to learn more about these e-liquids and started chatting with chief of operations Ehab Abufarie. In the interview above, Ehab talks about the unique bottling process The Oil Company e-liquids use, its three launch flavors, the next flavor coming, and why it’s important to him to use nicotine derived from organic tobacco.
