Table of Contents
Perfect Companions
If you’re like me you probably own a few different electronic cigarettes. Maybe an eGo, Spinner or Halo Triton, maybe advanced devices like a ProVari or one of the many iTaste devices, and maybe some mechanicals too. A lot of you collect various mods, and you have certain occasions when and where your mods will most likely be used. That got me to thinking, which is always a dangerous thing, that a new series I call “Perfect Companions” might be a good idea. So, welcome to the first one.
What It Is
The idea behind Perfect Companions is to write about our experiences with certain devices and the preferred eLiquid used for that device. If, after reading this first Perfect Companions piece it suddenly hits you that you too have a perfect companions story please consider sharing it with us in the comments below. Putting it as simply as I can, Perfect Companions is about telling each other what we’ve discovered about vaping, about which eLiquid goes with what eCigarette, and by sharing these stories we allow others to either identify with the story, or to go out and try our setup and see if it could be a perfect companion for them.
My Perfect Companion
Several weeks ago Tom and I reviewed the Vapor Zeus from Vapor4Life. We loved them. I reviewed the smaller blue one while Tom reviewed the large 1300mAh cigar-looking Zeus.
About a month ago Tom lost interest in his, something about the Smileomizers being so proprietary, he just didn’t have the time or the desire to keep reordering the Smileomizers from one place when his other APV’s could use any number of tanks and cartomizers he could pick up anywhere. Admittedly, using anything other than a Smileomizer on a Vapor Zeus looks weird, but I really do like the large1300mAh cigar-like Vapor Zeus, and I don’t have a problem with ordering Smileomizers from that one place. (Vapor4Life.com)
My issue, if you can really call it an issue, with the large Vapor Zeus has to do with the eLiquid I have used with it. The Smileomizer for the large Zeus takes 6ML of eJuice to fill up, which is a lot. Deciding to use a new Smileomizer takes a bit of risk; no one, especially me (I’m cheap) wants to waste one (not to mention 6ML of juice) filling one up with eJuice that doesn’t fit the profile of Zeus. So I would think about it, hard, and then think about it some more until I had finally made a decision to use one.
After ripping through a dozen Smileomizers with eJuice flavors that just didn’t work I decided to try something that would settle the matter once and for all.
Cigars = Tobacco
I had an epiphany a couple of weeks ago while working on the Strix Elixirs eLiquid review. I’ll get to it in a minute, but first some setup is needed.
During the review period I was in the mood to use the Vapor Zeus and seeing as how I was tied up with Strix Elixirs for the duration of the review, so I picked up the bottle of StrawZilla, a great strawberry flavored juice (see the review) and filled a Smileomizer with it. While my record for finding a good flavor to go with the Vapor Zeus led to me wasting many Smileomizers, I liked StrawZilla enough to think that this might be the one that could handle the Vapor Zeus. I was wrong.
I tried like hell to enjoy StrawZilla in the Vapor Zeus but I just couldn’t, it tasted too ‘funky’. The Vapor Zeus was burning the juice and the end result was a weird tasting strawberry. In addition, it just didn’t sit right with me to taste strawberries coming from a cigar-sized, cigar-looking vaping device.
Vapor Zeus
The Vapor Zeus delivers a regulated 5 volts with single coil cartomizers, and 4.4v with dual coil cartomizers. The Smileomizers that I use, the one made for this model, uses a single vertical coil at 2.5ohms (standard resistance), and the truth is, 5 volts is too much for many eLiquids being vaped in a 2.5ohm cartomizer. Not all eLiquids are, but enough.
The Vapor Zeus is a mean PV. With every eLiquid I’ve put through it the vapor production was much more than any tobacco cigar I’ve ever smoked. Cigars create a ton a smoke, but the Vapor Zeus is on a whole different level. The Zeus is also wicked expensive, $91 for a starter kit that includes a single Zeus battery, but if you’re ideal is a PV that puts out more vapor than you can shake a stick at it is well worth the money. Just be aware that if you vape delicate eLiquids you’re probably not going to like it, and let’s not forget the size of this thing. It’s huge.
Trials and Tribulations – The Epiphany
I’ve tried various flavors in the Zeus that I vape all the time; Mountain Oak Vapors Chai Tea Latte, Ginger’s eJuice Gingerbread Chai Latte, Rocket Fuel Vapes Limerick, and a couple of Pink Spot Vapors sweet flavors. The results were always the same; the 5v and 2.5ohm combination caused all these flavors to taste drastically different. I’m not saying it destroyed them; it just changed them…radically.
After StrawZilla I occurred to me that I might want to stick with what worked best in the Vapor Zeus. Then, once I decided that I then decided to sacrifice 5 Smileomizers (always buy your Smileomizers in 10-packs to save money) and take my 5 favorite tobacco flavors and see if any of them would be the perfect companion for the Zeus. Of course, I had to wait until the Strix review was done before trying it. A few days after this the review was over and it was time to put my idea to the test.
Perfect Companions
All the following eLiquids did an okay to great job with the Vapor Zeus. Their flavor profiles didn’t change for the worse, a couple actually got better, but one in particular stood out as the champion eLiquid.
- Mountain Oak Vapors – Classic Country
- Hurricane Vapor – Vanilla Sky
- Hurricane Vapor – Toasted Amber
- Rocket Fuel Vapes – Harvest Moon
- Rocket Fuel Vapes – Blueberry Hill
Each of these tobacco eLiquids is a part of my weekly rotation and has been for a long while. At some point each week I will spend time with all of these flavors, and several non-tobaccos as well, like FanceeJuice MeeseTracks or Rocket Fuel Vapes Country Bumpkin or Limerick. Nonetheless the tobacco flavors mentioned above became even more alive when they were vaped in the behemoth of an eCigar.
However, as for the one that stood out from the others as the perfect companion for the Vapor Zeus? It is…Harvest Moon by Rocket Fuel Vapes.
For some reason, a reason that must have something to do with the chemical makeup and/or reaction of Harvest Moon and the inner workings of the 6ML Smileomizer (and the regulated voltage of the Vapor Zeus battery), Harvest Moon and Vapor Zeus are absolutely perfect for each other. Amazing flavor, an ungodly amount of vapor, and a throat hit that is akin to having a tonsilgasm, this eLiquid and this eCigar are a Vaper’s Dream.
Harvest Moon
Rocket Fuel Vapes isn’t even a year old yet but they have come on to the eLiquid scene like gangbusters. They have so many flavors that are to die for then I ever thought possible for such a young company. Harvest Moon isn’t the only tobacco blend from Rocket Fuel Vapes that I vape every week, but it is the one I vape most. With just the right touch of pumpkin spice and a deep, flavorful, dark tobacco flavor, it’s the tobacco eLiquid I most recommend to friends when they ask which of the Rocket Fuel Vapes tobacco eJuice they should try first.
Harvest Moon is a 70/30 blend of PG and VG. I use the 18mg nicotine strength. With that 70% Propylene Glycol, as a flavor carrier and major throat hit factor, combined with 18mg of nicotine, you can see why the Vapor Zeus would be able to get the most out of Harvest Moon where other devices might not.
Remember, delivering 5volts through a 2.5ohm Smileomizer you’re going to be applying a lot of heat to the juice, causing every molecule of flavor to punch through, while pushing out every bit of vapor it can. Even before I did the math I knew there was something about the two of them that they were somehow meant to be together.
The Bottom Line
Here’s where the Perfect Companion Series means more than a little storytelling. If you’re a Vaper looking for a magnificent tobacco experience, I can tell you with some certainty that the 1300mAh Vapor Zeus and the 6ML Smileomizer makes for one wicked vaping device and when you add Harvest Moon, an eLiquid of spicy pumpkin and deep tobacco, the end result will be a vaping experience you won’t forget. Wouldn’t you want to know that? Sure you would. If you have a perfect companion setup I’d love to know what it is… So would other readers.
It took a little time and a few Smileomizers, but finally nailing down the perfect eLiquid to use with the Vapor Zeus was well worth it. I may attempt, from time to time, to vape other tobacco eJuices in my Vapor Zeus, just for the sake of experimentation, but when I’m in the mood to do some serious vaping I know that 6ML of Harvest Moon plus a fully charged Vapor4Life Vapor Zeus and a fresh 6ML Smileomizer, will provide many, many hours of extreme vaping pleasure. They are the Perfect Companions, and I highly recommend them. How highly? Well, let me end this first piece with this; if I didn’t own a Vapor Zeus and if I had never tried Harvest Moon, and a friend of mine asked me to try this combination because he says they are perfect companions, I would.
