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Vaping With Julia – June 7th – Keeping It Real
What a week this has been! I know I’m going to have to proofread this a couple of times after I finish typing because there is so much I want to tell you all that my typing skills are pushing its limits. Where is Stephanie when you need her?
On Wednesday night, or it could have been Tuesday night, I received a tweet from someone that goes by the clever name @burnt_wick. His name is Russ Wishtart. Here’s the Tweet.
This is a photo of Mr. Wishtart – Now isn’t this a handsome “Man’s man”?
You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t know every Twitter handle or every spokesman in the e-cigarette industry, but I had no idea who this person was. In fact, with so many fake tweets these days I was almost sure the tweet was a phishing attempt and didn’t bother to open it… for a few minutes anyway.
But then I realized that it didn’t fit the pattern for one of those phishing tweets, especially the NSFW photographs part. I realized then that this person had to be talking about the one photograph I published in the Newsletter in exchange for $1000 donation to a Feline Rescue charity. I know, my bad, once you put something on the Internet it’s there forever. I get it, and looking back I might not have done it. But the feral cat problem here is enormous, and it is something I care deeply about, and because I’ve worked as a photographer’s model in the way-back times I didn’t much care about anyone seeing me naked. That is until I listened to this filthy excuse for a man, Russ Wishtart, carrying on like a first class buffoon.
Mr. Burnt_Wick it seems is the host of some little show on “click bang”, and it seems that he was very upset about the recent Ashtray Blog “Top 20 Most Influential Vapers” piece from last week. That piece is something I pretty much ignored for a couple of reasons; I’d rather be influential in the stock photographers industry (which I am), and who cares about lists anyway?
Apparently he did because he spent an inordinate amount of time slinging the F-bomb all over the place, even calling little ole me the C-word on occasion. You got to love it when someone is so insecure with their manhood that they have to make it up with language that shows how truly ignorant they are. I mean this guy went on and on and on…
Other than the language, (I just feel this kind of language is a losers last opportunity to make a point by trying to shock the person they’re talking too. In this case, I suppose he thought he was impressing his audience with words we all learned about in grade school.) I thought it was a sad, yet humorous diatribe by someone clearly in love with his own voice, yet clearly so insecure that any list, no matter how inconsequential it is, bugs the hell out of him unless his name is on it.
Okay, so anyway, John hears about this. John and I are very close, having practically lived together to more than a decade. I’m also very close to his wife, but that’s not what this is about. John hears about this, and he makes the big mistake of giving the show a listen. Two things that were said by Mr. Burnt Wick that got to John, one was this guy’s claim that eCigMedia owns Spinfuel, and the other was his foul language directed at me. So John, against his better judgment, put out a tweet. His first tweet to ever contain the F-bomb. He regretted it immediately, but it was too late of course.
Later, Mr. Burnt Wick, aka, Russ Wishtart, tweets this back to John:
Now, neither John nor I knew who this person was at the time, so John apologized for the language, not only directly to Burnt Wick, but another tweet to his 1000 followers. Only later were we told that the guy that sent the original tweet, Burnt Wick, was actually the host of the show, Russ Wishtart.
To make this already too long and boring story shorter, John asked for Russ Wishtart’s phone number so that they could discuss the dozens of lies that he put forth in his pitiful show. Wishtart’s reply? Call his show. When asked again for his phone number? Silence. So, not only is this uneducated fool someone who wouldn’t bother to fact check something he was about to broadcast, and to call someone foul names who he has never met, he is also a coward. When you put it all together I suppose “coward” would have been evident from the start.
Happily, it took a few hours to put it behind it us, but it also gave us food for thought, which I thought I would share with you now.
Two Vape Communities
It is evident to me now that there are two vape communities out there. There is the one to which we espouse to, a community that doesn’t believe for a second that using e-cigarettes, even as a hobby, is in any way important or vital to humanity, and that it doesn’t matter a wit what people use as their “go to” e-cigarette or whether or not one knows Ohms Law from a hole in the ground, or can rebuild an atomizer in their sleep, or judge their self-worth by the size or cost of their e-cigarette. This is the community we want to belong to; this is the community we hope to foster.
The other community can be found in places like ECF, or behind the microphones of Internet radio/video shows about e-cigarettes. Don’t go off half-cocked about my naming ECF. I am quite sure that most people that read ECF are perfectly nice people with no animosity in their hearts toward anyone. But there is an element at ECF and other places who, for what reason I will never understand, are quick to condemn anyone that doesn’t understand the intricacies of advanced e-cigarettes, or who choose to use a cig-a-like as their tool to stay away from tobacco, and who gleefully attack anyone they suspect of being a new Vaper.
This group, this “other” vape community takes all this much too seriously. For God’s sake, it’s just electronic cigarettes! Using an e-cigarette, even a ProVari with a Z-Atty attached doesn’t make you a better person, unless I’m missing something here.
A couple of months ago John published a commentary about the ProVape ProVari, and how some people who own them feel special, elite. It nails that “other” community perfectly. Somehow, someway, for some reason, these people believe that are “elite”. Why is the world would anyone feel elitist about an e-cigarette?
Without a doubt, this Russ Wishtart believes he is an elitist. He is a judgmental arrogant man with incredibly low self-esteem that in order to feel better about himself he must attack others. There are plenty of people in the vape community that are just like him, only this guy is so full of hubris that when you stick a microphone in front of him he can’t help but spew his ugliness outward to his listeners. How sad is that?
The bottom line, for me, is that I want nothing to do with this “other” community. I made a promise to myself last night that I would allow myself to write about this, one time, and then never mention it again. I will never so much as entertain the thoughts or words of anyone who is foolish enough to believe that any kind of e-cigarette or any knowledge level of e-cigarettes somehow makes them better than anyone else. It’s not worth my time; it’s not worth the energy. Mr. Wishtart is a sad little man, a man no doubt plagued with internal demons that the ugliness he feels on the inside must come out and be heard. The truth is that is so irrelevant to the overall scheme of things as to be nearly non-existent. He gets his 15-minutes of fame in this column, but no more.
On to happier things!
Calling Cards! New Calling Cards! Take a look at these gorgeous new cards. Amazing huh? Our old cards were so boring; these are much, much better! Of course, it helps that my soulmate appears on them, I guess I’m pretty lucky about that. All the Staff members got them this week, including are forum admin and News Blog editor. Dave and Jon Locke did a wonderful job. Oh, and the cost for these two-sided cards? $15.50 for 500. Gotprint.com is the place to go. I only wish these guys did t-shirts and other things that we could use for Spinfuel swag.
NJOY
Also this week Tom did the “definitive” review of the NJOY King. It was so disappointing to see that all four of them lasted a fraction of what NJOY claims. But, there is no way around it, IF NJOY managed to actually make the NJOY King last the equivalent of 2 packs of tobacco smokes they could own the market, considering most smokers are looking for something that looks exactly like a cigarette but isn’t dangerous. Better luck next time NJOY. Oh, and I posted to our Facebook page a link to NJOY because they are giving away an NJOY King. I hope many of you will take advantage of that and comment under the review to let us know how long your NJOY lasted. If the four that Tom got were defective it would be great to find out for sure.
777 and Halo
Over the past year or so we’ve written a lot about e-cigarette starter kits, but if you’ve noticed that in 2013 we’ve reviewed very few (any?) cig-a-like starter kits other than 777 and Halo. There is a reason for that. Actually two reasons. Halo and 777 eCigs are the only brands we consider high quality and fairly priced. The other reason is the great one and only SmokenJoey. SmokenJoey does a lot of cig-a-like reviews (his newest his Ozone Smokes) and because SmokenJoey is an official part of Spinfuel we don’t feel the need to review them any more.
VapeStock
I would love to hear from you guys about any of the topics I’ve covered today, but this next one especially. VapeStock 3. Taking place over in Indian Rocks Beach Florida tomorrow (or is it today?), VapeStock 3 is supposed to be a huge event. I think everyone I know in the industry is going to be there, except for Spinfuel.
If you’ve been to any of the previous VapeStocks or other vape festivals, tell us what they are like. I have no idea, and in the photography world there is really nothing to compare it to. I go to Photo Industry shows a few times a year, but there are convention halls with booths set up from Nikon, Canon, Fuji, et al, and you go to network and handle all the new cameras, lenses, and other doodads coming out over the next year. Is this what these VapeStocks are all about?
I know Ginger from Ginger’s eJuice is going; she has a “booth” set up too, as do some others. So, do they sell products or give them away? Are there lectures on the latest studies, demonstrations of the latest mods?
New Review Upcoming
We’re working on reviews for some very cool stuff. A new VV/VW mod from SmokTech called the SID ($46.95) So far it’s been pretty great, except for the battery tube. The Efest batteries I got for it make for a very tight squeeze.
Also in the works are new chargers by Efest, called the LUC Charger ($31.75) I’ve been hoping to see a charger like this for a while, love the idea of the LCD readout. But, because it’s a Chinese made product the left metal tab that gets pushed back when you insert a battery is all hinky. I have to push it back with my hand and keep it back, insert the battery and let go. Disappointing.
Also, we’re working on a review for a new Carto-Tank by SmokTech. These things are beautiful! See photo. Look at those dual windows! And they are cartomizer based so you get a wicked amount of vapor from these guys, and the cartomizer makes that cool sizzling sound that I love so much. I have a pink one on top of my red brass ZMAX, just lovely! Oh, the glass insides of these babies are Pyrex! Easily worth the $12.99 price tag.
John’s Chai Tea Latte
John’s Chai Tea LatteEarly last evening, after listening to John moan and groan about the late arrival of this Mountain Oak Vapors Chai Tea Latte, I witnessed something I thought I would never see; I watched John take an EMPTY bottle of his Chai Tea Latte, turn upside down, and let it drip, drip, drip, into a 10ML needle bottle. He managed to get a little more than 1ml into the bottle, which he then injected into a clearomizer. The point is this; I have NEVER seen John do this for any e-liquid before. I’ve also never seen him horde an e-liquid either, but that’s another story. If you like Chai Tea I think I can safely say that you will love MoV’s version of it. We’re crossing our fingers that the package arrives today.
Personal
Keira and I are headed back to New Hampshire in a couple of weeks. (It’s finally our turn again) so I’m looking to get away from this humidity. It has been oppressive down here. Yesterday was thunderstorms, tornados, and HEAT and HUMIDITY. How does it stay so hot when it pouring outside? We plan on staying a few weeks, and for much of it I will be away from Spinfuel, checking in only occasionally. To be honest, I need to spend some time in Boston going to photography shows and meeting with fellow shooters… and to show off Keira to the few friends left that haven’t met her yet.
Finally got to see the movie Identity Thief with the ever-funny Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman. Sometimes I look at Jason and think, “If I were to ever….” But no, that’s not gonna happen.
Weekend plans include going to see After Earth (tonight), poker night on Saturday, John and Lisa might just show up, and on Sunday we’re having this amazing “brunch” thing. Last time we did this, back in April, we had 22 people show up and we served every kind of breakfast food you could think of. One of our friends lives in Ft Lauderdale so she bought up 125 Krystal Burgers last time and has promised even more for Sunday. Krystal’s are like White Castle, tiny burgers that are so good you can eat a dozen of them. Well, I can’t, but people do. Dave could easily eat a dozen, and Tom too, though Tom is much thinner than Dave.
Sunday night is the Game of Thrones Finale for the season AND the 2-hour premiere for Falling Skies. Plans are to watch Falling Skies and then watch Game of Thrones immediately after. Monday morning promises to be a very slow morning with lots of coffee. Also on Monday? A BIG surprise that I am very excited about. It doesn’t concern Spinfuel, or me or anyone else here… but it is still wicked exciting. I think you will enjoy it.
TGIF
That’s it from Spinfuel HQ. I hope you’ll take a few minutes and tell us about your week. Come on, I love reading the things you guys have to say. And if I can write about my mundane existence, shouldn’t you?
