Yep, Sad Society is correct. Volcano was actually the idea creator of this vv tube mod. It was basically announced around I believe in May of last year. It came up in one of their video chats. They then began to work with L-rider to put the idea into fruition.
First I've heard of this. I suppose they could have made a deal with the company.. L-Rider said sure we'll make em to your specs but we retain the rights to mass produce and resell them.
I dunno.. could have happened like that I suppose but that sounds Really Stupid for Valcoanecigs to do. As popular as this thing is, if Volcano really did have a patent design and prototype to patent, they could be the sole distributor of the LavaTube and made all the extra money they are missing out on.
They could have went with a US company to refine and produce the prototype to get a patent, then had L-Rider produce them to specs. That way L-Rider could not mass produce them for other companies and Volcanoecigs would be sitting pretty.
I'd love to know all the ins and outs of this and Volcanoecigs choice to go the route they did. Must have had a really good reason to give up all that cash.