My Rant for Today... the last local B&M

[3mg Meniere]

Off-topic musings. My daughter drove through, and thought it looked like the moon. I am a refugee from somewhere else but at least I get to be close to the Mississippi. Thanks for the picture.

LOL at people who lie in order to sell something.

 

[Flt Simulation]

I stopped going to the B&M vape stores in my town when I was charged $35 + tax for a cheap EGO battery that I can buy online for $20.

The only reason I bought it from them was that I needed it right away.

But that's the last time I will allow myself to be charged almost double the price for anything related to vaping.

 

[Stringplucker]

ENS opened in 2008, so they are among the oldest stores in the country.

OH and,

You're killing me, man.

This was the view from my front yard...





Anyway, I was still smoking when I lived there from 2008-2010, so I didn't seek out a vape shop.

 

[Mrs C]

If op is close to Indy I bet our "I will never go there again list" has many shops in common.
I will keep supporting the few who do it right. and quietly smile when I see the others go under one by one because greed, bad attitudes, and their lack of customer service did them in.

 

[Johnnie Price]

I had a mall vendor try to tell me his cartomizers were healthier for me than my liquid because his cartos were filled with a gel and mine was oil. I didn't even try to educate him.

Thankfully, a new shop just opened up outside my neighborhood. They don't know everything, nor do they pretend to. But they are preparing for the FDA regulations as much as possible, and after 1 conversation with the owner he had a couple of bottles of liquid made for me at my preferred strength. They're nice people and I will buy from them as much as possible.

There is another store in town as well, but I haven't made it there yet.

 

[AndriaD]

There are about a dozen B&Ms in this little burg, and two of them actually know what they're doing. And, with in-store prices being the same as their on-line prices.

See if you can beat this price for example (in a B&M or on-line)
Boge 510 Blank Cartomizer Standard Resistance 3.0 oHM 5 Pack | ElectronicStix.Com

Great price for those of us that aren't to lazy to punch our own cartos.

That really is an excellent price on the regular cartos! I've been getting mine from DesertVapes, $4.25/5pk but I may have to switch vendors to save 50 cents -- how are their shipping prices?

One thing, though... he's engaging in much the same sort of "puffery" about his product as the guy saying he makes his own juice... "Unlike other 510 Cartomizers with glued in Tops I had the factory produce mine with a removable rubber top..." Every carto I've ever seen has a removable rubber top, not glued in. Not a huge deal, but he's claiming something ridiculous; they are apparently all made the way that he's claiming he "has them" make "for him."

Andria

 

[AndriaD]

I feel very fortunate to have at least one very good B&M close by; he doesn't make his own juice, he carries several different brands, but he does have a really excellent tasting setup, he's quite knowledgeable about vaping and the products he carries, without being obnoxious-know-it-all, he's very personable and friendly and easy to talk to, and his prices on hardware aren't *too* inflated; probably just about right to enable him to make a shade of profit, which is called retail markup; until the internet, we all paid that for pretty much everything, because it was pretty much all there was. Normally I do prefer to try to save money by buying online, but for those things I know he carries, which I might sometimes need *right away*, I don't mind helping him make a little profit; he deserves it, with the quality of store he operates.

Last week I was also really pleased when I went into the local "modzzz shop," to find them being helpful and friendly instead of elitist-too-busy-to-bother; I wonder if it's because I had my kayfun with me. But I sat and tasted some of their juices for awhile, and was astonished to find that they actually remembered me from my few previous visits, so maybe they're not quite as elitist-too-busy-to-bother as I had thought. Seems I might have judged them too soon on too little evidence.

Andria

 

[Johnnie Price]

That really is an excellent price on the regular cartos! I've been getting mine from DesertVapes, $4.25/5pk but I may have to switch vendors to save 50 cents -- how are their shipping prices?

One thing, though... he's engaging in much the same sort of "puffery" about his product as the guy saying he makes his own juice... "Unlike other 510 Cartomizers with glued in Tops I had the factory produce mine with a removable rubber top..." Every carto I've ever seen has a removable rubber top, not glued in. Not a huge deal, but he's claiming something ridiculous; they are apparently all made the way that he's claiming he "has them" make "for him."

Andria

The first batch of cartomizers did had glued in tops, and many branded vendors still do. It is a bit of marketing spiel, but it could just be outdated copy.

 

[AndriaD]

The first batch of cartomizers did had glued in tops, and many branded vendors still do. It is a bit of marketing spiel, but it could just be outdated copy.

Ah.. after I posted that, I wondered if maybe that was just the "old" way of doing it; only known about/seen cartos myself since maybe March of this year, so yeah, I guess maybe the non-glued tops could be a recent innovation. It just struck me oddly when I read it, since I've never seen a carto with a glued-in top.

Andria

 

[Scaralouche]

Yeah Andria, that's how they used to do them. Electronicstix is legit. The friend who got me into vaping in '08 used to be a customer of theirs. When Puresmoker went out of business, I began going to them for cartos. It's been a while since I've put in an order from them for cartos, but they do ship quickly.

For those who like status symbol mods, they carry the ZNA. Both A and B stock.

 

[PaseQB]

I've got about 5 shops that I know of in my general area and have found most of them sell crap and know very little about what it is that they are selling. A couple will say what they think you want to hear to make a sale. There is one really good one, the guys in the shop are great and they have an awesome selection of hardware and juices. They are also generous with their time and knowledge. My only complaint is the prices. I know that they have overhead and their tape shop is the nicest one I have ever been to. I go in and buy to support but sometimes its rough when I know that their price is sometimes double what I'd pay if I purchased on line.

 

[scratchtheweasel]

If you're a noob like me it can be tricky going to a local B&M - you want to believe they are honest and know their stuff, but this just isn't going to be the case for every employee in every shop. Bottom line is you should not go to any vendor (online or B&M) with blind trust. My local B&M sells some authentic gear like Kanger tanks and replacement coils, MVP's and other gear. But also sells some clones and I don't think they know the difference in all cases. They have inflated prices on some things (like $30 over Internet prices for an MVP), but very fair prices on other batteries and gear. They have given me a lot of good advice on vaping, and they have also said things that I know just aren't correct after doing research here on the forums.

One of the things that bothered me was them not advising against using ICR's since this can really be a safety issue, but what can you do? I can't educate all of their customers and I can't change their practices. I will try to politely suggest that they research the differences so they can better advise their customers, but at the end of the day the customer needs to do some research and know what they're buying. If you want to be safe and get the best price you can't rely on someone else to do it for you. I recommend folks visiting their local B&M as it can definitely help, but just don't take what they tell you as gospel. Go home before you buy and do some searching on the forums to check your facts.

 

[scratchtheweasel]

I go in and buy to support but sometimes its rough when I know that their price is sometimes double what I'd pay if I purchased on line.

With my local B&M the markup is not across the board. On certain items there was a big markup - probably either because their costs were higher on it, or because they believe it's a hot seller and want to capitalize on the demand. On some items there was a good savings over Internet prices at online vendors I trust.YMMV.

 

[tj99959]

That really is an excellent price on the regular cartos! I've been getting mine from DesertVapes, $4.25/5pk but I may have to switch vendors to save 50 cents -- how are their shipping prices?

One thing, though... he's engaging in much the same sort of "puffery" about his product as the guy saying he makes his own juice... "Unlike other 510 Cartomizers with glued in Tops I had the factory produce mine with a removable rubber top..." Every carto I've ever seen has a removable rubber top, not glued in. Not a huge deal, but he's claiming something ridiculous; they are apparently all made the way that he's claiming he "has them" make "for him."

Andria

ROFL, That same description has has been on there for at least 4 years. Back in the day cartos had glued in tops, and they were a problem to get out. I believe that Boge was the first that would not glue them in if a vendor requested it. Then we had to work on them to stop putting those darn black wrappers on their cartos.
In the days before drip tips, a carto would burn your lips without the glued in top and paper wrapper.
Many of us would remove the top cap to make them easier to top off, and then would use a blank atomizer cartridge for a mouth piece.

OH how I loved those removable top caps and & that first drip tip.

Add:
Did you spot the o-ring???? That's air flow control

 

[AndriaD]

ROFL, That same description has has been on there for at least 4 years. Back in the day cartos had glued in tops, and they were a problem to get out. I believe that Boge was the first that would not glue them in if a vendor requested it. Then we had to work on them to stop putting those darn black wrappers on their cartos.
In the days before drip tips, a carto would burn your lips without the glued in top and paper wrapper.
Many of us would remove the top cap to make them easier to top off, and then would use a blank atomizer cartridge for a mouth piece.

Apparently I missed all that, though I do sometimes buy the cartos with the black paper on them, just for the look -- but since I use a drip tip, not really a huge issue. Sometimes I forget that vaping was going on for quite a while before I found out about it, and that progress in vape equipment is moving along the way computer stuff moved along in the '90s -- blink and you'll miss something!

I do love that price on their cartos, though; I'm not one to do the punching myself, but I found a place where I can buy the punched single-coil XLs for $1.52 each -- best price I've seen on pre-punched -- but I still like to occasionally use the regular cartos; I'm not really a big fan of dripping, but the regular cartos can fulfill a lot of the reason for dripping -- like tasting stuff you don't know if you'll like -- at .75 or even .85 per carto, if you don't like it, just toss it!

thx for the link!
Andria

 

[Herzeleid14]

Im curious now as to the "avoid" shops around Indy are, as to avoid wasting my time

 

[Spatchka]

My local B&M has a wide selection of juice, helpful staff and has saved me numberous times when I was
starting out.

The staff is very young, but enthusiastic about sub-omhing and RTA's.
I don't mine that; never heard anyone over hype or be misleading, and they always take a minute to ask me how things are going.

Couldn't ask for much more than that.

Not perfect, but what place is...

Since I do not purchase highend equipment from them, try to help them out by recommending them to new to vaping people I meet.

 

[WharfRat1976]

I've pretty much stopped doing any business with any local B&M's except one for various reasons. I understand they have overhead and I understand they can't charge what online merchants do and cover that overhead, but until they each ticked me off for various reasons I tried to at least buy some juice or coils from each in turn to help support the locals.

The last one lost my business just tonight. While chatting with a friend she told me "I only buy my stuff from this guy, because he told me...." and proceeded to tell me a few things I know to be BS and a few things I suspect to be.

First he told her he makes his own juice. I know for a fact he does not, he gets his juice from a company about 40 miles from where we live. Yes, it's made right here in Indiana but he doesn't make it, he's an authorized distributor for the company. He also told her the juice is FDA approved. I'm fairly certain the only ecig items that are FDA approved right now are the ones approved for smoking cessation and I'm POSITIVE this company isn't large enough to possibly have the capital for that kind of testing. Does the FDA even have a standard for testing the product yet since regulations are still in comment stage?

While she in the process of telling me this, vaping on her vision spinner and Kanger MiniPT2 she tells me that everything he sells is made in the US and according to him that stuff you get online from China are all fakes and the ones that blow up in your face. SERIOUSLY? He sells Vision, Innokin, eGo's and Evods. The only thing the man sells that's made in the US is the juice and some custom carto tanks and drip tips hand made locally.

But tomorrow I'm gonna walk up in his shop and ask him about this FDA approval and then ask him to show me any piece of equipment he's got (besides the carto tanks) that weren't made in Shenzhen,Guangdong,China.

I get he's got overhead, I get he can't sell stuff as cheap as Fasttech. What I don't get is being dishonest about your ... or their... product.

I read this entire post with an overly dramatic tone, like bad acting and it is really funny that way.

 

[DancingHeretik]

"Unlike other 510 Cartomizers with glued in Tops I had the factory produce mine with a removable rubber top..."

It's really funny to read online product descriptions of older equipment. I think most sites put up a description when the product is new and just never update it, even after a few years.

So, it's a few years old and in the clearance section, and still being described as the newest!

 

[turbocad6]

I've visited a few vape shops. the first one I really tried to like but just always got a weird vibe from, was in the lower level of some little strip mall in a shady neighborhood but back then there wasn't much else anywhere as far as vape shops. I spent some money there and of course there prices were naturally higher than online but I understand that so that didn't bother me too much at first. I went in one day wanting to buy a mech mod but really had no idea what I wanted... I looked around for a bit and it took a lot of time because it was one guy bouncing between several customers so after a while I really wanted to get out of there, so I settled on a telescoping kamry thingy thinking it looked kinda cool at the moment, but when I got out to the car and played with it a little I was kind of put off by a few things on it. took it home and played with it a bit more and decided I really didn't like it so I didn't actually even use it at all, I just decided I didn't want it after looking at it better and realizing it was really just a cheap $30 mod that I paid almost $60 for, so the next day I went back with it, fully intending on returning it and buying a better even more expensive mod. the problem with this place is they didn't really have anything high end at all, I was trying to find something really good but all they had was cheap stuff

as soon as the guy seen me pull the mod from the bag and say I wanted to return it his whole demeanor just changed and he seemed to get all twisted. I explained to him that hey man I never really return anything, but I spent good money for this because I want a good mod and I just don't like this one after really having a chance to check it out. I didn't mount anything on it and never fired it I would just like to exchange it for something better. from that point he acted really weird and said well we normally don't take returns and blah blah, I said yeah but I never even used it I took it out of the bag, looked at it and held it and decided I really don't like it then stuck it back in the bag, he started looking at the mod under and illuminated magnifying glass for like 5 minutes, screwing it and unscrewing it, hemming and hawing, then finally said well ok so what do you want? I said well I was thinking about maybe trying the vmod. he said well that's $100 and you can't return it. now up until this point I've probably already spend ~$500 or so in this guys place, for stuff that I could have gotten online for probably half that and his attitude towards me I knew I was never coming back to this place so I said yeah whatever, don't worry I won't be returning with it... paid him and left and that was that, never spent another dime there all because of a crappy attitude.

I've seen a few other vape places, one guy near me has a little vape stand inside of a beauty salon, I heard about it so I decided to check it out... nothing but garbage again, but even much less stuff, it looked more like one guys personal stash than an actual business but whatever, but he worse part of the whole thing was that they had the juice showcase in the window of the store so you could see it from outside, and all day every day they were sitting in the sun, yeah nic juice in a sunny window for sale I walked in and took one brief look and turned around but before I left I told the girl there hey, maybe it's nne of my business but in case you didn't know, nic juice should be stored in a cool dark place might not be so bad in room temperature indoors, but certainly should not be stored in a bright sunny window long term your destroying the juice and left... the juice is still there in the window of this place

anyway luckily I have now found a vape shop near me now that is awesome. they don't even sell any clones of anything. yes they do sell cheaper stuff too but not clones. they sell all of the evod and inokin and joytech whatever others and they also sell authentic mods. they have a really nice juice bar and a wide selection of juice but even more importantly they have a staff of guys that know there stuff, yet don't upsell anyone to more than they want and they don't push crazy sub ohm builds on the new guys... I stood there one day and watched a kid walk in and say he just started vaping and he wants a nice mech but doesn't really know what he wants... the guy spent some time with him, a lot of time actually he walked him through options and then showed him how to build as he built his first setup for him. he built a 1.2 ohm coil and told him that first you have to get a meter and second you should stay at 1 ohm or higher for your first few builds until you learn more and get acquainted with the equiptment and learn about batteries and stuff. until you really know what your doing and understand more you really should stay at 1 ohm or higher. that was just one example of how this place really impressed me, so much so that now I go there and buy stuff that I don't even really need just because... because I really want these guys to succeed.

they guy who owns the place is a doctor of some sort, although he never even mentioned it to me nor does he advertise that fact. I only found out by reading a review somewhere... he's an extremely nice guy with a very high set of business ethics and honestly that's rarer and rarer these days in any business. I've had a few conversations with him and one of his main focus is on finding quality inexpensive gear for the average guy but that are not clones... he acknowledges the fact that his competition is really raking in the bucks by selling large quantities of clones but he refuses to lower himself to that. he's has a nice online store too but doesn't sell any clones and he still does well. the place is called movapes and his website is movapesonline, if anyone is in the ny area and wants to visit a true quality vapeshop this is it, it's a shame more can't be like this...