On Tuesday I had the pleasure of going to Smokeless Image's store in New Philadelphia, OH. It's about an hour's drive from where I live. I've been using e-cigs for 3 years now and it was so nice to buy from a store and talk with a real live person, in person, in depth about e-cigs. (I have talked to a couple mall kiosk sellers, but they don't count. Haha! So far, I've only seen the ridiculously-priced ones that are basically worthless in these places.) I had a nice visit with Tyler, who was minding the store that day. I also got to see him in action explaining how e-cigs work to a customer who was interested in one for her husband who wanted to quit smoking. I could tell Tyler really likes his job.
There is a room behind the sales floor that has a lounge and I got to sit and talk with Tyler for quite a while between his waiting on customers. He's quite knowledgeable. I came back out to the sales floor when he was talking with the customer who was interested in one for her husband. This was exciting for me because I don't know any vapers in my personal life. I've been a bit hesitant to recommend any brands of e-cigs, because these things can be so "fiddly." I feel now though, we're really beginning to see a good variety of quality products - finally! Of course I had to throw in my 2 cents and tell this customer my story about how e-cigs helped me quit smoking, but I still love vaping. (I figured Tyler wouldn't be able to tell her they could be used as a smoking cessation device, but I could! Neener, neener, neeener!)
There is a smoking ban going into effect soon at my workplace (no smoking anywhere on the premises, including the parking lot inside our own cars). I really don't know how they can enforce that, so we'll see. Anyway, I want to be prepared to refer the smokers to a good e-cig and a place where they can get them with good customer service at decent prices. I think the Volt will be an excellent choice, especially for people new to e-cigs.
I ended up buying Volt's cool PCC, a kit, an extra battery, 2 packs of cartos, and a passthrough. (Mostly in the name of research

- I do most of my vaping with a 5-volt passthrough using a high resistance carto. For the people at work, Volt is a no-brainer. For me, I was mostly interested in the cartos. The 5-volt passthrough that Smokeless Image sells is a good sturdy one. Unfortunately, it's too much voltage for the Volt cartos for my preference anyway. It seems to mask the taste and maybe even cause a burnt taste if you're not careful. I'd love a lower voltage passthrough - one that has the same voltage as the Volt batteries. I don't want no wimpy one either - I want a good, dependable one, like the sturdy 5-volt passthroughs available through several sellers, including Smokless Image.
So, I'm hoping to see Volt come out with either a lower voltage passthrough, or cartos with a higher resistance that will work well with a 5-volt passthrough.
I like the new soft "ribbed" mouthpiece and I'd love to see these become available in different colors. It's fun to have all the colors for batteries, lights, and cartos, but I can imagine keeping stocked on everything then becomes a seller's nightmare. Well, maybe not a nightmare, but a lot more work anyway. I for one, would really like at least different colored mouthpieces, including black. Having different colors would help me color code cartos with different flavors or they could be used to help keep track of a carto's age or if Volt cartos become available in a few different resistances and are not marked with what ohm they are, color coding would come in handy for that too. (I really wish all cartos would come labeled with what ohm they are.) Black ones would be nice for a more classy look. A white light, or even no light with no fake ash bottom, would be nice on the batteries too. I'd like a manual battery, longer in length than the current standard one, with just a white light on the button and no light on the bottom. It's kinda nice to have a light to know that the battery is firing, but it's not that important. (Just my humble opinion.)
I hope to see more stores selling quality, reasonably priced e-cigs, especially like the one I got to visit in New Philly. I want to see a store appear in Akron! - with a Vape Lounge!
I've also had the pleasure of speaking with Rob on the phone who is the owner. He's so nice and patient and I wish him the best in this business venture. Of course I want to see Smokeless Image grow as a business, but I hope they don't grow too big and too fast that they can't handle taking the time to spend personally talking with their customers in a timely manner. I just love the personal attention where I feel like I'm valued, instead of just a bother. Good customer service seems to be the exception, rather than the norm these days. I've been around long enough to see businesses fail because of lack of integrity and poor customer service.
For example, I'm in the midst of trying to find the best cell phone for me (a person on a tight budget) and/or combination of cell phone, handy camera, GPS, and MP3 player. I haven't had much success with local Radio Shack or AT&T stores. It seems that buying stuff from sellers in person is becoming a thing of the past. I believe in supporting local businesses whenever I can and am even willing to pay a few extra dollars to do that. These days I must admit I do a lot of online shopping because there is more selection, or, with things like e-cigs and all their paraphernalia, I have no choice but to go online. However, I always prefer to see and try whatever I'm interested in buying before I spend the money rather than just ordering and taking my chances. I just hate sending stuff back and sometimes, it's not worth the bother. It makes me wonder how much stuff is just lying around, never to be used, in people's homes. Sorry, I will now step off my soapbox. Thanks for listening.
I'm looking forward to doing more business with Smokeless Image and also sending some new customers their way.