serendipity and hhv tobacco

[billherbst]

I think when HHVs body of work is either vastly more tobacco offerings, or just a bit improved in the rest of their flavors, they will be a contender for numero uno. I am sure some may flame me for suggesting that they are not already there, but go ahead. Trust me, I can remember going bonkers when the first batch of anti-Gandalfers hit the scene. Heck, I can remember when there was only one other that had even tried it (shout out to Luce!). Bottom line: Adam and Heather have made some flavors that are unparalleled.

I have ongoing personal (or perhaps social is a more accurate term) email relationships with a bunch of different vendors, either individuals or couples. All of them strike me as lovely people---hard-working, smart, dedicated, sincere, willing to bend over backwards to serve their customers, not to mention being talented artisan juicemakers. In my two years of vaping, I've come across only one or two vendors who struck me as either paranoid jerks or egomaniacal narcissists. The vast majority of vendors with whom I've interacted are people I'd be thrilled to have lunch and talk shop with about vaping in general and the paradoxes and ironies of running their businesses, from the joys to the hassles.

It's a different story with the huge fan bases of the most successful vendors who are lionized here on ECF. While I do understand the human tendency to form in-groups among like-minded people and develop extended-family social alliances, I have a hard time with the small percentage of follower fans who become the internet forum equivalent of rabid attack dogs whenever someone from outside the in-group posts anything less than total praise for one of their favorite vendor's juices. Doesn't take many of those bad apples to spoil the barrel for me.

I haven't yet come across a single vendor whose entire line of juices pleases me (or even interests me). I may like numerous offerings from a given vendor, but never all of them, at least not so far. That seems perfectly sensible to me, since vendors necessarily take on the daunting task of making juices that cover a wide swath of tastes and preferences. Heck, I don't like half the juice I make for myself, so what are the odds of my liking all the juices a vendor creates for a collective marketplace? Slim and none.

 

[gthompson]

I see a lot of statements like this, "rabid attack dogs whenever someone from outside the in-group posts anything less than total praise for one of their favorite vendor's juices", but I honestly don't see that much of it going on. There are always some radicals in every crowd, but the majority of the folks here seem pretty tolerant. I don't really like seeing anyone put down any juice, whether I like that juice or not, but when it comes right down to it, I care about what I like, not what someone else likes.

 

[billherbst]

You're right, of course, GT. That stuff is less overt than I made it seem. ECF doesn't allow personal attacks, so most of the sacred cow protection takes the form of subtler innuendo. I've read your posts about "fanboyism," so you are clearly aware of the tendency.

 

[gthompson]

And I said that after getting stomped on just last night by a couple of AVE fans who took issue with me trying to send a guy who specifically asked about RY4s to your RY4 thread, when they were trying to tell him that Boba's Bounty and Gorilla Juice were better than any RY4 out there.

I still think that kind of thing is more the exception though, although you're right, it happens.