snork's Excellent Adventure

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snork

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I've enjoyed Aroma juice with and without WTA for over a year and received my first little bottle of WTA concentrate on September 29th of last year. Since then it has been an indispensable source of satisfaction and enjoyment for me daily. When Jerry first made the open invitation welcoming anyone to come to see the lab at which he and his cohorts make WTA I started dreaming of going. I've made several aborted attempts to rig up the time and the funding and finally the stars aligned and I made my way from Denver to Phoenix from August 22-25, 2012.

The reason I wanted to see him and his operation was strictly curiosity. I had no doubt that the production was being carried out in a professional manner and I'm not one to buy into gossip or involve myself in drama dreamed up by faceless people thousands of miles apart. The process sounded interesting to me and I wanted the chance to meet Jerry and the other people who had provided me exemplary service during the previous year. I also knew that Phoenix would be a perfect spot to take a mini-vacation. Why not combine a little business with a lot of pleasure?

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Jerry In The Breakroom

Jerry's a good-sized man with a great goofy smile. I never asked where he was from originally but his personality indicated to me that he was from a large urban city where dealing with people non-stop in a direct way was a necessity. Jerry vapes on an eGo Twist with a crappy aluminum driptip, that really caused me a lot of consternation. The man deserves better than that but such things don't interest him. Whatever.

The Aroma ejuice lab is located in a huge building in a light industrial area in Chandler. The building is shared by a mixture of high-tech, lower-tech, scientific and academic entities. Aroma is listed on the door as one of the tenants. Aroma's rooms are in a small area at the left end of the building. I've been in a lot of labs in my life, mostly medical, some commercial. Jerry's lab is typical of every lab I've ever been in regards to cleanliness and organization. It isn't an immaculate sterile operating room; you can tell work gets done here, for sure. Things are organized and stored safely, in fact safety struck me as one of Jerry's priorities in the time I spent there. Here and there I saw various labels of equipment inspection certification.

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An Example Certification

I was privileged to have Jerry show me and tell me about the process from beginning to end. Well, I didn't get to see the end except for a sample of a previous run. One of the most startling revelations I had during my visit is the incredible amount of time, money and effort it takes for Jerry to produce a *small* amount of WTA which is up to his standard. We're talking days and days. You just don't go in and whip out 1000 bottles of WTA in a night with a coffee filter. Much much less in much more time.

Jerry employs a doctorate chemist he calls Dr. Fred who has extensive experience and credentials both academic and commercial. He is responsible for QA testing at the final stage, among other things. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet him (I did see his name everywhere), both evenings Jerry and I were at the lab Dr. Fred had been and gone before Jerry and I arrived. Jerry likes to do his thing in the lab at night into the wee hours of the morning. In fact I don't know if Jerry ever sleeps aside from 20 minute catnaps sprinkled sparsely through the day. Jerry himself also has some expertise in chemistry both from education and experience, but Jerry leaves the most exacting steps to the chemist. These guys know what they're doing. The main objectives when creating a batch of WTA are quality, safety and consistency; Jerry and Dr. Fred cut no corners. I also barely missed meeting Chris, the person responsible for shipping. Just didn't have enough time to meet the whole gang.
 
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snork

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Why are they doing it? Jerry and I talked a lot about philosophy while we waited around for boring chemistry to plod along. It's not about the money, that's for sure. Those of you who think Jerry's WTA is too expensive haven't seen and heard what I have. Those are the facts, Jack. Jerry's humility would never allow him to say this, but I can: At this point I think the motivation is humanitarian. Also I think they do it for the coolness factor, the fun, and also the pride. Jerry struck me as a man much like myself in that curiosity fuels much of his undertaking. While we were wandering around the huge building which houses the lab he was always peering through windows, going through new doors, wondering what the tenants of those areas were up to. Jerry has a lot of pride in his operation and rightfully so, the only way to appreciate it is to see it with one's own eyes and I'm not merely talking about the facility and equipment. The WORK. The sheer amount of physical WORK it takes to make a thimbleful of WTA is amazing and inspiring. As far as making a monetary killing with ejuice and WTA that's not the motivation, in fact after getting to know Jerry and of what he is capable I'm convinced that if he so chose he could reconfigure and stomp every other juice vendor into the ground. I'm serious.

It was a little hard to read what the future of Aroma WTA will be. I know Jerry has made some investments in equipment which will help availability. On the other hand It seemed apparent that there are certain frustrations about it which might cause Jerry to dump it with no regrets and not look back. In my opinion, if the vaping community doesn't watch out they could lose a valuable resource.

Well, how do they do it, you're asking. Well, I'm not going to tell you. I will only tell you it's done very well. Those of you expecting photographs sorry to disappoint. Jerry said upfront that I could take pictures as long as I avoided areas which would have given trade secrets away, but we were too busy talking and I just don't operate in photographic mode, it interferes with my experience. Additionally, photographs from me would be as valuable as photographs from Jerry. Zilcho-nada. The only way to believe anything on the Internet is to go there and see it with your own eyes. I did that. :D

Over the course of three days Jerry devoted seven or eight hours to me. Sometimes I felt like I might be holding up the show but he assured me it was okay. He gave me some great tips on some things to do in Phoenix and I had a blast from the beginning of my four days 'til the end. In fact I saw one of the most amazing things I've ever seen, the Musical Instruments Museum www.themim.org For that experience alone it was worth the trip to Phoenix.

Thanks, Jerry.

Questions?

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The back wall of the lab.
Picture by Jerry
 
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radiokaos

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Snork,

It was a pleasure meeting you in person. It was fun talking shop along with other stuff as well.

Thank you so much for the informative write up. You are a cool cat and you taught me a lot about new mods and some great companies out there.

I think its important to have a open door policy for everyone to see what we are doing at Aroma Ejuice. In fact I would like to offer to the first 3 visitors that come from out of state and tour our lab 3 (10ML) bottles of WTA just for visiting and saying hello. If anyone wants to visit just drop me a pm, call, or send smoke signals. Please give me a day or two heads up just to make sure I'm in town and can give you the .5 cent tour.
 

snork

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There's something I'd like to ask everyone to do.
If ever you see on this forum or any other anybody questioning the integrity of Aroma's WTA production, or its cost, or the people behind it or anything like that, please refer them to this thread or to me personally. Long before I considered Jerry a personal friend I was a customer and I still am. I have seen with my own eyes, a customer's eyes, the truth.
 

radiokaos

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Whoa! I LIVE in Chandler. Field trip!!!!

Come on by.....our door is always open.

I only ask you call ahead, since I work late hours.

We are near Stellar Airpark. Only a handful of people have stopped by the lab.

I dont know what it takes to have you come by, but free eliuqids on the house if you come by and say hello.

Heck my wife still does not know what I do every night. She is not intersted in the lab....however she is starting to think I have a second family, including a few kids and 2nd wife.

Our Warehouse is in Fountain Hills which stores most of the product, but I usually keep a bottle of two for myself at the lab.

Some big changes are in the works but I have to keep my mouth shut about this one.
 

LiLJOOK

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