The Ploom is Here.

[TropicalBob]

Really nice job, Michelle. I've been told to expect mine about March 1.

When the Ploom was in formative stages, the FDA and others were saying quite strongly that e-cigs were a drug delivery device and e-liquid was a drug. In fact, they still say that, despite one court decision against them.

But here, clearly, is a tobacco device. It doesn't use a drug concoction to foist off as "tobacco". This one might face challenges as a new tobacco device, but the FDA shouldn't demand clinical trials as it does with drugs.

Nice job, again. Look forward to getting it. No, I won't drip. Yes, I will try refilling with soaked tobacco of my choice.

One more thing: My thinking is we'll place this in immediate jeopardy by turning it into a drug delivery device it is not intended to be! You want the FDA to ban it? Keep talking about using "juice".

 

[Michelle M]

Well, I could not resist playing with it. The tobacco in there is pretty sparse. A pin worked most of it out, followed up by a Q-Tip cleanup. Easy. It happily accepted half a 510 cart, cut in half lengthwise. I added some of my favorite Drew's menthol concoction and fired 'er up. Alas, though the chamber sizzled promisingly, I could get virtually nothing from it. The taste I was looking for (Drew's menthol or anything vape-ish) was not there.

Now, clearly this was not what they designed it for. However, I doubt I'm harming the hallowed inner workings of this thing; it's not like I took it apart. I've disturbed nothing save a disposable tin shell. I really hoped to fall in love with this thing. But the draw is seriously bizarre, at least coming from vaping. It can't be remedied by any plugging of holes. The entire mouthpiece is one big air tunnel.

I'd really like someone else to start checking theirs out since a sample of one is pretty whacked and I'm no expert. Hopefully others will add their observations soon.

 

[anim8r]

...
"One more thing: My thinking is we'll place this in immediate jeopardy by turning it into a drug delivery device it is not intended to be! You want the FDA to ban it? Keep talking about using "juice"."

I have to respectfully disagree TropicalBob.

It is extremely difficult to ban any device on the basis that some people may use them for actions or activities other than their intended use.

Many legally sold products are often abused or misused to perform illegal activities.

The intended use and implicit design of the Ploom is to heat up Ploom pods.


Personally, I don't want tobacco in my house ever again, so I'd never purchase a Ploom. Interesting device though.

 

[Thyestean]

I haven't had any desire to buy one of these since the pods seemed like they would cost alot more than even smoking would but it is nice to see a review on one and I look forward to seeing where your experiences with it lead.

 

[nasti]

how long does a pod last for?
what is the taste like after 1 day of use? - stale tobacco?

really too bad eliquid doesnt work with it tho. nice try

 

[bhima]

I bet if you sent that thing to Scottbee or one of the other brilliant modders they would find a way to make it work with e-liquid. Honestly I don't see the desire for this device if you can only use their pods.

 

[Michelle M]

I agree it would cost as much or more than smoking, though of course with the caveat it probably isn't as bad for you. A pod lasts about five minutes. Since it's being heated continuously during that time, what remains in the capsule is pretty dried out when you scrape it clean and I imagine you wouldn't be doing yourself a favor to vape on it the next day since there'd be no moisture left in it.

I honestly don't think it's mod-able. Not to say it couldn't technically be done (particularly considering I just did it ), but more why?? The end product is still not going to taste good. Airflow problems + butane exhaust does not make great taste.

I wish the creators great success but I really can't see the attraction.

I can't fathom why there's no reviews out of literally hundreds and hundreds of people who've tried them. I really think that speaks volumes right there. I think everyone who's tried it is underwhelmed and is just being gracious. Or possibly has never had a decent vape.

I'd be thrilled if some of you who are expecting yours join this thread and say you love it! The hoopla, the sexy ad campaign, the tasting parties, it's just hard to imagine it isn't better. And I think it's really cool to continue to refine and develop and tweak PV's in every possible incarnation.

I constantly tell people about PV's and point them to this website and usually recommend starting out with a KR808 or a 510. However, I cannot imagine how I would recommend this device to anyone except as a novelty unless the final non-Beta version is much, much better.

 

[whiskywill]

Well, I could not resist playing with it. The tobacco in there is pretty sparse. A pin worked most of it out, followed up by a Q-Tip cleanup. Easy. It happily accepted half a 510 cart, cut in half lengthwise. I added some of my favorite Drew's menthol concoction and fired 'er up. Alas, though the chamber sizzled promisingly, I could get virtually nothing from it. The taste I was looking for (Drew's menthol or anything vape-ish) was not there.

Now, clearly this was not what they designed it for. However, I doubt I'm harming the hallowed inner workings of this thing; it's not like I took it apart. I've disturbed nothing save a disposable tin shell. I really hoped to fall in love with this thing. But the draw is seriously bizarre, at least coming from vaping. It can't be remedied by any plugging of holes. The entire mouthpiece is one big air tunnel.

I'd really like someone else to start checking theirs out since a sample of one is pretty whacked and I'm no expert. Hopefully others will add their observations soon.

i would definitly want to try it out. looked at there site and not a bad price eithere. to bad they want reserves. i was looking at the mouth piece, and maybe if u were to cover up the holes and put the acctual juice in the changer not the pod so it acctually get hot, kinda like the iolite u dont put the screens when u fill up the iolite, but u do with herbs let me know if u try any of these ways and if it works. i think the air flow would be the bigest part of u not getting any vapor out of it. it should heat up pleanty

 

[JustMeAgain]

I'm supposedly on the list, too, but I've heard nothing either.

I'm wondering if you could add to the pod before it's used ~ If I understood what you did, you cleaned out a used pod and refilled it with Drew's liquid.

If there's extra space in the pod, would it be possible to add liquid and a few drops of VG for added vapor in a fresh pod to see if it would taste better and to extend the life of the pod?

So if each pod is lasting around 10 minutes, then it would take $10.00 worth to equal one pack of cigarettes.

I wonder how long one butane fill lasts? Assuming you don't have to refill it too often, I like the idea of no more batteries.

I think they're going to have to do better than this.


Thanks for the great review!

 

[Michelle M]

JustMeAgain, one butane fill equals nine pods, so they say. Yes, it might be a good idea to "refresh" the capsule with drops rather than replacing the contents with batting and dripping on it as illustrated in the photos. WhiskeyWill, I don't think the excessive air flow thing is fixable. When you say put juice in the "changer" do you mean chamber? I am not one to take things apart and as you can see by the photos the only thing mod-able would be the little cup as the rest of the unit is sealed.

 

[jxmiller]

JustMeAgain, one butane fill equals nine pods, so they say. Yes, it might be a good idea to "refresh" the capsule with drops rather than replacing the contents with batting and dripping on it as illustrated in the photos. WhiskeyWill, I don't think the excessive air flow thing is fixable. When you say put juice in the "changer" do you mean chamber? I am not one to take things apart and as you can see by the photos the only thing mod-able would be the little cup as the rest of the unit is sealed.

Hey take that polyfill (or whatever it was you were using) and put a hole in it with a hole punch (if you have one) such that the bottom of the pod has no polyfill touching it in direct center. The idea here is to keep a hollow, maintain clearance in bottom direct center, and have the juice remain as much as possible on the outer portion of the pod.

 

[whiskywill]

by chamber i mean where the pod goes just drip in to that
ill have to buy one myself just have to wait im sure if theres a will theres a way and im right here lol
it definitly has the same concept of the iolite and ive seen that used many times for e liquid

 

[jerrydon10]

Michell,

Thanks for the no "candy coating" review.

This is what I am grasping. When you begin with a cartridge full of something and you know that tobacco is in that something--and when the flavor dies and you examine the cartridge and little of the original substance is left, didn't you just smoke tobacco?

You guys might try TBs idea as that occurred to me as well. Soak a snues in juice, or put some saturated tobacco in there.

If something starts burning you guys might use our old ink pen spring mod to separate the filler from the heat source.

Heck, I might buy one of these just to play with.

 

[Thornak]

I have the feeling it is modable but your going to have to break it and re-build parts of it to make it work different.

 

[jerrydon10]

I have the feeling it is modable but your going to have to break it and re-build parts of it to make it work different.

I think so too. I like the butane ignition. We just have to come up with the rest of the atty. If she didn't get much vape it's probably running too cold. Anxious to hear from others.

 

[Michelle M]

I tried dripping some into the bowl only. No pod, no batting. Careful to keep it pointed out so it didn't drip out on me.

HARSH throat hit. Ow. Not recommended. It did seem to last a good bit of time but was never satisfactory.

Normal mouthfuls impossible to get because of the airflow issues.

Direct drag will kill you, it's harsh and hot.

There's a constant failure to relax while attempting this. The chamber glows very brightly when ignited. The hissing noise dies down but heat is still being applied. You have to watch how you hold it. You have to watch how far down your lips go on it.

I don't think the problem is that it's not hot enough. It may be the reverse. It's too hot. There is nothing relaxing about it. You are always kind of recoiling from it a bit.

There's no room for the vapor to cool down. Straight from the boiler room into your throat, else a gentle draw is mostly lost in the air slots.

It would be good if the heat was further away from your lips.

Jerry, the same amount of tobacco is in there when you empty it as when you began. I believe it's just the moisture in it that's vaporized. None of the actual tobacco disappears. There's only a very thin layer of it around the inner sides of the pod to begin with - not on the bottom, just around the sides.

Next week this thread should get very good, when some of you engineers get these in your mailbox. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[River]

I guess you could pack some shisha in there. It looks like it's a minature hookah. I imagine that's why it gets so hot, it's to simulate the kind of heat those coals put out.

 

[NatureBoy]

Somehow I get the feeling they're not sending me one. I snuck in through the forgot password hole. I got an order confirmation, but haven't heard from them since. Also, when I try to go to my account info, it gives me an error... hmmm......

 

[jxmiller]

Got mine last night. I have went through each flavor and used the device as it was intended. So far the flavors seem to be great... while they last. Very short duration on each pod. Each pod seems to vary by just a bit. I would say each lasts avg. 4-6min. All pods besides the chocolate (forgot exact flavor name) produced little to no vapor. The chocolate had vapor on almost every hit but it was really weak.

It is frustrating in that I want to adjust the temp cut off to be 10-20 degrees hotter to test, but it has no such controls. I am sure that is safety related.

Once you turn it on you really need to wait for about 10 seconds (minimum, could be longer) before taking a puff. It glows red for about 5-7 seconds then nothing although I am sure it is still heating but only to maintain a certain temp.

Every once and a while I will take a hit (I never direct throat hit) and it will make me cough. Seems to be because the air is too hot.

This thing is a beta device. If they improve on it I may be interested but this is what they would have to do.

1. increase vapor
2. increase pod life / capacity
3. Make it adjustable for temps (within safe range)

So in my opinion it was a waste of money.

Modifications to attempt vg vape later on.

 

[Michelle M]

Got mine last night. I have went through each flavor and used the device as it was intended. So far the flavors seem to be great... while they last. Very short duration on each pod. Each pod seems to vary by just a bit. I would say each lasts avg. 4-6min. All pods besides the chocolate (forgot exact flavor name) produced little to no vapor. The chocolate had vapor on almost every hit but it was really weak.

It is frustrating in that I want to adjust the temp cut off to be 10-20 degrees hotter to test, but it has no such controls. I am sure that is safety related.

Once you turn it on you really need to wait for about 10 seconds (minimum, could be longer) before taking a puff. It glows red for about 5-7 seconds then nothing although I am sure it is still heating but only to maintain a certain temp.

Every once and a while I will take a hit (I never direct throat hit) and it will make me cough. Seems to be because the air is too hot.

This thing is a beta device. If they improve on it I may be interested but this is what they would have to do.

1. increase vapor
2. increase pod life / capacity
3. Make it adjustable for temps (within safe range)

So in my opinion it was a waste of money.

Modifications to attempt vg vape later on.

Good to see someone else got theirs. Thanks for adding your take on it. I'm not sure why you wanted it to get 10-20 degrees hotter if you also say that the air is too hot. (Which I happen to agree with!)