The Gripper Mod

Well it is now 14 weeks since I started this little journey, there is a bit to catch up on as I have neglected this blog a bit but this was due to: a frozen shoulder and a wee holiday.

I suppose I should start by saying that I gave up on the faux cigarette things, in favour of what they call a mod, it doesn’t wear a Parka and it doesn’t ride a scooter but it is a mod none the less. My main reason for doing this was the lack of reliability with the batteries of the faux cigarettes, I felt that with something bigger that took commercially available batteries then I wouldn’t be going through them at quite the same rate of noughts as I was.

This has proven to be the case but the mod world- like its parka wearing, scooter riding counterpart- is a world unto itself. It has its faces, they run forums and post reviews on youtube, every single one with a link to their latest affiliate program, we used to call that sort of thing, selling out but that is the world we live in today. It is also extremely unhelpful as I have yet to find a bad review of any “vaping” product, you will find the occasional moan about some tank systems leaking buried deep in the forums. Each review, however, promises that the product will dramatically improve your life and vaping experience. The jargon is also quite bewildering, you have: cartos, atomisers, cartomisers, drip tips, tank systems, variable voltage..... The list goes on.

So how did I decide on my first mod? Well I wish I could tell you that I set a budget and shopped around but I didn’t. I did look at a few sites and a bewildering array of mods until I chanced upon the gripper mod, it seemed very cheap and quite compact. I have a few wee gripes here; firstly it is a “body only” mod, which meant I had to buy all the necessary accoutrements separately, once I had added batteries, charger and cartomisers, the price almost tripled. This brought it in line with the cheapest starter kits though, so it’s no big criticism.  Also, I bought the recommended cartomiser for the mod and only after I bought it did I discover that you had to buy a drip tip to make it in any way practical to use, I have since upgraded to a knucklehead drip tip, which I find so much easier to use and more aesthetically pleasing (see photos).

Gripper Mod no drip tip

Gripper Mod normal drip tip 

Gripper mod with knucklehead drip tip 

I love this mod (here we go another gushing review). Well I am sure there are bigger/more expensive mods out there that give you better throat hit and hold more smoke juice but if you are riding on L plates a 50cc Piaggio will get you from a to b as quickly as a 125 Vespa and a 250 Lambretta is no good to you at all. It all comes down to personal choice though: I had a limited budget and wanted something reasonable small, that would fit in my pocket, the gripper mod fits the bill perfectly and the fact that I can now say I much prefer vaping to smoking speaks volumes. It’s not for everyone though. I have been trying to persuade my Dad to give electronic cigarettes a go for a while, without much success. He likes the sensation of using the gripper mod and the taste (when I put some of the tobacco flavour in) but not the mod it’s self, so he has decided to try the pipe – a mod designed to look, feel and smoke just like a real pipe. It costs about the same as the gripper mod but comes as a complete kit. My nephew on the other hand has been trying out the electronic cigarettes and has now decided that he wants a gripper mod, personal taste.

I have rambled on again but there are a couple of other things I would like to mention. Firstly a big mistake I made: I ordered smoke juice to take on holiday and decided that instead of the 18mg strength I had been using I would order 32mg and only use half as much for the same price.... WRONG, actually made me feel not well and not after vaping for a while, I mean straight away. As a consequence, though, I discovered that you can buy electronic cigarettes (disposable and starter kits) in America almost anywhere you can buy tobacco cigarettes. If it was like that here in the UK a lot more people would be giving up tobacco.

Can’t go without mentioning Juice quickly, I have a wee spreadsheet now, with prices and comments etc. I might publish that soon but for now just want to mention my favourite Mango from Dekang, very cheap and well I love mango but for a range of flavours I can’t see past Titan/Tornado e-liquid, cost a bit more than Dekang but worth it (if only they had mango).

The Gripper mod is available at ecigwizard.com, thought I would mention that as I haven’t seen it anywhere else.