Saturday 13 July 2013

Starship 1 by Space Jam Robo Fuel

Disclaimer: This E-liquid was provided to me free of charge for the purpose of conducting a review. This fact notwithstanding, I will, as best I'm able, provide an honest, accurate and unbiased assessment of this product. Pertinent passages of my review of Space Jam Robo Fuel's Andromeda have been quoted here. http://vapour-taster.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/andromeda-by-space-jam-robo-fuel.html Quoted passages are in italics.


Preamble

Once upon a time, Science Fiction was a marginal literature that pointed towards hundreds or thousands of years into the future. Sometimes it still does. Then Cyberpunk came along, which pointed towards the day after tomorrow. Today, we are living that Science Fiction dream (perhaps it's a nightmare). It's mainstream in the here and now. We're all integrated via the omniscient, omnipresent Internet with the sum total of mankind's knowledge, opinions, produce, advertising and culture at our fingertips. A week ago my broadband was down for 24 hours and it drove me crazy. I felt isolated and somewhat of a lesser being, as if all that the Internet is and represents was somehow a part of me and that to be without it diminished my sense of self.

Do you remember when we imagined eating a pill for each meal that contained all the flavour and nutrients that we needed to sustain us? We didn't quite get there, but astronauts eat paste don't they? Close enough. Who would have thought, that we, in this 21st century would be inhaling vapour with a payload of nicotine and almost every conceivable flavour available. I can think of a few that I've not yet come across... prawn, rice, gnocchi... Actually, I can think of lots of flavours that haven't made the transition to vapour, but there's hundreds that have, including bacon, roast beef and even pizza. It's all flavour though; no nutritional content, so vaping is about pleasure and not necessarily sustenance. Nevertheless, only a short time ago, the idea of inhaling vanilla custard and Kiwi fruit flavoured vapour would have been the province of Science Fiction. Today, millions of us, the world over, are doing it. (If not vanilla custard and Kiwi Fruit, then something else.)

The Review

The subject of this review, as chance would have it, is Space Jam Robo Fuel's Starship 1; vanilla custard with fresh Kiwi fruit.

Space Jam Robo Fuel, https://www.facebook.com/SpaceJamJuice a decidedly Science Fiction themed company and brand offer a range of e-liquids that comprises Andromeda ("A creamy mix of pomegranate and blueberry..."), Astro ("Apples, Strawberries and juicy peaches...") and Starship 1 ("...a vanilla custard topped with fresh kiwi..."). They're also preparing to roll out a fourth liquid in mid July (2013) called Omega ("...juicy peach juice with hints of a sweet vanilla cream.") 

Space Jam Robo Fuel is the brain-child of a couple of chaps based in Orange County, California, who go by the names Aaron Pederson and Michael Crawford. The Space Jam Robo Fuel Range is currently available from 41 brick and mortar stores throughout the US and online from the following vendors: Elevated Vaping http://elevated-vaping.myshopify.com/, EJuiceAvenue http://ejuiceavenue.com/, and Vapor Bank http://vaporbank.com/.

Each of the liquids in the range are available in 30ml bottles ($22.00) (some vendors appear to carry cuboid bottles, while others carry cylindrical bottles) at nicotine strengths of 6, 12 and 18mg. I've been unable to find any reference to PG/VG ratios on the bottle or any websites carrying the Space Jam Robo Fuel range.

The bottle I have in front of me is cylindrical glass, which always scores points with me. Glass is inert, durable and looks classy. The screw-top cap is a non-childproof, black plastic with an attached dropper. Please, if you have children around, store and use this liquid with extra care. The label includes the following information: the company name, the name of the liquid, nicotine strength in mg, liquid contents in ml, an ingredients list (PG, VG, natural and artificial colours and nicotine), a batch number, the date of manufacture, the location of manufacture, and the words "Sale to minors is PROHIBITED by intergalactic law".

When the liquid is observed in the dropper, the colour is Peach, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peach-orange but when it's observed in the bottle it's closer to an SAE/ECE Amber http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNECE_Amber#UNECE_Amber. The liquid has a viscosity and lubricity closely resembling a vegetable cooking oil. The aroma is that of a sweetened vanilla custard.

I'm vaping Starship 1 in an Igo-L on a mechanical mod running on an 18650 battery. I don't have the mod or equipment necessary to measure the ohms of the coil on the Igo-L, but I can tell you that it has four wraps of 0.2 Kanthal wire around three strands of 2mm Silica wick. These days I'm learning a lot about any particular liquid by varying the technique of drawing it into my mouth and subsequently inhaling and exhaling it. Drawing the vapour of Starship 1 into my mouth reveals a very dense, velvety texture. The flavour at this stage is mildly sweet. If I draw the vapour all the way down into my lungs, there's the broad flavour of Demerara sugar along the length of my tongue. It's not until I've finished inhaling the vapour and follow it with a small amount of fresh air that the complexity and potency of flavours begin to emerge. In this case I experience the flowering of sweetened (with Demerara sugar) vanilla custard with a slight egg yolk influence. As I exhale this flavour is extended and is joined by the sweet and slightly sour, tropical influence of Kiwi fruit. If I take short, sharp draws of the vapour into my mouth, the flavour of Kiwi fruit is more pronounced. The aftertaste is a very appealing blend of the aforementioned flavours with a slight metallic tang around the teeth and gums (which I always enjoy).

I don't experience a throat hit in vaping this e-liquid; there's a mild mounting of pressure at the back of the throat but nothing that provokes discomfort. Vapour production is excellent.  I've been watching the vapour from my last vape spin and pirouette gracefully in the room around me for what seems at least a minute or two.

I've tasted a number of vanilla custard e-liquids and Starship 1 is up there with the best of them. Starship 1 also has the added dimension of the Kiwi fruit to give it a sweet and (very) slightly sour tropical edge. There's no taint of artificiality about the flavour; everything tastes like the actual food it emulates. The vapour is dense, rich and luxurious. We're living in the future, here and now.

Highly recommended.