Hasta La Gadget!

This week at PAX East, NVIDIA showed off the fruits of their latest collaboration – working with Valve to bring the original Portal game to Android. More specifically to NVIDIA … Continue reading

Keiji Inafune is a bit of a games-making legend. Co-designer of the original Megaman, not to mention producing both the Dead Rising series and multiple Resident Evil titles, he’s going back to his roots. Inafune announced at PAX this weekend that he’s working on a new 2D action shooter, Mighty No.9, that looks (and apparently plays) an awful lot like some of his prior hits. The plot is pretty familiar too: a plucky robot has to battle six rouge automatons (or eight, depending on funding), stealing unique weapons and abilities from each one. According to the man himself, there’s been no reaction from Capcom — at least not yet — and he’s looking for you to help make the game a reality. The project’s live on Kickstarter, and it’s aiming to raise $900,000 (in just 30 days) to develop the title.

Twenty bucks will net backers a digital copy (through Steam), while $40 will also include digital copies of the game manual, art book / strategy guide and a copy of the original soundtrack. Naturally, the game will be ported over to major consoles if backers can reach a set of defined stretch goals. Crank up your donation to $60 and you’ll get it all on old-school physical media, alongside a playable golden version of the game’s protagonist — and we all know everything’s better in gold.

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Source: Mighty No.9, Kickstarter

Short Version:

The Ploom ModelTwo is a tobacco vaporizer that offers a healthier alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes, by simply heating the tobacco instead of burning it. But it’s real tobacco vapors you’re smoking, and not some synthetic alternative from a science lab. Because of this, you’re actually inhaling vapor as opposed to legit smoke, which is far healthier yet still relatively tasty.

Basics

• LED indicator light
• Inductive charging
• Anodized food-grade aluminum design
• Uses proprietary Tobacco pods
• Pocket-sized/pen-shaped
• $39.95

Pros

• Sleek, quality design
• Easy to refill with pods
• Battery lasts for five pods, which should be more than enough for the day (depending on habits)

Cons

• Looks more like a pen then an e-cig
• Hits a little hard
• Um… doesn’t accept other botanicals

Long Version:

Ploom is a startup out of San Francisco that started with a simple conversation. One future founder asked the other, “What do you hate about smoking?” to which the other responded, “what do you love about it?” With these dueling notions converging, Ploom sought out to merge the newest technology with one of the oldest traditions of our nation, smoking. The Ploom ModelTwo is the second generation of this company’s tobacco-only vaporizers.

That’s right: The first, and possibly most important thing, for you to understand about the Ploom ModelTwo is that, unlike big brother Pax, the ModelTwo does not (I repeat, does not) play nice with anything but Ploom’s proprietary tobacco pods. When it came in the mail, I made the unfortunate mistake of assuming I’d be able to smoke up at work… you know, for science.

Once I let go of the dream (read: found the Ploom Pax), needless to say I felt much better.

In terms of design, the Ploom ModelTwo is one of the snazziest tobacco vaporizers out there. It looks like one of those fancy pens your grandfather carries around to sign checks at the grocery store, and comes in both black and white. Midway down, you’ll find an LED indicator ring that keeps you abreast of the battery situation, when it’s heated up, and (you know) whether or not it’s on.

I’ve found that there are two schools of thought when it comes to smoking tobacco through a vaporizer: some people prefer for their e-cigs to look like real cigarettes, lest they be embarrassed for trying to get healthier. Others, however, prefer to smoke out of a device that looks as little like a cigarette as possible, perhaps to get the thought of cigarettes out of their mind.

The Ploom ModelTwo looks nothing like a cigarette, as I’ve stated, and is actually rather large when compared to an Njoy King or a Blu cig. However, it’s built well and feels solid in the hand.

Using the ModelTwo is quite simple. Pack it up with one of Ploom’s tiny, tobacco-filled pods, turn it on, and wait about thirty seconds before taking your first puff. The indicator light will pulse while the tobacco is heating up, and then go solid when it’s time to kick back and toke.

Loading the ModelTwo is as easy as screwing off the mouth piece, dropping in a pod, and closing her back up again. Wam, Bam, and thank you for smoking. Battery lasts through five whole pods, which should essentially get you through the day. Then, at night, slip your ModelTwo onto the inductive USB charger and drift into blissful dreams.

So, she looks good, she feels good, and she’s seemingly built well. But how does she perform?

As someone coming off of real cigarettes, the ModelTwo hits really hard at first. My lungs felt like they might explode at the slightest inhalation. Part of that has to do with the fact that the first hit is the hardest, and part of it is just because smoking tobacco through a vaporizer takes a little getting used to. If you’re switching from another vaporizer, as opposed to cigarettes, you shouldn’t notice much of a difference in the hit.

My one, and perhaps only, complaint is focused on the mouth piece. As opposed to having an opening at the very tip of the beak-shaped mouthpiece, the openings are small slits in the top and bottom. This means you really have to put your mouth all the way on that bad boy to get anything out, or else your lips will cover up the slits. This is a problem because the heating mechanism is right above the mouthpiece, and will burn you without the slightest hesitation.

It’s also slightly uncomfortable, especially when compared against the Pax (which has a hole right at the end of the mouth piece).

Still, the Ploom ModelTwo is an excellent vaporizer and a solid option for those who are looking to quit smoking, or simply upgrade to a nicer vaporizer. The little guy is available for pre-order now starting at $39.95.