Smoant Ladon Kit
AT LAST!!.......FINALLY!!.......SOMETHING that I actually give a shit about has arrived on my cobweb ridden doorstep, utterly bereft of anything even remotely resembling a vape ensemble that wasn't a pod kit or AIO for MONTHS!....I'm so happy I could literally shit ..(?).. because this time... the light at the end of the tunnel was not some fucktard with a torch trying to pedal a matchbox sized contraption powered by farts as it frugally sipped my amber nectar, leaving my lungs and taste buds begging for me to just stop the madness and throw it in the bin....no my friends....not this time, this time the light in the tunnel was in fact the light of hope, a glimmer of a spark that told me, no...SHOUTED at me.....it's not over yet Pugs, we still care, and we are here, by your side...to help you...
Oh I don't worship anything that isn't cheese or beer. My postman is called Jesus.....he's not, I just call him that, and neither myself, or him...know why. BUT.....for the purposes of showing my gratitude for delivering such a timely and unfathomably appreciated gift....I did wash his feet, make of that what you will (shrugs)...he seemed to enjoy it for what it's worth...
I tried SO HARD to adapt to this ever changing industry of ours, I mean seriously, I forced myself to suck on these little fellas until my head turned inside out, get your mind out of the gutter...tut....(he says). But lately, I have been casting aside anything that I've reviewed over the past few months in favour of devices that I quite literally had to dust off, man....there were some devices that once set up had me reeling with cries of "Where the fuck have you been? (sobs) I'm so sorry, never leave me again".......(totes emosh)
But the stark reality is thus....the vape industry does not exist to furnish my needs, or yours, or even to get people to stop smoking. No...the vape industry is exactly that, an industry, and it's soul purpose in life.... is to make piles and piles of cold hard cash, while it churns out tons upon tons of whatever is popular at any given time. So....who's to blame? Well...unfortunately....this time...it's vapers. I mean it's good, because it kinda points to all the noobs, those that have recently taken the plunge from those god awful stinkies into that realm of delectability that we all know and love, because it's these vaping noobs that are buying the vast majority of smaller AIO's and Pod systems. So the fact that the industry has turned it's focus to this way of vaping is a sure sign that more people are switching to vaping and ridding themselves of that deathly and dirty habit....you can't not feel a sense of pride for that, especially with everything we have had to overcome over the years. But....where does that leave us....the old Skoolers, the Vapers that completed this level many years ago and have now been facing, and defeating, the final boss of Vapingdom on a daily basis? Well....it would appear that we haven't been completely forgotten about just yet, and I'm about to show you why as I suavely get back on the saddle like the professional award winning aficionado that I indeed....am.
Shall we....
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Welcome back once again my power hungry, narcissistic, smog sucking psychopaths, FUCK it's been a minute am I right? At long last I have all the time in the world to write and it happens at a time when I've got fuck-all to write about. You have to laugh at the irony otherwise you'd cry. However, I'm still here like the procrastinating, drunk, fat man that I am.....doing cock all, but safely, and 2 meters away from anyone that's not my postman, who has really sexy feet by the way....
But today is a day of joyfulness, today....we are back in the realm of normality, for me anyway. In actual fact....we're probably going a little way further back than normality, a normality that used to be normal back when normal things were normal, now things are less normal than when they were normal, but this is still normal compared to the normal we have become accustomed to during these abnormal times...you follow?....No, me neither, but hey....who knows, if you carry on reading you might find out what the fuck I'm on about, which is exactly what I'm going to do once I've written it....SO....where were we? Ah yes....back to normal, and in a world where everything is less so....it's a really nice feeling, and it's all thanks to a company whose past efforts have often been understated - the rather portly Cylon, the well crafted Charon and Naboo, and the 'wtf were you thinking' Rabox, to name but a few. I am of course talking about Smoant, and this time...they have come up with a device that is a positive handbrake turn in their back catalogue of outlandish designs and over the top full colour pocket TV's......and it's not entirely unwelcome, so please....allow me to present to you, courtesy of my good friends over at Sourcemore , the Smoant Ladon Kit..
Now...first things first, this was originally touted as an all-in-one kit - in fact, the tank still is. In double fact...the kit still is if you look on Smoant's site, but the phrase seems to have disappeared from the front lid of this retail version. I HAVE NO IDEA why they called it an AIO, if this is an AIO...then on that premise every single complete kit on the market is an AIO, and we all know that's not the case, so...my guess....someone thankfully pulled Smoant's advertising team to one side and whispered in their ear ..."psst....dude....this isn't what vapers refer to as an AIO mate....like....seriously....stop that" and they dropped pushing it as such. What this is, is a bloody good starter kit, well almost, in fact no...I'll say it's still a bloody good starter kit, and I’ll come to the cons in a wee while, but it's definitely NOT an AIO as we know it......so there.
The Lowdown
The Smoant Ladon kit consists of the Ladon box mod and Ladon AIO tank (sigh)....They call it this, because if you buy the tank on it's own it comes with an RBA as well as the regular mesh sub-ohm coils. THAT....does not make it an AIO, but I guess it does make it an all-in-one...kinda. It's all very confusing and they should have put more thought into it....maybe not quite as much thought as they put into that RBA though, which doesn't come with the kit....we'll come back to that feat of engineering in a short while...
The Ladon box mod is a (optimistic) 225w, dual 18650 powered device that has all the functionality of most up to date devices thanks to Smoant's 'AI Ant Chip'....pretty sure there's no artificial intelligence as we know it going on there. I asked it a few questions and got no reply...which I found rude...and my offers of a game of chess went down like a lead balloon. But hey....I'm no expert, apparently the fact that the Ant chip automatically adjusts wattage by coil resistance means that it is in fact....AI...
Who am I to argue? It does offer the usual array of modes though, with a navigation that is completely novice friendly, including VW, TC for SS, Ti and Ni, TCR values and a curve mode...called 'DVW'.....whatever the fuck that stands for....I'm guessing 'Don't Vape Willies'...but I can't be sure.....you shouldn't though to be fair, it's a terrible habit to get into. Regardless, the Ladons claims of artificial intelligence and slightly dodgy mode labeling aside, it's not to say that what we have here is not worthy of perusal, far from it. For a start.....this thing is SOLID, the whole thing is made from SS304 stainless steel and Zinc alloy, and this is no more apparent than when you pick it up for the first time, it's got some heft to it let me tell ya, which may put some vapers off who were looking for a super transportable, pocket friendly take out kit if it wasn't for one small point - and I emphasise the word 'small' - because even though the Ladon may well be 'big boned'....it's also incredibly compact, barely bigger than the batteries that power it...hidden neatly and snuggly behind the magnetic battery door on the back.....which...has a bit of play in it...just a little niggle there...we'll overlook that...
And it feels good too. On the back they have adorned the Ladon with China's finest 'pleather'...
Which offers a pleasing grip that feels nice to the touch, good for us....maybe not so good for whichever planimal was skinned for it though (?), and if you flip the Ladon over to the business side of things...
You get speaker mesh, no...it's not a speaker, nor is it a walkie talkie, or a pocket radio. It's a lie is what it is, but...it does add to the grip, as well as the almost 'retro' design of the Ladon.....I like it....I just don't know why I like it......and I like that.
