Tanks For The Memory

 

I knew who the good side were from reading Warlord and Commando comics, which had the added benefit of teaching me some German. As an adult riding a motorbike to Cologne I discovered that “Schnell”, “Gott im Himmel” and “Schweinhund” weren’t as useful as I’d previously imagined. Fortunately I’d taught myself “zwei bier und ein Schweineschnitzel bitte”.

The feeling of posting off my collection of Kayfuns was similar to when my soldiers went back into their Tupperware barracks for a final time before being redeployed to a car boot sale in my mother’s Hillman Avenger. The Kayfun is a mighty bit of kit. After starting with basic stuff, it was strongly recommended to me by the gaggle of admin from a forum at my first Vapefest. Each of them had bought a new one that day and were declaring them the single best thing in vaping ever. When I eventually got around to grabbing my first from Cloud 9 I shared their opinion.

As time rolled on everyone had at least one, whether the genuine or one of the millions of clones that China churned out. My collection stretched to eight at one point. Easy to build on, convenient and a great vape. Well, a great vape at 1Ω+ coil builds on a mech and taking the vapour into your mouth before inhaling.

The problem they created was that I needed my next fix, I needed to recreate that moment when you try something so incredibly better that it transforms your vaping world. I needed the next leap like the one from Evod to KFL.

As quickly as companies released new tank systems I’d buy them. Each time they seemed to be surrounded by people going “Blimey these are good” or words to that effect. And every time I was left feeling the same as I did when the family first got a SodaStream – invariably more complicated and it didn’t taste as good. I’m looking at you here in particular, Erlkönigin.

My disillusionment grew until I rediscovered the dripper.

Dripping and me parted ways as they couldn’t compete with the Kayfun in my affections. They didn’t suit what and how I vaped at the time, but now there a legion of mechs and RDAs on the shelf. It’s a return to the old days, a celebration of what was really great but I’d forgotten about. So, on that basis, I’m selling my iPad and buying a load of boxes of Airfix troops. “Achtung! Achtung!”