Wednesday 26 October 2016

Review: Freemax Starre Pure

Freemax sub-ohm tanks have been known for good performance and good flavour for quite a while now. From my experience the different Starre tanks tend to come up as suggestions whenever someone asks for recommendations on great tasting sub-ohm tanks so they do have quite a fan-base. Ease of use is also something that is often mentioned when I see people recommend these. Personally, as you might have guessed by now, I haven't had the opportunity to try these out, so I'll just have to go by what I see other people say about them. The newest addition to the Starre line, the Starre Pure, of tanks however, just dumped down in my mailbox so now I finally get to try it myself. This tank comes with Freemax's new Ceramic Cover Coils (CCC) that, according to Freemax, is designed to improve the thermal insulation effect which leads to less heat transmission to the outside of the tank... something they claim will improve the flavour. Let's see if they're right about that...


In the box
    • Starre Pure Sub-ohm tank
    • 0.25 ohm CCC Pure coil head
    • 0.5 ohm CCC Pure coil head
    • Extra o-rings
    • Extra glass tube
    • User manual

    Specifications
    • Diameter 25 mm
    • Capacity: 4 mL
    • Top filling
    • Top adjustable airflow
    • Ceramic Cover Coils (CCC)
    • Stainless steel covered teflon driptip 

    Look and feel


    The Starre Pure is a pretty big tank considering a juice capacity of "only" 4 mL. The reason for this is of course the way it is built (have a look at the drawing). Having the air coming in from the top this way means the chamber walls have to be hollow so it will take up quite a lot of space inside the tank. It looks and feels quite well built thought. Threading is nice and smooth and so is the airflow control ring on top. The Freemax logo is properly engraved, not just printed on the tank. I like that. It's available in black and SS. I've the SS version and it looks quite nice if you don't mind the size of it.

    In use

    Using the Starre Pure is pretty straight forward. It's easy to take apart, change coil-heads and clean. The user manual isn't actually a user manual, but more of a list of it's features. There are some nice figures in there thought, and that is actually more than you need to understand how to use it. The top airflow ring is nice and smooth and the design seems pretty leak-free to me. I've had no leaking whatsoever. The kidney shaped fill holes on the top are nice and big and can be filled with just about any kind of bottle on the market without making a mess.

    For the 0.25 Ohm head I think it works best around 50-55 watts, while the 0.5 head works best a little lower, like 45 watts. Given the size of the tank it will look pretty stupid on a really small mod so you'd probably end up putting it on something like a Reuleaux which means at these wattages you'll have plenty of vape-time.

    Also worth mentioning is that the drip-tip does not get hot at all. Neither does the tank itself actually, so the ceramic insulation and the drip-tip design seems to work like a charm. All in all this tank is pretty hassle free in use.



    Performance

    I was quite impressed with the performance of the Starre Pure. It's got plenty of airflow when it's fully open and chunks out quite a bit of vapor. The flavour is really nice and clean as well. I'd say Freemax delivers what they promise. I mean I have RTAs that both taste better and gives me more vapor but it's not this tank is not that far behind. Definitely one of the better sub-ohm tanks I've used and I suspect it will become a trusted travel companion because it's so easy to use and tastes so good. I'm especially impressed with the consistency of the flavour. I guess I've vaped close to 50 mL through it by now and haven't noticed any difference in flavour. Freemax claims that each coil-head is good for 60-80 full tanks which I of course can't verify but that would indeed make this a great choice economically as well.

    Pros and cons

    + Great flavour and vapor
    + Leak free (so far at least)
    + Good adjustable airflow
    + Easy to use and clean
    - Size vs. juice capacity
    - Could have had more options when it comes to coil-heads

    Conclusion

    I have no problems recommending this tank to people looking for a hassle free, great tasting sub-ohm tank. That is if you don't mind bringing a bottle of juice around... which I guess most of us are used to anyway. It won't win you any cloud-chasing contests, but it will give you a lot of nice, clean and yeah... pure flavour. The Starre Pure isn't the cheapest tank around at around $45 (at the moment), but I'd say it's well worth the money. Coils are around $13 for a pack of five which isn't bad at all if they really last as long as FreeMax claims. All in all, a great sub-ohm tank that I'd recommend for vapers with focus on flavour, both experienced ones looking for a hassle free, leak free tank to bring around (I had the chance to put it through the ultimate test yet... airplanes), and for newbies looking to try out sub-ohm tanks for the first time.

    Thanks a lot to Abby at heavengifts.com for sending this device for review.

      
    Disclosure:
    • All my reviews are my honest opinion even if I am affiliated with the company manufacturing or selling the product.
    • This product was sent to me free of charge for the purpose of this review
    • This review contains affiliate links.



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    Tuesday 18 October 2016

    A Billion Lives ready for global lauch on October 26th


    Aaron Biebert's documentary about vaping, A Billion Lives, has now been shown several times around the world, and not long ago the rumors that it is being considered for "Best Documentary Feature" at The Oscars were confirmed. Their success has not come easily, a lot of hard work has been done and a lot of strong forces have been working against Aaron and his team. Some days ago I got a newsletter from them (if you haven't signed up yet, please do it now) telling us about their struggles and how vapers all around the world have made this possible despite the efforts that have been made to stop the words about this documentary from spreading:
    Big organizations were trying to bury us. Facebook was unfairly censoring our posts, making them unseen to the public we were trying to reach. Big Hollywood companies were mysteriously "not interested" after expressing strong support. Our small team starting facing burnout and fatigue.
    It wasn't looking good. We fell about a month behind our planned release schedule. But you stuck with us.

    You lifted us up. Many of you volunteered to help.

    You made a lot of noise and caught the attention of two distribution companies called Tugg & Demand.Film.
    In this newsletter, the team asked vapers around the world to help organize the global launch on October 26th, and the vapers responded. The movie will be shown quite a few places already, but still there are a lot of screenings that will only happen if they manage to get enough reservations. And this is where you can help out. Have a look at the global launch page on their site to see how and where you can get to see this documentary. The more screenings that actually happens, the more publicity the movie will get, and this is an important movie to make the world aware of. Buy a bunch of tickets and bring your friends! And if you happen to know someone who can get the word out in some kind of publications... even better.

    I'm also really happy to see that the movie will be shown here in Norway on November the 14th, in Oslo. I know that they have people working hard to get the press there as well, and I really hope I'll be able to go see it.

    Once again: If we can work together and get this movie out to as many people as possible it will be hard to ignore for the people that are going to decide what happens to vaping in the future without risking their own heads rolling. So please do whatever you can to make this happen in a place near you!

    RDA