Rick said:
OK, you guys got me.
First, thank you Madcap. When we have an extra special piece go out, I never know how that particular customer will take it. Some go ho hum, others take it somewhere else.
Now, some points to cover. Some history, some my opinion.
> Madcaps MyrtleZap was special. Most are not quite that trippy but all are beautiful.
> I did not know Tom was doing PD or did I know of PD until late February of this year. I started turning all Zaps in January after picking up a small lathe at Harbor Freight.
>We stopped ALL global sales several years ago for several reasons. The main one was we just got too busy for two 60+ yr old people. There was a time when we were doing well over 100 units a month. We just said "no more" and confined our sales to US customers and no wholesale.
>Tom is right about no bad blood between us. My only gripe is that he gave us no clue ever that he was working on a competing product. Had he told us, he would have found us just fine with it. We have had many competitors over the years. I love that. Never has bothered me one bit. I am the type of person that goes on with today, no matter what. I do not fret over the past or the future. Today is what counts. The Eternal Now Moment.
You have all of us until you start w/this "Now" crap. What does this have to do w/vaping or your product in general? Also, the carets (>) symbols make it obvious you copy and pasted from an email. This is fine, but one would assume an email would be more well thought out than this.
There are a lot more ppl on this board than me than would be more than willing to step up - it's on like donkey kong!
Rick said:
> We bought an Eterra in January 2001. We liked it and tried to buy another. Two weeks for an Email response and the price went up almost 50%! Terrible customer service. So Pat(married 45 yrs) says" I'll bet you can build one of those". Then about a year getting the bugs worked out and a slight re-design. Then a hokey website(still is, eh?). Then a small ad on OG(anyone remember OG?) and a Paypal account. Off to the races. Almost every state in the union, UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Canada, OZ, Kiwi, South America, Guam, Taiwan, Israel and on and on. Yup, we have done lots of them.
>The wood was softwood because that is what we had on our place and it was recycled. As the wobbly heatport bacame an issue after years of use(usually college dorm use), we began offering replacements at discounted prices. Nobody complained. We still offer softwood because some old customers still want them. Not sure why as you can see we really try to encourage MyrtleZap sales with our pricing.
>Yes, thanks Tom for introducing us to Myrtlewood.
> We have another gig going in her fourth year now. A certified Organic Farm of about two acres. Our hearts are there these days. We live in Idaho. We have grandsons. Any **** delivery device is not a good legacy to pass on in this day and age. Maybe that will change someday.
> We have done zero advertising and/or chat board stuff for many years but our sales still keep going at a pace we like. We did take a spike this weekend. Thanks to all.
>Ah, lead. Tom took an old adage and went with it. "New product, new market". His IS a new product with the stainless and all that super safe stuff. Good job Tom! It was never an issue with us as I talked with a metalurgist way back in the beginning who said the temps are not high enough to release any tiny amount of lead that is in the brass. Different strokes for different folks is all. What concerns me is our food that we eat every day. The plastic all our water and food is sold/stored. The meds our great doctors prescribe. The pots and pans we cook in. The air we breathe. How about the herb we use? Do we all know how it was grown. Then there are all the poisons we use daily and routinely. How about kids playing on those pretty(poisoned) lawns?Do you gag when you walk thru that section of the stores? How much crap did you inhale in those few seconds? How about the perfume we smell on people? Some men are the worst!
Again, fine until you get to lead. The "I talked with a metalurgist" doesn't cut it to a lot of us. For one, you didn't spell metallurgist correctly, which makes me nervous already, but also, who did you talk to? A hs kid in chemistry class? The head of MIT's materials science department? This is the internet, we aren't all
here.
We all agree about food and plastic but you are conflating issues and trying to justify what you can't. Food grade plastic also doesn't equal the nylon in your product. Yeah, I live in LA, but I also don't vape off the exhaust pipe of my v8.
Perfume? Do you vape perfume? Inhale, retain for 30 and exhale?
Rick said:
So a little history and maybe some defense of Zaps. We really do appreciate the conversation on the subject. We would recommend the PD to ANYONE who has any concern about lead in brass. Now you have an alternative. Everyone also needs to be aware of our production schedule. I will never work 80 hours a week for anyone, even myself. Life is too short for that. If sales pick up a bit here, some may have to wait a bit longer than usual. If that happens, we will let you know for sure.
One more thing. We make Aromazap/MyrtleZap to make a living. We make them to earn money. No altruism here. The farm will cover that base. Howling Hills Organic Farm, BTW
Thanks all. Have fun Tom. Sounds like you are working too much but must be fun, eh? And dont be waiting on anything "scientific" from us. You know we are not there.
Rick
This may not be the right business for you w/that attitude. "No altruism here". Nice. A lot of us are fighting the compassionate mmj fight and you are turning a buck, goodie for you.
After 8 years of G.W. Bush, making the statement "dont be waiting on anything "scientific" from us" is about in line w/your whole post. Maybe we should pray on this. Perhaps the known ill effects from these materials will stop causing their known problems.
It is pretty though unit, though, I'll hand you that. Like the vapor buddy I picked up without knowing it, I put it away after talking to FCers and reading up. I would probably try to repurpose that beautiful wood for something less destructive.