Ain’t Clowning Around : The Super Fun Cave Review

I’ll be honest with you. Often, it can be difficult to sit down and write one of these because the field of choices I have to chose from is not only getting smaller and smaller every day, but is very rarely of anything even close to a caliber that would make me want to review it all. They are hastily built, devoid of any attention to detail or form of customer assurance, and, in cases we’ve covered previously, operation in downright illegal fashions. To review them would be little more then a wholesale dismantling of every facet of the site, nearly identical from week to week as I point to flaws with presentation, service and so on. A few weeks ago, when I came across today’s contestant, I was cautiously excited. The outfit was slick, well designed, and quite impressive. I’ve seen these sorts of places come and go in the blink of an eye, however, so I tried to hold my optimism in check. I included them in a cage match, as well as used them as part of last week’s comparison piece, and as much as I hate clowns, I have to tip my hat to this big top. The Super Fun Cave is definitely a circus worth visiting.

MailBag : The Case of the Missing Dabrand

All that remains

This is one I’ve been meaning to do for a while. Back when, one of my first articles was about a little outfit called Da Brand. I had a sort of love/hate relationship with them. They had a great brand presence (the likes of which I hadn’t seen again until Super Fun Cave) and, by all rights and reviews, a great product to go with it. It was almost enough to forgive them the fact that their site would spout trashy hip hop at me whenever I refreshed it or navigated to a new page. And then, one day, they vanished.

I have been buying herbal incense for about 6 months. I’ve been buying Rip its by DeBrand both at local stores and online. I first bought it at herbal insence connection. When I returned to buy more, the site was down due maintenance. After a couple weeks the site was back, but Rip its were no longer offered(only had 6 new products offered). I found Rip its at the K2 spice site at that time. But now, I can’t find it in stores or online. Went to DeBrands’ site. Rip its are there for sale, but when trying to pay (both credit card & PayPal) it says no payment gateway. I’ve sent DeBrand 2 inquiries. No reply. I went to another site and bought ten 1gm variety pack. TRASH & WASTE OF MONEY! Rip its aroma was so trippy and mind expanding, like no other. Does anyone know anything about why Rip its are impossible to find? Or where I could buy it?

– Vincetta

 

TEOTWAWKI : The Zombie Matter Throwdown

Like most of you, and indeed, most sane people, I’m not all that big a fan of Twilight. The only reason I bring it up is because, apparently, the latest installment of the movie franchise hit the shelves this weekend, which means we are that much closer to the inevitable cultural death of this thing. I was always more a zombie fan myself. Call me crazy, but there’s something more entertaining about the desperate struggle for survival against enormous odds and hordes of undead than halfhearted sighs over perpetually sparkly high schoolers. And that’s about as clear an introduction as I can manage for the subject of today’s expedition, another Cage Match review with the popular and apparently quite potent line of potpourri known as Zombie Matter. Four sites enter, one emerges, and for the rest…well, hey, zombies gotta eat.

LHP Mail Bag : COD Edition

 

And today's winner....

The last time I got a sizable correspondance from a reader, it turned in to a fascinating, multi-post odyssey detailing the lying lies and dirty secrets of what was, at the time, one of the larger and more well established legal high companies, Am-Hi-Co. A company which since has started a meteoric fall due to it’s own neglect and disregard for standards. The irony is that all of their problems could be solved with a minuscule amount of logistical planning and elbow grease, we’re talking maybe a weekend of notebook paper and moving some boxes around. I mean, how hard is it to devise an efficient system wherein you look at an order, fill it with the appropriate product in a timely fashion, and mail it? Apparently, very. It doesn’t help matters much when the postal system they’re dumping into is damn near as inept. One collector decided to share his account, which follows below in an unedited version, both for journalistic reasons and also because it’s just plain amusing.

Special Edition : Am-Hi-Co Exposed

SS Am HI Co

Well, here it is. I’m finally doing a review of Am-Hi-Co. It’s been a long time coming, and I never thought it would be like this. Late last week, I was contacted by someone claiming to be a former Am-Hi-Co employee. They had documents, snippets of conversations and emails, and all sorts of interesting info that paints a very interesting portrait of what amounts to a Legal High Hindenburg. Of course, I was skeptical. Being a student of, among other things, the Classics, I tend to assume automatically that any gift horse that shows up is likely packing a few surprises. That being said, everything seems to check out. The stories they gave me jive pretty well chronologically with complaints on various forums and “Sorry, we’re having trouble” posts on their own (seemingly deserted) blog, and a lot of the specifics and details seem to mash up as well. You all know how I am with data and research, so I can give you a reasonable assurance that what follows is, for the most part, the truth. As always, however, grab that grain of salt. If nothing else, you’ll have something to put on your popcorn to enjoy with the ensuing fireworks.

The WTF Factor ♦ The Spicy ChiKin Review

There are business and marketing practices that, when implemented properly, are generally regarded not so much as “correct”, but rather “safe”. I mean, there are no wrong ways to market yourself, just ways that won’t make you any money. We’ve discussed at great length what some of these less than profitable ways are, as well as explored the patterns we most often see the successful business follow. Every once in a while, however, you get something that comes out of left field and hits you like a sack of sweet Valencia oranges, like when some crackpot straps wings to some bike parts and decides to push the contraption down some sand dunes. You look at this thing and go “How does that even work” and yet somehow, despite all odds, it does. Today, we’re looking at the closest thing that Herbal Highs have yet to offer so far.

A goddamn talking chicken.

Happy Christmas

To you and yours.

Once You Go Black, You’ll Probably Be Back § The Code Black Incense Review

It isn’t often that we find a legal high provider who makes even the minimum decent effort, let alone the extra mile, to make their products or their presentation and sale of said items shine. Hell, most stop at “barely functional” and hobble on from there. Fewer still who actually reach for the stars truly make it. You wind up with instances like Scientifics, where the unique packaging and the, at least partially, image driven price for what is apparently an average quality blend pretty much deflates the whole thing. Or you get something like the Herbal Aroma Shop that, while well on it’s way, is not quite there yet.

Today’s offering however, the Code Black Incense Store, is as close to there as we’ve seen.

Turkey Day

Happy Holidays everyone. I’ll be outside Chicago for the better part of this weekend and won’t have time to do my thing. Well, I might, but no promises. In case I don’t make it back until next week, Happy Holidays. Ouu, and look at the new bling I got.

The LHN people got back to me and, by the end of the year, we’re going to get this show pretty solidly on the road. I’ll have more information later about what sorts of changes to expect, but rest assured that you will still be able to enjoy the same reviews, bad jokes and bitter sarcasm you’ve come to know and love for a long time coming.

Science Is A Verb Now ▲ A Review of Scientifics Incense

Ladies and gentlemen, the future is now. Well, that is if you believe the hype from Scientifics Incense. A newer brand, and not carried very widely yet, the people behind Scientifics have proven to be nothing if not tenacious. They have even added a few new options in the past few months. Is there anything to it? Is their approach to web design and customer service as methodical as their approach (supposedly) is to incense design? Or do they need to go back to the drawing board?