After that clusterf___ with the Vezo 360 dashcam where ArVizon raised over $2,000,000 in crowdfunding then essentially took the money and ran, I swore off the IndieGoGo crowding platform as they seemed ok with a scam as they received their cut of the crowdfunding. But when Kickstarter advertised a flameless cocktail smoker and the developer promised shipment by Christmas, I took a chance for the $49 fee plus $16 shipping cost. But as Thanksgiving came and went, it didn't seem that the device would arrive by Christmas. I even bit and purchased a 2nd unit at a reduced price - $45 including shipping right after Thanksgiving... yes, I'm aware there's a sucker born every minute. But low and behold, I received the first unit a little before Christmas and the 2nd arrived just before New Year's day...
The package contains the flameless smoker, a USB-C charging cable, a small wire brush to clean out the ashes and 6 small cans of various wood chips to create the smoke - apple, cherry, hickory, pear, oak and beech - and a spoon to add the wood chips to the device. After fully charging the unit - it took about an hour - you add the wood chips of your choice, put the unit over your cocktail glass containing your libation of choice, press and hold the single button for ~3 seconds to turn the unit on then a single press to activate the unit. You'll see smoke emitting from the bottom and continues for several seconds. I then left the unit on the glass for about 10 seconds to let it infuse into the libation and voila! A smoked cocktail...
The first libation I used was my pre-bottled Manhattan with Old Overholt rye and Cocchi Torino vermouth plus several dashes of Angostura bitters (3 to 1 ratio of rye to vermouth)... Very good!
I also tried the Smokpub with my pre-bottled Martinez using Botanist gin, Berto red vermouth and Luxardo maraschino liqueur... also good but I think dark liquor works better...
The benefit of the Smokpub is that no open flames are required especially since alcohol, flames and poor judgement due to consuming said alcohol can lead to a disaster. Supposedly, a fully charged unit can smoke up to 60 cocktails. Therefore, I'll likely use my other cocktail smokers that utilize a smoking cloche for food applications, ie, smoking sashimi or sushi and just use the Smokpub for cocktails. And BTW, the cost on the Smokpub website is $79.90 plus shipping but it's just $69.99 plus a $20 discount and shipping is free if you don't mind waiting (or have Amazon Prime)
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