15% Dorco USA Sale Promo Code ACORN15

DorcoUsa.com is having a special right now and I just have received their promo code earlier today in the mail. The special is 15% off any purchase, all you have to do is type the code ACORN15 in the checkout. It expires in a couple of day on 10/2/12. I waited for a Dorco sale for some time now to stock up on the 6-bladed razors with trimmers, and since they released the 15% off, then it was just the right time to place an order. These cartridges are the same ones that Dollar Shave Club sells for $9.00 per 3 cartridges [$3.00 per cartridge]. With this promo code, the price is supposed to be $0.76 per cartridge, which is much cheaper than Dollar Shave Club.

The total came up to $30.59 for 10 packs of 4 cartridges per pack: 40 in total. That is around $0.76 per cartridge. This supply should last me more than a year.

Shipping is free if you choose the most basic shipping option.

All done now. Hope that the razors will come in quickly.

South Beach Smoke E-Cigarette Deluxe Kit

Earlier today on Saturday I received the Groupon special $24.00 South Beach Smoke deluxe kit, well ahead of the scheduled delivery for Tuesday. As you can see the package is plain bubble-padded plastic envelope.

Bag-O'-Vision.

All the stuff that was inside the bubble envelope: car charger, carrying case, cartridges, deluxe kit essentials, invoice, some kind of direct mail wine sign-up crap brochure, invoice and 2 South Beach Smoke supplementary cards with irrelevant information.

Core items of the order, inside their boxes.

Core items unboxed.

Contents of the deluxe kit.

All the necessary things that I paid for.

Carrying case.

Carrying case open.

Carrying case with stuff inside: USB charger, 2x cartridges [I used the V2 Cigs ones, because I did not opened South Beach Smoke blister packs yet] and a battery.  

South Beach Smoke blister pack of 5 menthol cartridges over blister pack of V2 Cigs menthol blister of 5. The cartridges and the batteries are not interchangeable between South Beach Smoke and V2 Cigs due to different threadings, but I ordered a couple of adapters from V2 Cigs website to overcome this issue and will find out soon if it works. 

South Beach Smoke has this fake gem inhale lamp on the end that lights up in orange color everytime you inhale the vapor. It looks girly but the orange light mimics a real cigarette burn more realistically than that that the V2 Cigs do, which is plain red light.

South Beach Smoke USB charger [left] next to V2 Cigs USB charger [right].

The South Beach Smoke already had the power outlet adapter for the USB charger included in the Deluxe Kit, but for the V2 Cigs order, I only received USB "express" charger with the Express Kit that included 1 battery, 1 cartridge and the USB charger for $30.00. I actually bought 2 of the Express Kits and 1 of the USB chargers kept having the red light without charging any of the batteries: I left it overnight and the battery was 0% charged. I contacted V2 Cigs and they sent me a replacement USB charger, and I had to mail back the faulty one at my own expense, or they would charge me the retail price for it if V2 Cigs would not get back the faulty charger within 30 days of the issue of the replacement. The South Beach Smoke's power outlet adapter is the same exact "El Cheapo" adapter that they have plenty of on the eBay for $1.00 or so delivered from China. I actually bought 2 of El Cheapos on eBay to compliment the 2 USB express chargers. Both worked fine. The only difference between El Cheapo and South Beach Smoke adpater is that the later one has the company's logo printed on top of it.

Here is the power outlet adapter for the USB charger on eBay: I paid $0.98 delivered for it when I ordered it. Most of the e-cigarette companies charge at least $5.00 for it plus shipping.

Battery being charged. I let the battery charge for over 4 hours but the light on the USB charger was being red, so I let it stand there for over 9 hours in total and it still was red, then I decided to plug it out and screwed on the cartridge. Battery worked for over 30 minutes and still works. I don't know if the battery charged for 100% or is it the USB charger that has the problem. In the included manual it said nothing about the light turning green from red once the battery is 100% charged, I found this info from their website's Deluxe USB Charger page, where they sell it separately for $7.99 plus shipping. It's a different shape on their website but essential it is the same thing. I will contact South Beach Smoke on Monday and inquire about this charger issue.

Front of the "membership card", what a joke!

Back of the "membership card". I wonder if anyone actually showed this to authorities or cops and had their ass arrested.

Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway

Last week during one of my courses, I overheard someone mentioning that theres free soda being distributed outside from the truck. So I went out to see whats going on. I figured that some promo truck was outside and that they are giving away their product, and I was right: Dr. Pepper truck was outside and there were "promoters" right next to it.

This Dr. Pepper promo thing is a part of their marketing campaign that is called Tuition Giveaway and it is geared towards college students. I am not really sure how it works, but all I know that some students got like $123,000 from Dr. Pepper company towards their tuition expenses.

There were plenty of Pepper cans in the back of the truck, but most of them were diet ones. The rest of the versions seemed do be underneath the diets, so I had to help myself and fish out the good ones (non diets).

I grabbed myself 2 cans: 1 regular and 1 cherry Dr. Pepper.

Lots of people seemed to be not minding the free soda.

Rafiqi's $0.99 Grilled Hot Dog

Yesterday I was in the Flatiron area: in the Home Depot for some wooden mixing sticks that I needed to get for one of my college courses. The wooden sticks were free, so on my way to the checkout I spotted one of those proctologist-style pen lights and grabbed/purchased one since I had some extra cash to burn since I did not had to pay for the mixing sticks. On my way out, I decided to grab something to eat for cheap. I was walking near the 2 Bros Pizza that was right across from the now-defunct American Apparel discount stores, but the line was just too fucking-long for me to stand in: there were bunch of people inside the joint and maybe 4-6 people outside, so I opted out of 2 Bros Pizza. When I came to intersection of 5th Avenue and 23rd Street, I spotted a couple of carts that were selling $0.99 hot dogs; one of which was Rafiqi's, so I made a decision to grab a hot dog there.

While I was waiting in line, in front of some hipster girl that was chatty and anxious about couscous, tajine and the vegetables, I spotted this neat cut and ground frying pan that was used for catching the shaved lamb meat.

I also spotted a bunch of wieners grilling on the flat grill. The grill as you can see was nice and greasy.

The guy that was making the hot dog put some mustard and ketchup even though I did not asked for it, I did not object to it either. Lots of carts in the city charge extra $0.25 for a topping, but in most places mustard and ketchup are free and only toppings like relish and onion sauce cost the extra quarter. Like I said, I did not mind the toppings, but the dude went a bit too far with ketchup and pretty much flooded it like it was a gyro and like he was pouring down white sauce on it. After I took the hot dog into my hands and began walking away from the cart, a dollop of ketchup and mustard fell down right on my freshly-washed shirt and made a mess on it, now I gotta roll-out the washing machine and wash it again. The hot dog itself was pretty average: it was grilled, but not enough that the juices were flowing out of the wiener. The bun was your average bun: slightly warm but nothing other than this. At some carts they press the bun to the grill and I like how it toasts the insides of it. Overall it was a decent hot dog for $1.00, but nothing special; just an average grilled dog. I rate it at 3.7/5.0 and 4.2/5.0 for the value

South Beach Smoke E-Cigarette Deluxe Kit Groupon Deal

I was just browsing Wikipedia on the subject of the dot com boom, and then checked the entry on MP3.com website, and then I remembered about Groupon and decided to browse it and see what kind of deals they have on. Moments later I stumbled across this ongoing deal of South Beach Smoke E-Cigarettes deluxe kit. I was not signed-in to Groupon with my account so I guess that I was browsing the deals that they push towards the people who live in Texas. They pretty much have 2 batteries (cigaretters), 15 cartridges ("filters" with nicotine fluid), 2 chargers and a portable storage case; all for $24.00 with free shipping and no sales tax. I personally do not smoke, but I bought one of these disposable e-cigarettes at Walgreens for $10.00 in either June or July time and my mom got hooked on it. My mom used to smoke regular cigarettes which she buys by-the-carton from some Russian guy that makes deliveries in the car and you gotta make a mimum purchase of 2 cartons, otherwise he won't make the delivery. So my mom told me that the guy cranks-up the price every month by a $1 or $2, and last time she paid $66.00 for a carton of Capri slim cigarettes, which lasts about a month. When I was at the bigger [with expanded product assortment] Walgreens store, I noticed the disposable [non-rechargeable] e-cigarettes by a brand called Finity right behind the cashier, so I remember how mom told me that the regular cigs go up in price every so often, and I figured that at $10.00 price, the worst that can happen is that mom will not like it. I bought it and gave it to my mom and she liked it, she even gave it to try to my grandma, that smokes not very often but wanted to quick smoking the regular cigarettes, she also liked it. And at around the end of July, I found that at V2 Cigs they had a special sale [I think a holiday sale of some kind] and I ordered 2 rechargeable e-cigarettes, 2 USB chargers and 40 cartridges for under $120.00 with shipping and tax included. Since this period, my mom and grandma switched to e-cigarettes and they love them. I even found out that you can stretch-out for 2 or so more lifetimes the use of empty V2 Cigs cartridges by pouring inside the nicotine liquid, which I bought 3x 15ml bottles of from the Johson Creek website; they also had some kind of holiday special sale which totaled to just under $33.00 for 3 bottles delivered and no sales tax. Yeah, so back to the Groupon deal: the $24.00 for this whole kit with 2 batteries and all the extras is an excellent deal, considering that only 1 battery, 1 USB charger and 1 included cartridge cost me $30.00 at V2 Cigs. After couple of minutes of thinking I decided to place an order, because mom can use the extra batteries and the storage case.

While placing the order, all I had to do was to update my credit card info, since it expired from the last time that I bought some deal on Groupon and click the "Complete Order" button. The "Complete Order" button did not work in the Firefox browser, so I switched to make the deal purchase on the Opera browser. I chose the 2nd option, which was for the menthol cartridges, since that's what my mom smokes.

After the Groupon checkout process, this message appeared.

And this is how the Groupon deal/coupon looks like: its a PDF file within personal account on Groupon website which has the redemption code, which I partially censored in red. You gotta use the coupon before the expiration date or you will lose it. You should also make yourself familar with policies and terms that pertain to whatever Groupon deal/coupon you are interested in, so later on there would not be any misunderstandings or issues.

With the Groupon redemption code, I went to the specified URL address (http://www.southbeachsmoke.com/groupon/) that was in the Groupon coupon PDF file, and entered it, then proceeded to step 2:

Here in step 2, I had to fill out my shipping info. Then I clicked the "Order Now" button, which led me here:

This is where the company might "get"" you if you are not careful enough and will most likely press the "green button": all I know that this is some kind of subscription plan that you must stay away from, because it may be something like those penis pills that they send to you every month while billing/charging your credit card and that you will have hard time canceling. I just clicked the lesser visible light gray text "No Thanks" button:

And the order was placed. Only cost me $24.00, but none of the items are here yet, so I can't comment on them yet. Once I will get them, I will take a look and will report back. This is the Groupon deal URL address that I used for the Groupon coupon for this particular purchase: http://www.groupon.com/deals/gg-south-beach-smoke-ecigarette-starter-kit-1?c=all&p=1

Fast Bites BBQ Rib Sandwich

Here is another great product from the freezer section: BBQ rib sandwich by Fast Bites. This is pretty much over-the-counter McRib sandwich that is available throughout the year and it is regularly available at the Deals (Deal$) stores for only...$1.00!!! Yeah, thats right: only $1.00, although I also seen it a couple of times at the Associated food market for $1.99. So this sandwich is pretty much 2 burger burns   [with top one (lid) being coated with sesame seeds] with a rib-shaped pork meat patty that is glazed in the BBQ sauce, that form together the 5.5 ounces of food. I personally like all kinds of these BBQ rib sandwiches like McRibs, stuff that they sell in the 7-Eleven for $1.99 is a translucent plastic wrap and $2.99 in a fancy paper wrap, and this Fast Bites sandwich. Encore also makes the BBQ rib patties in a 6-pack family-size box, which you can use to create your own sandwiched with whatever bread or bun you like, its pretty good patties. Fast Bites has a whole lineup of burgers and sandwiches within its brand, and there are pretty much around 10 different varieties to choose from. Company by the name of [Advance] Pierre Foods makes all these sandwiches and from their website I could see that they make whole myriad of all kinds of products for all kinds of markets: dumplings, breadsticks, nuggets, pastries, sandwiches, burgers, sandwiches, fruit cups, frozen desserts and whatnot that is available for foodservice, retail and vending industries. I am also pretty much sure [at around 99.8%] that Pierre Foods also make cheeseburgers and chicken sandwiches for the Walgreens' Cafe W (Cafe Dubya) private brand, that is pretty much re-branded to their new private brand by the name of Nice! [which is an inferior store brand to the complimentary Good and DeLish store brand by Walgreens and Duane Reade]. I compared Fast Bites and Cafe W cheeseburger and their boxes side-by-sides and there were about 99% similarities with both products, with only 1% being minor differences within the ingredients.

Back of the box.

Box-O'-Vision.

Inside the wrap.

Cold.

Hot.

Close-up.

After cooking this sandwich in the microwave for 90 seconds, and letting it cool down, I began to chomp own on it. The buns are pretty good in taste but the pork patty was kinda average: from what I picked-up in it's taste was that there was way much soy filling rather than the pork/rib meat. The patty resulted in a bit of a bland taste. The BBQ sauce was not the best one in its category, but still it was pleasant on the tongue and helped the pork patty in diffusing the blandness. Overall, this is a good-tasting BBQ rib sandwich that definitely worth it's $1.00 price and presents a great value within the frozen food market, that has the costs rising up and the weight of the portions falling down. I rate this sandwich at 4.3/5.0 with a value rating of 4.7/5.0. Be sure to grab one if you stumble upon it: the BBQ rib are the most popular Fast Bites sandwiches and are the 1st ones to run out of stock from what I observed.  

Dorco Pace Shave Disposable 4 Blade Razor Review

Here is another review of one of the Dorco's product: this time it is the Dorco Pace Shave disposable 4 blade razor. I bought it on the Dorco webstore for $2.50 [along with the rest of their razors] and the shipping was free, because the whole order was slightly over $25.00. Originally it is sold in a 3-pack package, but with my order they added additional piece in a plastic bag, that was taped to the main package: 3+1 promo deal I guess. I am not a disposable razor user and I only used the disposables 2 times in my life, so I have no idea if you have to throw it out after the 1st or the 2nd shave, and they don't tell you this information anywhere on the packaging, so in my trial of this disposable I went for as many shaves that the razor seemed to cope with
.

Packaging without the extra 4th razor.

Back of packaging.

View from the back.

The handle/handpiece is pretty good and its made from sturdy plastic and with rubber; not like the flimsy plastic that plain orange BIC disposables are made of. It is light and balanced, and I actually prefer this kind of handpiece over the more heavier one than the Dorco 6 blade system uses. One of the things that I also prefer in this handle is that there is no cartridge release button on the bridge between the razors and the handle, because when I shave the sides of my face, I like to put my index finger there. The blades contour to the face by the means of a plastic tabs that runs from the end of the handle and acts like a spring to the center of the razor cartridge.

Side view.

Top view.

Front of the new razor blade cartridge.

Back of the razor blade cartridge.

I shaved with this disposable piece of a razor for 3 shaves, and the 2 shaves went fine but in the midst of the 3rd one, I felt that the lubrication strip was wearing off dry, and I had to apply more shave gel in order to operate the razor smoothly. So in overall you can get 2 shaves out of this disposable razor and squeeze-out a 3rd one, which will not be as good as the first 2 ones. Above in the photo you can see the worn-out lube strip.

I also decided that since the razor is pretty much done then I can also try it on the armpits, just to squeeze-out the last of life that the razor still had in it. It took me painful lot of time to shave there, so in the midst of the process I felt that the worn-out lube strips is just slowing down the razor: the rubber strip was creating drag so with a help of a toothpick I decided to punch it out from the back of the cartridge. The result was slightly faster and closer shave that I could really feel, so the absence of the worn lube strip sped things up. Overall, this disposable razor is good for 1 to 2 shaves, 3 if you really have to but result will be inferior. Based on a single shave, I rate this disposable 4 blade razor at 4.0/5.0 with a value rating of 3.9/5.0.

Before I threw out the disposable razor, I decided to snap-off the blade cart, just for trivial fun.