A Step-By-Step Guide to Create Large Clouds of Vapor from Your Va

Wazzup Pilipinas!?



If you’re an established vaper, you’ve undoubtedly heard about the term cloud-chasing by now. As vaping grew popular among the general public, most vapers started striving to create bigger and better clouds.

Nowadays, there are even competitions in cloud-chasing where you can win amazing prizes for your special skills.

Therefore, you’re surely wondering how you can produce those large smoky clouds of vapor by yourself. Here, you’ll find a handy guide on cloud-chasing you can use to practice your skills and bring them to an impressive level.



Choose a good kit

The first step to making big clouds is to choose a good kit. You can find plenty of pacha mama vape juice with uniquely blended fruit flavors at affordable prices that’ll allow you to practice your cloud-chasing techniques.

Essentially, you’ll want a kit that has variable MOD wattage. With it, you can adjust the output power mode of your device, which allows you to tweak your wattage levels and find the perfect setting. Furthermore, controlling the device's output also allows you to influence flavor and cloud production, which is what you’re aiming for when cloud-chasing.

Choose the sub-ohm quality coils that can handle the extreme heat of the device. The tank also needs to be of glass material that can take the heat and contents of the liquid you’re using. The size of the tank is also essential, especially if you plan on having long vaping sessions.

Additionally, the battery can also play an essential role in how successful your cloud-chasing session is. A high-quality and fully charged battery can withstand even the most demanding actions, which cloud-chasing is.

Use appropriate e-juices

Although vape juices come in all kinds of flavors, this isn’t exactly what you’re looking for when purchasing e-juices for cloud production.

Namely, all e-juices contain two primary ingredients - vegetable glycerin (VG) and propylene glycol (PG). The ratio of these two ingredients plays a vital role in cloud-chasing, and you can’t afford to ignore it.

For big clouds of vapor, you should aim towards a higher VG ratio. By using any liquid that has a 70% VG base or higher, you’ll be able to produce those big, dense clouds you’ve been dying to see. In our previous experience, it’s best to start with a 70VG/30PG ratio and slowly build your way up since going for a higher VG concentration right from the beginning can result in experiencing several side effects.

Thanks to the global popularity of cloud-chasing and the latest technology, brands have been coming up with more and more e-juice options with high VG content. Not only can you choose from a variety of companies, but now you can choose from many flavors and taste blends too.

Play around with settings

Once you have your vape kit and e-juices, it’s time to start experimenting with how the two work together. Because each vape kit and e-liquid is different, there are no universal settings that’ll work well with all your combinations.

Therefore, it’s important to play around with settings and achieve the most optimal results. Airflow and temperature control are the two key elements you’ll especially want to pay attention to.

For instance, increasing the airflow will quickly convert your e-liquid into vapor. That way, you’ll get most of your liquid transformed into big smoky clouds. If your vapor isn’t coming out hot enough, try increasing the wattage on your kit. Similarly, if your vape starts to get too hot, you can tone down the wattage and try it again.

Remember that finding the perfect settings takes a lot of time and practice. Since this is a trial and error process, you need to play around with your kit and e-liquids if you want to find out how you can get the biggest clouds of vapor.



Perfect your technique

Finally, your vaping and breathing techniques can also affect vapor production.

Before drawing on your vape, you should exhale as much air as possible. This will clear out your lungs from oxygen and will give you a bigger inhale capacity you can use to take in as much vape as possible.

Moreover, posture can also affect how much vape you can inhale. A straight back improves your lung capacity and allows you to take in more vape. As a simple test, compare your clouds when vaping with a straight back and hunched over. You’ll see what difference posture can make.

Exhaling your vapor slowly and steadily is the best technique to achieve consistent vape clouds. That way, you have plenty of control over the vapor, and you can practically do anything you like with it.

Focusing on your breathing and enjoying your vape can be frustrating, but once you start seeing progress in the breathing techniques, it’ll only get better from there. Remember, this is a learning process you can master only by practicing as much as possible, so be patient with yourself.



The bottom line

All in all, a lot goes into making large and dense vape clouds. That being said, the art of cloud-chasing isn’t as simple as many people believe. From finding the suitable mod kit and type of e-juice to learning about different settings and best breathing techniques, there’s certainly a lot you need to know if you want to succeed in cloud vapor production.

10 Best Places To Go For Adventure Trave

Wazzup Pilipinas!?



Most thrill-seekers prefer embarking on a trip to explore the unfamiliar or unknown world, and why not? An adventure is the best way to experience the world while liberating one’s soul and improving their physical and mental state.

In addition, adventure trips push many people out of their comfort zone and place them in unfamiliar situations. This is an excellent way to test one’s mettle and do things differently. You also get to see a small, unknown world from a different perspective

Here you’ll find the ten best places to go for adventure travel.

1. Grand Canyon-United States

Why not start your adventure travel with a trip to one of the world’s natural wonders? Carved out by the Colorado River for over two billion years, the Grand Canyon makes the perfect spot for a river raft ride. Rather than taking a peek from the top, traversing the river is the best way to see all of the details of the great Grand Canyon. Besides the wild water, you’ll get to enjoy side canyons, swimming holes, Puebloan sites, and sandy beaches.

However, always ensure carrying all critical equipment and items whenever traveling to such isolated places. Items, including hiking accessories, medical kits, and subscription boxes, are vital to enhancing your adventure experience and overcoming unforeseen situations. Be mindful of purchasing only the Survival box containing hiking manuals, outdoor gear, emergency supplies, and survival tools, making your trip to Grand Canyon a breeze!


2. Thrihnukagigur Volcano-Iceland

Have you ever dreamed of peering into a volcano? How about taking a plunge into one? It’s something you can do, particularly in Iceland. Commercial tours began in 2012, allowing tourists to delve beneath the surface. Wearing a harness and clipped to a lift, you’ll be slowly lowered into the depths, 120 meters, of Thrihnukagigur Volcano. As you go down, you’ll experience seeing the colors purple, yellow, and red of the uniquely drained magma chamber. Water dripping and singing reveals the volcano’s outstanding acoustics. Its last eruption was 4,000 years ago, making Thrihnukagigur dormant.


3. Himalayas-Nepal

There are many things to see in Nepal, but one of the most breath-taking (and treacherous) places you can visit is the Mt. Everest Base Camp. On a 14-day trek, you’ll hike from Sagarmatha National Park to the shadows of the world’s highest mountain. Only a select few hikers receive permission to sleep at the Everest Base Camp with the summiteers or those hiking to the top of Mt. Everest. But, if you’re only looking to take a selfie, your 5,340-mile hike will take you to the base camp, where you can click pictures, and then hike down to Gorak Shep for a restful night.


4. Costa Rica

Costa Rica is becoming more well-known as an adventure spot. With its 19,730 square miles (about the size of West Virginia), a quarter of the land is protected jungle. You can ride in a hot-air balloon, zip-line down a mountain through the forest, or rock-climb up a mountain in the jungle. The best time of the year to tour is mid-December to April.

5. Antarctica

This adventure trip isn’t for the faint-hearted. Imagine taking a cruise into the Weddell Sea to the east as the ship starts to encroach on crashing icebergs. Are you thrilled yet? Now imagine unpredictable, treacherous conditions, often involving 32-foot seas and more in the Southern Ocean, which is where the Weddell Sea is located. You’re also in for a wildlife treat, such as the baleen whales swimming just under the surface and the penguins and seals sunning themselves on the ice.


6. Cape Town-South Africa

Deserts, mountains, and beaches -- You get it all with South Africa. Cape Town is the place to be if you’re specifically looking for adrenalinw-boosting activities, including hiking, climbing, kitesurfing, paragliding, surfing, and diving. With a thriving community, Cape Town has everything that an ideal adventure location offers. The best time of the year to explore is November to February.


7. Machu Picchu-Peru

Machu Picchu is one of those intriguing places that hid secretly in the misty mountains from the common eye. For the best experience, it’s a good idea to go on foot so that you can see all that the location has to offer. When trekking Machu Picchu, there’s a slow element of surprise followed by increasing excitement. Of course, you don’t have to hike the Inca Trail for the experience of a lifetime. You can always trek the ruins of Choquequirao, the Salkantay Trail, or the Vilcabamba Traverse.


8. Milford Track-New Zealand

If you’re looking for hikes to lakes, waterfalls, ice fields, forests, and places with pioneering history, New Zealand’s Milford Track is the place to go. Part of nine Great Walks, Milford Track is a four-day, 53.5km hike from Lake Te Anau to Milford Sound, which cuts through the splendid Fiordland National Park to the top of Mackinnon Pass (1,154m).

9. Ningaloo-Australia

A trip to Australia wouldn’t be the same without swimming with the turtles or snorkeling in the Ningaloo Reef. Smaller than the Great Barrier Reef but packed with approximately 500 fish species, the Ningaloo Reef in some parts is just 100 meters offshore. This closeness to the beach makes it easy to see the abundance of marine life that lives in the waters.

You can find three of the seven species of the world’s marine turtles’ (green - endangered, hawksbill - critically endangered, and loggerhead -vulnerable) nest, beginning in November and ending in April. But, as turtles swim offshore all year, remember to bring your binoculars.


10. Amazon-Ecuador

Does canoeing and piranha fishing sound like fun? Or, maybe, sleeping in traditional indigenous Cofan Tribe huts and hiking the rainforest for the wildlife sights is an ideal adventure trip for you. Either way, you’re in for an experience of a lifetime in the Amazon in Ecuador. Some indigenous people of Ecuador’s Oriente, such as the Cofan, have mastered the art of community-based ecotourism. Touring with the Cofan is an excellent way to see the Amazon. With their experience with Westerners, they can provide the adventure you’re looking for in a vacation.


Conclusion

Adventure travel is an excellent way to unwind, let loose, and relieve stress. More people are opting to take adventure vacations than ever before. If you’re planning on taking an adventure trip, be sure to plan ahead and book early, as vacations like these are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

PEMSEA: How Recyclers are Helping Win the War Against Plastic Waste

Wazzup Pilipinas?!

Bakal, Bote, Plastik at Dyaryo!

Garbage is definitely the smelliest challenge facing the planet.

In one of the pioneering analyses of plastics, the world’s scientists calculated that humanity has produced 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic, 75% or 6.3 billion metric tons of which has become plastic waste. Along with discarded metal, rubber, paper and glass, the vast majority of plastics lie in landfills or float silently in our rivers, lakes and oceans.

There’s so much plastic lying around that scientists are proposing this era to officially be termed the Anthropocene, an epoch completely dominated by humans marked on the fossil record not by fossilized bones, but plastic.

Though humanity’s ability to produce waste still outstrips its ability to manage it, Pinoy waste pickers and junkshops are helping turn the tide in their own way. Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA), a regional organization which pushes for integrated solutions to coastal and marine problems, including marine plastic pollution, talks with three of them.

The Picker: Sherwin Salazar

“The best time to hunt for scrap is right after homeowners leave their garbage out, but before government collection trucks arrive, usually between 10PM to 7AM. The sooner you can pick through garbage for good finds, the better,” shares Sherwin Salazar, a 38-year old mangangalakal or waste picker.

We’re outside a bustling junkshop in Dasmariñas City in Cavite where he had just sold over a thousand Pesos worth of . . . junk.

Sherwin is a master of the trade, having been a waste picker for 25 years. His parents separated early, so he learned to fend for himself. While other kids dreamed of the latest toys or videogames, Sherwin ‘hunted for treasure’ in Cavite’s garbage dumps.

“I was still in school when I started pawing through old lots, dumps and river banks in a never-ending search for bakal, bote, plastik at dyaryo (scrap metal, bottles, plastic and newspapers). I used a big old sack that weighed so much,” he recalls. “Since I worked hard, I was taken in by a junkshop, where I earned around PHP100 daily. I was just 12 then.”

Eventually, Sherwin traded his sack for a wooden kariton or pushcart. “I was so happy to get rid of that heavy old sack,” he laughs. With his slow but huge kariton, he could cover a bigger area, collecting heavier and more valuable scrap.

One day, he noticed a mambobote or bottle picker using a pedicab to haul heaps of bottles, prompting him to ask his boss if they could invest in one. “I couldn’t be prouder when I got that shiny new pedicab,” he says. Instead of collecting from rivers and nearby dumps, he could finally visit villages to get the best items like broken washing machines, air conditioners and other appliances.

Today Sherwin still collects scrap, but with a motorized tricycle which brings him to nearby cities like Tagaytay.

“Most Pilipinos think pangangalakal is nothing more than a dirty job, but it’s far better than working in other jobs like construction. You become your own boss and control your time so if you put in the hours and effort, you can make a surprising amount of money. These days I make anything from PHP1000 to PHP1500 daily. Yesterday I made PHP1200, even more than a call center agent.”

The garbage of others – plus his own grit – allowed Sherwin to raise a family. “I’m not ashamed to be called a mangangalakal or basurero. I’m proud of it, because I was able to provide honorably for my family, while putting my children through school and bringing them to nice places. The life of a waste picker is definitely dirty, but if you meet life’s challenges head-on and ask for a little help from above, then it’s really rewarding.”

The Junkshop Owner: Arles Gozar

“Trash is cash,” explains Arles Gozar, who runs the Angela Mae Junkshop in Dasmariñas. “I employ anywhere from nine to 15 people part-time to help pick and pack garbage that waste pickers or mangangalakal bring here.”

Looking like Santa Claus without a beard, the burly Arles is clad in a tight-fitting red rash-guard and colorful board-shorts. Behind him is his crew, expertly hacking apart old electric fans, exhaust fans, air conditioners and other items for usable parts. Every few minutes, a new picker brings in choice pickings in exchange for cash.

Most valuable of all is tanso or copper, sold at PHP355 per kilogramme (KG), followed by sibak or hard plastic (PHP15/KG), bakal or scrap metal (PHP14/KG), yero or corrugated iron sheets (PHP11/KG), bote or plastic bottles (PHP10/KG), lata or tin cans (PHP8/KG) and karton or cardboard (PHP4/KG).

While we were chatting, a small kid of about 10 brought in a cardboard box full of scrap paper. He got PHP4, enough perhaps to buy himself a bit of candy.

“Many people in this area don’t have jobs. By employing people even part-time, my tiny junkshop helps provide for them and their families. The garbage of others provides a good life for our family – I can even help my relatives from the province when they’re down and out, because we have a little extra.”

Junkshops like Arles’ provide a vital solution in the world’s quest to minimize waste – by recycling, upcycling or otherwise making use of items which would otherwise be bound for landfills and dumpsites, trash is reduced. Less trash means less garbage flowing down rivers whenever a dumpsite floods.

Junkshops are part of the solution to pollution. “We’re of course business owners first, but in our own small way, we’re doing what we can to help keep our country clean,” notes Arles.

Recycling to Survive: Miguel Sabaño

Like many people living in a shantytown called Tulay Kwatro at the northern tip of Kawit in Cavite, Miguel Sabaño, now 57, once relied on nearby brackish-water fishponds for food and livelihood. This changed when some of Cavite’s fishponds were converted into offshore gambling centers. Miguel and many others found themselves unemployed.

“Now all we have are these scrap rubber tires,” he laments. Making use of their time when no better jobs like construction arise, Miguel and the residents of his community while away the hours ripping out endless rows of polyester or nylon threads which give motorcycle tires and inner tubes their pliable structure. They use an array of tools – rusty pliers, converted nail cutters, even their bare hands to tear and pluck off threads, which form tiny piles by their feet.

Once cleaned, the tubes and tires sell for PHP20/KG, enough for about half a kilogramme of rice. A long day’s work might yield two kilogrammes of processed rubber. “It’s not a lot, but having rice today spells the difference between life and death for some people,” he says quietly.

Being large and durable, rubber tires take anywhere from 50 to 100 years to decompose naturally. Instead of being dumped into landfills, they can be shredded and turned into chips, powder, cement or fuel. Used tires can also be turned into tables, chairs, garbage bins, plant pots, sandals and other useful products, providing further income for communities which can find creative uses for them.

While reducing waste, recycling provides livelihood opportunities for some of the world’s poorest communities.

PEMSEA’s Project ASEANO

The country’s ingenious waste pickers, recyclers and junkshops play a key role in combatting waste.

“Supporting waste pickers and recycling facilities converts a significant portion of waste which would otherwise be dumped in landfills or in our rivers and seas, into useful products. These cottage industries also support the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Filipinos,” explains Thomas Bell, who manages PEMSEA’s Project ASEANO.

Project ASEANO aims to develop and promote sound and sustainable measures to reduce the impacts of plastic pollution and their implications on socioeconomic development and the environment. The project focuses on the city or municipal level, with Cavite’s Imus River as one of two project sites.

According to the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), Cavite generated an average of 1514 tons of waste daily in 2018, 22% or 333 tons of which could still be recycled. The Imus River traverses the highest waste-generating cities in Cavite – Bacoor, Dasmariñas and Imus – making it a conveyor belt for plastics flowing out to Manila Bay.

Funded by the Norwegian Development Program to Combat Marine Litter and Microplastics, ASEANO is led by the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) Indonesia in close collaboration with the PEMSEA Resource Facility and ASEAN Secretariat under the purview of the endorsing ASEAN sectoral body, the ASEAN Working Group on Coastal and Marine Environment (AWGCME).

The results of the project will be synthesized into an LGU training manual, toolkit and best practices handbook of policy, monitoring tools and technologies for plastics management that can be used as a reference by LGUs in Cavite, the rest of the Philippines, plus the entire ASEAN region.

“To decisively address plastic waste management, we need to include waste pickers and recyclers as major stakeholders,” concludes PEMSEA executive director Aimee Gonzales. “They are our frontliners in the war against waste.”