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A Happy Healthier Beard

image3-3So we received a sample of Gentleman Jim’s Beard Oil at DR HQ and the duty to give this stuff a test run fell to me since I have the largest beard at DR HQ and I also didn’t currently use any beard oils, so it would be a true test.

I don’t know about everyone else, but my beard is exposed to some serious elements like heat, sweat, dust/dirt, grease, industrial and man-made gases (that was a fart joke) just to name a few. I have also even singed my beard hair with a cigar lighter or 2 when I’ve had a few too many. Honestly I used to only shampoo and condition my beard and that was it, but I have been looking to do some kind of beard oil treatment to take care of my beard more.

So I started a several week test of the beard oil, I applied after I washed and cleaned my beard. I applied about nickel sized puddle of oil in the palm of my hand, and rubbed it into my beard trying to coat my beard with an even film. The more and more I used the oil, the more I noticed my beard hair was softer, less curly, didn’t turn into a huge rats nest as much and was overall more manageable throughout the day. Like I said I had never used a beard oils or products before so this was a huge step forward for me, no more combs with broken teeth or tangles that almost made me cry, it was like a gift from above but it was just really a gift from Spring, Texas.

Gentleman Jim’s Beard Oil is made in the USA and made of all natural oils, the style I had was Texasimage2-2 Tea, and the smell is strong but has great earthy smell that I liked. He also makes an unscented if you don’t want any smell or your significant others nose isn’t into strong manly smells. Bottles are available in 1oz. and 2oz sizes and can be purchased from there Etsy.com store front and they are willing to ship worldwide so even our International Ruffians can get in on this wonderful stuff. I honestly couldn’t be happier with my end result; I even ordered a 2oz bottle personally so I could continue keeping my beard happy and healthy. Like I always say if you can buy from a small business please do so, it helps out everyday people not just a stock price. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to test out this product guys!

Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/GentlemanJimOil

Prices: 1oz bottle is $15 and the 2oz bottle is $25

Rating: 4 out of 5 pints.

 

Whiff Out Ashtray Deodorizer

IMG_5805A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Michael from Whiff Industries with the opportunity to test out their Whiff Out Ashtray Deodorizer. At this point the only thing I knew about them was the bit I had seen on Insatgram so I decided to do a little research before the samples arrived and headed over to their website.

I was surprised to find out that they started in Pennsylvania over 50 years ago with the idea of making affordable deodorizers using only natural ingredients. While spending time over the years creating home and industrial deodorizers in the 1990’s they were approached to create a private label carpet powder. Soon they began offering custom scented deodorizing powders, still using the purest natural ingredients followed by the creation of the Whiff Out Ashtray Deodorizer.

I smoke in my car and in enclosed spaces nearly everyday so when the Whiff Out arrived I was fairly anxious to try it out and see how it would work. To avoid overloading the car I sprinkled just a bit (maybe a teaspoon) of the fine powder on the floor of the drivers and passenger side figuring I could always add more if it wasn’t enough. About an hour later I had to go for a few errands and was surprised that the smell of smoke was no longer in my car. For once it didn’t smell like an ashtray but had a light clean smell to the air that was not just cigarette smell covered by perfume.

Next up was the small room environment. For this I used a little more Whiff Out was used in the ashtray mixed with a bit of sand. The ratio was about ¼ Whiff Out to ¾ sand. It was allowed to sit for a day before smoking in the room again. When I returned the next day there was the same pleasant odor as the car. After smoking a few cigars that evening and returning to the room the next morning I discovered that the smell was gone again.

In these two environments, Whiff Out is a great working product. It has a great smell, is reasonably priced, and doesn’t take up a lot of room for storage in your cabinet. Not to mention it’s made in America, they use recycled packaging on all of their products, use natural materials to produce eco friendly products, and all products are manufactured using 100% renewable wind energy for all electricity uses.

 

Website: http://whiffindustries.com

 

Where To Buy: Coming soon to CigarsInternational.com, Cigars.com, pipesandcigars.com, meierdutch.com

 

Cost: $7.50 – $30.00

 

Rating: 4.9 out of 5 pints.

Smith Elite Aegis Echo Glasses

image4So I strolled into the Gun shop I frequent, and Spartan Firearms have been a Smith Elite dealer for a little while now but I never really bothered looking at their products. On this day I just happened to get talking to my buddy Gary Ahlers who runs the shop about Smith Elite products and why he started to carry the products. After some conversation (and cash) I walked out with a Smith Elite Aegis Echo Deluxe Kit in Tan.

From my Initial look at these glasses, I was impressed with the quality and innovative design. I mean most people think that “hey any pair of Z87.1+ safety glasses will do the same job at a whole lot cheaper”, and in some ways I use to believe that. I always had a couple pairs of cheap $5 safety glasses or I used my Oakley Holbrooks as shooting glasses when I went to the gun range. In reality that was a very foolish way for me to think. I wear safety glasses daily at my job and for what I do at work, they are adequate but unlike most safety glasses, Smith Elite tests their glasses to a higher standard than regular safety glasses. They even exceed MIL SPEC MIL-PRF-31013 which is the U.S. Militaries Ballistic Eye Protection Specification. If you know anything about MIL SPEC, it’s overly specific to the point of insanity and this particular Mil Spec requires a projectile of 5.8 grains in weight and .15 inches in diameter to be shot at 640-660 Ft/S at protective eye wear and not crack the eye wear or allow any material to pierce a witness sheet that is behind the lens. It also requires the eye wear to be resistant to a whole list of chemicals as well as hot and cold climate testing, UV protection, and optical clarity. What’s the point if you can’t see out of them properly? So what does this mean to you the regular guy, who isn’t enlisted in the military and is a just weekend warrior at the gun range, hunter or the many other hobbies where eye wear is needed. It means this eye wear will take just about everything you can dish out and more.image2

Smith Optics Elite line makes multiple different styles of eye wear that is ballistic rated. One reason I chose the Aegis Echo Deluxe Kit is for the almost completely unobstructed field of view. I mean seriously unless you cross your eyes, there is no part of the frame that creates a blind spot. Second reason is the ability to change lenses in a few seconds with no tools. The frame is designed with these two pivot lock bars that you pull up on, and then with a downward pull the Lens separates from the frame easily. The kit I bought came with 3 different colors of lenses, clear, yellow and gray/tinted so you are covered for any lighting condition you may come across; another nice thing is the nose pads are attached to each lens so no need to swap those between lenses making it that much easier to change a lens out. The kit also includes a nice black nylon carry bag big enough to hold the frames and all 3 lenses, 3 lens pouches to protect the lenses when not in use, an elastic strap to hold the glasses on if you do a lot of movement and Smith Elites anti fog cloth that actually does that job very well (the humidity is a constant down here in the swamp know as South Florida). Only drawback is for sunny Florida they’re gray/tinted lens isn’t dark enough, but down here you could use a #4 cutting torch shade regularly in the summer time no problem, so maybe it’s just me.

image1There are a million things I could say about these glasses, but I won’t. If you like to go shooting and take safety seriously, Smith Optics Elite is a good investment. Could you seriously say $100 is too much to spend on your eyes, if so then I don’t think you know the value of your eye sight. Do yourself a favor buy quality eye wear for the range because one preventable range accident shouldn’t hurt you for the rest of your life, Should It?

 

 

Brand: Smith Optics

Website: www.smithoptics.com/elite/

Rating: 4.5 pints out of 5

Would I recommend this to friend: Yes