Vapes I Want, pt. 2: The Holy (Toledo!) Grail.

This.

This is the one I would love most to find, especially in good, clean condition (at least cosmetically).

 

 

The DeVilbiss Cool Vapor Humidifier-Vaporizer No. 400. 

'Recommended for use in arresting symptoms of "Winter Dryness"' (in quotes, as if it was a euphemism for something unpleasant).

For all the years I've been a devoted humidiot, I have only become aware of the existence of this model over the past few years, and have never seen one online, at auction or on sale. I've yet to even find a legitimate picture of one. 

Nope. I have only found the above image from numerous auctions; it's actually a postcard (I am guessing from the late 1950s or early 1960s). Here is the other side:

 

 

I honestly have never seen any other evidence this model was ever actually produced. 

Or when.

Okay, I am sure it really was produced, of course. I'm just being dramatic.

But I can't find it anywhere. Sale or not, no proof of it being real. 

All I know is it was made by DeVilbiss of course, and that they were based in Toledo, OH, starting their business existence in 1897. And that's about it.

And I think it's kinda weird -- well okay, let's first state the primary weirdness that anyone would send to a loved one a postcard hawking a vaporizer, but beyond that -- I do think it's weird that over the years I've found a few dozen different auctions from different sellers of this same postcard, but never found the vaporizer itself. I mean, it seems rather odd that this advertisement exists in enough quantity to be sold by numerous people over the years, yet the actual product it's pushing is so rare it can't be found anywhere online, at auction or in real photos, collectors blogs, review videos, vintage service or user manuals, etc.. 

So if it really exists... where does it exist?

Because I WANT one, damnit!

I mean... just look at it! Gorgeousness.

It's essentially a 240-style vape only made square instead of round, a kind of art deco/factory building architectural version of the original 240 design, like the top of a museum or bank in the '30s, but filled with water (preferably distilled) and ready to put the whole town to sleep... and probably make it nice and humid all night -- curing the city's "Winter Dryness", no doubt.

I am sure it really exists, but again, I have yet to prove it... and I eagerly look forward to the day I do. 

In the meantime, I keep a'looking.

... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Vapes I Want, pt. 1: Snoopy, Come Home!

As an obsessed humidiot -- and as with any collector, regardless of specific obsession -- I keep a mental list of particular items or products (we collectors smartly call them 'pieces' when we want to appear serious and informed) I find most desirable. 

I have many interests besides vaporizers of course, and have long been obsessed with other subjects -- among them Hallowe'en decor, antique radios and related vintage electronics, and the classic Universal movie monsters -- and within each interest are numerous rare, prized, highly desired pieces I (and every other collector in the world!) wish to find and acquire; the classic fantasy is of course finding said items in perfect condition at an old estate or garage sale where the previous owner is utterly ignorant of the item's rarity and worth and gives them away, either for an absurdly low price, or in the most delightful dream sequence, for FREE.

One can dream.

At any rate, one of my Most Wanted vaporizers is actually not terribly rare or difficult to find, but I have yet to find myself in the right situation to acquire it (the right combination of price, place, condition, etc.).

In 1970, the Milton Bradley Company, under its Amsco brand line, produced the Snoopy Cool Mist Vaporizer:

(The above images are from a Worthpoint auction; the rest are from other 

online auctions and sales long over. Obviously they are not

from my collection, since I wouldn't be writing about wanting what

I already have.  Probably.  I don't know, I'm kind of weird.)

It is about 16" from base to 'nose', and about 13" x 10" otherwise.

In that last image, note the angled 'chimney cap'; it tends to be missing now from most examples of this item one can find, like this next one...

 

(It is a true cool mist impeller humidifier.)

The Snoopy vape has sold for as much as $150 in decent working condition in its box, and about half that unboxed and well used. Most examples I can find tend to fall between $80 and $120. Given that a decent working 240 style vape currently goes for between $90 and $140 (before the obligatory absurd shipping costs), I think the value of its Snoopy-ness is reasonable... if it works well and sounds good. I have yet to find any video of one in action.

I desire this piece especially because it crosses my love of humidifiers with my love of all things Peanuts, which in turn crosses my love of all things Hallowe'en as well; surely, if this vape sounds anything like a decent cool mist vape should, I can only imagine the joy of running it on a late October night while listening to Vince Guaraldi's The Great Pumpkin Waltz. I hope one of these years to experience just that...

(My very quickly rendered idea of what that might be like.)

I know I will find the right deal at the right time. It would be a wonderful addition to my collection, and I do want to actually use it, at least once in a while.

I am off to dream of the above image now... setting up my laptop to play some Vince Guaraldi...

G'night... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

(Some of) my favorites.

I know, I know.

The term 'vape' has come to mean something quite different these days. 

But to my siblings and me, "the vape" means only one thing -- our old Hankscraft 240 vaporizer. 

Well, to be more accurate, not just that one. We certainly had more than one over those many years; one of them was the Gerber version of the 240. Hankscraft/Gerber also made smaller, lighter-capacity vaporizers and at various points we had a few of those too. A bit later on we had a few smaller humidifiers from DeVilbiss, Sunbeam and Vicks... and we called each of them, all of them, "the vape":

 

 

They each had their quirks; I recall the Vicks model being a little too rattly to be truly as soothing as the others (it was made of the thinnest plastic), and the first of the two DeVilbiss models pictured above  -- the Model 272 -- tended to need refilling quite a bit more often as it ran out sooner than the other one, which was odd since they ostensibly had the same gallon(ish) capacity and were supposed to output the same 'mist/hour' volume. 

But those were simply little quirks, things to be easily tolerated and even loved after a time, because they were still your best nighttime sleep friend, especially when you weren't otherwise feeling your best. 

Among my current 'vape' collection, I have one of the early '70s DeVilbiss 250B models (the blue-green model) and a similar model made by Kaz (in that tan color like the Model 272 pictured above) from about the same era. In fact, Kaz has been the manufacturer of the Vicks line of warm steam and cool mist humidifiers over the years, and still makes them for Vicks and under the Kaz name. If they are as good as the vintage Kaz I own, they are certainly up to the task but only average in tank capacity and sound.

And as any humidiot knows, SOUND is as important as any other function of a good humidifier.

For my life I will never understand why anyone would want a cool mist vape that is quiet. Why 'silent operation' or 'quiet running' is a feature and not a bug for current manufacturers (let alone consumers) is utterly beyond me. What's the point of silence with cool mist? Steam, okay, whole different thing, that's fine... but impeller models? 

Ya GOTTA have sound, baby.

And the great grand mama, the ultimate god-empress of vaporizer sound, has to be the Hankscraft/Gerber 240:

 ... followed closely by its slightly littler sibling, the Model 241:

... which has a one gallon (actually 1.12 gallon) capacity, rather than the 240's gallon and a half-ish ("1 and 3/5 gallons") tank. 

Oh yes, the sound is the thing. I think Shakespeare wrote that.

And the sound of the 240 is the authentic sound of a vaporizer. 

In fact, the 240 style (and its variants, as I'll discuss in a future post) is probably the most iconic, best remembered cool mist 'vape' in history. It was surely the most popular and most widely purchased model/style over its many production runs under various brand names from the early '60s through at least the early '80s, and was almost certainly the type most often used over those decades. Its sound is the one most people of a certain age range recall most vividly and with great fondness.

Any true humidiot knows what I mean: the BEST PART of the whole humidifier 'thing', that hissing, fuzzy, beautifully soothing white noise with the occasional drips and drops... and after a time, the sound of the tank running low and that thrumming, whirring with more air than water... and then once you've refilled it, that wonderful return of the 'vape sound' when you reseat the lid and... aaahhhh!

The magic resumes.

 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Humidiot?

That's me.

Humidiot.

I've been a humidiot for most of my life. I would say all of my life but I'm not done yet so I can't truly say. But so far... yeah.

Total humidiot.

What about you?

Do you revel in the cool misting white noise of a clean, working, filled-to-the-line humidifier/vaporizer? Have you done so ever since the first time your parents brought one into your room?

Do you have cherished memories of some of the best 'sleeps' of your young life, not having to get up for school and just laying there all cozy and sniffly and listening to its hissing, soothing murmur?

Did you sometimes fake being sick, not even necessarily to miss school, but just to get one more night with "the vape"?

Do you enjoy regularly running your vintage impeller-type cool mist humidifier even when you are feeling perfectly fine and the weather is nowhere dry enough to require it?

If so... you are a humidiot (or is that 'an humidiot'?).  

Like me.

 

Now, I'm guessing you have generally thought -- when the subject ever crossed your mind, that is -- that you were all alone in your humidiocy; or, if you grew up with siblings, you might have believed they shared this secret joy with you, that you all celebrated your humidiocy together on those magic nights and days when mom set up the vape in one or the other of your shared rooms... but surely no one else would really understand; surely, you might have thought, it was some quirk of your own goofy nature that compelled you to set up a blanket-bed on the floor right next to the vaporizer and lay out a towel or two in just such a fashion as to let the water mist up and bead on your face without drenching your pillow so badly your mom would get mad; surely only you and your siblings really knew why it was so wonderful to hear a parent exclaim "you'd better sleep with the vape tonight!" after hearing enough coughs or sniffles from one or two of you. 

I imagine you may well have thought such things over the years.

But believe it or not -- your humidiocy is neither goofy nor rare.

It is in fact shockingly common... and this stupid (and I mean really stupid) blog should go some way to proving you are not alone.

Can you recall it even now? The hours spent mostly half asleep, the Vicks vaporub, the heating pad or a cooling forehead washcloth, watching the (usually black and white) TV, or listening to your transistor radio, taking your medicine and then getting apple, orange or grape  juice and sometimes if you were really good (or just especially adorably pathetic), one of your dad's late-morning breakfast Morton's honeybuns? 

Yeah, that last bit might be fairly specific to my family but my point is... can you recall it? 

And, do you recall it all, every time you use your vaporizer?

 

You DO have and use one, don't you? I mean, it doesn't have to be a Hankscraft but you have some kind of cool mist vaporizer to use, right? 

No, we don't use it all the time, of course. Like Christmas, or certain vices, too much is too much, and the magic can go away for a time if you overdo it. But in balance... pure heaven.

So, more to come soon. I don't know how much more -- how much can be written about humidifiers? -- but there is more in the offing.

Until then, find yourself a good, vintage cool mist impeller type 'vape' and get it clean and working.

What's that? You don't quite know where and how and all of that? 

Well then... there certainly is much more to post, isn't there?

I'll help as best I can, as soon as I can.

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