Product Review: Geek Bar Pulse.

As far as nicotine vapes (smokeless inhalers) go, a relatively new geeky phenomenon has hit the streets (literally). The Geek Bar Pulse product line is a new, emergent brand that has various special features

A few Geek Bar Pulse vapes, one a Geek Bar Pulse X vape.

Follow up work on Sophorxa (renamed).

 I’d spent a few days with my new fragrance composition, and I think it’s great! (still). It uses 16+ ingredients:

Top notes - Bergamot, Ocimene, Carene-3 Delta, Prismantol, Sweet Yuzu, Black Pepper

Mid / Heart - Jasminlactone, Terpineol Alpha, Blackcurrant Bud Absolute, Champaca Yellow Absolute

Base - Palo Santo Key Accord, Iso E Super, Cashmeran, Benzoin Oliffac, Heliotropin Replacer, Special Vanilla Extract

My special vanilla bean extract.

Here’s the latest marketing material for the fragrance (I don’t know how much I like this one):

Sophorxa a powerfully fresh and sweet androgynous floral wood fragrance, with a helping of animalic primal character to it. I’ve still yet to create a bottle of it; I need to work out the drop by drop proportions, or weights.

New, for Summer 2025: Sophoria (Caliphoria), the latest iPigeon.institute fragrance release.

 The past several weeks have been busy, as far as trying out my purchases in fragrance ingredients, and I’d been allocating a hefty portion of my budget to stocking up on new and former favorite aroma compounds and oils. It wasn’t until this morning that I experimented with my latest haul, in trying on several of my latest purchases neat, but I was very pleased with the rich and exotic sensuous outcomes that zero developing, and I felt that I’d laid the grounds for a new product release, after making use of my recent selections in ingredients. I call it Sophoria (or, Caliphoria). Here’s some of the preliminary work that I did, with ChatGPT:

Fragrance notes:

• Jasmine petals in a milk bath (to capture jasminlactone and lactonic softness)
• Split coconut with ocean mist (for the unexpected coconut nuance)
• Twisted pine or cypress branch (terpenes: delta-3-carene, ocimene)
• Sliced yuzu and bergamot (touches of bright citrus)
• Vanilla bean and benzoin resin drop on driftwood or stone
• Glossy blackcurrants on dewy green leaves (blackcurrant bud absolute)
• Champaca flower or gold-tinted tropical bloom (exotic floral soul)
• Cashmere woods delicately grounds the fragrance (cashmeran)

I didn’t even request to include a pigeon in the marketing image, but ChatGPT threw one in there, for good measure, and I happen to like it.

First impressions:

I tried a second run of applying the ingredients neat, once again, later on, during the same day, although not with as much of the special, homemade vanilla extract (I say “special,” because it was given a very particular course of extraction and processing, far different from creating an absolute). I won’t expand upon the details of that process, just yet, and I was lacking the cashmeran, from my supplies, amongst the ingredients that I’d brought out with me. It came off as a bit cloying, without the edginess of the special vanilla extract, and, lacking the moodiness that comes with a bit of cashmeran, added. 

The first time around, additionally, I had also done second and third rounds of neat application, for some of the ingredients that got buried in the mix, during the initial application, and I felt that I’d done well in balancing things out, for applying them in neat fashion, rather than that I would try to concoct a liquid composition of it - a full bottle, of whatever size it may have otherwise been. The smell was more compelling, the first time around, and I had a good day with it, in essence. 

There were some notable seeming side effects of mood-lifting/stabilization, almost stimulation, as well as seeming nootropic effects, as I was more motivated to create higher-quality work, at my job. 

Golden hour at Pershing Square (photography).

 I was out at the library, doing some remote work on the computer consoles, for a gig that I had just started, recently, and the daylight was ideal for photography at the time I left the library, for dinner. On my way home, I captured some endearing moments of the pigeons at Pershing Square, in bright and vivid colors of Springtime. 

I love how the bright florets of bougainvillea frame this pigeon’s disposition, at Pershing Square Metro Stztion. 

A family of rats munches on some mud, to get a drink of water, after maintenance hosed the place down. 

The return of Snooker (again).

 I hadn’t mentioned it, previously, since the last time I posted about Snooker leaving the Library Flock, to go on hiatus, for some reason. It’s a subject which becomes troubling for me, because, historically, Snooker has been a daily regular at the library, and he’s perhaps a few years old. I see him as one of the behavioral leaders of the flock, and he’s raised babies, undoubtedly, some of whom perhaps show up with Snooker on their daily basis of roosting at the library, during the daytime. I figure as much, since there is a breeding strain, mostly characterized by Snooker, as the parent of the other white-colored pigeons, a feature which is uncommon, but more so represented locally, in the library flock, with white birds being higher in number and concentration. I’d witnessed Snooker copulating with another pigeon, so I confirmed that he is both paired, and a male.

Snooker, the white Pakistani High Flyer pigeon, pictured here, showed up for a late afternoon treat, which was a surprise, for me, since it had been several weeks, perhaps, since I’d last seen him.

What could be the cause of Snooker going missing, for such a long interval? Was he taking care of his young, somewhere else, and unknown? Perhaps he had taken fancy with some other new birds to the library flock, and had gone astray, hoping for better pastures, since some of these birds would have different nightly roosts where they sleep. In any case, it’s reassuring to see Snooker, back with the flock that I’d known him to frequent, ever since he was a young bird, which was a few years ago, or so. Some of these birds other pigeons of this flock have also gone missing, namely, the ones who were perching on my arm, to get faster access to the food I was feeding them. None of the birds perch on me, anymore, currently, so I’m eager to know that those birds are okay, and hopefully they’ll be back, someday. They had visited, for one day, a couple of weeks ago. 

New, for Spring 2025: Yuzu Delight, A Citrus Elixir Fragrance

 

As I’ve been working on refining the bottled version of Eau Pigeonoid, a newer fragrance, which I detail, here, on this blog (the fragrance smells great “neat,” or, applied directly to the skin, although translating that olfactory experience in to a bottled spray product proves challenging), I’m noticing some nice fragrance notes that are coming out of the woodwork, as I work to simplify the formula. Notes like “orange delight,” one of my favorite childhood treats, which I now encounter as a citron/lemon variant (it’s essentially a thickened, sweet jelly of citrus in a bite size, chocolate-covered bar).

It reminded me of a former, although recent attempt at composing a fragrance, one which took on a rich theme: a citrus elixir, with a bouquet of citrus ingredients, headed by yuzu essential oil, following with grapefruit and mandarin, with light floral effects of magnolia, over a base of Tonka bean and cocoa, with some black pepper, for spice, and blackcurrant bud, to enliven and freshen the scent’s mood and profile.

The original conception of iPigeon.institute’s “citrus elixir.”

In my latest purchase, I revisit the citrus elixir theme, as a reconstitution, and, as a refinement. For example, this time around, I have a much more well-resourced set of ingredients. I’m using yellow champaca absolute instead of magnolia, so I’m excited to see how this take on a citrus elixir “Yuzu Delight” will turn out, with much of the skeleton of the fragrance, otherwise, remaining the same.

Pigeon-watching hotspots to see in town - # 1: The 7th at Metro Station Pigeon Family.

Here in Los Angeles, pigeons that frequent Metro rail stations are generally nothing new, but don't these novel and sometimes adventuresome pigeons make the stations something out of a storybook? They get to live in the stations, at all times, even in the off-hours. It's a trade off - of convenience, for being housed, so to speak, for security and warmth, essentially. 

2024's 7th at Metro baby pigeon, out at night, looking for a bite to eat. 

His parents roost nearby, overseeing his safety and progress in development. 

In this case, a (literal) small family of pigeons roosts at what could be considered some of the most illustrious of locales in Downtown Los Angeles, CA, with beautifully crafted skyscrapers and trendy malls, all within a block, or so. It's a great place to start out, as a Downtown visitor, and these pigeons serve as (sometimes) nightly ambassadors. Take, for example, baby pigeon, standing there, on his own, in the middle of the sidewalk. He's waiting to see some breadcrumbs tossed at him, or perhaps, some pieces of sweet pastries, or seeds. Baby pigeon is currently in the "sweet baby" stage, where the baby has not yet been abused, and hopefully that will last. 

The pigeon family, here at the 7th and Metro Station, has the tradition, and tourist attraction feature of being night owls. This feature about this small and peculiar family of birds makes for a great nighttime stop, to check and see if the birds are out on the sidewalk, or perching nearby the escalators, where they roost at night. A night owl showing of pigeons is always an exciting sort of bird to observe, since they'd become comfortable in socializing amongst their human caretakers, at odd hours. Being that this street intersection is such a well-known metropolitan foot traffic hotspot, this pigeon's roost serves as a testament to urban avian wildlife's potential; as ambassadors: for nature and for recreation, both. 

Update: April 4th, 2025

A new member of the flock is here! See baby pigeon up close with the rest of his family at 7th at Metro Station! He’s a bit ruffly, because he hasn’t learned to preen himself yet, but he takes part in sharing food with the others.