Blem Factory 2nd – Throwback Thursday
I’ve shared info about the BackFlip AKA Dead Flipper, the Barbs, YOTD, and others but somehow I have forgotten to talk about the Blem Factory 2nd boxes that Billet Box Vapor sold back in 2017. I was not around when these were new, but here’s what I could find by digging around the interwebz. I hope to get some additional clarification on some facts from BBV soon and will amend the article when I get that info.
Here’s what DD had to say on June 9th, 2017, the day before the 1st batch hit the store.
Blemz… factory seconds… for the quite a few years we have been outsourcing our anodizing… and on the whole, our anodizers do a great job… actually to put a number on it,,, 84% of the time they do a great job… the other 16% they suck and i want to throw flaming bags of dog poop at them… in case you haven’t noticed, we sell out of stock pretty quick, i could really go for them NOT f’ing up 16% of our hard work… but they do, and that’s life, and life sucks, and that’s probably and Aristotle quote!!!
Anywhoooo, some of that 16% is for really tiny things, mostly a little little fleck of white someplace, or a tiny little ding… We went through the 16% and picked out ones that were just really minor, engraved the fronts like so….
and then put um together. Along with our pristine batch that will hit the shop this Saturday, these guys will be up too, and at cost of less money dollars!!! So if you’re the type that’s just gonna drop it on the concrete right off the bat anyway, here ya go!!! So what do these little imperfections look?
or a little ding, or a stupid little haze, or the bite marks of a rabid squirrel….
And here is what he had to say in the listing for the Blem boxes.
This is a blemished unit, aka: a factory 2nd, and is engraved as such!!! Blem units are selected from our reject pile for only the smallest of defects, ONLY relating to the aesthetics of the anodized finish. All blem units come with a black Delrin button option only
What Colors?
Based on this archived screenshot from 2017, Here are the colors that were offered and they all came with a black Delrin button:
- Rat Black Blem
- TMNBB Blem
- Dober Blem
- Kurbis Blem
- Unicorn Poo Blem
- RNB Blem
- Fawkes Blem
- BX9 Blem
- Billet Box Blem (Clear)
That list is only missing the RPG and Nugget, but there is a chance that other drops might have included those colors.
Update: Several people have sent me photos of RPG blems, so they are out there for sure. Thanks to Ricki of The Boro Factory for these photos of an RPG.
When were the Blem Factory 2nd Billet Boxes released and how many times were the offered?
Here’s where I was unable to get any clarification. There was a post on Reddit on June 24th, 2017 that indicated that they were for sale on that day. In addition, I found a post on Vaping Underground on June 10th, 2017 that said they had them up as well.
I know for sure that they were offered on on July 8th, 2017 because our friend HB Corps purchased one on that day and his receipt is pictured below.
That said, there appears to have been a drop on June 10th, June 24th, and July 8th for sure. Those dates are all Saturday dates and line up with their drop dates. There could have been additional drops in between those dates, but I can’t confirm. On the archives for the site, I can’t see any additional drops past July 8th time frame.
In my research on ECF, I learned the following:
- There was a Blem drop on June 10th, 2017
- The price was $211.00 despite the archives of BBV’s store showed $211.11
- HB Corps commented on the Blems on June 10th, but didn’t buy one until July 8th, 2017 and doesn’t remember other drops besides that one. It was 4 years ago, so we will forgive him for that
- Confirmation from ECF members that they scored a Blem on July 8th, 2017
I think I am going to go with 3 different Blem Factory 2nd drops.
What were the actual blemishes on the Blem Factory 2nd models?
Here are the photos that were included when they were sold on June 24th, 2017
On the June 24th, they took 2 hours to sell out and cost $211.11.
One last note. the person that prompted this research asked recently got one of these in a purchase and asked about them on ECF. This is one of the replies from Geeky Geezer…
I remember them well, and yes there was a slight price reduction. They are very much like Provari blems – even the most picky eye may or may not see any flaws. They have exactly the same parts and construction as any other Rev 4. I remember BBV’s statements when they were first released that the criteria for a blem was that they somehow missed the standards that had been set. As you mentioned, perhaps the anodizing was a slightly different shade, or perhaps had a tiny speck. Maybe there was a slight difference in texture. They were positioned as not being 100% perfect but much too good to discard. I don’t know if all the various Billet Box models had blems for sale at any given time. My gut impression is that they didn’t.
Geeky Geezer on ECF
The person that was looking for info on these recently acquired this one (above). Is it an RPG or is a Unicorn Poo gone wrong? It looks like it’s supposed to be an RPG but too much purple to me.
I will try to get more information and supplement this post about the Blem Factory 2nd models soon, but for now, that’s it. I will add these to the Billet Box History Timeline and the database when I get more clarification as well.
