FEATURE
As one of the more outspoken personalities in the vaping community , Don ‘ The Zen Vaper ’ Thompson is recognised across the globe . But when you strip away the corporate veil and CEO-status , who is Don Thompson ? In an interview with Vapouround , he said : “ Besides being a husband and a father , I have three passions in life ; motorcycles , computers and music .” Here we take a look behind the brand and reveal what Don is like outside the world of vaping .
MOTORCYCLES
Don ’ s love for motorcycles started in his early teens , with some of his fondest memories being spent on the back of a friend ’ s Yamaha DT250 dirt bike . He said : “ He would ride it up to my house , put me on the back and we ’ d head up to a field that had been fashioned into a makeshift motocross track . “ This is where I first learned how to ride and I fell in love . The freedom , the wind in my hair , the thrill of being so exposed … I fell in love hard .” Don told us how , as an adult , he would get together with a crew every Sunday , hit the ‘ twisty roads ’ and ride ‘ until his muscles ached ’. He said : “ There is one particular ride that still gives me goosebumps , especially when I hit the same roads . “ On this day , I nailed every braking marker , perfectly clipped every apex , and stormed out of every corner like a Moto GP racer … it was literally the ride of my life .” Although back surgery forced him to sell his Kawasaki ZX14 sport bike , Don is now on the hunt for something smaller for him and his wife to enjoy .
COMPUTERS
As a lifelong gamer , Don has played almost every title under the sun , from The Legend of Zelda to the latest season of Destiny 2 and almost everything in-between . However , his favourite game of all-time was Final Fantasy VII , which he would play with his now-adult children on an almost nightly basis . But what ’ s perhaps most impressive was Don ’ s time as a competitive gamer , spending most of the early 2000 ’ s dominating the Counter Strike scene . He said : “ I was a 40 something year old competing against the 18-year-olds and winning more often than not . “ Unfortunately , there just came a point where my reflexes no longer allowed me to stay competitive , so I eventually had to step away .” Don now spends his time building high-end custom PCs for friends and other clients , as well as working with a team of friends to push their tech to the ‘ twitching limit ’ in overclocking competitions . He said : “ Think of cooling your CPU and graphics card to -175C with liquid nitrogen and then turning the speed up to “ 11 ”.
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