Where there's vape, there's.. well.. ew

We're only one week, or if you like, one king cake baby into this year's Carnival season. But already there are controversies a' brewing. For example, why hasn't Krewe Du Vieux updated their website in over a year?  The parade rolls in three weeks and folks are eager to see the new route.  It's out there, if you know where to look.

Kindly set up hydration stations for our Krewe during this year's 5K. pic.twitter.com/7tcmeAHIyZ
— Happy Drunk (@KreweduVieux) January 10, 2015

But since hardly anybody uses Twitter, it might be time to get the print edition out on the streets.

Meanwhile, the annual contest to see who can actualize the most absurd king cake concept is well underway.

Instead of a king cake burger arms race, the 2015 Carnival season brought us fries.

Anthony Graham Blackall, a Loyola undergrad who runs the food blog Glazed & Confused, dreamed up the sweet potato king cake fries.

"In my quest to create the closest thing possible to dessert poutine," Blackall writes, "I made this absolute showstopper of a dessert chock-full of vitamin A."

The sweet potato fries are topped with brown butter cream cheese glaze, praline sauce, pecans and -- bien sûr -- purple, green and gold sugar.

That's actually tamer than I expected. When I saw the "King Cake Fries" headline I figured someone would be out deep frying slices of king cake... which, come to think of it, is kind of a strange thing to have not actually happened by now.

Case in point, the appearance of "King Cake Fries," on Twitter the other day touched off a round of people trying to name the most ridiculous king cake flavored item and often failing to outstrip the bounds of reality.

For example, King Cake Artisanal Popcorn is a thing in real life. 

But then there is this.

The Original King Cake Flavored eJuice.  The King Cake is a quintessential New Orleans tradition for Carnival time.  Our King Cake Flavor blend is hand crafted in New Orleans with the finest Organic ingredients.  The best e-juice (e-liquid) for lower prices.

During last week's city council shout-a-thon over the smoking ban, councilors and commenters puzzled over the future of the only recently born vaping industry.

Electronic cigarette smokers also are targeted in the ordinance, which lists possible forthcoming health warnings and difficulty of enforcing e-cig use as reasons it would be prohibited. E-cig supporters argue that e-cigs not only can be used as a smoking cessation tool, but that if cigar bars can be grandfathered into the ordinance, then there's no reason that vape shops can't also allow for e-cig use.

E-cigs have birthed a new industry booming across south Louisiana, and its supporters feel the City Council has overreached in its ban of a product that many feel is safe not only for its users, but to others fearing secondhand "smoke." Chad Rogers, who runs a vape shop in Terrebonne Parish, was among a large group of e-cig supporters wearing T-shirts that read, "I'm not a smoker... anymore." The group was among several speakers who argued that vaping can act as a smoking cessation tool that has not yet been vetted by government health organizations. Rogers said if cigar bars are exempt from the new ban, then vape shops should also be allowed for vaping. Musician Juliette Tworsey, who opposes the ordinance as written, said vaping can potentially save lives.

But now e-cigs are not only their very own business sector and active lobby, thanks to this "hand-crafted" and "Organic" novelty flavor, they are also part of the unique culture of New Orleans.. or something.  No way that goes down without a fight.

Speaking of novlety flavored juices, here is our first look at the king cake vodka market. As of yesterday it was running from $8.15 on the low end..



To $23.99 on the high end.



I can't imagine what you're paying for with that extra fifteen dollars. (The discrepancy has been even wider in the past, in fact.) Seems excessive given that the Taaka actually won the only taste test, I've ever been aware of.

On the other hand, it might be important to pay for quality king cake themed foodstuffs. You never know what kind of shoddy product might be out there.