Issue 24 - January 09
Breather
Rodger Lovins
Available from: www.worldmagicshop.co.uk
Price: £10.99
The Breather Crimp is a method for preparing a card so that
when it is in the deck you can cut straight to it every time. Traditionally it
is used as a key or locator card which enables you to find a freely selected
card with a single cut. Provided that the Breather Crimp is next to the
selection you will be able to locate it with your eyes shut (literally!). The
nice thing about this sort of locator card is that to a casual glance it appears
like any of the other cards in the deck.
Many years ago I was shown how to make a Breather Crimp
card. It takes approximately 2 seconds to make and so if your original card
eventually starts to lose its effectiveness, you can re-make it immediately.
Bearing all this in mind I was intrigued when I received Rodger's marketed
version as I was interested to see what advances he has made with the basic
idea. Having had a look at it, I was disappointed to discover that really the
answer was almost none! OK, the shape of the gimmicking was different from what
I had been shown all those years ago, and maybe a bit bigger too, but although
he states that his version "has upgraded the original breather crimped
card" and that it is therefore "easier to use and lasts longer",
I would possibly want to dispute those claims.
I put the supplied Breather Crimp into my deck and
experimented with it. Yes, it works fine. No better than the original, however.
As to whether it lasts longer, well of course I can't really test that without
using it for some considerable time, but because of the shape of Rodger's
gimmick, you can't very easily re-new it yourself, whereas with the original, as
I explained earlier, you can simply reinforce the gimmicking or make another in
a couple of seconds. So in that case the original has an ADVANTAGE over
this new version.
OK, so let's see if there is anything else about the
supplied item which could justify the purchase cost. The packaging contends that
the gimmicked card comes with an "instruction booklet and a killer 4 Ace
routine". No, it doesn't, not unless a single piece of paper printed on one
side constitutes an instruction booklet, and certainly the words "killer 4
Ace Routine" are grossly misleading since all that is supplied is a single
effect in which you and a spectator take turns to cut the deck and each time the
helper turns up random cards and you cut on every occasion to an Ace. It's a
nice little quickie and easy to do, but a "killer ROUTINE"? I
think not.
All in all this is unfortunately not one of Rodger's better
offerings. I don't think his very minor adjustment to the original principle is
enough to justify him marketing the effect. The packaging is very misleading and
the whole product is overpriced. ML
What's Hot: If you want to get your hands on a Breather
Crimped card you receive one ready made
What's Not: Hard to see how marketing this can be justified, especially at the
price
Star Rating: *
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