Review Thursday: The Nipple Bulb

So - new toy this week, some nipple sucker thing with a bulb and plastic tube.  It was inventively called the 'nipple bulb'.  I was so impressed with the thought that went into this toy that I just had to buy it when I saw it on Pink Cherry.  This was part 2 of my order there a few weeks ago.

Sarcasm aside (for now) my girl likes suction toys.  Since I haven't had my parts suctioned I take her word that it's really cool.  I also enjoy seeing how the suction works on her body, so I guess from my point of view it's kind of cool as well.

Onto the product itself.  It isn't very complicated, there is a moderate sized rubber ball on one end, and on the other end a hard plastic tube a couple inches long.  The theory is that you squish the rubber bulb, put the plastic thingy over something, then let go and voila, instant suction!

I haven't had 'impressive' luck with toys like this in the past.  Maybe I'm just wishing for something more 'hardcore' or my ideal image of what is going to happen doesn't exist.

The first thing I noticed about the toy itself when we opened it was that the aperature was not 'large'.  Since my girl has 'large' nipples, I was skeptical that this was 'one size fits all nipples'.  I would know, I play with them often enough to judge their size without having to compare directly.

I was also dissappointed to find that they had only shipped me three rubber rings.  The package showed four rings.  This sad discovery was later rectified when my girl told me I was blind and there was obviously four of them.  I believe she slipped an extra one in there from her stash of things I don't know she has.

Onto playtime.  I deduced that you slippd the ring on the plastic column (there is a handy indent where it sits) then did the suction thing, then rolled the ring off onto the nipple.  Not rocket science I figured it couldn't be that hard.

So I squeeze the bulb as hard as I could and set it over her nipple, then released the bulb.  No suction.  Hmm.  Her nipples were too big for me to actually enclose them fully with the narrow aperature (just what I was afraid of).  So, onto plan B.  Ram the thing down onto her nipple and squish in her breast to form a seal.  Release bulb.  The bulb stays squished up - also what I was afraid of, but at least it created a seal.

After some wiggling and creative (read 'deft') finger movement I managed to get it centered on her nipple.  Then with some more manipulation of the bulb it suddenly *fwwooopp* sucked her nipple into the tube.  She seemed as shocked as I was.

I didn't get the impression that it had distended her nipple at all, it had just finally pulled it up into the tube.  There wasn't any way to increase the suction so that was about as good as we were going to get.  Ok, so I rolled the rubber ring off the tube and onto her nipple.  I think it pinched quite sharply because she jumped and went 'ooohh!!!' and the suction thing that I was holding lost it's grip on her nipple with a slurping sound - which provoked another startled noise at the same time.  Note - apparently the rings pinch a bit.

I played with the nipple to see how supple it was - it was quite supple, which meant it wasn't hard, but was still distended, the ring apparently works, cool.

Onto the other nipple - with even less luck.  This one is just slightly larger, and that slightly caused problems.  I did manage to get some suction going, but it wasn't all the way onto the base.  I figured what the heck, and slid the ring on anyway.  I was quickly informed that it was purely painful, and not in a fun way.  This also led me to discover that taking the damn rings off was difficult, they didn't want to 'roll' and pulling them off her nipple just didn't want to work.  I eventually had to just drag it off before she started flailing at me in pain.  Note - figure out a better way to remove those before I have to do it again.

So, to get this to work we had to get her less excited and let her nipple soften up a bit.  Now if you think pleasing a woman is hard, try 'not' pleasing a woman while at the same time she's waiting for you to put something on that is going to suction her nipple.  This process took a while.  Eventually I got impatient with her constant arousal and just tried again.  With some creative fiddling around we got that ring on as well.

Now at this point they look mildly interesting.  I'll consider going through this whole process again and seeing what 'long term' wear is possible.  But for short term 'playing' - definately too much work.

At this poing I'm looking at the two extra rings wondering if I could put them on her nipples as well.  Instead she reminds me that we used to have suction toys that went in other places.  Ah ha!  She didn't 'want' to remind me about that, (not that I'd really forgotten) but when I dragged it out of her it sounded like a delightful idea (made even better because she looked worried at the thought of it).

Now not that she 'fights' persay, but I know she didn't want to let me drag off her pants and get down there.  Which was kind of half the fun anyway.  It didn't take long to get her in the spirit of things though.  The results were also worth the effort.  It went on much smoother (I didn't try a ring because I was concerned about getting it back off).  But I did leave the bulb attached and attempted some 'manuevers' with it (which involved twisting, tugging and stretching).  This didn't take nearly as much work and was a lot more fun - definately the 'proper' use for this kind of toy.

Overall - not something I'd throw in my bag for a quick play.  Not that the toy itself isn't good (it is) but if I want to use something on her nipples it just wouldn't be my first, or third, choice.  As mentioned I'll be exploring the long term usage at a later time to see what possibilities that has (the rings didn't seem 'too' extreme, so I think wearing them under clothing could be fun for both of us).  The saving grace is that it's a great quick and easy suction toy for use elsewhere, which will likely be what it is used for more often.

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Review Thursday: Nipple Bulb

Just like last week, our review focuses this Thursday on an item we purchased from Pink Cherry.  I would link you directly to the items, but they appear to have been removed from the site; perhaps they're out of stock for now.  If you're looking for them, keep an eye on Pink Cherry's Nipple Toy Page or check out other sites online.  I've seen this item in lots of places, so it shouldn't be too difficult to locate. I believe that we spent about $15 Canadian on this item, though your price may vary at different locations.  The first thing I thought of was how awesome this would be for people with inverted nipples, because they seem to offer long-term nipple erection.  Interesting!

The box contains a rubber ball suction device attached to a glass column, and four small silicone type rubber bands. You slide one of the rings onto the glass column, then depress the suction device before placing it over a nipple, allowing it to suck the nipple up into the tube before sliding the ring down onto the base of the nipple.

A caveat here:  This is very size specific.  I would recommend checking this out at your local adult toy store for scale before purchase. The glass column itself is a little narrow.  It barely, barely worked on my nipples (which I will admit, are probably a bit larger than average, but not too extreme!).  If nipples were quite small (such as on a male) the column would likely be quite a bit bigger than necessary.


This size difference wouldn't be such a big deal if the way the item was intended to work wasn't so dependent on size.  The rings are roughly the same size as the glass column, and so being slid down onto very small nipples, I can see where they would simply fall off.  For someone who is just the right size, on the other hand, this is an interesting toy.

Once upon a time, we had snakebite kit type nipple suckers which I adored.  We also had little nipple "nooses" which we had a lot of fun with - particularly being worn under clothing to maintain permanently erect nipples when out in public.  This promised a similar type of sensation to these two, hopefully combining the best of both worlds.

Master had a little bit of struggle with the placement of this, again because the sizing was pretty tight.  The suction was pretty delicious; not super-strong so it wasn't painful, but strong enough that you couldn't ignore what was going on.  There's a sudden snapping shock of sensation when the band is rolled down and onto the nipples.  It definitely made me jump.  You'll want to steel yourself for that moment; it's not painful like the bite of a clamp, but somehow extremely jarring.  With the band in place, the suction bulb can be gently wriggled off.  That's just the start of the fun.

The light binding of the nipple isn't painful, but it does ensure that the nipple will stay hard.  This is where I think it would come in handy for people with inverted nipples.  The band around the base will allow for plenty of nipple stimulation; it's small, and so doesn't block off the nipple in any way.  If desired, you could play with the nipple manually or orally or use other toys such as clamps, vibration, anything you would like to stimulate the nipple while it's standing up proudly.  The visual is kind of nice too, as it does stand it up high and hard, the suction making it quite tall.

After a little time, I reminded the Masterly type of the "other" place that we often used the snakebite style suckers in the past.  Yep, that sensitive little nub between the legs.  I was worried with the narrow glass tube that this wouldn't work well, but when it comes down to it, my clit isn't terribly huge.  And it does love the suction.  Oh my.

The Masterly one got an evil glint in his eye.  He loves playing with toys.  And suction things, too.  It wasn't more than a minute before he was between my legs.  There was some initial yelping and protest as I was still a bit sore from some rough activities the night before, but within a minute or two he had me purring like a kitten and squirming with splayed thighs.  He knows just how to push my buttons, this one in particular.

At any rate, before long, he had the toy poised over my clit.  The suction here was far, far more intense of a sensation than on the nipples.  It still wasn't painful, but that may be just because I enjoy the sensations so much.  I'm not sure if the silicone ring ever made it onto my clit, as I quickly got so aroused by the tugging and pulling on the bulb itself that I was close to orgasm.  I never had that jumpy OMG moment that I did when it slid onto my nipples so I suspect not.  It wasn't long before I was exploding, and Master was using his mouth to remove the rings from my nipples... ahhh bliss.

Overall this is a fun, non-severe toy that will work well for even those with zero pain tolerance.  I still think the snake bit suckers are a little better on my clit but the rings make this unique.  I'm interested in finding out how the rings perform in keeping nipples at full attention long-term, under clothes, out in public, but that'll have to wait for another occasion.  I do think they'll perform well, though.

A warning:  Be sure that the nipple is completely encased in the glass tube before sliding the band down onto the base of the nipple.  With one try, it was at a bad angle, and the band slid onto the base of my nipple on one side and the middle on the other side (at an angle in other words).  This did result in some pretty intense discomfort, though it was quickly remedied.

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Review Thursday: Press Clamps

Out of all the things that make Canada awesome, the price of sex toys makes it less awesome.  Though recently I did find a decent online site that is actually in Canada (yay no overpriced shipping!).  So - along that line of thought, we were out one day and had decided to look around and see if we could find some kinky new toys.  We lost our whole toybox a few years ago and just haven't had the money or patience to rebuild it adequately.

So - to make the story short, we were shopping, marvelling at the insanely overpriced toys (giving shocked expressions to the dildos larger than my arm - WTF are those for anyway?) and trying to find the actual kinky selection of toys aside from the 50 different kinds of bunny vibes.  Writing this reminds me that I have to go back to that shop and buy one of the feather ticklers - just for the look on my girl's face - but that is another topic.

Anyway ... while looking we found some not stupidly priced nipple toys, and one of them was this Spartacus Press Clamp set.  Since my girl has large breasts and large nipples sometimes we have trouble with toys that have smaller 'gripping' space.  These actually looked promising, they have large open areas with adjustable screws, and are more of a clamping design than pinching design.  So, they looked interesting, and we picked them up.

Normally I don't prefer the clamps with a chain running between them, unless they're clover clamps.  This isn't because of aesthetics or anything, but pure practicality.  Sometimes I'm not careful, tug on the chain and 'pop' off they come.  Since I like controlling that initial 'freeing' sensation I feel like I miss out at these times and am usually not impressed.  I also like to be in control of what's going on - not that I can't work with 'shit happens' but I prefer not to.

So the other night I broke into these while I put on an older movie with some D/s undertones that we'd been planning to watch.  I like having her stretch out with her head in my lap while watching movies or TV, it gives me a nice view and also lets me idly play with her hair, breasts and/or nipples whenever I want.  So during the playing I twisted these free and started to put them on her.  The opened fairly smoothly and went on pretty easily.  The thumb screws tightened down, but with her nipples being so big they squeezed out of the 'clamped' area.  This didn't seem to bother her, so I don't think it lessened the sensation.

The visual with the bra was just a side benefit

I got the clamps snugged up, though the thumb screws became obdurate when I tried to actually tighten them down.  I have pretty good finger strength but I just couldn't get the 'squeeze' I really wanted out of them.  Once I had them on and gave the chain a bit of a tug to see how it made her jump I went to get the camera.  On my way back I noticed her playing with them, she grabbed the chain and decided to give it a tug - it was sexy for a minute and I was getting ready to take a picture, then they just popped right off.  Not so secure.  She gave me a surprised 'O' look and I gave her a frustrated 'don't mess with my mental image' look.

Readjusting the clamps I told her not to tug on them so hard and went back for pictures.  I got a few decent shots, then settled in for the long haul.  I started the movie to get my timer started.  Safety is important when working with new equipment, she has good endurance, but I don't want to do permanent damage so I always pay close attention to both her nipples coloring and how long I've had the clamps on.

I played with the clamps, I had them on in such a way that when I pulled on the chain they would twist her nipples instead of just pulling on them.  Since the clamps are large and square this was easily accomplished.  Using the chain (gently) I pulled it horizontally across her body (she is laying down) and kept the vertical tugging to a minimum (for fear of pulling them off).

Over time her nipples got more and more sensitive - as usual with this sort of toy.  The tips were easily available for further torture and gentle touching.  I also found I could get a good reaction by taking one of them in my fingers and turning it like a steering wheel, which twisted the nipple rather severely.

I did discover that the more I played, the more quickly the screws loosened.  This is the problem I've had repeatedly with adjustable toys that use thumb screws, they just don't stay securely tightened.  It seemed like every minute or so I would have to keep snugging them up.  At first I thought that her nipples were getting squeezed enough for me to tighten them further, but that wasn't it.  I tightened them as hard as I could, and I watched while I played with them, it was subtle, but the screw was actually backing out from the pressure of her nipple trying to re-expand.  Not great when what you want is to make her nipples ache tomorrow.  The constant tightening was distracting - I think after a while she was surprised that I could keep making them tighter - she didn't know what was going on.

Overall - about average for adjustable screw clamps.  For anyone with large nipples these are fantastic, and if you're looking for more of a gentle 'slow build' sensation these are perfect.  If you can't give them enough attention to keep them tightened  you might be disappointed with the results.  We'll be using them again, because I never use something only once, but with other options these wouldn't be my first choice.

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Review Thursday: Spartacus Press Clamps

The Masterly type and I were out to catch a movie, and of course before a movie, shopping is a great way to kill time.  Especially when there's an adult boutique down the street from the movie theatre.

I'd like to take a moment of my time to tell you Americans that you are very lucky in the adult toy marketplace arena.  My girlfriends and I used to shop at the big discount stores up in Wisconsin when I lived in Chicago, and the prices were phenomenal.  Even the prices at the little shops in the city beat Canadian prices by a country mile.  I never appreciated then how nice it was to be able to have a huge toy collection.  Which is part of why losing our whole collection in our fire was such a horrible thing.  But I digress...

As we wandered about and I pointedly avoided the wide varieties of feathers on sticks (one of these days I will explain my utter horror at being tickled.  It is the worst thing EVAH), we caught sight of these little babies, hanging on the wall among the small array of fetish items.

We had quite a collection of nipple toys in the past, but had never tried clamps quite like this before.  We were both fascinated by the way they worked, as opposed to our old favourites of tweezer clamps and clover clamps.  I have rather large nipples, so sometimes clamps are hard to use effectively, but these had a nice size to them, so we went ahead and picked them up on impulse.

I really like the feel of cold metal on my skin.  It's scary and goose bump inducing and threatening somehow.  So, I like clamps with metal chains.  Master... not so much.  He finds chains to be a bit more of a pain than a help, though pulling on the chains is an entertainment he seems to enjoy.  I also really like that the whole body of the clamp is metal.  It gives a sharpness to clamps that rubber cushioned tips soften almost too much sometimes.

At first, I found these clamps to be pretty mild.  I'm not sure how tightly they were adjusted, but while it was a nice mild pressure, there wasn't an initial "bite" of pain.  I immediately grabbed the chain and pulled upward.  Oh.  They came right off.  Either they weren't very tight, or just were very slippery without rubber grips.  Either way, it made Master look both amused and annoyed with me.  I think he probably was sorry he hadn't restrained my hands.

Once they were readjusted, we went back to what we were doing.  Namely, I remained positioned across the leather ottoman in front of him, and he resumed the movie (the 1974 version of Swept Away).  For endurance play, these work well, as my body seemed to adjust to the level of compression easily enough, leaving a throb, but not a huge amount of pain.

Every so often, Master would tighten them a bit, increasing the pressure, giving more pain, making me squirm more and more.  He likes having a toy at his disposal during movies and the like, so he spent lots of time just idly toying with the clamps and my clamped nipples.  The compression made them extremely sensitive, and even light brushes of his fingertips over the tips of them was very intense.  Tugging was really nice with these clamps, I think because of the configuration of the compression and where the chains are located on the clamps.  Whatever the physics of it, I could feel it quite deeply, and it shot both pleasure and pain through my body. Often it feels like a pull on a chain is only pulling on the skin of the nipples - particularly with "toothy" clamps, but this definitely lifted the full breast, with a completely different set of sensations when the chains were straight up (while on my back) or in other directions.

It took a bit of time, but it wasn't long before we were reaching my endurance limit.  This is something I think I'd like to work on, cause I was feeling a little bit like a wimp as I whined and squirmed around. Being as he can read me so easily, it was only a minute or two after I had the thought of "Oh holy crap I hope these come off soon" before they were being removed.  Because the compression is lifted gradually by the thumbscrew instead of suddenly, there is no OMG moment when they first come off.  I actually kind of missed that.  The sick feeling you get in your stomach when you really, really want the clamps to come off but are terrified of that shock of pain when the blood returns probably won't happen next time, because I know it's a gradual thing.  Perhaps if they were yanked off all at once you'd still get that... something to experiment with in the future!

Overall, I really like these clamps, and because of their slightly milder nature, they are great for endurance play.  These would be fun to use during a more prolonged scene, combined with flogging or other impact play, because they are easier to wear longer-term.  I think it was a great purchase and look forward to more playtime involving them.

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Review: Chopstick Clamps

For a while my girl has been asking me to try chopstick nipple toys on her. I'm not sure when or why it started, but it has been tickling in the back of my brain for a while.  Until the other day when she brought it up by showing me some hot pictures and I finally agreed to give it a shot.  We're a bit short on toys at the moment and anything relatively inexpensive that we can play with is a big bonus.  She was more anxious than I had thought, since that night I was given a pair of chopstick clamps preconfigured and ready to be used.  Well - I wasn't 'given' them, they were quickly placed on my nightstand before she quickly scurried away on her way to bed.  When I asked what they were she blushed and said something like 'new toys' - which was very cute, as usual.

I took a look at them to get an idea of how to use the effectively.  My fingers are dexterous, but are thick and wide so manipulating delicate objects sometimes takes me some practice.  These seemed pretty straight forward.  Pry open, place over nipple, release.  We have two different kinds of chopsticks in the house, so I got one of each types.  One type is a bit of a rougher and more squared wood, the others are perfectly smooth and round.  I played with the elastics wrapped around the ends until I thought they gave the right amount of pressure for a first attempt.

So a short time later after some fun play I snagged the pair of them, her nipples were at attention and it was a good chance to see how these actually worked.  Now I'm used to having a bit of a learning curb with new items, but I really had some trouble with these.  Mostly I had a hard time pulling them far enough apart to slip easily over her nipple.  She has quite large nipples, and while I could wedge my thumb into the chopsticks it wasn't quite enough.  Eventually I had to get my thumb and forefinger between the chopsticks and pinch her nipple, then kind of drag it through.  Now, that was interesting, and it worked - she didn't seem to mind - but it took a while and I felt clumsy.

For the second one I decided to try a different approach. I took the elastic off one end so they were easier to spread apart, then clamped them over her nipple.  I started trying to wrap the elastic around the ends again, but they kept twisting out of my grip and pinching her nipple a little more sharply than I had intended.  Which made her jump around and usually made me lose the grip on her nipple.  When I eventually got the elastic tight enough to hold it was impossible for me to go that extra twist or two and make it acutally tight.  So this whole idea was a bust.

Properly clamped nipple

I ended up taking them back off and redoing the elastics, then jamming my thumbs into them until they were wide enough and getting them properly over her nipple.  I think after some more practice things would go smoother, though I don't think I'd try it if I had to use one had to steady her breast, like if she was in an upright position, hanging face down or laying down are probably optimal.  The secret is to get a thumb or finger to the right and left of where the nipple will be and wedge the center open far enough that it slides down easily, then removing your thumbs without letting the chopsticks ride up.

Now for the fun part - I've never had clamps this wide on her nipples, so the first idea I had was to spin them like clock hands (no not quick like winding something).  So I took one end and pushed it down, maybe to 6 O'clock (Originally I had the ends horizontal at 3 and 9).  I could see the nipple twisting inside of them, so they seemed to be working as intended.  Twisting more elicited more reaction, probably something like a pinch and twist, but I could keep twisting and wasn't limited by the rotation of my wrist - bonus.  A see-sawing motion didn't seem to produce much effect, I started to pull on them, but they weren't tight enough not to slip.  So I pushed the elastics more toward the center and they held on quite well.  I'm not sure how much change in pressure there was to her, but it seemed noticeable on my end that they were more firmly attached.  I also found I could squeeze them even tighter by adding pressure with my fingers on either side of her nipple for a bit of extra tightness.

With the chopsticks being so large almost any movement made them bounce a bit, which usually created more movement - another bonus.  It's always nice when toys do some of the work, especially since I only have two hands.  I didn't leave them on for super long, since this was our first play session with them, but they seemed to have pretty much the same effect that any other type of compression clamp does.

Overall - Decent idea, once they were on they worked well.  I had trouble getting them properly placed, but I assume that is just neophytism and with practice it wouldn't be an issue - the technique isn't difficult.  It's always nice to find a pervertable that isn't super expensive, chopsticks are quite cheap and easy to find.  I would recommend sticking to laquered good quality chopsticks, both because the elastics will slide on them (I didn't have trouble in that area) and because getting splinters in my fingers would suck.  I've seen pictures of those takeout chopsticks that are connected at one end used, so it is possible - completely up to personal preference.

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Review Thursday: Chopstick Clamps

Chopsticks make kind of an amazing pervertable.  I'd heard about chopstick clamps a long time ago, but it's something we've never tried.  To be honest, before our house fire, we relied primarily on store bought items rather than pervertables.  We had quite a sizable toy chest, but when everything burned... everything burned.  It's pricey to rebuild a toy collection, and since I'm not earning the kind of money that I once did, perverting ordinary objects into BDSM toys has become a new fascination.

Quarter shown for scale

In order to create chopstick clamps, all you need is four chopsticks, and four elastics.  Lay out the chopsticks with one small end to each larger end, as the photo shows. I would highly recommend using coated hair elastics rather than rubber bands for this, as they are easier to slide along the length of the chopstick.

You can tighten the pressure by the number of times you wrap the elastic around the chopsticks, making them infinitely adjustable, depending on the elastic and the chopsticks.  You can also adjust the feel of the compression by sliding the bands closer to the center, and hair elastics slide very smoothly, to create a slowly building pressure instead of jerky, sudden tugging sensations. Of course, some sadistic types might prefer this kind of sensation, so experiment and see what you prefer.

So, what do they feel like?

Well, to a certain extent, clamps are clamps.  The rounded nature of chopsticks do create a slightly different pressure than other clamping devices we've used.  We tried two different types that we had in the house, and both were lacquered.  I would not recommend using unfinished, throwaway chopsticks for this by the by, because you definitely don't want to get splinters in your nipples.  Head to Chinatown, where you can pick up a finished set of eight for a song.  They are also widely available on the Internet.

One of the sets we used was a more rounded type, while the other was slightly more squared (though not to a sharp-edged degree.  The rounded set seemed to have more pressure to them, though that could have been just the snugness of the rubber bands, since the chopsticks were also slightly larger.  The difference isn't noticeable just looking at them; it took holding them up to one another to discern that the circumference was just slightly different.

What makes these interesting and fun, is that when they're played with, they create some really amazing and unique sensations.  Rolling them back and forth, for example, creates an amazing sensation similar to rolling the nipple with fingers, but with a much sharper edge to the sensation.  Tugging also creates somewhat of a different pressure than most other nipple clamps.  It reminded me of a set of round, pressure clamps we had before the fire (sorry, I can't remember the name!) with flat plates that came together, but even there the sensation was still somewhat variable, because with the chopsticks you can tug on only one side or press them into the breast tissue, which also creates a different feel.

These are definitely a fun, unique pervertable which will be staying in our toy box permanently now!

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