VAST Breathing System – The Basis

Vendor: VAST

Important Security Information As hot and horny breath play is, NEVER DO IT ALONE OR BY YOURSELF! Every year we lose several members of the kink community to self breath play. No matter how much you think you have figured out the safety and falls backs, there is always a slight and sadly often lethal chance of it failing. This especially applies to playing with inhalants like poppers or N2O/ laughing gas. If you are curious about breath play, look for experienced partners to introduce you to this kink and its intricacies. Please just never do it alone!

For years I have been asked to review breath play toys and I refused! I deemed breath play too dangerous to make people curious to try it out, especially on the own. However, the VAST Breathing System makes breath play more controllable that I decided to review it.

Controllable does NOT mean less dangerous! Breath play is always hardcore edge play and should NEVER BE DONE ALONE! Regardless of how much you think you have thought it out and how easy breath play get with this system, never do it alone.

As a disclaimer, I have been involved in the design of the design of this system early on. Most of the elements I am basing this review on are pre-production samples on which I have been giving feedback. Except minor alterations, they represent the products you would get if you ordered elements of the system. Most of my feedback went towards adding new elements (for example the screw-in one direction valve). While I try to stay as neutral as possible when writing about this system, please always keep in mind that the feedback of my testees and me has already been taken into consideration and thus my view might be a bit more positive as it would have otherwise has been. But as always I try to describe in depth what the system can do so you decide if it is useful for your play or not.

This being a system of toys, I decided to split this review in at least two parts: This will cover the basic elements and in a follow up in a few weeks I talk about fun but not necessary additions.

All that being said, let’s dive into the fun.

Construction

All elements of the VAST Breathing System are 3D printed. For the first prototypes they used a dark blue polymer because it was sturdier.  They have now found a black one with equal properties so you should get all black toys with the typical silky-rough surface of a 3D printed object. This manufacturing process also explained the price: Especially the larger items take hours to print and require a lot of polymer. Due to the small numbers these toys will be made cheaper manufacturing methods like die casting is not an alternative. So like with many kink toys you have the pay a premium for premium quality toy.

Being 3D printed, all elements fit perfectly into each other and are air-tight. The air seal is supported by the silicone grease which also makes all parts move smoothly. Every moving part comes with a little jar just in case you need to relubricate. Do not use oil based lubrication for these toys! Oil and grease will damage and destroy rubber and latex! Since the gas masks, hoses and rebreathing bags for breath play are made out of rubber, you will harm these elements permanently.

The bigger parts and sets come in nicely finished and heat-embossed wooden containers. For easy storage of the individual pieces are housed in foam skips.

The Head Gear

The system is build around the NATO GM40 standard with a 40mm thread. In order to function properly, it needs a separate in and out. This means, it does NOT work with the popular Russian gas mask (though I think they are working on something) or the German one combined with a GM40 adaptor. With some 3D printed modifications it could probably work with the new British GSR. The system was primarily designed to work with the popular British Avon S10 or Avon FM12 gas mask. If you don’t have one of these gas masks, VAST sometimes sells them. But post-Brexit they have been very difficult to get.

In order to make these gas masks ready for play, you need to take the speech membrane out of the right port and on the S10 replace the left one with the Exhale Valve (49.90€). I have gotten this valve along with S10 Upgrade Kit (239€). This kit includes not only a stainless steel tool for – hopefully – easy conversion and the Exhale Valve but also a replacement for the front insert with a screw off middle part. Instead of the middle part you can put in different tunnels with diameters of 40mm, 45mm and 50mm or holders for the Fleshlight Classic and Fleshlight GO. This kit has been sitting around my playroom for a couple of months now but I have not used it yet.  As written above, the S10 and FM12 have been very hard to get and gotten very expensive. So I have not had it in my heart to transform one of two S10 I have gotten using the kit. As soon as I have gotten my hand on another S10/FM12 I will document the transformation process and link the article here. If you every wanted to facefuck you breath controlled, gas masked bottom or turn him into a human Fleshlight, this is the way to go!

Partly why I was hesitant to modify one of my gas masks was that I already turned my FM12 into a BC one by taking the membranes out on both sides and sealed the exhale vent in the middle. However, in order for the VAST Breathing System to work, one port must be one-way. So I recommended to create a GM40 screw-in one-way valve. In the first prototype I used for this review, the valve was integrated into a gas mask hose. The last prototype was as originally suggested by me an element to be screwed between the gas mask and any hose. It is not on the website yet and I don’t know the price yet. I will update this review as soon as it is online. In the meantime, write them an e-mail. This screw-in valve of course makes every GM40 two-port breath control rubber hood (from Studio Gum for example) compatible with this system.

If a gas mask is too much for you, you rather wear a different hood or a blindfold instead of a gas mask or want something handy to press manually onto your sub’s face, the Medical Mask (19.95€) is the way to go. It needs to be combines with the Mask Splitter (99€) which adds two GM40 ports each one-way valved to the Medical Mask. To fix the medical mask to the head, VAST developed a Head Harness (69.50€) out of the extra strong Superior Latex. The straps are long enough to accommodate even big heads. Since Superior Latex is soft and smooth like garment latex, there is little pressure on the head and you can lie on it comfortably. The buckles are small so if you lie on your side, they are noticeable but not really uncomfortable.

Being a sensual player, this is the combination I use most with the breathing system. It allows me to look into my sub’s eyes unobstructed while caressing his head or nibbling on his ears. A friend of mine is really into sleek and slick rubber drone play. He preferred the medical mask too because it was the smallest addition to the flowing lines of the seamless black rubber cocoon his subs wear.

The Rebreather (189€)

This is the main element of the Breathing System and game changer in breath play for me!

It is a 47mm tall can with a diameter of about 100mm. In the middle sits a big, remarkable smooth-turning switch which can be gripped and operated easily even when wearing thick gloves.  Into the tin’s rim the words “intern” and “extern” are printed. Around the tin five female GM40 ports are located. Each port is also labeled on top.

Setting up the Rebreather is quite intuitive: Connect the GM40 port labeled “Breath In” with the gas mask port for breathing in, the port labeled “Breath Out” with the corresponding mask port. In order for the system to work, the airflow passing through the mask must be uni-directional! Because of this, a one-ways valve on the breathing out is essential! Finally, attach a re-breathing bag to the aptly named “Bag” port and you are ready to go.

When your sub inhales for the first time, the switch should be turned to “extern” so he draws in fresh air. Before he starts to exhale, switch to internal. Now his breath is caught in the bag and he draws his air from there. Once he needs fresh air, simple turn the switch again to “extern”, the air goes out through the port “Air Out” and fresh comes in through “Air In”.

That’s it! Very anti-climactic and simple. But that’s the beauty of this system. In the past breath play involved manually holding shut hoses, pulling off masks or unscrewing bags just in time. Timing these time-taking actions just right that there were hot enough to kick the sub’s head but timely enough to avoid panic or even worse accidents was a skill which took very long to learn. And put clumsy people like me off breath play. Now getting the sub that sweet, sweet fresh air is just a switch turn away. It makes breath play more controllable and thus safer. Let me iterate here again that this doesn’t mean you can play with the system on your own! It just makes breath play easier so the top can focus more on doing fun things to his sub.

Since the system is built around GM40 female ports, you need hoses with male connectors on both sides. For those who have built their breath play toy bag around professional anesthetic gear, VAST made a GM40 connector (18,90€) for those hoses.  Very rarely you can find GM40 male/male hoses in military surplus stores – most hoses are male/female. If you don’t have any male/ male, VAST sells those hoses. The nice thing about those is that the connector is disconnected from the hose end in a screwcap style. So when you turn connect the elements you just have to turn the screw and not the object the port is connected to.  This makes the relatively steep price somewhat justifiable. Another advantage of these hoses is that unlike the surpluses hoses which usually have the standard length of 45cm they come in length from 10cm to 105cm.

This is nifty because one disadvantage of the system is that the elements are bulky and heavy and adding a lot of long hoses doesn’t help (especially once you start incorporating other fun elements which I will talk about in a few weeks). So using short hoses keeps the entire setup at least somewhat compact. And from a certain point on it also becomes a safety issue. Depending on the lung capacity and strength, the sub’s draft can become too weak to pull fresh air through the tubes. So in order to stay safe, I recommend staying below 150cm total length between the point where fresh air enters and the sub’s mouth.

In order to work properly, a breathing bag needs to be attached to the port labeled “bag”. You can use professional breathing bags together with the GM40 adaptor I mentioned in the section about hoses. Some kink stores also sell breath bags with a male GM40 port attached already. Depending on sub’s size and which sports he does, the average lung capacity is between 2l and 4l (extremely sporty guys or divers manage up to 8l…).

For more elaborate play VAST developed the Capsule Injector (119€). It is a 6l breathing bag with a male GM40 connector. Once attached to the “Bag” port, it works like a standard breathing bag.  Between the connector and the bag sits aluminum cartridge holder for standard kitchen use N2O capsules. In order to introduce the gas into the system, turn the switch on the Rebreather to “extern”, put the capsule in to the cartridge holder screw it tightly so the gas fills the bag (one capsule is about 6l so the bag inflates almost completely). Once the sub has exhaled, turn the switch to “intern” and let him rebreathe the agent. Since N2O is only slowly absorbed and thus needs to be rebreathed, this is a very elegant and sophisticated method compared to the other ways the gas is usually inhaled and rebreathed.

Very long story short, the concept behind the breathing system is a simple one: Using a switch to change fresh air to rebreathing. And a few gear enthusiasts have built elaborate breath play setup in their playrooms. But they are mostly stationary and not easy to rebuilt by unskilled and/ or unhandy people. So as far as I know the VAST Breathing System is the first portable, easy and more importantly safe to use breath play system. As a clumsy person I never felt comfortable to top breath play even though I knew the science behind it and theoretically have the skills. With the Rebreather and the accompanying toys I feel safe enough to do more breathe play as a top.

This review only covers the basis of the breathing system. It includes many different tools for forced poppers huffing, breathing the smell of piss or used socks and underwear, rebreathing the breath of a fellow sub. I will take a look at these toys in a review in a few weeks.

Conclusion: Innovative special purpose restraint with practical shortcoming.
Pro	Cons	Where to get	Price
Safe to use even in extreme scenes	A bit bulky & heavy	VAST
	High price
Very easy to use	Does not work on one-port gasmasks (S10 can be converted)
Many different add-ons for elaborate setups