New User From Turkey: From Local Tobacco to E-Cig

[Coyote628]

Speaking of Turkish tobacco, Camel cigarettes proudly state they contain Turkish tobacco. When I smoked, I was a fan of the Turkish Gold Camels. Such a unique taste, fairly mild and flavorful. The Turkish Silver was decent too. Oddly, I do not like tobacco flavored vapes.

 

[bombastinator2]

I’m forgetting which cigs are actually Turkish flavor in the U.S. English ovals? Not sure. This is not a shisha thing. Shisha is another kettle of fish entirely. it’s been a long time. Camels are not really the same though. The flavor was sort of uniquely “stinky”. And very different. You could tell real Turkish tobacco va American tobacco from 5 feet away.
Back in the day you could buy cigarettes made (or merely approved by)by the turkish communist party of the time. It was many years ago though. I haven’t smoked cigs since the 90’s. The world was a different place. I remember them coming in a metal tin and being only 1 layer thick and then suddenly not being able to get them at all. I don’t know the politics, but it was apparently involved. Theres a popular French cigarette that smells a bit like it. May just be a much heavier Turkish blend than Camels.

 

[bombastinator2]

Thank you for providing this forum service for those who use and consider using electronic cigarettes. I decided to become a member of this forum by examining many existing forums for electronic cigarettes. In addition to finding detailed answers to many questions about electronic cigarettes here, I benefited from the experiences of electronic cigarette users in this forum.

I have been smoking local tobacco like this[1] for about 18 years. This tobacco is the local tobacco of the country I live in. I smoke tobacco the old-fashioned way. In other words, I roll the unprocessed tobacco by hand and smoke it. When the demand for domestic tobacco increased as a result of the hikes in cigarettes in our country, tobacco producers reduced the quality of tobacco. In addition to this, when the sale of domestic tobacco without banderol was banned, tobacco producers started to sell the tobacco they produced to cigarette manufacturers. For this reason, quality tobacco could no longer be found. I cannot smoke cigarettes because I have been using local tobacco for a long time. The taste of packet cigarettes is very bad for me, and they do not satisfy me when I smoke them.

Although I like domestic tobacco, I had to turn to alternatives because I could not smoke quality tobacco. Imported tobaccos are too expensive, so I cannot buy them. My only option seems to be electronic cigarettes. As a result of the information I have obtained from your forum, I am very close to smoking electronic cigarettes.

Although the import and sale of electronic cigarettes are prohibited in the country where I live, they are somehow supplied. However, the very low exchange rate of my country's currency against the US dollar and Euro causes the prices of e-cigarette machines to be higher than in other countries. Therefore, I want the e-cigarette machine I will buy not to disappoint me.

In the light of the information I obtained, I deduced that I was looking for a machine like this:

- It should be big enough to carry in my pocket
- It should be light
- Must be resistant to drops (IP rating is a plus point)
- Must be used with external battery
- Parts such as coils and tanks should be easy to find (it is not easy to find every brand because they are smuggled into my country)
- The biggest feature is that I should be able to get the pleasure I would get from domestic tobacco

When I researched machines with these features, I created the following list:

1. Eleaf Istick Pico 2
2. Eleaf Istick Pico Plus
3. Eleaf Istick Pico LE
4. Innokin Coolfire Z80
5. Innokin Kroma R
6. Voopoo Argus XT
7. Voopoo Drag X2
8. Voopoo Drag H80S
9. Vaporesso Gen PT 80S

Devices 1, 2, 3, and 6 of the above list are available. The Voopoo Argus XT has many features I am looking for, but it is two times more expensive than Eleaf devices and a little too long to carry in my pocket. But there are many comments that it has better performance than Eleaf devices. In this case, the decision of which of these four devices I will buy is affected by the efficiency I will get from the coil and tank. When I read other titles in the forum, such as this [2] title, whether the taste and nicotine I will get from e-cigarettes will be sufficient varies from person to person. Nevertheless, I would like to benefit from your experiences, both about the devices I have chosen and about the transition from tobacco to electronic cigarettes. Do you think the efficiency I will get from the devices I choose will satisfy me? Or would I be in vain?

Thank you in advance for your comments.

[1] https://i.pinimg.com/originals/33/68/ab/3368aba6157860f26bc341869e4219ca.png
[2] Tobacco cigarette vs e-cigarette nicotine equivalency

Geekvape also has some mods that would do it. Their quality used to be excellent, but I understand the new ones aren’t as robust. Vandyvape is another brand that at least used to have a good rep. SMOK’s rep was awful for rebuildables at least, though their pod systems were supposed to be ok. Their new stuff may be better than their old stuff though. It may come down to which batteries are most gettable for you. 18650s or 21700s. 26650s are getting difficult to find, for 18650 mods I would go dual battery. They last long enough for two 18650s to charge while vaping the other two so it will always “work”. This is the primary advantage of external batteries. That and when the batteries go bad (and they always eventually will) you can easily replace them. My move was a dual 18650 mod 4 batteries, and a charger, for many years. A single 26650 had as much power as 2 18650s but charged half as fast (because only one battery) so you needed 3 of them even though the things were usually 1 battery mods. With a 21700 you can get away with two batteries. I find 21700s wholly superior to 26650 for vaping. According to a vape store I visited recently though they are on the way out.
18650s will fit in both 21700s and 26650s with an adaptor that general comes with the kit. I am saddened that 21700s may go away. I liked em better. Single 18650s get used up too fast. A squonk with a single 21700 seems just right. Dual 21700 mods are around. They’re huge though they last an absurdly long time.

 

[borno]

Speaking of Turkish tobacco, Camel cigarettes proudly state they contain Turkish tobacco. When I smoked, I was a fan of the Turkish Gold Camels. Such a unique taste, fairly mild and flavorful. The Turkish Silver was decent too. Oddly, I do not like tobacco flavored vapes.

I smoked the camel regulars, I saw them in the grocers for $14 a pack now (and probably stale) lol

 

[bombastinator2]

I smoked the camel regulars, I saw them in the grocers for $14 a pack now (and probably stale) lol

They contain SOME Turkish tobacco. Or did. It may be Turkish stock grown in America. A Turkish cigarette and a camel are very differently tasting things. Outside the U.S. a camel is considered an American tobacco cigarette. They even smell completely different. I first mistook Turkish cigarettes for pot before I knew what pot smelled like. It’s that different.

I don’t know if camels are sheet tobacco now. There have been changes. I have not paid specific attention. I stopped smoking cigarettes in the 90’s

Sheet tobacco is essentially paper made out of tobacco with nicotine sprayed back on because the process removes water soluble stuff. This is not to be confused with tobacco paper which is made from trees.

 

[heihachi]

First of all, I am sorry that I didn't reply to you all in a timely manner, and I thank you all for your thoughts.

Redoing coils is really quick. A few minutes. Less if you don’t clean the coil but just remove the whole wad and put in a new one. It’s cheap enough you can do that.

To wrap a coil you find a mandrel,(often the haft of a screw driver. I often use a knitting needle because they’re marked by size) of the preferred diameter. If you don’t know you have to measure it. A vernier caliper is handy for that but not required.
Wrap the wire around the mandrel the number of times indicated by the coil calculator (5-8 usually, though I’ve seen 10 wraps on really old devices) the thicker the wire the longer a coil can last and the more times it can be rewicked I’ve had thick wire coils last a bear or mor and really big thin ones only good for one wick. It kinda depends on what coil you need. Most of the bits are used for other things as well, so they’re generally legal. One can use kanthal, nichrhrome, Ni80 (if you’re not allergic to nickel. Many are) SS301, (which is a marine grade stainless) and there’s one mother stainless who’s name eludes me. So if you can get wire of any of those metals you’re good. The trick is buying it in small enough spools. When I buy wire I usually wind up with a lifetime supply.

The wick is just cotton. Literally a third of a cotton ball works fine. The very best stuff is this rayon fluff they sell for wound care in the EU. Also real cheap.

The juice components arePG, VG, and PeG they all do similar things you can use as much or as little of each as you want. High molarity Ethanol has also been used but it evaporates pretty hot and produces no visible “smoke” (which is why it’s used: stealth Vaping)
One could use distilled water but it has an even higher temperature. (Water is very hot) VG produces the most “smoke”. They’re all easy to get. Polyproplyne glycol (it actually IN toothpaste and a bunch of other stuff), Poly Etholyne Glycol, (a common food additive) Vegtable Glycerine (a common food additive and a laxitive for cattle. I buy mine at a local feed store) flavoring (I use flavorwest mostly but there are a mess of them) and (the hard and expensive one) liquid nicotine. The nicotine would likely be the only thing you could possibly have trouble with. It’s also used as a last ditch insecticide though, so it may be orderable from pest control retailers. In my area it’s the only thing that will save a tree from emerald borer infestation because it’s systemic. It’s a super pain to apply though (you have to inject it, so drill a hole in the tree) and it’s only good for one season. The bugs will come back every year, so it’s rarely used. They can order it though.

As for attys a CnC mill can produce one. I suspect 3d printing as well.

Same holds true for mech mods. Only the regulated mods would be hard. So you can theoretically get everything legally and not have to deal with smugglers at all, though it may be cheaper or better that way.

For cleaning rather than replacing a coil see “dry burning”

@bombastinator2 , as you pointed out, those materials can almost be found in any country. Your description of using an RDA/RDTA makes it sound easy. But I decide to use a mod kit first and get myself used to vaping and anything related to it. After becoming an experienced vaper I will give RDA a shot if I don't quit vaping.

There are so many factors and I’ve found getting into ecigs is an ever evolving process. I went through many devices before I settled in on the type of atty/liquid/nic level I was happy with. Still I’ll try a new liquid and for whatever reason the different flavor doesn’t have the same hit as another liquid even at same nic level. It can be very frustrating but also ,when all the factors come together for a great vape, very good.

Just keep an open mind and try not to get frustrated. You may go into it thinking you want MTL and end up preferring DL or you think you want tobacco liquid but end up loving blueberry. Its a journey for sure

@darnby , your interpretation of vaping is spot on! It is really a journey. I wanted to use an MTL device but ended up buying a DL one The journey started very well, but now I am struggling with a problem (almost anything tastes bad). I started to accept this problem too. I will probably encounter other problems in the future. The important thing is analysing problems, making them your experience, and sharing your experience with fellow vapers.

Welcome!
I was a ryo smoker too, can't stand filters. I got a pod device and 50mg/ml nicotine salt e-liquid to quit. Too bad that fine tobacco costs so much. My favorite treat (many years ago) was getting a 10 pack tin of Balkan Sobranies at the cigar shop. : )

@borno , after 18 years of being a ryo smoker, I thought that I had to try really hard to quit it. But after vaping for only a week, I tried to smoke tobacco just to see what would happen. Only one puff was enough for me to throw it away Well, sometimes I miss the good old days Anyway, I am determined to quit smoking, no matter what form it is.

 

[heihachi]

Those Pico's are time tested and proven. My wife's easily 6 years old now and still looks and works like new. That is really just the 'battery' portion.

You will still need an atomizer to inhale from, probably a 'mouth to lung' or MTL, which mimics smoking a cigarette.

Edit: Because of how high the battery top is, compared to where the atty is attached, you will be limited in size of the atty. For sure they fit a 22mm atty

@ShamrockPat , thank you for the advice. I really wanted to buy the Eleaf one but ended up buying Vaporesso Target 200 DL vaping is really different to smoking tobacco. In that matter all vaping process is different but I am glad to quit smoking and start to vape.

Hi helhachi & weclcome to ECF

First of I agree wth the points made by Coyote628 and ShamrockPat.

I think you got a good list of devices there. I recommend the istick pico plus, as I have it myself and I also generally have good experiences with the pico line. Imo the Voopoo is not providing anything more in terms of vape or overall quality.

You need an atomizer though, For a guy coming from RYO tobacco, I would recommend a goood MTL tank like the Aspire Nautilus 3 (... or Innokin Zenith 2)., as it has a tight draw, closer to a cigarette.

I'd start with 18mg freebase and see how you feel. If it satisfies you... good... If not, adjust up or down.
I would say don't get hung up in theories about nicotine equivalency and trying to calculate your nicotine intake. Your body will clearly tell you what it wants. So buy a small amount of e-juice to start with and go from there.

As Coyote628 pointed out... it is nothing like smoking. You really need to want to quit in order for this to work... especially if you are a tobacco afficionado.

I mean there are NETs, naturally extracted tobacco e-liquids, that provide an authentic tobacco experience, but even they are very different from smoking analogs. Plus... they may be impossible to get on the black market in turkey... idk.,, and they come with increased costs in forrm of higher coil consumption. So that might not be feasible either in your situation,

Thank you @gotch23 ! As I wrote above I have a Vaporesso Target 200 now. Completely different from the devices I planned to buy All the devices I wanted to buy were not in sale and this was the best devices among the ones that were on sale. It took me a very short time to get used to DL vaping. On top of that I choose liquids with a VG/PG ratio of 70–30 and contain 9 mg/mL nicotine. I think 12 mg or higher nicotine streng might be better for my preferences but Since my ultimate goal is to quit smoking, I prefer to use a low nicotine ratio. If it does not satisfy me, I can always take a few more puffs.

Welcome, and I wish you the best of luck in your journey.

You spoke at length about the hardware.
But, what were you planning to do about the eliquid?

I'm assuming it would be black market as are the devices?

Yhank you @newyork13 . Yes, e-liquids produced overseas are black market, too. After researching and speaking with vapers, I found a few trusted e-liquid produces from Turkey. I am currently trying their liquids.

Hi, heihachi, welcome! I am new here too! Is your nickname from the game named Tekken? I heard that e-cigarettes are prohibited in Turkey. So silly because everyone smokes normal cigarettes there and that is awful, even burger king and Mcdonald's have ashtrays there. So if vapes are banned in Turkey what happens for example if you enter online vape shop here and order yourself a disposable? It is for personal use, I am sure they are not checking all the packages in postoffice.

Hi, @Clair birge ! Thank you! Hayashida Heihachi is a character in the movie Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai) from Akira Kurosawa. It is my one of the favorite charanter because of his good spirits. Yes, to sell and to buy e-cigarette is prohibited in Turkey. If you buy from overseas, it is permitted to personal use only.

My memory is that turkey, like the US, is one of the tobacco producing countries and used to be the ONLY one that sold to the eastern bloc (like Cuba and sugar) which meant not only were the companies huge, but were heavily government run. As a result it does not surprise me that laws there might heavily favor cigarette companies and antismoking stuff be a lot less mature.

Taht is right @bombastinator2 . Tobaccos riced in the Turkey are used in most well-known cigarette brands. Big cigarette brands have enough influence to ban e-cigarette using, unfortunatelly. Turkey is big tobacco producer. As per this statistic, Turkey produced 82,250 tonnes tobacco in 2022. All these tobacco needs to be selled

 

[heihachi]

Those Pico's are time tested and proven. My wife's easily 6 years old now and still looks and works like new. That is really just the 'battery' portion.

You will still need an atomizer to inhale from, probably a 'mouth to lung' or MTL, which mimics smoking a cigarette.

Edit: Because of how high the battery top is, compared to where the atty is attached, you will be limited in size of the atty. For sure they fit a 22mm atty

@ShamrockPat , thank you for the advice. I really wanted to buy the Eleaf one but ended up buying the Vaporesso Target 200 DL vaping is really different from smoking tobacco. In that matter, everything about vaping is different from smoking but I am glad to quit smoking and start to vape.

Hi helhachi & weclcome to ECF

First of I agree wth the points made by Coyote628 and ShamrockPat.

I think you got a good list of devices there. I recommend the istick pico plus, as I have it myself and I also generally have good experiences with the pico line. Imo the Voopoo is not providing anything more in terms of vape or overall quality.

You need an atomizer though, For a guy coming from RYO tobacco, I would recommend a goood MTL tank like the Aspire Nautilus 3 (... or Innokin Zenith 2)., as it has a tight draw, closer to a cigarette.

I'd start with 18mg freebase and see how you feel. If it satisfies you... good... If not, adjust up or down.
I would say don't get hung up in theories about nicotine equivalency and trying to calculate your nicotine intake. Your body will clearly tell you what it wants. So buy a small amount of e-juice to start with and go from there.

As Coyote628 pointed out... it is nothing like smoking. You really need to want to quit in order for this to work... especially if you are a tobacco afficionado.

I mean there are NETs, naturally extracted tobacco e-liquids, that provide an authentic tobacco experience, but even they are very different from smoking analogs. Plus... they may be impossible to get on the black market in turkey... idk.,, and they come with increased costs in forrm of higher coil consumption. So that might not be feasible either in your situation,

Thank you @gotch23 ! As I wrote above, I have a Vaporesso Target 200 now. Completely different from the devices I planned to buy All the devices I wanted to buy were not on sale, and this was the best device among the ones that were on sale. It took me a very short time to get used to DL vaping. On top of that, I choose liquids with a VG/PG ratio of 70–30 and that contain 9 mg/mL nicotine. I think 12 mg or higher nicotine strength might be better for my preferences, but since my ultimate goal is to quit smoking, I prefer to use a low nicotine ratio. If it does not satisfy me, I can always take a few more puffs.

Welcome, and I wish you the best of luck in your journey.

You spoke at length about the hardware.
But, what were you planning to do about the eliquid?

I'm assuming it would be black market as are the devices?

Yhank you @newyork13 . Yes, e-liquids produced overseas are black market, too. After researching and speaking with vapers, I found a few trusted e-liquid producers from Turkey. I am currently trying their liquids.

Hi, heihachi, welcome! I am new here too! Is your nickname from the game named Tekken? I heard that e-cigarettes are prohibited in Turkey. So silly because everyone smokes normal cigarettes there and that is awful, even burger king and Mcdonald's have ashtrays there. So if vapes are banned in Turkey what happens for example if you enter online vape shop here and order yourself a disposable? It is for personal use, I am sure they are not checking all the packages in postoffice.

Hi, @Clair birge ! Thank you! Hayashida Heihachi is a character in the movie Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai) by Akira Kurosawa. It is one of my favourite characters because of his good spirits. Yes, selling and buying e-cigarette is prohibited in Turkey. If you buy from overseas, it is permitted for personal use only.

My memory is that turkey, like the US, is one of the tobacco producing countries and used to be the ONLY one that sold to the eastern bloc (like Cuba and sugar) which meant not only were the companies huge, but were heavily government run. As a result it does not surprise me that laws there might heavily favor cigarette companies and antismoking stuff be a lot less mature.

Taht is right @bombastinator2 . Tobacco grown in Turkey is used in most well-known cigarette brands. Big cigarette brands have enough influence to ban e-cigarette use, unfortunately. Turkey is a big tobacco producer. As per this statistic, Turkey produced 82,250 tonnes of tobacco in 2022. All this tobacco needs to be sold.

 

[bombastinator2]

@ShamrockPat , thank you for the advice. I really wanted to buy the Eleaf one but ended up buying the Vaporesso Target 200 DL vaping is really different from smoking tobacco. In that matter, everything about vaping is different from smoking but I am glad to quit smoking and start to vape.


Thank you @gotch23 ! As I wrote above, I have a Vaporesso Target 200 now. Completely different from the devices I planned to buy All the devices I wanted to buy were not on sale, and this was the best device among the ones that were on sale. It took me a very short time to get used to DL vaping. On top of that, I choose liquids with a VG/PG ratio of 70–30 and that contain 9 mg/mL nicotine. I think 12 mg or higher nicotine strength might be better for my preferences, but since my ultimate goal is to quit smoking, I prefer to use a low nicotine ratio. If it does not satisfy me, I can always take a few more puffs.


Yhank you @newyork13 . Yes, e-liquids produced overseas are black market, too. After researching and speaking with vapers, I found a few trusted e-liquid producers from Turkey. I am currently trying their liquids.


Hi, @Clair birge ! Thank you! Hayashida Heihachi is a character in the movie Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai) by Akira Kurosawa. It is one of my favourite characters because of his good spirits. Yes, selling and buying e-cigarette is prohibited in Turkey. If you buy from overseas, it is permitted for personal use only.


Taht is right @bombastinator2 . Tobacco grown in Turkey is used in most well-known cigarette brands. Big cigarette brands have enough influence to ban e-cigarette use, unfortunately. Turkey is a big tobacco producer. As per this statistic, Turkey produced 82,250 tonnes of tobacco in 2022. All this tobacco needs to be sold.

-deleted due to me rereading the thread and realizing I said all that already-

 

[bombastinator2]

Rebuildables have one fault: they’re messy. You have to clean out burnt gunk. Much like the wattle of a pipe. Some people can’t deal so they use coil cartridges which are vastly more expensive, but still less bad than disposables.

I just pick out the dead wick with a tweezer, run it under a tap, dry burn it and blow out the ash, then rewick. Sometime I have to replace the wire coil too. Not very often. Lately I’ve also been using a small wire brush. Makes things neater. It’s not really required. I bought one for $2 and got 10. A lifetime supply.
tools I use for rewicking and building coils for rebuildables:

-a Philips head screwdriver to tighten the coil screws and I use as a mandrel to wrap the wire coil on
-tweezers
-little scissors to trim the wicks
-The aforementioned small wire brush which also works well as a mandrel

That’s actually a term I think I’ll use to describe rebuildable wick gunk. Wattle.