Ohh no, not another one....

[heavyMGS]

Yep, another Vapererrrrerr has joined the ecig forums.
I've been trolling for a little over a month and a half. Reading, reading, reading and researching, researching, researching.

I will have been analog free for a month on the 5th of January thanks to ecigs. Been a smoker for about 16 years, and I'm 32. I've tired the patch and nic gum, all of which got me short term results but they never lasted and I always went back to analogs. The ecig is the first thing I've found that has actually got me off the analogs for an extended period of time and I've very excited about that! Not only is this something that is helping me health wise, it appears that I have a very exciting new hobby to explore, and explore I have been doing. I've been watching PBusardo video's and Grimmgreen videos a lot to get a feel for different stuff. PBusardo is on funny man, I love watching his stuff!

Anyhooo, I figured I would post where I am at on this new journey in hopes of getting some advice, best practices and recomendations from the wealth of knowledge that is the ecig forums. Please feel free to leave me any and all feedback, comments and suggestions on any part of my post.

And so it begins...

Back in early December, I was wanting to try and quit smoking(analogs) again. My body was really feeling it and I just didn't want to keep destroying my body, but...I love smoking. I work a very stressful job, and it's not to go on break and relieve some stress. I like to smoke while I'm driving to and fro work, it's relaxing and an activity I do enjoy. I like to smoke after a good meal of while I having a few beers, so their in lied my predicament. I had been thinking about getting a ecig for a few days to give it a show and see what it was all about. I didn't know really much about them, how they worked, juices, atomizer and cartomizers and tanks and custom mods, I just knew it was a smoking alternative. So on my day off work I did some Google'ing and found an adult smoking store that sold them. So I made a purchase and went from there.

The 1st purchase I made that day was this...

Which is a NicStick, obviously.
Actually that was not the 1st purchase, the 1st purchase looked exactly like that but it had an atomizer on it for pre-filled cartridges, not refillable cartridges. So I burned through those pre-filled cartridges with in a few days. I also noticed after a few days that the battery was either not holding a charge or was not charging very well. So I went back and asked them about it and they told me that I should get the other NicStick, the one in the picture as I could charge it many times more and I could get empty tanks to refill with juice that they sold their. So I decided that this was the way to go for the time being until I could do more research on something that I felt would help me quit smoking. So I paid around $4o for each unit (doh!) and off I went. The new NicStick was working pretty well for a week or two but the Vaping quality seemed to be getting less and less. The NicStick only comes with 1 atomizer, which I cleaned and it would work OK and then a few days later I would have to clean it again, which was OK, but from my research, I had seen there were better ways.
Here are the remnants of my NicStick kit


After doing my research and still not entirely sure what to order, I found a kit from Volcano that had everything I wanted to try, it was the Inferno kit. It looked well made and it had much bigger tanks for the Tankomizer system and I kept having to refill the little tanks quite a few times through out the day plus it had 2 batteries and it had a drip tip with an atomizer so I could try this dripping everyone was talking about along with some pre-filled cartomizers so I could try those out as well. So I ordered this kit from them while at the same time, my dad was asking me what I wanted for Christmas and I told him I wanted to get an Ego kit as well since it' seemed to be the best thing going for people new to vaping so I had him place an order for an Ego kit for me as well.

First, the Volcano "Inferno" Kit

The kit arrived quite quickly from HI, within a few days, and I did have a couple of questions for them about it once it shipped via email which they did get back to me on. So I got this kit 1st, watched all the videos on their site about how to use the kit and posted in their forums for some best practices on the device. I got quite a few good responses from my post and was able to get the unit up and running pretty well. I was using these units for a few weeks until I also got to try out what my dad got me for Christmas.

Here are my takeways
PRO
- I liked having to option to use use the Tank system while still getting to try out the dripipng
- The battery life is very good on these, I don't think I killed either battery through a days use
- I liked the size of both batteries (1000 mAH and 650 mAH)
- I really dig the 5 click on/off Switch
- The 650 Battery is also a usb Passthrough
- I like the idea of not having to fill a tank up every time to vape
- the charging unit is nice and branded so I know what batteries it goes with
- good hits on the tank when it works right
- I like how the cones snap on with the o-ring instead of having to screw them on, pretty cool
- the drip tip it came with is pretty nice
CON
- I am having leaking issues, when I fill a tank full of juice, I swear half of it disappears
- I got to work and filled the tank up after cleaning the whole unit the night before, set it down and 20 min later I had an eliquid oil spill all over my desk!
- it is really hard to get a good vape on the Tankomizer, you have to suck and suck to get vapor, and i understand not to vape it like an analog but the tips on the end of the tanks seem to not work the best in my mind, I even pulled a few pieces out of them to get better air flow

So those are my expierences with the Inferno. I like it quite a bit but I swear the Tankomizer eat's my liquid so I am hesitant to fill it all the way up. I tried about for of the tanks in the 5 pack with mixed results. One thing I also notice is that sometimes when I pull the tank out, the cap at the end of the tank with be stuck on the atomizer and I have to stick a bobby pin in or something to get it out.

I also don't why I ordered Grape Escape as my liquid but I though I would try something new and I don't like it at all.
The prefilled Kona Coffee cartomizers I ordered also leave something to be desired. They kinda taste like coffee but they have zero throat (16mg) hit and you can't take the tip off and put a drip tip on them to vape, or rather you can take the tip off but the drip tip does not fit.

This brings me to my next unit that I got for Christmas. A Genuine Joye eGo Starter kit, I think?

This kit is supposed to be a Genuine Joye Ego kit ordered from Forever Vapor. I thought (but I could be wrong) the batteries would say Joye on them somewhere, they don't. The batteries are supposed to be 651 mAH batteries(that's what the site says) and if so, why are they so much smaller then the 650 Passthrough from Volcano? Also, the kit was supposed to be Stainless Steel, it's some type of gold finish.


The kit did come with 2 atomizers which is nice. They are the cartridge atomizers and not the tank atomizers so I either need to by some blank cartridges to try with these as the prefilled ones were pretty nasty and most of the juice had leaked out in the plastic sealed pouches they came in.

I did also have my order me some blank 510 LR cartomizers, which I have been using with these batteries with pretty good success, 2 packs of 5.

He also ordered me some various eliquids from the same site as well. I wasn't sure on the nic strength but based on what I had been buying from the smoke shop where I got the NicStick, I had him get me 24mg juice.

He got a couple of flavors I wanted and some he thought would be good that I would never order.
So I received Blueberry, Peanut Butter, Red Bull, Rum, Juicy Peach and RY4. My dad wanted to try the Red Bull and Rum as I had let him try my NicStick a few weeks back, but I would have never of gotten those two flavors, but he meant well and is behind me quitting smoking and wants to help however he can, so it's all cool by me.

I don't really care for any of the flavors though. They are all OK, but none of them really stand out. Right now, the liquid of choice for me is the liquid I can buy at the local smoke shop where I got the NicStick, which is a Mango flavor by Dekang. It comes in a black Dekang box and is 16mg. The label on the actual bottle says NicStick but it also says Dekang. That seems to be the juice that so far tastes the best. My second favorite is the coffee I can get from the local shop as well. It has a good TH and tastes pretty good. All the juices my dad got have the same generic label on them with a glass of red wine being poured a picture of a bunch of fruit. They all taste pretty gross to me, so I guess I will keep them around as ultra backup juice.

So that's my story so far. As my vaping goes right now, here's what I've been doing the past week. I've been using the Joye batteries with the LR cartos and filling them up with the mango liquid. Seems to work pretty well. The taste of the juice is pretty good on a freshly filled cart (which I've been using the condom method to fill them as I watched a Pbasardo vid on how to do this. I've gone through about 3 in a week and a half as I'm not completely able to tell when they are done. I can tell you that it is kind of a pain to top them off all the time. And when I do top them off, it sometimes seems as if I didn't put any juice into the carto at all as the taste and vape doesn't seem to get much better then before I topped it off. I will top it off and then let it sit for 5 min or so and then use it.

I was also told on the Volcano forums that I can't use LR cartos on my Volcano batts as that would void the warranty so I have not done that.

So couple of things, I am a low profile guy, so I'm not looking for some crazy mod or anything right now. I need to get my gear that I have (and buy) set up so that I have a PV I can take with me to work and maybe have to fill it once through out the day and not leak. I do like the cartos as they don't leak , sometimes the vaping seems inconsistent though as far as taste goes, and topping off all the time I'm not a huge fan of. With the dripping, I'm either not doing it right or something as I have read and read how it's awesome but I don't seem to get any better of an experience from it then from a fresh carto, am I missing something? Also, with dripping, it seems that even though I put 3 drops on and vape a few times until I get the burnt taste, if I put another juice on the atty, I can still kinda taste the old juice.

So I'm looking for new ways to try my current equipment I have currently and maybe some other equipment to get as well. I have been looking at those GotVapes fluxomizers, they seem promising. Also the dual coil tanks looks pretty good and can hold a lot of juice. What should I try here folks? I also really like the open vaping out of a drip tip as apposed the tank tips, hits just seem better and much easier.

I also just placed an order with Kick Bass Vapor tonight for some Cola, Peppermint Ice Cream, Sugar Cookie, Candy Bar, OMG and Peaches and Cream. Got them at 24, 18 and 12 all 60\40 as I need to start trying out good juice. And I have not tried a juice yet with a different ratio of VG/PG so I need to find out what that's all about.

So what can I do to set myself of for success to fully enjoy my new eliquids from Kick Bass when they get here?

Thanks all!

Sorry for such a long post, but I figure the more you know how I got to where I am now, the better suited you will be to help me!

PS - this post took quite a while, if there are spelling error or something doesn't make sense, let me know, I'm tired. Bedtime for me.







​

 

[Huffelpuff]

Hi and Welcome!! So glad that you are having success w/ your vaping. In my personal experience I've found that tanks or bottom feeding mods work well for portability. KBV has a great reputation for good juices so am hoping that you picked one that you liked. It takes a while to get your equipment and juice together, as you've probably already noticed.

Everyone is different, I can only share what works for me. I like vaping at higher voltages, usually somewhere around 5v. If you are satisfied with your Ego by all means stick with it. Many have been satisfied for a long time with the Ego kit but I like the extra kick @ higher voltages. I eventually moved onto PVs that have removable, rechargable batteries so that I didn't have to worry so much about recharging.

There are good tanks out there that can hold 3-5ml of juice and will help w/ the refilling issue. I've not had much luck w/ fluxomizers but some people swear by them.

There are a wide variety of bottom feeding mods that are all over the charts price wise but are solid for portability and ease of use. You can take a look at old goat, Reo and tons of others to get a feel for what's available.

Good Luck and Welcome to the ECF!!

 

[Stormiefury]

I used the ego for my first device also. I found that the flavor in those things suck. I was never able to taste my juice. So I talked to the guys at my local vape shop and they got me into a mod. I am also a low profile person but the Silver Bullet in black isn't all that noticeable and I love it. I have also put a tank on it (liquinator from Vaporesence) with a punched cartomizer in it. It has 2 small batteries in the unit that equal 6volts and I absolutely love it. I tried all the same methods as you to quit smoking and they never worked. This unit is the only one that works for me. I am fortunate to be able to try before I buy on my juices but another good place for you to try is Mrs. T Bakery. I hear they have some really great juices. Once you find what works for you it will be like heaven for quitting. (IMO) I wish you tons of luck

Stormie

 

[singu]

Welcome and congrats on quitting analogs!

I like Mango from Dekang also.

 

[texasgranny]

In time and with the success of getting off the analogs, I believe you
will get over "the low profile" syndrome.
Most newbies have it and most get over it.
You will find that soon, you won't give a dang about keeping a low profile.
You'll pull out that good ole mod, vape at 5V or more and just smile at
those who raise a eyebrow at ya.
If you ever try a 3.7 and up mod......you'll understand completely.
It will make you put all those pv's you have now....in the classified section.

But for now, Welcome....and so glad to have ya! and remember

A newbie, given some time
Will understand why mod vaping, is soooo divine!

 

[heavyMGS]

Sounds good everyone, thanks for the welcome! I appreciate it very much.

I will certainly look into the suggestions given to me here.

 

[dormouse]

Most use blank cartomizers for their everyday juices. learn to fill them to stated capacity, clean them up, settle on different sides and ends to make sure every bit of stuffing damp. Use a delrin or plastic drip tip as a mouthpiece so you can look at the stuffing to see if it has gone white and could use come juice. I also add juice anytime the vapor or flavor seems light or tasted is off, anytime the carto is getting abnormally warm, anytime I've been vaping it for a while without adding any, before leaving the house, and before putting a freshly charged battery on it (since freshly charged batteries have higher voltage and run things hotter. I use thin clear juices and clear is especially important to get good life out of a cartomizer. A carto lasts me for 7-10 days or about 20ml run through it.

 

[heavyMGS]

Most use blank cartomizers for their everyday juices. learn to fill them to stated capacity, clean them up, settle on different sides and ends to make sure every bit of stuffing damp. Use a delrin or plastic drip tip as a mouthpiece so you can look at the stuffing to see if it has gone white and could use come juice. I also add juice anytime the vapor or flavor seems light or tasted is off, anytime the carto is getting abnormally warm, anytime I've been vaping it for a while without adding any, before leaving the house, and before putting a freshly charged battery on it (since freshly charged batteries have higher voltage and run things hotter. I use thin clear juices and clear is especially important to get good life out of a cartomizer. A carto lasts me for 7-10 days or about 20ml run through it.

Thanks for the info!

Yeah, I think I got filling them when they are new down pretty good with the condom method and I do tilt the carto to different sides when I am filling it up via the condom method and when I go to refill it, I do turn in clockwise around to make sure I am covering the whole surface.

I add the juice when I tell the flavor is going out but the problem seems that even when I refill it sometimes I still get blank hits, which could mean the carto is almost done or that the juice is not getting to where it needs to be.

I've been trying to keep track of how long a carto is lasting me, it seems like 3 to 5 days from what I can tell. Been using thin and clear Dekang Mango 16mg, which seems to be my favorite so far but I placed an order from Kick Bass Vapors and I also picked up some Boba's Bounty the other day so I'm patiently waiting for that to arrive as I have read SO much about how good it is. I'm very excited.

Also,

see if it has gone white and could use come juice.

uhh.... wait what kind of juice? : )

 

[panachronic]

EPIC introductory post. Wow.

 

[heavyMGS]

EPIC introductory post. Wow.

Thanks... I hope : )

It has some spelling errors and I didn't get to get into my Pros and Cons list for the EGO stuff as it was getting quite late at that point but I wanted to get all my info in there.

Sweet avatar btw.
Have a good one.

 

[Scottinboca]

First off welcome to ECF. It sounds like all you really need at this moment in time is the Dual Coil Tank from madvapes or which ever vender you want. You can also use the 510 XL lr cartos with the tank. As far as the juice goes, for me it took a while to find "my juice" which I still can't get enough of, which is Kick Bass Vapor's Gooey Better Cake. You may not like it, but I love it. I also wanted to say, stick with the forum suppliers, like Volcano b/c they are reputable and you can also talk to them on here and get to know them. If you have an issue w/ one of their products the forum will help with resolving issues b/c we use those vendors products. Anyhow, I wish you the best of luck and I will see you around the forum.

 

[reprisal3]

Great first post heavyMGS! I'm still trying to figure out the cartos myself, but I already want to order some kind of tank (Chibi, liquinator) just to see what that's like. And I'm going through the same scenario with the juices; most I have tried I don't like all that much. I wish I had a local shop that offered juice testing.

 

[heavyMGS]

First off welcome to ECF. It sounds like all you really need at this moment in time is the Dual Coil Tank from madvapes or which ever vender you want. You can also use the 510 XL lr cartos with the tank. As far as the juice goes, for me it took a while to find "my juice" which I still can't get enough of, which is Kick Bass Vapor's Gooey Better Cake. You may not like it, but I love it. I also wanted to say, stick with the forum suppliers, like Volcano b/c they are reputable and you can also talk to them on here and get to know them. If you have an issue w/ one of their products the forum will help with resolving issues b/c we use those vendors products. Anyhow, I wish you the best of luck and I will see you around the forum.

Thank You for the welcome! Yeah, I think I will be heading for some kind of Dual Coil Tank very shortly, so thanks for the recommendation.

Yeah, I'm on the great juice hunt right now. From all of what I've read on the forums, I placed 2 orders so I am getting lots of options.

Alien Visions
Boba's Bounty
Gorilla Juice
Hype

Kick Bass Vapor
Peppermint Ice Cream
Candy Bar
Warm Sugar Cookie
Crisp Cola
OMG!
Peaches and Cream

So, I'm all set with some quality liquids coming, I just need to make sure I'm set up for success to enjoy them when they get here!

 

[heavyMGS]

Great first post heavyMGS! I'm still trying to figure out the cartos myself, but I already want to order some kind of tank (Chibi, liquinator) just to see what that's like. And I'm going through the same scenario with the juices; most I have tried I don't like all that much. I wish I had a local shop that offered juice testing.

Thank you very much! A local shop would be pretty amazing, but, I'm really glad I have found this site as it has lead me to TONS of information on my new journey into ecig-dom

 

[mafig]

hi heavyMGS & welcome to ECF..this is the forum that have everything U need to know about electronic cigarette & the endless support from veterans and members ensure U vapping from now on..once like U,9 months ago..i stumbled on this site and behold being a 30+ yrs analogs user became a firm believer of e-cig..was a uphill battle and it took 1 month be4 i succumbed to strictly vapping..and how wonderful the changeover i rediscovered..my senses in smell and tastebuds returns and symptom like endless coughing and spewing out plegm was my norm as a smoker.

now i am so happy vapping non stop & learning each day from this forum(if i read 50 pages a day,will take my lifetime and still not able to finished reading)..i do peruse this site daily..it is a ritual as i want to promote e-cig to new user who smokes(like pay-it-forward,as i was help when i needed & now will want to pass what i learnt and still learning)..our initial vapping journey can be costly and numerous mistakes made along the way(but it is $$ well spent..no regret even my 1st kit cost $47 and was a e-health e-cig) now i can guide others through the mistakes i made and direct them to getting vapping as economical as possible & getting the most pleasure from vapping..it is a learning curve from the type of carto,cartridge/atomizer & (re)filling the many ways possible..i have settled on the setup..4 e-cigs with 4 diff flavor e-liquid that I DIY..i only use the commercial type e-cig 510-T and eGo-T, LCD & VV on cartridge/atomizer & cartomizer(micromizer is good if only every new unit is perfect..as out of 5 i used,2 leaks)..so hopefully U will find yr best gadget and e-liquids like i have..happy vapping..regards mafig ps my set up photos..PV setup can change daily

 

[heavyMGS]

hi heavyMGS & welcome to ECF..this is the forum that have everything U need to know about electronic cigarette & the endless support from veterans and members ensure U vapping from now on..once like U,9 months ago..i stumbled on this site and behold being a 30+ yrs analogs user became a firm believer of e-cig..was a uphill battle and it took 1 month be4 i succumbed to strictly vapping..and how wonderful the changeover i rediscovered..my senses in smell and tastebuds returns and symptom like endless coughing and spewing out plegm was my norm as a smoker.

now i am so happy vapping non stop & learning each day from this forum(if i read 50 pages a day,will take my lifetime and still not able to finished reading)..i do peruse this site daily..it is a ritual as i want to promote e-cig to new user who smokes(like pay-it-forward,as i was help when i needed & now will want to pass what i learnt and still learning)..our initial vapping journey can be costly and numerous mistakes made along the way(but it is $$ well spent..no regret even my 1st kit cost $47 and was a e-health e-cig) now i can guide others through the mistakes i made and direct them to getting vapping as economical as possible & getting the most pleasure from vapping..it is a learning curve from the type of carto,cartridge/atomizer & (re)filling the many ways possible..i have settled on the setup..4 e-cigs with 4 diff flavor e-liquid that I DIY..i only use the commercial type e-cig 510-T and eGo-T, LCD & VV on cartridge/atomizer & cartomizer(micromizer is good if only every new unit is perfect..as out of 5 i used,2 leaks)..so hopefully U will find yr best gadget and e-liquids like i have..happy vapping..regards mafig ps my set up photos..PV setup can change daily

Thanks for the welcome!

I'm loving the journey so far, and I know the best is yet to come so it's all very exciting and interesting.

 

[annster]

Hi Heavy, Just wanted to share my experience with Volanco with you. I too bought an ego - an Inferno. The tankomizers seem to vape more of the liquid than I do, it vanishes very fast. They recently came out with a LR atty and wow, does that thing leak. It's a shame because the vaper and taste is phenominal. I love Volcano's customer service, and I won't sell there stuff short because that little ego has kept me off analogs for over two months now. My point is, it's not you. I decided to start hunting for a mod, something for an intermediate user, nothing that will break the bank. I'm still new to the lingo and rely heavily on the input from this forum.

PS - I haven't tried KBV yet, but I think you'll love the Alien Vision juices - they're awesome. Boba's is my present daily vape.