I've been putting this off so long, that I realized that if I didn't start writing this all down, I'd forget some things.. so here goes a *long* post 
I started smoking at the age of 15 or so back in the 1980s. Wasn't the best decision I ever made.
After 25 years of smoking I finally found a reason to stop smoking and improve my health that surpassed every other reason I had in the past.
Thanks to an amazing friend whom later became my wife, I found the will to quit. I was successful, and although I'd managed to quit cigarettes I had really just shifted my addiction to another medium: nicotine gum.
The gum enabled me to stay away from cigarettes, but I often found myself wanting to light up. I relented for two years, but it haunted me every day.
Both my parents had smoked for 30+ years and discovered vaping during the time I was on the nico-gum. Like most, I was skeptical and assumed the hand-to-mouth habit would eventually just lead back to smoking so I was not very interested.
One day about six months ago my father came to me asking if I could help him with a project that he wanted to attempt. You see, in my family I'm usually the one you call if your computer dies, or if you need something technical handled. My father had discovered these tank systems called Vivi Novas and had heard they could be cheaply rebuilt if you had the right materials. So, I did a bit of research.
I noticed that just about every queury I made linked me to ECF. Eventually I figured out what it was I needed and helped my father rebuild his tanks. This got me interested in vaping.
The following video explaines in detail how to rebuild a vive nova. This is the first video I saw made by Phil Busardo. He's a down-to-earth sort of guy who's not some self-proclaimed expert; just a guy that tries the vape gear out and let you know what he thinks. I respect his opinions and have learned a lot from him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6_b-uUKVJg
After two years of wanting to smoke and tired of the expense of nico-gum, I was finally ready to put together my first vape kit thanks to the experience of my father.
My first vape kit consisted of a simple, no frills usb passthrough. No battery, just powered by a usb laptop. I also picked up two Joye eGo/510 900 mah passthroughs to have on me when traveling or at work. I picked up a cartomizer that my father recommended, but I no longer recall the name. I also bought a Vision Vivi Nova mini, and a CE2 (or possibly CE3).
For fluid, I immediately began mixing it myself thanks again to the experience of my family. My father had been doing it for years and knew all the in and outs of mixing one's own.
I started out with 24mg/ml nicotine and just straight VG and a bit of distilled water. Picked up a few flavors to try and immediately realized that I prefered the simple sweetness of VG. I'd occasionally add peppermint and menthol just to mix it up sometimes.
I was hooked. After just vaping a few days, my throat got a bit sore from the VG, but that went away a day or two later. During this time I'd been looking into other types of wicks since I didn't like the idea of silica as a transport medium. When dry hit some silica has the tendency to peel off tiny shards of fiberglass. Depending on the size of the micro-shards they can eventually cause cancer.
I went to ECF to see what "word on the street" was about this subject and found this thread:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modding-forum/284030-wick-materials-safe-vs-dangerous.html
By the time I discovered this thread, it had already reached over 3000 comments. Needless to say it took me awhile to read through it. That thread gave a lot of interesting links and information all about vaping on cotton. I immediately started sourcing the different types of cotton and began rebuilding my own wicks for my Vivis.
Also, thanks to the research on my father's original project, I already knew what kind of heating coil I wanted to use: 32awg A-1 Kanthal. Great stuff. Tough, durable, versatile and thick enough to be used multiple times, but not too thick to be too hard to work with.
All said and done, I spent two days of vaping on silica. Until today I've vaped on nothing but various kinds of cotton; mainly candle wick
I found that through vaping I no longer had that desire for a cigarette every morning. I also discovered that I could enjoy my coffee without wanting a cigarette or to vape even.
Once I realized that vaping was for me (about a week into vaping), and after reading so many "I wish I had no wasted my time and money and just bought a Provari" I did just that. To this date, that was the best decision in vape gear that I've ever made.
The Provari is a tank. Insanely reliable, military grade electronics, iron-clad guarantee, great resale value should I ever decide to sell, and the list goes on.
Although I liked the Vivis, I was curious about learning more about real rebuildables, or "RBAs" as they are called. I thought I'd start out with something that was like the Vivis, just a bit larger for working with the coil. I settled on the "Smoktech Hyper SRT", which basically was just a rebranded fancy name for the "SmokTech 'R' tank".
The tank really delivered a great taste and wasn't too hard to work with. Sadly, it fell apart after just 14 days. I got one for my father to try out and his broke just as mine did a few days later.
After speaking with the seller I quickly learned to read the fine print when buying any RBA. There's usually NO return on such items.
I then thought I'd take a shot at a more advanced RBA so I picked up two AGAs. The "AGA-Tiamat" and the AGA Hydra. Both turned out to be decent vapes, but I didn't like the cold vape temperature. I had become accustomed to the warmer vape of the Vivis and the "R" tank.
With Vivis and the "R" tanks the air comes in though a small tunnel that goes from the bottom of the tank, across the coil, and then into the mouth. The AGAs, are different. The air hole is in side of the cap where a coil sits just behind it. The air is not heated as much since it does not travel through the tank like the Vivis do.
Some weeks passed and I kept reading about an RBA called the "Ody".(Odysseus) I really liked the design and wanted to get one, but couldn't since they were no longer being made and were highly sought after. I saw some of them going for more than 200 dollars in the classifieds..USED! I figured that was too expensive and stayed with my AGAs.
One day about two weeks ago, I heard about a Chinese clone of the Ody called the "Terminator". Silly name, but I didn't care. I wanted to give it a try. This clone copied the Ody so well, that it had all the same quirks that the original Ody had.
There was one distributor in the USA and I immediately ordered one for 60USD. After learning the ins and outs of this RBA, this is the second best buy I've made to date.
There's a learning curve involved, and it takes some experience with resistance and non-resistance wire, but the taste and quality of the vape is second to none!
My only real problem with it was I had to guess when it was empty since there's no way to see the fluid levels without first opening it a looking. When you're vaping of cotton, one good dry hit and the wick is history..... which really sucks with a Terminator since it takes a bit of time and work to rebuild it.
A week later a new model was introduced: The Terminator-C with a clear lower half window. Also it holds much more fluid; around 5 mls easily. I bought this one so I'd have a "fall back" if my first Terminator should fail for any reason.
Although the cotton has served me well, it doesn't hold much longer than 5 days, and burns very easily if pushed too hard. I had been hearing about people trying hemp so I started watching the threads. One hemp type in particular caught my eye and I got my hands on some of it. It's 1mm hemp twine and really works great in Vivis. It has a slight earthy taste that goes well with most of the flavors I like to vape. It didn't work so well in my Ody clone, so I had to find some hemp that had a larger diameter.
I found one that met my requirements on Ebay and took a chance. I lucked out! The hemp is the perfect diameter and wicks really well. Great thing about it is when I get a dry hit (only after chain vaping) I don't have to tear it apart to repair the wick.
Hemp is much tougher than cotton. The vape isn't a "pillowy" as cotton, but the taste and volume of vape is great!
Since I DIY my fluid I've been gradually reducing the nicotine per ml with every batch I make. I've noticed no withdrawals of any kind nor the urge to vape more than I typically do. I'm currently around 16mg per ml.
So, that's where I'm at right now. I haven't included every little detail of my experience so far, but as I look back at what I've written, I think I've "meme'd" more than enough
I've really enjoyed my journey so far with vaping
I started smoking at the age of 15 or so back in the 1980s. Wasn't the best decision I ever made.
After 25 years of smoking I finally found a reason to stop smoking and improve my health that surpassed every other reason I had in the past.
Thanks to an amazing friend whom later became my wife, I found the will to quit. I was successful, and although I'd managed to quit cigarettes I had really just shifted my addiction to another medium: nicotine gum.
The gum enabled me to stay away from cigarettes, but I often found myself wanting to light up. I relented for two years, but it haunted me every day.
Both my parents had smoked for 30+ years and discovered vaping during the time I was on the nico-gum. Like most, I was skeptical and assumed the hand-to-mouth habit would eventually just lead back to smoking so I was not very interested.
One day about six months ago my father came to me asking if I could help him with a project that he wanted to attempt. You see, in my family I'm usually the one you call if your computer dies, or if you need something technical handled. My father had discovered these tank systems called Vivi Novas and had heard they could be cheaply rebuilt if you had the right materials. So, I did a bit of research.
I noticed that just about every queury I made linked me to ECF. Eventually I figured out what it was I needed and helped my father rebuild his tanks. This got me interested in vaping.
The following video explaines in detail how to rebuild a vive nova. This is the first video I saw made by Phil Busardo. He's a down-to-earth sort of guy who's not some self-proclaimed expert; just a guy that tries the vape gear out and let you know what he thinks. I respect his opinions and have learned a lot from him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6_b-uUKVJg
After two years of wanting to smoke and tired of the expense of nico-gum, I was finally ready to put together my first vape kit thanks to the experience of my father.
My first vape kit consisted of a simple, no frills usb passthrough. No battery, just powered by a usb laptop. I also picked up two Joye eGo/510 900 mah passthroughs to have on me when traveling or at work. I picked up a cartomizer that my father recommended, but I no longer recall the name. I also bought a Vision Vivi Nova mini, and a CE2 (or possibly CE3).
For fluid, I immediately began mixing it myself thanks again to the experience of my family. My father had been doing it for years and knew all the in and outs of mixing one's own.
I started out with 24mg/ml nicotine and just straight VG and a bit of distilled water. Picked up a few flavors to try and immediately realized that I prefered the simple sweetness of VG. I'd occasionally add peppermint and menthol just to mix it up sometimes.
I was hooked. After just vaping a few days, my throat got a bit sore from the VG, but that went away a day or two later. During this time I'd been looking into other types of wicks since I didn't like the idea of silica as a transport medium. When dry hit some silica has the tendency to peel off tiny shards of fiberglass. Depending on the size of the micro-shards they can eventually cause cancer.
I went to ECF to see what "word on the street" was about this subject and found this thread:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modding-forum/284030-wick-materials-safe-vs-dangerous.html
By the time I discovered this thread, it had already reached over 3000 comments. Needless to say it took me awhile to read through it. That thread gave a lot of interesting links and information all about vaping on cotton. I immediately started sourcing the different types of cotton and began rebuilding my own wicks for my Vivis.
Also, thanks to the research on my father's original project, I already knew what kind of heating coil I wanted to use: 32awg A-1 Kanthal. Great stuff. Tough, durable, versatile and thick enough to be used multiple times, but not too thick to be too hard to work with.
All said and done, I spent two days of vaping on silica. Until today I've vaped on nothing but various kinds of cotton; mainly candle wick
I found that through vaping I no longer had that desire for a cigarette every morning. I also discovered that I could enjoy my coffee without wanting a cigarette or to vape even.
Once I realized that vaping was for me (about a week into vaping), and after reading so many "I wish I had no wasted my time and money and just bought a Provari" I did just that. To this date, that was the best decision in vape gear that I've ever made.
The Provari is a tank. Insanely reliable, military grade electronics, iron-clad guarantee, great resale value should I ever decide to sell, and the list goes on.
Although I liked the Vivis, I was curious about learning more about real rebuildables, or "RBAs" as they are called. I thought I'd start out with something that was like the Vivis, just a bit larger for working with the coil. I settled on the "Smoktech Hyper SRT", which basically was just a rebranded fancy name for the "SmokTech 'R' tank".
The tank really delivered a great taste and wasn't too hard to work with. Sadly, it fell apart after just 14 days. I got one for my father to try out and his broke just as mine did a few days later.
After speaking with the seller I quickly learned to read the fine print when buying any RBA. There's usually NO return on such items.
I then thought I'd take a shot at a more advanced RBA so I picked up two AGAs. The "AGA-Tiamat" and the AGA Hydra. Both turned out to be decent vapes, but I didn't like the cold vape temperature. I had become accustomed to the warmer vape of the Vivis and the "R" tank.
With Vivis and the "R" tanks the air comes in though a small tunnel that goes from the bottom of the tank, across the coil, and then into the mouth. The AGAs, are different. The air hole is in side of the cap where a coil sits just behind it. The air is not heated as much since it does not travel through the tank like the Vivis do.
Some weeks passed and I kept reading about an RBA called the "Ody".(Odysseus) I really liked the design and wanted to get one, but couldn't since they were no longer being made and were highly sought after. I saw some of them going for more than 200 dollars in the classifieds..USED! I figured that was too expensive and stayed with my AGAs.
One day about two weeks ago, I heard about a Chinese clone of the Ody called the "Terminator". Silly name, but I didn't care. I wanted to give it a try. This clone copied the Ody so well, that it had all the same quirks that the original Ody had.
There was one distributor in the USA and I immediately ordered one for 60USD. After learning the ins and outs of this RBA, this is the second best buy I've made to date.
There's a learning curve involved, and it takes some experience with resistance and non-resistance wire, but the taste and quality of the vape is second to none!
My only real problem with it was I had to guess when it was empty since there's no way to see the fluid levels without first opening it a looking. When you're vaping of cotton, one good dry hit and the wick is history..... which really sucks with a Terminator since it takes a bit of time and work to rebuild it.
A week later a new model was introduced: The Terminator-C with a clear lower half window. Also it holds much more fluid; around 5 mls easily. I bought this one so I'd have a "fall back" if my first Terminator should fail for any reason.
Although the cotton has served me well, it doesn't hold much longer than 5 days, and burns very easily if pushed too hard. I had been hearing about people trying hemp so I started watching the threads. One hemp type in particular caught my eye and I got my hands on some of it. It's 1mm hemp twine and really works great in Vivis. It has a slight earthy taste that goes well with most of the flavors I like to vape. It didn't work so well in my Ody clone, so I had to find some hemp that had a larger diameter.
I found one that met my requirements on Ebay and took a chance. I lucked out! The hemp is the perfect diameter and wicks really well. Great thing about it is when I get a dry hit (only after chain vaping) I don't have to tear it apart to repair the wick.
Hemp is much tougher than cotton. The vape isn't a "pillowy" as cotton, but the taste and volume of vape is great!
Since I DIY my fluid I've been gradually reducing the nicotine per ml with every batch I make. I've noticed no withdrawals of any kind nor the urge to vape more than I typically do. I'm currently around 16mg per ml.
So, that's where I'm at right now. I haven't included every little detail of my experience so far, but as I look back at what I've written, I think I've "meme'd" more than enough
I've really enjoyed my journey so far with vaping
