Greetings everyone! I used to be quite active on ECF prior to 2016 on an old profile. I love this website! It's such a great resource for all things vape related! I found it really helpful when I first started learning how to build RDA's and wrap wire. I'm happy to see that nothing appears to have changed for the worse here on ECF, but I definitely see some improvements!
A little about me and why I'm back...
My name is Zach! I'm from Hawaii but I've lived in Tacoma, Washington for the last 10 years. I started smoking cigarettes when I was 13 and I was up to 1-2 packs a day by the time I was 18. You've heard it a million times on the ECF haha, but I tried quitting so many times and I tried everything...gum, patches, prescription drugs, everything. Vaping was the only thing that helped me quit smoking. As far as I'm concerned, vaping saved my life. I started vaping way back in 2010. When I first started, EGO pens and Joytech 510's were cream of the crop. If you could afford it, the Provari was the ultra luxe! I never had one, but a friend of mine did, and I had the pleasure of taking it for a test drive. I usually used Boge and SmokTech cartomizers. Then Kanger came along with the EVOD and the ProTank, which were amazing at the time. Now, it's like,... what were we thinking?! Haha! I started with a 12mg, but quickly found out that it was too harsh for me and a lot of flavor gets sacrificed. I was at 6mg for about a year and then dropped down to a 3mg, which is my favorite. I did experiment with nic salts when they came about, but I prefer my 3mg. I remember Aspire came through with the Nautilus and then the first sub ohm tank, the Atlantis. We started seeing a lot of variable voltage/wattage devices. Regulated and unregulated mods, and then temp control. I started getting into building RDA's and those evolved over the years as well. For me personally, vaping had finally reached a pinnacle where we had complete control over our vapor experience could fine tune every aspect to our liking. Each tank and each RDA has it's own unique way of preforming and unleashing increasingly more delicious flavor from the juice. I'm definitely a flavor chaser 100%. I've mixed juice DIY quite a lot. It's been cool to see the vape industry evolve over the years. Even with the never-ending trails and tribulations that we've been through. I'd be happy to get into that on another thread. I want to try and stay on topic, but yeah, what a ride it has been!
Anyway, I fell deeply in love with vaping!
It has literally been my way of life.
So much so, that in 2013, I started a Vape Shop with two of my good friends. Vaping was at it's peak and it was perfect timing to start-up. Unfortunately, I had to split ways with the business. I relocated to Tacoma in 2016 due to family reasons. I started meeting a lot of people in the vape scene here and eventually I met Max. He had a vape shop of his own and took a liking to me. He hired me and after a bit, he hired my wife too. He liked what we were doing with his shop and put the two of us in charge of it. We've been managing the shop for 9 years now. The vape industry has changed a lot over this time. The Washington State government has been exceptionally cruel to vape shops that are forced to pay taxes hand over fist. Again, it's a topic for another thread. A huge portion of our sales has moved away from mods and rebuildables, and headed in the direction of pod systems, nic salts and disposable vapes. However, we are one of the last vape shops in the region that still has a huge variety of RDA's, mods, and good old fashioned American made E-juice. Almost all other vape shops in Washington have closed due to the insane policies passed down from the state government. They've made it nearly impossible to stay in business. I am proud to say, WE ARE A VAPE SHOP! Seriously, we could be the last one in the region. Almost every other place in Washington that claims they are a vape shop only sell disposable vapes, legal-high products, and yes, they even sell CIGARETTES! No e-juice, no pods, no coils...nadda! I realized that at our shop, we are the old timers. The OG's of the industry now haha. We still remember when a vape shop was a place you went when you wanted to quit smoking cigarettes. Helping people quit has been what we strive to do every day and it has been a huge honor and absolute pleasure to personally help so many people over the years... to help them make healthier choices that actually make a difference in their lives and for their loved ones. We're still here, trying to keep vaping alive for those who need it.
So, that brings me to the present. I turned 40 last December and I had decided it was time for me to quit vaping. It's a part of an overall push towards being healthier as I move towards the second half of my life. It's been hard, but if anyone wants to hear that story, I can make a thread for that. I will always be an advocate for vaping as a good way to get off combustible tobacco and ultimately an off-ramp for tapering down a nicotine addiction.
A big part of why I rejoined ECF is I'm hoping to find a home for my huge vape collection. I have held onto a ton of different vapor products... mods, tanks, RDAs, a lot of authentic stuff... it's really a lot haha. I'm willing to let everything go on a crazy deal if it's going to someone who will make good use of it or a fellow vape collector. I'm gathering all the details of everything I have and I'll let everyone know when I get the listing ready. I'm hoping I can find someone who will take everything I have in one huge lot, but I'll be willing to split off items if there's something specific you wanted from my collection. More details to come in the next couple of days.
Thanks for reading this long message! I'm always happy to share my knowledge or my experiences running vape shops. It looks like I will need to make 5 posts on ECF before they give me access to direct messaging, but I hope to talk with some of you soon! I look forward to reading your replys! Peace!
