Hello! The latest FNG to this forum here. Just thought I'd pop in, drop some greetings on your faces, and talk a bit about my progression into vaping. I started in 2011ish wanting to quit cigarettes with one of those terrible Blu things that were advertised all over the place. I convinced myself that I had to like it because I didn't like the idea of patches or gum, but oh boy was it disgusting (and expensive with their disposable BS carts). I thought that vaping was just dumb and moved back to cigarettes.
Fast forward a bit, and I met someone at work who had an eGo-T. I told him about my experiences with the Blu, and he let me try a few puffs on his eGo. I loved it, so I went and found a vape shop and got a couple batteries and the same eGo-T. That lasted me for a bit, but then I found I was liking it less and less. I ended up going back to cigarette again for a couple years after that and again thought that I just didn't like vaping.
Finally, I moved up to Seattle (after getting out of the Navy) and vaping was huge up there. While I was waiting for my computer to make its way up there, I started playing League of Legends at a gaming cafe. It was awesome being around people who were way better than me at that game. One thing I noticed though is that just about all of them vaped and just about all of them used RDA's. I had never heard of dripping before that, so I asked someone to try theirs. Holy. Crap. I had no idea you could get that much vapor and flavor. I was a bit hesitant to try building my own coils and such, so I went and got the thing that everyone was raving about at the time: the Aspire Atlantis.
The Atlantis really impressed me. The vape and flavor seemed very similar to what my friends at the gaming cafe got with their RDA's (not _as_ good, but close). Unfortunately, the battery that Aspire came out with for the Atlantis was pretty much just junk. Fixed power, way too long (mated with the Atlantis it was impossible to put it in your pocket without it hanging out), internal battery (though they did come out with one that took 18650's later on), and it would just sometimes not turn on. I still have no idea what the deal was. I thought it was just dead at one point, but then I randomly tried it one day and it worked for a while and then stopped working again. Eventually it just flat out died period. It didn't even last maybe 9 months. Bleh.
I moved again, and I knew that I didn't want to stop vaping just because my battery died. I decided to actually start reading about vaping and finally realized that those RDA's my friends were using were being powered by these things called box mods (I have no idea why it took me so long to realize this -- I guess I thought that all devices came with their own proprietary battery since at that time a lot of the vape shops I'd been to seemed to push kits on everyone). I bought an eLeaf iStick 100W (the non-TC version) and the Atlantis 2 (since I liked the first one so much). I pretty much stuck with vaping at the point, but I was getting pretty disappointed with the Atlantis 2. It was bad about sputtering liquid into your mouth, the coils would die really fast (and were expensive for what they are. Not as expensive as some, but certainly not as cheap as others), and the bottom fill was pretty messy. It seemed like no matter how careful I was, I ended up spilling juice into the chimney which ended up on my desk. I also noticed that the coils would build up a burnt residue which seemed to end up in my juice and make it dark (and taste gross).
I've noticed that Aspire's quality control seems a bit shoddy with their coils. Some would last for a while and others would start doing the residue and tasting bad within a day! I've heard others complain about the inconsistent coils as well, though they did get better with the new coils for Atlantis 2 than the original (though none of the vape shops around me seem to have gotten the memo that Atlantis 2 came out a LONG time ago now. I still have to explain to these kids that they make coils below 0.5 ohms now and with larger wick openings). Before anyone asks, I tried vaping at Aspire's recommended wattages and even tried going below that. No improvement.
I started doing a _lot_ of research at this point. I liked the Atlantis 2, but I didn't love it. The main thing I was looking for was something with top fill and cheaper coils. I found the iSub Apex, and I've used it until very recently. It didn't really feel like much of an upgrade to me (in fact, the vapor quality seemed a bit lacking compared to my Atlantis 2), but I could buy a pack of coils for way less than I could Aspire coils (and you have a lot more options with the coils). The tank really annoyed me too, because I ended up scratching the polycarbonate tank within a couple days of owning it. My Atlantis 2 tank still looks brand new (though it seems a bit stained, possibly due to the carbon residue issue). I won't complain too much about the fact that it is nearly impossible to see how much juice you have left with more transparent juices, because they have already released a new version with better visibility.
Now I'm (finally) getting to the end of this big, long post that most of you will probably TL;DR over. I decided that to truly stop smoking cigarettes altogether (I was still smoking at work, mainly because I work at a factory where things tend to grow legs if you set them down), I needed something a bit more compact than my iStick 100 with an iSub Apex on top. In the winter I would vape more because I could hide my mod and tank in my coat, but in the summer I had the choice of either sticking it in my jeans pocket or put it in the car. The idea of leaving liquid and a battery in the car when it was over 100F outside (not to mention that the one time I did leave it in the car, the metal exterior of my mod was painful to touch) didn't sit well with me, and it wouldn't really fit all the way in my jeans. I didn't want people thinking I had a....toy....in my pocket (if you get my drift), or having it leak all over me or the tank break as I'm working with metal fab equipment and tools.
On to the present day. After watching a crap ton of YouTube videos (a big shoutout to Mike Vapes, btw. Love that guy's videos), I decided on the Vapedroid C1D2 and OBS Engine. Man do I love this combo. The C1D2 is just so solid of a mod and is much easier to take on the go. The OBS Engine is also very short, so no more worrying about it poking out of my jeans pocket and making people think I carry....toys....with me to work. It is my first rebuildable (finally convinced myself to try it -- wish I knew earlier just how easy it is), which has led me down a whole rabbit hole of trying different types of coils (back to hours and hours of YouTube -- this stuff is dangerous for people like me. You should see how many weeks I spend researching hardware for a computer build). So far, my favorite pre-made coils have been some aliens I found on FastTech. I finally taught myself how to make clapton wire, so I may get away from pre-builts entirely at some point. So far, this combo just seems absolutely perfect in every way. I might get an RDA at some point for vaping at home, but for now the OBS Engine does everything I need at home, band practice, at work, and in the car. I can take it anywhere, it (and the Vapedroid) feel just solid enough to abuse a bit (enough that I don't worry so much about putting it in my pocket), and it's just so hard to stop picking it up all day long.
Well, if anyone made it this far, then I congratulate you -- you must be really bored lol. I'll conclude by mentioning my favorite juice at the moment. I bought a 60mL bottle of Gaslight Vapor's Sunday Supper Apple Butter Biscuit (6mg). Holy cow. It makes me feel like a kid again. It tastes legitimately like a freshly baked biscuit with some good old-fashioned homemade apple butter. I even get the sensation of the biscuit still being hot from the oven. It's just so smooth and flavorful. They have a couple other flavors in the Sunday Supper line, and I think my next order will be another bottle of this along with their Banana Pudding flavor.
Peace everyone, and keep vaping!
Fast forward a bit, and I met someone at work who had an eGo-T. I told him about my experiences with the Blu, and he let me try a few puffs on his eGo. I loved it, so I went and found a vape shop and got a couple batteries and the same eGo-T. That lasted me for a bit, but then I found I was liking it less and less. I ended up going back to cigarette again for a couple years after that and again thought that I just didn't like vaping.
Finally, I moved up to Seattle (after getting out of the Navy) and vaping was huge up there. While I was waiting for my computer to make its way up there, I started playing League of Legends at a gaming cafe. It was awesome being around people who were way better than me at that game. One thing I noticed though is that just about all of them vaped and just about all of them used RDA's. I had never heard of dripping before that, so I asked someone to try theirs. Holy. Crap. I had no idea you could get that much vapor and flavor. I was a bit hesitant to try building my own coils and such, so I went and got the thing that everyone was raving about at the time: the Aspire Atlantis.
The Atlantis really impressed me. The vape and flavor seemed very similar to what my friends at the gaming cafe got with their RDA's (not _as_ good, but close). Unfortunately, the battery that Aspire came out with for the Atlantis was pretty much just junk. Fixed power, way too long (mated with the Atlantis it was impossible to put it in your pocket without it hanging out), internal battery (though they did come out with one that took 18650's later on), and it would just sometimes not turn on. I still have no idea what the deal was. I thought it was just dead at one point, but then I randomly tried it one day and it worked for a while and then stopped working again. Eventually it just flat out died period. It didn't even last maybe 9 months. Bleh.
I moved again, and I knew that I didn't want to stop vaping just because my battery died. I decided to actually start reading about vaping and finally realized that those RDA's my friends were using were being powered by these things called box mods (I have no idea why it took me so long to realize this -- I guess I thought that all devices came with their own proprietary battery since at that time a lot of the vape shops I'd been to seemed to push kits on everyone). I bought an eLeaf iStick 100W (the non-TC version) and the Atlantis 2 (since I liked the first one so much). I pretty much stuck with vaping at the point, but I was getting pretty disappointed with the Atlantis 2. It was bad about sputtering liquid into your mouth, the coils would die really fast (and were expensive for what they are. Not as expensive as some, but certainly not as cheap as others), and the bottom fill was pretty messy. It seemed like no matter how careful I was, I ended up spilling juice into the chimney which ended up on my desk. I also noticed that the coils would build up a burnt residue which seemed to end up in my juice and make it dark (and taste gross).
I've noticed that Aspire's quality control seems a bit shoddy with their coils. Some would last for a while and others would start doing the residue and tasting bad within a day! I've heard others complain about the inconsistent coils as well, though they did get better with the new coils for Atlantis 2 than the original (though none of the vape shops around me seem to have gotten the memo that Atlantis 2 came out a LONG time ago now. I still have to explain to these kids that they make coils below 0.5 ohms now and with larger wick openings). Before anyone asks, I tried vaping at Aspire's recommended wattages and even tried going below that. No improvement.
I started doing a _lot_ of research at this point. I liked the Atlantis 2, but I didn't love it. The main thing I was looking for was something with top fill and cheaper coils. I found the iSub Apex, and I've used it until very recently. It didn't really feel like much of an upgrade to me (in fact, the vapor quality seemed a bit lacking compared to my Atlantis 2), but I could buy a pack of coils for way less than I could Aspire coils (and you have a lot more options with the coils). The tank really annoyed me too, because I ended up scratching the polycarbonate tank within a couple days of owning it. My Atlantis 2 tank still looks brand new (though it seems a bit stained, possibly due to the carbon residue issue). I won't complain too much about the fact that it is nearly impossible to see how much juice you have left with more transparent juices, because they have already released a new version with better visibility.
Now I'm (finally) getting to the end of this big, long post that most of you will probably TL;DR over. I decided that to truly stop smoking cigarettes altogether (I was still smoking at work, mainly because I work at a factory where things tend to grow legs if you set them down), I needed something a bit more compact than my iStick 100 with an iSub Apex on top. In the winter I would vape more because I could hide my mod and tank in my coat, but in the summer I had the choice of either sticking it in my jeans pocket or put it in the car. The idea of leaving liquid and a battery in the car when it was over 100F outside (not to mention that the one time I did leave it in the car, the metal exterior of my mod was painful to touch) didn't sit well with me, and it wouldn't really fit all the way in my jeans. I didn't want people thinking I had a....toy....in my pocket (if you get my drift), or having it leak all over me or the tank break as I'm working with metal fab equipment and tools.
On to the present day. After watching a crap ton of YouTube videos (a big shoutout to Mike Vapes, btw. Love that guy's videos), I decided on the Vapedroid C1D2 and OBS Engine. Man do I love this combo. The C1D2 is just so solid of a mod and is much easier to take on the go. The OBS Engine is also very short, so no more worrying about it poking out of my jeans pocket and making people think I carry....toys....with me to work. It is my first rebuildable (finally convinced myself to try it -- wish I knew earlier just how easy it is), which has led me down a whole rabbit hole of trying different types of coils (back to hours and hours of YouTube -- this stuff is dangerous for people like me. You should see how many weeks I spend researching hardware for a computer build). So far, my favorite pre-made coils have been some aliens I found on FastTech. I finally taught myself how to make clapton wire, so I may get away from pre-builts entirely at some point. So far, this combo just seems absolutely perfect in every way. I might get an RDA at some point for vaping at home, but for now the OBS Engine does everything I need at home, band practice, at work, and in the car. I can take it anywhere, it (and the Vapedroid) feel just solid enough to abuse a bit (enough that I don't worry so much about putting it in my pocket), and it's just so hard to stop picking it up all day long.
Well, if anyone made it this far, then I congratulate you -- you must be really bored lol. I'll conclude by mentioning my favorite juice at the moment. I bought a 60mL bottle of Gaslight Vapor's Sunday Supper Apple Butter Biscuit (6mg). Holy cow. It makes me feel like a kid again. It tastes legitimately like a freshly baked biscuit with some good old-fashioned homemade apple butter. I even get the sensation of the biscuit still being hot from the oven. It's just so smooth and flavorful. They have a couple other flavors in the Sunday Supper line, and I think my next order will be another bottle of this along with their Banana Pudding flavor.
Peace everyone, and keep vaping!
